My Nothingness is My All

Do you ever wake up with nothing to give?  Are you feeling empty and helpless?  Then you have everything to give Our Lord in your emptiness. This emptiness actually becomes our all.  So, today I choose to give my nothingness which will become everything when given to Our Lord with our heart, mind, and soul.  
I pray that you will join me in the efforts to give what I do not have to give as St. Therese will also share; this is where I am today.  
Let us unite our emptiness to Jesus and Mary at the foot of the cross with our yes to God the Father and ask that all married couples will be blessed with much grace today as they carry their cross with Christ.  I will be praying my chaplet of Hannah’s Tears today uniting myself to Jesus that all of you will be filled with the hope you need to get through today.
Blessings,
Therese


  • “Do you feel worthless sometimes? Does your life seem meaningless? Prayers to St. Therese of Lisieux, (who is affectionately known as the “Little Flower”) can help remind you that in God’s eyes your nothingness” is really something, as long as you give Him your best each day!”


O Glorious St. Therese, whom Almighty God has raised up to aid and inspire the human family, I implore your Miraculous Intercession. You are so powerful in obtaining every need of body and spirit from the Heart of God. Holy Mother Church proclaims you ‘Prodigy of Miracles… the Greatest Saint of Modern Times.’ Now I fervently beseech you to answer my petition (mention here) and to carry out your promises of spending Heaven doing good on earth…of letting fall from Heaven a Shower of Roses. Little Flower, give me your childlike faith, to see the Face of God in the people and experiences of my life, and to love God with full confidence. St. Therese, my Carmelite Sister, I will fulfill your plea ‘to be made known everywhere’ and I will continue to lead others to Jesus through you. Amen



Thirsting

As I was praying this morning I felt a depth of spiritual dryness that I am sure many of us are enduring these days.  No amount of worldly goods seem to quench this thirst… 


Spiritual Poverty

Today’s topic will be spiritual poverty. What really is spiritual poverty, and is this just a vow that religious take, or is it an attitude that all of us should have? 

The renunciation of worldly material goods has long been seen as a means toward spiritual growth. It is an attempt to live a life in harmony with Christ and to do His will. St. Faustina wrote that the virtue of poverty “is an evangelical virtue which impels the heart to detach itself from temporal things” (Diary, 93). The Catechism teaches us that “All Christ’s faithful are to ‘direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect charity by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to riches which is contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty’ ” (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2545).   Read more here



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A lesson in spiritual poverty

“In learning to surrender it all to God, Catholic missionaries allowed love to 

transform them.  Everything they did became a song of praise to God.”



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John 4:7-14

The Woman at the Well


 7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)


 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)


 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”


 11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”

13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

Compare the 2 readings the one above from “The Message” and the one below as the New American Bible.



New American Bible Translation


John 4:7-14

7

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

8

His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

9

5 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)

10

6 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11

(The woman) said to him, “Sir, 7 you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?

12

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”

13

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;

14

but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

“Mondays with Elisabeth”

Holiness found while living in the world?  Not an easy task is it?  I know for myself it can be very difficult but if I take the time to truly pray and unite my heart to Christ somehow it becomes lighter/easier.  To live in the world but not become filled with the spirit of worldliness can only be done with prayer and time spent with Christ Jesus on a daily occasion.  This is what Elisabeth found in her path toward holiness.  She sought the one who was calling out her name in the midst of her deepest sufferings and she finally gave in to the desires of His heart and not her own.  

As I read page 7 of “My Spirit Rejoices”  the title of the reflection is called “Elisabeth sought holiness while living in the world”:  Renunciation, detachment, voluntary poverty, dislike of the wold, sacrifice and forgetfulness of self, acceptance of suffering, and utmost charity toward God and neighbor are the theme of each one of these pages.. 

How can we learn to grow in this holiness as Elisabeth?

Maybe if we could take time to reflect upon the pages that we read, we will also discover something about ourselves.  Ask her to befriend you today and each day that you discover another Monday with Elisabeth.  I hope you will take the journey along with me as she is teaching me many things each day, I’d love to share this with you.


