“The one sole thing in myself in which I glory is that I see in myself nothing in which I can glory.”
St. Catherine of Genoa
For Reflection:
St. Catherine is not denying her gifts and talents, nor the graces that God has given her. Rather, she is recognizing that all that she has belongs to God and comes from God. To what extent do her words resonate with me?
BY writes: “You mention yoga pretty often on your program, and there’s one thing that I’ve never heard from you, that you might want to include in your arguments. It will help you when talking to people who want to do the physical part only. The physical is Hatha Yoga and the meditative is Rajah Yoga. There is an old saying in yoga itself – “No hatha without rajah; no rajah without hatha”. This clearly says that it is impossible to divorce the physical from the meditative, according to the philosophy itself. If they say it can’t be done, then it definitely can’t be done.”
“Christ shines into the bottom of the humble heart; for Christ is always moved by helplessness whenever a man complains of it and lays it before Him with humility.”
Blessed Jan Van Ruysbroeck
For Reflection:
Am I willing to admit that I am helpless? Where am I helpless today? Can I lay it before Christ and wait patiently for His light to shine within me that I might find His way and His truth?
“In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing. Nothing wearies it by elation, and nothing oppresses it by dejection, because it stands in the center of its own humility.”
St. John of the Cross
For Reflection:
Is my spirit “quiet” and “reposed?” To what extent, then, am I truly detached from the influences of the world and the flesh?
God’s words to St. Catherine of Sienna:
“You are she who is not,
and I am Who is.”
For Reflection:
To what extent have I placed my confidence in God for all things? Which one thing do I need to give Him today?
“I was like a stone lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came, and in His mercy lifted me up, and verily raised me aloft and placed me on the top of the wall.”
St. Patrick
For Reflection:
St. Patrick outlines for us the essentials for growing in humility: to see ourselves as we truly are, to realize our dependency on God, to know that it is His mercy not our power that heals us, and to place our confidence in Him. Which of these “essentials” do I most need to remember today?
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A 75 year-old Washington, DC resident who lost his hearing in a fall on Father’s Day, is thanking God for a miraculous restoration of hearing that occurred during the earthquake that rocked the region on Tuesday.
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A Niagara Falls man with a long criminal record has been sentenced to 18 months in jail after admitting to extorting $90,000 from a Catholic priest after threatening to falsely accuse him of committing sexual abuse.
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is causing outrage by his decision to ban all clergy from the upcoming commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“In humility there is mirrored the central mystery of the process of our transformation – the mystery that our Lord has put into these words: ‘Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
Dietrich von Hildebrand
For Reflection:
What “fruit” have some of my “dying” moments brought forth? To what extent did I see transformation in my life or in the life of others because of it? How does this give me the strength to persevere now and in the future?
