When we stand praying, beloved brethren, we ought to be watchful and earnest with our whole heart, intent on our prayers. Let all carnal and worldly thoughts pass away, nor let the soul at that time think on anything except the object of its prayer."
- St. Cyprian [3rd C.]: "On the Lord's Prayer," 31 -
(Just to give God your full attention for a few moments can be deeply transformative. Go ahead and try. Let your only intent be for God. See the difference it makes.)
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Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, by Brene Brown
Led By: Ann Axman and Pattie McGurk, on Zoom
Dates: Wednesday October 14, 21, 28 and November 4
Time: 12:05 – 12:55 p.m. CST (Feel free to eat your lunch while on the zoom meeting)
Fee: $20 (Participants will need to provide their own book for the study)
God and I: Exploring the Connections Between God, Self and Ego, by Philip St. Romain
Led By: Philip St. Romain, on Zoom
Dates: Thursday October 22,29 November 5,12 and 19
Time: 12:05 – 12:55 p.m. CST (Feel free to eat your lunch while on the zoom meeting)
Fee: $20.00
– participants will receive a free PDF version of the book, paperback and other purchase options can be found via the link below:
JB 19:21-27; PS 27:7-8A, 8B-9ABC, 13-14
LK 10:1-12
Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you,
go out into the streets and say,
‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet,
even that we shake off against you.’
Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand.
I tell you,
it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day
than for that town.”
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Reflection on the Scriptures |
Today’s gospel is a fitting one to celebrate the Memorial of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose brief and cloistered life in a French convent sent spiritual ripples around the world. She wrote that each task she took on at the convent was always her way of serving God. The dirtiest kitchen work, the tedium of the laundry and the routine chores of the chapel were all little ways she saw as doing God’s
work.
But her most inspiring “little” acts teach us how she got along with difficult people. In her convent she lived with several women who had little patience with her. She was devastated at first and deeply hurt by them. Then she had the insight to pray for a particular sister who seemed to dislike her intensely. When Thérèse felt her constant prayers for this nun were not enough, and she
decided to do more.
As she wrote in her Story of A Soul, “I tried to do as many things for her as I could, and whenever I was tempted to speak unpleasantly to her, I made myself give her a pleasant smile.” After a while, she reports that her feelings truly began to change, and she began to like this sister more.
One memorable day, the sister came to her with a beaming smile. “Sister Thérèse, will you please tell me what attracts you so much to me? You give me such a charming smile whenever we meet.” Her small acts of humility and service, what she called her “self-forgetfulness,” had turned into love for this sister.
- by Maureen McCann Waldron
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Sixteenth Revelation, Chapter 81
"God seeth all our living a penance: for nature-longing of our love is to Him a lasting penance in us. "His love maketh Him to long"
OUR Good Lord shewed Himself in diverse manners both in heaven and in earth, but I saw Him take no place save in man's soul.
He shewed Himself in earth in the sweet Incarnation and in His blessed Passion. And in other manner He shewed Himself in earth [as in the Revelation] where I say: I saw God in a Point. And in another manner He shewed Himself in earth thus as it were in pilgrimage: that is to say, He is here with us, leading us, and shall be till when He hath brought us all to His bliss in heaven. He shewed Himself diverse times reigning, as it
is aforesaid; but principally in man's soul. He hath taken there His resting-place and His worshipful City: out of which worshipful See He shall never rise nor remove without end.
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