Blessings,
Therese

Just an Idea, let me know YOUR thoughts…

I have a thought of beginning a blog posting that would take a piece from Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur’s writings.  I would love some feed back from you all if you can… I would also love to invite you to add your post of thoughts for Hannah’s Tears Ministry blog if you would have any interest.

Please let me know your thoughts as this could be something we could all team up together and have a blog study going each Monday or as the spirit calls.. we can call it “Mondays with Elisabeth”.  If you are at all interested in joining me in this project, please email me at the address below:



tgarcia@hannahstears.org

Blessings,

Therese






July 13th ~ Fatima Message

Apparition of 13 July 1917


As the July date approached Lucia continued to be troubled by the words of her pastor that the devil might be behind the apparitions. Finally, she confided to Jacinta that she intended not to go. When the day finally dawned, however, her fears and anxieties disappeared, so that the noon hour found her in the Cova with Jacinta and Francisco, awaiting the arrival of the beautiful Lady. 

The apparition of July 13th would prove to be in many ways the most controversial aspect of the message of Fátima, providing a secret in three parts which the children guarded zealously. The first two parts, the vision of hell and the prophecy of the future role of Russia and how to prevent it, would not be revealed until Sr. Lucia wrote them down in her third memoir, at the request of the bishop, in 1941. The third part, usually called the Third Secret, was only later communicated to the bishop, who sent it unread to Pope Pius XII.

Video
A few moments after arriving at the Cova da Iria, near the holmoak, where a large number of people were praying the Rosary, we saw the flah of light once more, and a moment later Our Lady appeared on the holmoak.

“Lucia,” Jacinta said, “speak. Our Lady is talking to you.

“Yes?” said Lucia. She spoke humbly, asking pardon for her doubts with every gesture, and to the Lady: “What do you want of me?”

 

I want you to come back here on the thirteenth of next month. Continue to say the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, to obtain the peace of the world and the end of the war, because only she can obtain it.

“Yes, “yes.”
“I would like to ask who you are, and if you will do a miracle so that everyone will know for certain that you have appeared to us.”

You must come here every month, and in October I will tell you who I am and what I want. I will then perform a miracle so that all may believe.

Thus assured, Lucia began to place before the Lady the petitions for help that so many had entrusted to her. The Lady said gently that she would cure some, but others she would not cure.

“And the crippled son of Maria da Capelinha?”

No, neither of his infirmity nor of his poverty would he be cured, and he must be certain to say the Rosary with his family every day.

Another case recommended by Lucia to the Lady’s assistance was a sick woman from Atougia who asked to be taken to heaven.

 Tell her not to be in a hurry. Tell her I know very well when I shall come to fetch her.

Make sacrifices for sinners, and say often, especially while making a sacrifice: O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As Our lady spoke these words she opened her hands once more, as had during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now following back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me do). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying nad repellant likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly:
You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. It is to save them that God wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. This war will end, but if men do not refrain from offending God, another and more terrible war will begin during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night that is lit by a strange and unknown light [this occurred on January 28, 1938], you will know it is the sign God gives you that He is about to punish the world with war and with hunger, and by the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. 
To prevent this, I shall come to the world to ask that Russia be consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, and I shall ask that on the First Saturday of every month Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins-of the world. If my wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, then Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, bringing new wars and persecution of the Church; the good will be martyred and the Holy Father will have much to suffer; certain nations will be annihilated. But in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and the world will enjoy a period of peace. In Portugal the faith will always be preserved… [Here belongs the part of the Secret of which Cardinal Sodano spoke at the Mass of Beatification, and which the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith will publish, with commentary.] Remember, you must not tell this to anyone except Francisco.

When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead  all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.

“Is there anything more that you want of me?”

No, I do not want anything more of you today.

Then as before Our Lady began to ascend towards the east, until she finally disappeared in the immense darkness of the firmament.

