March 17
Who, that sorrow contemplating,
On that passion meditating,
Would not share the Virgin's grief?
For Reflection:
Henri Nouwen says that waiting is patient. He tells us that “The word ‘patience’ means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us…Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there.”
With comprehension and concentration, slowly read today’s GraceLine a second time. It is an invitation into Mary’s suffering – to share the Virgin’s grief. Ask Our Lady to take you into her Immaculate Heart and wait there with her. Wait with patience until what is hidden there manifests itself to you. Then journal about your insights.
If you enjoy Daily Gracelines, please prayerfully consider making a donation to support and sustain our apostolate so that we may continue to provide this and all of our resources designed to nourish and grow your Catholic faith.
DONATE
Read the rest
March 16
Ever-patient in her yearning
Though her tear-filled eyes were burning,
Mary gazed upon her Son.
For Reflection:
In his writing, The Spirituality of Waiting, Henri Nouwen gives five characteristics of waiting. He tells us waiting is a movement. “People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. … They have received something that is a work in them, like a seed that has started to grow… So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more.”
How is this truth depicted in the stanza above? Consider Mary’s gaze. What might have been transpiring in her heart as Mary looked upon her Son and as He gazed upon her? What promise(s) had she received and what might be the “something more” still yet to come?
If you enjoy Daily Gracelines, please prayerfully consider making a donation to support and sustain our apostolate so that we may continue to provide this and all of our resources designed to nourish and grow your Catholic faith.
DONATE
Read the rest
March 15
With what pain and desolation,
With what noble resignation,
Mary watched her dying Son.
For Reflection:
Many spiritual writers have discussed the “spirituality of waiting” and the
virtues it requires. Some of these are patience, long-suffering, trust,
surrender, humility, gratitude, receptivity, hope. In what ways do you think Mary embodied all of these as she watched her Son die? Which of these
do you most need to acquire?
If you enjoy Daily Gracelines, please prayerfully consider making a donation to support and sustain our apostolate so that we may continue to provide this and all of our resources designed to nourish and grow your Catholic faith.
DONATE
Read the rest
March 14
While she waited in her anguish,
Seeing Christ in torment languish,
Bitter sorrow pierced her heart.
For Reflection:
This verse tells us Mary “waited.” What attitude of heart do you think marked Mary’s disposition as she waited? What virtues? Recall a time when you, too, waited. What marked your disposition? What virtues did you exhibit?
If you enjoy Daily Gracelines, please prayerfully consider making a donation to support and sustain our apostolate so that we may continue to provide this and all of our resources designed to nourish and grow your Catholic faith.
DONATE
Read the rest
In a recent homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis invited the faithful who are depressed and tired of life to look at the Cross because “by those wounds we have been healed.”
Read the rest
June 30
“Be of good cheer, only work, only strive cheerfully; for nothing is lost. Every prayer of yours, every psalm you sing is recorded. Every alms, every fast is recorded.”
-St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Read the rest
June 29
Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles
“Both apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostle’s blood.”
-St. Augustine
Read the rest
June 28
Feast of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr (130 – 200)
“Where there is order, there is also harmony, where there is harmony, there is also correct timing; where there is correct timing, there is also advantage.”
-St. Irenaeus
Read the rest
June 27
Feast of St. Cyril of Alexandria , Bishop (D. 444)
“That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God fills me with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord’s disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers.”
-St. Cyril of Alexandria
Read the rest
June 26
“How often have I thought that I may owe all the graces I’ve received to the prayers of a person who begged them from God for me, and whom I shall know only in heaven.”
-St. Therese of Lisieux
Read the rest
