 We have all heard the phrase: “You are what you eat”; perhaps it could just as accurately be said: “You are what you read”! The thoughts and images we imbibe from books and media form our minds and hearts. Because of this, daily spiritual reading is an integral part of our religious life. It fills our minds with thoughts of God and provides a storehouse from which we pull ideas to speak to Him in our meditation and throughout the day. The Sisters’ will often choose reading directed toward the themes of particular liturgical seasons. During Lent, the Sisters’ prie-dieus are full of books about Our Lord’s Passion, Our Lady’s Sorrows, the Seven Last Words, the Stations of the Cross, and personal repentance and conversion. As we reach the culmination of the Lenten season, the Sisters shared some choice quotes from their spiritual reading to inspire your Holy Week:
"[St. Augustine] says that God preferred to bring good out of evil rather than to prevent evil. And indeed it is worthy of divine wisdom, love, and power to be able to draw out of those dark depths some magnificent good. Jesus Christ, who came to transform all things, who elevated, sanctified, and divinized them, did not wish to suppress evil, but gave us the divine secret of getting good out of it" (Archbishop Luis Martinez, The Sanctifier). "Sinlessness is not common to our Mother and to us. But sorrow is. It is the one thing we share, the one common thing betwixt us. We will sit with her therefore, and sorrow with her, and grow more full of love, not forgetting her grandeurs but pressing to our hearts with fondest predilection the memory of her exceeding martyrdom" (Father Faber, The Foot of the Cross). "A final dimension of [Mary's] faith is its tenacity. Hers was a faith delicate in its beauty, intricate in its design, but steadfast in its courage and tenacity. Of Mary, to whom much was given, much was expected! ... It is important for us to remember that this faith of Mary must be the model of our own… As in Mary, so also in us, Christ must live by faith. He must inhabit us. We do not have that fullness of receptivity for God's Word that was Mary's. But God has given us in our created reality and uniquely in our Baptism that radical capacity to hear and receive his Word" (James Cardinal Hickey, Mary at the Foot of the Cross: A Retreat Given to John Paul II and the Papal Household).   After a hiatus, we return to our document study of Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical: Ecclesia de Eucharistia. Read parts I, and II.
 “Lent is like a long ‘retreat’ during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual ‘combat’ which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism.”
- Pope Benedict XV  Easter is the feast of feasts, the pinnacle of the liturgical year. We spend forty days in Lent just to prepare for it! But how do we prepare for Lent? Is there something that can help us get ready?
 O little ring, you have cost me a lot, what happiness will you bring to soothe tears flowing hot? I have nothing to give you, on my own I am nought,
but my Master’s good wishes I bear as I ought.  Dear Friends,
Praised be Jesus and Mary! Happy Thanksgiving! It is with profound gratitude that we thank God for each and everyone of you on this day for giving thanks.  Let us resume our document study of Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical: Ecclesia de Eucharistia. In his Introduction the Holy Father expressed his intent of rekindling in the faithful our amazement at the gift of the Eucharist. In Chapter One was emphasized the presence of the entire Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – in every Eucharistic consecration at Holy Mass. From this foundation St. John Paul II then looks to how the Eucharist “Builds the Church” and at its “Apostolicity”.
 It has been a long while since a Church Document study has been featured on our blog.
Throughout the Church here in America much attention has recently been redirected to Pope St. John Paul II’s last encyclical: Ecclesia de Eucharistia. Let us reflect on some of the highlights from this magnificent encyclical.  Star of the Valley, Santa Rosa, CA "If the Priest knew his dignity he would die of joy." |
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