Speak without wounding

April 18, 2020
“If you know how to speak without wounding, although you may have to correct or reprimand, hearts will not close themselves to you. The seed will fall on truly fertile ground and the harvest will be plentiful.”
-Fr. Salvatore Canals, Jesus as Friend
Today’s Reflection
This word is meant just for me today. What strategy can I employ to heed its advice?

(From Graceful Living)


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He who is faithful in a very little

April 17, 2020
“He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.”
-Luke 16:10
Today’s Reflection
What “very little” has been entrusted to me? What can I do to ensure that God will also entrust much more to me?

(From Graceful Living)


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God does not lose battles

April 16, 2020
“Faith: avoid defeatism and sterile lamenting about the religious situation of your countries, and get on with the job with effort and move … many people. Hope: God does not lose battles.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva, paraphrase reported in In Conversation with God, Volume 2, by Francis Fernandez
Today’s Reflection
According to St. Josemaria, how can I exhibit faith and hope about the religious situation of my country?

(From Graceful Living)


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Rest for those who work

April 15, 2020
“Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep, medicine for the sick, a harbor for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad, succor for those who implore.”
-St. John Damascene, Homily on Our Lady’s Dormition
Today’s Reflection
Who is the Blessed Mother to me today? How am I experiencing her maternal love?

(From Graceful Living)


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How often I have failed

April 14, 2020
“How often I have failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.”
-St. Teresa of Avila, her Life (paraphrase)
Today’s Reflection
Is this my lament, too? What resolution am I willing to make?

(From Graceful Living)


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Queen of Peace

April 13, 2020

“Mary, Queen of Peace, is close to the women of our day because of her motherhood, her example of openness to others’ needs, and her witness of suffering.”

-From an address of Pope St. John Paul II, “Women: Teachers of Peace”

 

Today’s Reflection

How can I seek the example, wisdom and intercession of the Blessed Mother today to make me a “teacher of peace”?

(From Graceful Living)


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Lenten Journey with the Saints: Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday
Most glorious Lord of life that on this day
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin,
And having harrowed hell didst bring away
Captivity thence captive us to win;
This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin
And grant that we, for whom Thou didst die
Being with Thy dear blood clean washed from sin,
May live forever in felicity.
And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love Thee for the same again;
And for Thy sake that all like dear didst buy,
With love may one another entertain.
So let us love, dear love, like as we ought,
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.
–“Easter”, Edmund Spenser (1553-1598)
Today’s Reflection
JESUS LIVES! How am I experiencing His life in me on this glorious day?

 


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Lenten Journey with the Saints: Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday
I am not moved to love Thee, O my Lord,
By any longing for Thy Promised Land;
Nor by the fear of hell am I unmanned
To cease from my transgressing deed or word.
‘Tis Thou Thyself dost move me, — Thy blood poured
Upon the cross from nailed foot and hand;
And all the wounds that did Thy body brand;
And all Thy shame and bitter death’s award.
Yea, to Thy heart am I so deeply stirred
That I would love Thee were no heaven on high,
That I would fear, were hell a tale absurd!
Such my desire, all questioning grows vain;
Though hope deny me hope I still should sigh,
And as my love is now, it should remain.
-To Christ Crucified (16th or 17th C.),
Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Walsh
Today’s Reflection
On this Holy Saturday I enter into the tomb with Jesus. What one area of my life is most in need of resurrection? How is Jesus showing me He wants to bring this part of me “back to life?”

 


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Lenten Journey with the Saints: Good Friday

Good Friday

Jesus:
O Mother dear, didst thou but hear
My plaint of desolation,
Thy tender heart would burst apart
With grief of separation!

I am not stone, yet all alone
I hush My soul’s outcrying, —
Alone to tread the wine-press red,
To bear the pain of dying.

My lips are dumb, the night has come;
Ah! Solace I might borrow
Had I but thee to bide with Me
In this wild waste of sorrow.

Mary:
“Gentle moon and start of midnight,
Golden apples born of sunshine,
Precious pearls and jewels rare, —
All things glorious, all things shining,”
Thus the sorrowing Mother spake;
“E’en ye bright, transfigured faces,
Mourn with me for Jesus’ sake.

“Sparkle, gleam, and glow no longer:
Only moan and mourn for Him.
Shine not, shine not, weep forever,
Till your thousand eyes are dim;
For the mighty One has fallen,
And my Beautiful is slain;
In the dense wood pierced, my Shepherd, —
Weep ye, weep ye for my pain!
O most oppressed of all oppressed,
Heart of my heart, my all, my Son!
Grief’s keenest sword doth pierce my breast:
I die with Thee, my only one!
Alas! the pain is all too great,
Since, living, still I share Thy fate.

“Yes, mine Thou wert to bear and rear
Through life and light, and pain and loss;
And now, ten thousand times more dear,
I yield Thee to the cruel cross!”

-“Dialogue at the Cross,” Frederick Spee, S. J. (1591-1635)
translated from the German by Mary E. Mannix

 

Today’s Reflection

Today I stand at the foot of the Cross with Mary my mother. What pain, sorrow, suffering, trial, and contradiction do I yield to the “cruel cross”? How does Mary give me guidance in this surrender?

 


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Lenten Journey with the Saints: Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday

Prone in Gethsemene upon His face,
His eyelids closed, — lay Christ of all our world,
The winds with endless sorrows seemed enswirled;
A little fountain murmured of its pain
Reflecting the pale sickle of the moon;
Then was the hour when the Angel brought
From God’s high throne the Cup of bitter horn,
While on His hands tears trembling fell like rain.

Before the Christ a cross arose on high;
He saw His own young body hanging there
Mangled, distorted; knotted ropes half-tear
The sinews from their sockets; saw He nigh
The jagged nails’ hot rage, the direful Crown
Upon His head, and every dripping thorn
Red-laden, as in fury of its scorn
The thunder battered all kind voices down.
He heard the pattering drops, as from the cross
A piteous sobbing whispered and grew still.
Then Jesus sighed, and every pore did spill
A bloody sweat.

-From Gethsemene
by Annette Von Droste-Hulshoff (1797-1848)

 

Today’s Reflection

Take this poem into your prayer time meditation as you consider the great gift of our redemption. How is Jesus speaking to me in it?


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