February 17
Feast of the Seven Founders of the Order of Servites
"In the beginning Our Lady was the chief architect of this new order which was founded on the humility of its members, built up by their mutual love, and preserved by their poverty."
-Legenda de Origine of the Order of Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary
For Reflection:
Is the Blessed Mother the "architect" of my hopes and dreams, my plans and my way of life? How can I entrust everything to her?
(Quote from Graceful Living)
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February 16
"One of the favorite images I like to use for describing the Christian life is of a person standing with arms outstretched. One hand, in faith and prayer, touches God; the other hand is extended in service to the neighbor. Thus a person is cruciform, touching God and touching neighbor."
-Catherine de Hueck Doherty
For Reflection:
How does this quotation speak of spiritual motherhood? How can I be cruciform today?
(Quote from Graceful Living)
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February 15
"It is amusing to see souls who, while they are at prayer, fancy they are willing to be despised and publicly insulted for the love of God, yet afterward do all they can to hide their small defects; if anyone unjustly accuses them of a fault, God deliver us from their outcries!"
-St. Teresa of Avila
For Reflection:
This is a hard truth from St. Teresa. If I'm being honest with myself, to what extent does this describe me?
(Quote from Graceful Living)
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February 14
“Love is the key to the mystery. Love by its very nature is not selfish, but generous. It seeks not its own, but the good of others. The measure of love is not the pleasure it gives – that is the way the world judges it – but the joy and peace it can purchase for others.”
–Ven. Fulton J. Sheen
For Reflection:
Love is not an emotion as much as it is a decision of the will. How can I show love today according to this quote?
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February 13
"The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity."
-Saint Therese of Lisieux
Today's Reflection:
When we trust in God and faithfully ask Him to change our hearts, He does so as swiftly as is necessary. Where can God heal and change my heart today? Do I trust Him to do so?
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February 12
"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger
for bread."
-Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Today's Reflection:
What a beautiful reminder it is to know that we all ache for love. And how lucky are we to have a Father who loves us so much. Today, thank God for the love He continually pours out on you, and remember to share that love with every soul you encounter.
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Perhaps no other appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary has captured people’s hearts and imaginations like those she made to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France in 1858. Our Lady appeared eighteen times that year to an impoverished, uneducated fourteen-year-old girl who lived with her family in an old jail. Since that time, more than five thousand healings are reported to have taken place in the spot where the Blessed Mother appeared; sixty-four of them the Catholic Church has proclaimed “miraculous.”
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February 11
"Today people are suffering from poverty, but also from lack of love."
-Pope Francis
Today's Reflection:
Where am I lacking in love in my life? When I say that I love something or someone, what do I really mean? Ask God to open your heart to scatter more love wherever you go, love that only He can provide.
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Woman of Grace: St. Scholastica (480 – 543)
St. Gregory the Great recounts this story from the life of St. Benedict’s beloved twin sister, St. Scholastica, which shows how expressing our petitions to God with childlike faith and confidence sometimes yields immediate and amazing results.
After Benedict founded a monastery for men, Scholastica remained very close to her brother, founding a convent for women some miles away. Every year Scholastica went to visit Benedict at a little place just outside the monastery gate.
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February 10
"Love is not a sentiment or feeling. Love is actively willing the
good of the other."
-Bishop Robert Barron
Today's Reflection:
Often times, we think that love is simply a feeling towards another, an emotional response to a person. However, as Bishop Barron tells us, love is to actively will the good of the other. Wow! What a beautiful definition. Today, ask God to show you where you can turn your love for someone, especially Him, into action.
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