Good Day Everyone!

Other than yesterday's post, it has been a number of days since I last blogged. It isn't that I haven't had anything to share, it's just that I have been out of town, back in town, out of town again for the past couple of weeks. At any rate, I was eager to get out the post yesterday because the topic has been burning in my heart. I have spoken on it at recent speaking engagements as well as on radio, and I wanted to get it out to you. Be sure to read the post, Are You Concerned?  Today I thought I'd give you a potpourri of thoughts and findings I have been collecting for you over the past few weeks. I am going to post them under a variety of subject headings. As you read, remember me, Living His Life Abundantly, and Women of Grace in your prayers.

Feast of St. Paul of the Cross (Transferred from 10/19)

Perhaps St. Paul's fundamental perspective of the passion of Jesus is that it was a work of love -- God's love for us in giving us His Son; the Son's love for us in giving us Himself. As such, St. Paul saw every wound of Jesus to be a sign of love with its own "love-attitude" flowing from the heart of Christ. This was not limited to His physical sufferings alone, but also took in the broad scope of his emotional and psychological sufferings as well. St. Paul of the Cross invited us to look at our own sufferings and contradictions in the same way, as a sign of love, and encouraged an incorporation of our sufferings into the passion of Christ. All of our pains, woes, reversals, sadnesses and sorrows can be attached to the cross of Our Lord. In this way, we image Our Savior and join with Him in the great work of redemption. Consider this beautiful quote from one of his writings: "Sufferings are the most precious gifts that God is accumstomed to share with those souls who are most dear to him. Embrace them with acceptance as coming from the most loving heart of Jesus Christ. Suffer your afflictions in silence to exercise that holy patience which includes within itself works which are perfect." Are you suffering today? Rejoice! You are a "most dear" soul to God...

Spiritual Paternity and Maternity

As you know, one of my favorite books for spiritual reading and meditation is Divine Intimacy  by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene http://womenofgrace.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=270.  I have wanted to share selection, # 341 with you for a few days now. It seems to fit in beautifully with today's feast of St. Paul of the Cross:

"There is no interior life, no real sanctity which is not crowned with the aureole of spiritual paternity or maternity. But as in the natural realm, the mother brings forth her children in sorrow, so in the supernatural order, there is no paternity or maternity of souls without suffering.

"It was by dying on the Cross that Jesus brought us forth to divine life. From Him we learn that if we wish to share in His redemptive work, we must not fear either persecutions, or mockeries, or scourgings, or thorns, or nails, or the cross; we must be ready to give for souls all that we have and are, even our very life, that they may be nourished with our blood."

Sobering, isn't it? And yet, how great is our God that our sufferings can bear such fruit, such fecundity!

Reading on Planes

I have always been an avid reader. Just yesterday, my mother reminded me that one of my favorite recreations as a little girl was curling up with a good book.

When I was a chlid, bookmobiles came to our small town of East McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Little else meant more to me than climbing up those rubber-treaded steps to enter that hallowed sanctuary of shelves lined neatly and precisely with cellophane-clad tomes. I can still feel the bus' slight rock as I moved through the narrow aisle. I can still smell the tantalizing scent of bindings and pages that made my heart smile.

My love of reading continues and I still look for every opportunity to delve into a good book. Fortunately, my research helps. My traveling does, too, and I can often be found perusing the airport bookstore if I haven't brought something with me to read.

While most of my reading is about more serious matters, I find a good work of fiction to be a pleasant escape -- "mental bubblegum" as I often refer to it. And, every once in a while, a quote pops off the page that makes me go hmmmmmm......

Here is one from a book I recently completed. It is spoken by the main character, Laura Bartone, from Elizabeth Berg's book, The Art of Mending: 

"I have a personal theory about why most men walk away from difficult emotional situations: It's because they don't have babies. It is bred in them to leave the dwelling place to hunt and gather, to be outward-oriented; it is bred in women to lie down and give birth and stay home in order to care for the small world they have delivered into the larger one. Men conk things on the head or are conked themselves; women work out the kinks of the inner life."     

Now, whether you agree with Laura or not, it is clear that men and women approach life differently. While generalizations don't always apply to specifics, for the most part women are interior creatures and men are exterior creatures. Everything about us speaks to this reality including our biology. Men and women "complete" each other and this complementarity is essential to God's plan -- in the natural and in the supernatural. 

Just another something to ponder today on the "Monday of Musings."

               Great Time at the CRA

Recently, I attended the Catholic radio conference in Birmingham, Alabama. Sponsored by EWTN, it was attended by the many radio operators who manage the Catholic radio stations throughout the United States and beyond, some program providers and "on-air talent."

It was thrilling for me to meet so many of the men and women who make Catholic radio happen. Again, it confirmed the great work of evangelization that is accomplished through the airwaves.

If you are blessed to have Catholic radio in your area, please be sure to support your station -- prayerfully and financially. These stations cannot survive without your help. And, for that matter, neither can your program providers -- so remember us, too!

Hats off to Catholic radio and the people responsible for its good efforts!