The possession of the Secret proved to be very great trial for the three young ones. Family, neighbors, followers of the apparitions, even the clergy, tried unsuccessfully to get them to reveal it. Finally, as the day of the August apparition approached even the civil government, which was secular and virulently anti-clerical, alarmed by the numbers of people taking an interest in the Fátima events, attempted to wrest it from them and in the process expose the Church as a collaborator in a fraud.

Complete Trust..

The life of Mother Maria Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament is no ordinary story. It is a story filled with that complete trust in God which makes life a daring adventure, the kind of adventure one encounters when one dares to love God above all things and to place one’s life completely in His hands. It is a story where trust in God and obedience to His manifest designs bursts forth into great sanctity.

Maria Luisa de la Pena
Blind Obedience..

At the age of fifteen in obedience to her parents, she married Doctor Pascual Rojas, a prominent physician who was twice her age. 


Doctor Pascual Rojas

Their life together was happy, a mutual growing in love of God and neighbor. God did not grant them children. They trusted and decided together that the poor would be their children. They built the little Hospital of the Sacred Heart to serve those less fortunate. After fourteen years of married life Maria Luisa was left a widow. On his deathbed, Doctor Rojas told her that he had no doubt what she would do after he had died – she would serve God as a religious. 

Mother Maria Luisita
Holy Endurance…
Mother Luisita is a model of holiness in the single, married, widowed and religious state.

Another Beautiful Lady for Our Time

The more I have prayed the more I see who the great patrons of our time have become for Hannah’s Tears.  One of them of course is Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur the other beautiful lady is Mother Luisita.  The more you reach out to these beautiful ladies the more you will agree with me that they are our guide in a time of great suffering.  Go to them for intercession you will be delighted at how quickly they will come to your aide.


Born to a pious and wealthy family Maria Luisa de la Pena was born in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco Mexico on June 21, 1866, the first surviving of fourteen children. Married to Dr Pascual Rojas. They had no children of their own, but both worked tirelessly for the poor, building their own hospital. Widowed after 14 years of marriage. Entered the Carmel of Guadalajara, Mexico.


Born June 21, 1866 

Died February 11,1937 
feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Yes, let us bless Our Lord because He has allowed us to become so very poor. No doubt this lack of even the necessary means of support will help us all to grow spiritually. All we have to do is gladly accept the privations and rigors that poverty brings us. I know that God will only allow what is more beneficial for us to happen. ~ Ven. Mother Luisita


Other Sources:
http://saints.sqpn.com/saintmbv.htm

“A Priest Forever”

 

 

As I contemplate this Psalm and the video below, I am led to ponder the life of St. Hannah when she prayed for a child.  The child God sent her was Samuel… Samuel, the High Priest… When our prayers are answered with the gift of life, God has a plan laid out for this soul.  This is also for those that are spiritual mothers as well as mothers, we must all pray for the plan of God to be laid out in the soul of these children that are born; that they may hear their true call in life.  None of us will ever be happy unless we are following the plan that our Father in Heaven has planned for us to live by…and so it goes if your son is called to be a priest as Samuel was called, pray for them always, just as we should pray for our shepherds (priests) through this life always to do the will of God the Father and follow His plan.

 

 

In all of our walks in life it will take the great “TREASURE” of “HUMILITY”.  Humility, will keep us faithful as Our Lady Seat of Wisdom guides us by her motherly had to our Trinitarian God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 

 

God bless you.

 

 

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Psalms
Chapter 110
A psalm of David. The LORD says to you, my lord: “Take your throne at my righthand, while I make your enemies your footstool.”  The scepter of your sovereign might the LORD will extend fromZion. The LORD says: “Rule over your enemies!  Yours is princely power from the day of your birth. In holy splendor before the daystar, like the dew I begot you.” The LORD has sworn and will not waver: “Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever.” At your right hand is the Lord, who crushes kings on the day of wrath, Who, robed in splendor, judges nations, crushes heads across the wide earth, Who drinks from the brook by the wayside and thus holds high the head.

A PRIEST FOREVER

Psalm 110:4

“…Like Melkezidek of old…”You are a Priest Forever…”