“Patient endurance attains to all things. The one who possesses God is lacking in nothing; God alone is enough.”
Teresa of Avila
For Reflection:
Could the cause of my current impatience be a deficiency in the things of God? How can I begin to rectify this today?
MM asks: “I would love to know if Biodanza is New Age or is it in keeping with the Catholic church view.”
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A newly released investigative report is alleging that Atlanta Public School (APS) Superintendent Beverly Hall was so intent on protecting her image as a “miracle worker” that she oversaw a vast network of teachers who routinely altered student test scores to make their schools appear to be performing better while silencing uncooperative employees with threats.
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The day after the State of Rhode Island passed a bill allowing civil unions between same-sex couples, Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin warned Catholics that participation in these ceremonies is a “very grave violation of the moral law and, thus, seriously sinful.”
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A devastating statement released yesterday by the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) says their investigation of Fr. John Corapi uncovered multiple violations of his vows, including the abuse of drugs, engaging in sexual relations, and stockpiling more than $1 million in personal assets.
“God is a farmer, and if He abandons man, man becomes a desert. Man is also a farmer and if he leaves God, he turns himself into a desert as well.”
St. Augustine
For Reflection:
How have I seen the truth of these words? Am I contemplating “abandoning God” in any way? I will pray for the virtue of patience to remain steadfast lest my soul become a wasteland.
Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
An article appearing in this Sunday’s edition of the New York Times (NYT) celebrates columnist Dan Savage, a homosexual sex-advice guru who claims faithfulness “destroys more marriages than it saves.”
CL writes: “A couple of people I know are considering a session with a gentleman (Yefim Shubentsov) known as the ‘Mad Russian’ (hypnotist?) in Brookline, MA to help quit smoking (bioenergetics?). I wanted to know how this stands in the eyes of the Catholic Church.”
Six years ago, I had a heart attack due to stress, not blockage. Though my recovery was complete, I felt brokenness within my heart.
Looking back, I can see God’s hand during my recovery. His tenderness was felt in the eyes of my husband, Ken. His strength was experienced in the hands of the cardiac rehab staff.
While recuperating, I became an EWTN junkie. I watched The Abundant Life and later began watching the Women of Grace® TV programs and learned much from Johnnette, Fr. Ed and their guests. Johnnette’s enthusiasm made me yearn for peace and purpose.
One day, after prayer, I asked myself, “Could I become a woman of grace?” At daily Mass, a hunger for Scripture began to grow in my heart. I signed up for my first bible study at St. Timothy’s Church, on Revelation, and realized that I had jumped into deep waters. My table leader encouraged me to be persistent and watch the Holy Spirit work through the study. A few months into the study, Scripture began to come alive for me. The following year, I was asked to be a table leader. Though I had my doubts, prayer once again opened my heart and I gave a reluctant “yes.”
Immersing myself in the lessons, I sensed that God wanted me to have a more active faith. I began volunteering at St. Joseph’s Hospital and there I met a pastoral care volunteer who had a deep Marian devotion and an interior radiance. “Now there’s a woman of grace,” I thought. Little did I know, that only a few short years later, I would volunteer as a Eucharistic Minister at the same hospital where I went through cardiac rehab.
Last year, a bible study facilitator gave me a flier for the Women of Grace® study series at St. Lawrence Church in Tampa. I wasn’t sure what was involved, but knew I needed to attend. Once again, God was calling my name. The facilitators, Isabelle and Amy, modeled a spirit of receptivity, trust, and surrender. Through the study, I began to pray more before the Blessed Sacrament, to say the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. As a result, I experienced Our Lady as my spiritual mother and a deeper sense of peace and healing in my heart. It seemed that the Women of Grace study ended too soon but I knew it was time for me to leave the upper room and become an “apostle” for Jesus and Mary.
Spiritually transformed and energized, I was inspired to serve God as a Women of Grace facilitator. In May, I co-facilitated a small group in my home. At times it felt like I was on training wheels, yet the Holy Spirit worked through my imperfections and it was a blessing to bond with my spiritual sisters. In June, I co-facilitated a larger group at St. Mark the Evangelist. The scripture passage “And Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life….Instead, seek His kingdom…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'”
As a former corporate trainer, I learned that facilitating a spiritual study, like Women of Grace, is propelled by the Holy Spirit. When I surrender to God’s love, He does the rest.
I am grateful to Our Lady for the gift of a holy boldness. God truly qualifies the unqualified. How blessed I feel to play a small part in the anointed work of Women of Grace®.
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
International outrage is growing over booklets distributed by a subsidiary of the German government that encourage parents to sexually massage children as young as one year and to allow “unlimited masturbation.”
