Quarantine Lectures – Thomistic Institute

This truly spoke to my soul this morning, maybe it’s where you find yourself today also.

Considering what St. Therese suffered in her short life, let us ask her to pray for those suffering from COVID 19 and for ALL of us struggling with these times of great isolation and discouragement, that we may not fall into despair but find ourselves renewed in the fires of God’s love for us all.

Dearest Little Flower,

Please surround us with your prayers of love.  Help us receive all that God is forming in our very souls, during this time of great trial and darkness. May we feel God’s loving embrace when we most need it and help us not to get discouraged but lovingly embrace our cross with hope.

Amen

June 2, 2018

Poor Clare Colettines TMD

The Soil and Seed of THE WORD
2 Corinthians 4:6-11 ©

In our mortal flesh the life of Jesus is openly shown it is the same God that said, ‘Let there be light shining out of darkness’, who has shone in our minds to radiate the light of the knowledge of God’s glory, the glory on the face of Christ.

We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us.

Dear Little hearts,

This verse is from tomorrows second reading, (that is for at least those areas of the world that have already celebrated Corpus Christi).

This verse is such a beautiful reminder of our own human fragility and weakness, that we do indeed carry this treasure ( our faith and the God within) in earthenware vessels. Vessels that can easily be in one sense broken but also vessels that God can pour His grace into.

For when we are weak it is then that we are strong, for in weakness we so know our need of God. How much we are loved, how much our Heavenly Father yearns for the response of our love, we don’t have to achieve anything, we don’t have to prove ourselves, all we have to be is open and receptive and God will fill our vessels with Himself.

“Pope Francis: Reject Worldly Patterns of Behavior”

During morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta Pope Francis warned Christians against remaining attached to worldly ways of thinking and behavior.

Focusing on the reading from the First Letter of Peter that urges Christians to be holy in every aspect of their conduct, the Pope’s homily reflected on that call to holiness and the importance of moving away from our worldly way of thinking and behavior that formerly enslaved us.

“And the call to holiness, which is the normal call, is our call to live as a Christian, namely living as a Christian is the same as saying ‘living as a saint’. Many times we think of holiness as something extraordinary, like having visions or lofty prayers … or some think that being holy means having a face like that in a cameo … no. Being holy is something else. It is to proceed along this path that the Lord tells us about holiness. And what is it, to proceed along the path of holiness? Peter says it: “Put all your hope in that grace that will be given to you when Jesus Christ manifests Himself”.

Pope Francis explained that walking towards holiness means proceeding towards that grace, that encounter with Jesus Christ. It’s like walking towards the light: many times we don’t see the road that well because the light dazzles us.

“But we are not mistaken, noted the Pope, “because we see the light and we know the way”. When you walk with the light behind you, you can see the road well, but in reality there is shadow, not light, in front of you.

Warning that there are many things that enslave us, the Pope told Christians that they need “to be free and to feel free” in order to walk towards holiness.

It is for this reason, he said, that Peter urges us not to conform “to the desires of our former ignorance.” Paul also says in his First Letter to the Romans: “Do not conform,” which means don’t get involved in worldly patterns of behavior.

“This is the correct translation of this advice – do not adopt the worldly patterns, – do not adopt those patterns of behavior, that worldly way of thinking, that way of thinking and judging that the world offers you because this deprives you of freedom. And to proceed towards holiness, one must be free: free to go forward, looking at the light, going forward. And when we return, as he says here, to the way of life we had before our encounter with Jesus Christ or when we return to those patterns of worldly behavior, we lose our freedom.”

When facing difficulties, warned Pope Francis, we are often tempted to look back with nostalgia at our old ways just like the People of God did in the Book of Exodus when they complained and thought back “to the beautiful life they lived in Egypt.”

“In moments of trials and tribulations, we always are tempted to look back, to look at the worldly patterns of behavior, at the patterns that we had before setting out the path towards salvation: without freedom. And without freedom one cannot be holy. Freedom is the condition for moving forward while looking at the light ahead of us. Do not adopt the worldly patterns of behavior, walk forward, looking at the light that is the promise, in hope; this is the promise like the people of God in the desert: when they looked forward everything went fine; when they were nostalgic because they could no longer eat the good things they formerly had, they made mistakes and forgot that they had no freedom back there.”

Worldly patterns promise everything and give nothing. The Pope reminded his listeners that the Lord calls us to holiness every day. And there are two parameters, he added, to know if we are on our way to holiness: first of all, if we look towards the light of the Lord in the hope of finding it and, then if when the trials come, we look ahead and do not lose our freedom by taking refuge in worldly patterns of behavior, which “promise you everything and give you nothing”. “You will be holy because I am holy”: this is the Lord’s commandment.

In conclusion, Pope Francis offered a prayer to God to grant us the grace to understand correctly what the path of holiness is: “a path of freedom” but with “a tension of hope” on our path towards Jesus.