Ijournal entry 022916 # 09. February is the month dedicated to the Holy Family. Aphorism by Hans Urs von Balthasar. Quotes from St. Anselm of Canterbury, Blessed Oscar Romero, and Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills by a Religious, Pelligrini. Donna's Lenten Meditation on "Christ of St. John of the Cross", by Salvador Dali. Article: "Merciful like the Father: Ven. Cornelia Connelly", by Meg Hunter-Kikmer.
Video presentation by Fr. James Brent: "Fulton Sheen on Pain and Suffering"
Video presentation by Fr. James Brent: "Fulton Sheen on Pain and Suffering"
dedicated to the Holy Family.
"In the holy habitation of Nazareth Jesus transformed family life. Already blessed as God's plan for the whole human race and the first society, the Christian family has been elevated in Christ to a Sacrament, a vehicle of grace and sign of God's presence. The Church proclaims Christian marriage, and the family founded upon it, is a vocation, a response to the call of the Lord. In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we learn the way of love in the School of Nazareth"
Info from this site:
http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/family/story.php?id=44237
"In the holy habitation of Nazareth Jesus transformed family life. Already blessed as God's plan for the whole human race and the first society, the Christian family has been elevated in Christ to a Sacrament, a vehicle of grace and sign of God's presence. The Church proclaims Christian marriage, and the family founded upon it, is a vocation, a response to the call of the Lord. In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we learn the way of love in the School of Nazareth"
Info from this site:
http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/family/story.php?id=44237
Aphorism by Hans Urs von Balthasar: "God cannot have redeemed me merely because he has also redeemed all others, because my relationship to him is never accidental. Therefore, without falsifying the truth, I am entitled to disregard the quantitative totally—with infinite gravity when I am considering Christ’s suffering and Cross and with infinite joy when I am considering his personal, redeeming love"
MTA= It is truly amazing to see the value of dust by looking through the lens of the Passion and death of Jesus The Christ. My worth is infinite, it surpasses all the gold dust in the world. Someone might not even care to lend a helping hand, but in my dire straights, God sent His only Begotten Son to suffer and die for me. Dying is one thing, but suffering and dying, that really raises the ante. Jesus the Christ, Son of the living God, knowing the ingratitude that would be shown by each and every sin being committed repeatedly, still signed on. The project will prove successful in the end, God willing. What was known was that with continual graces being poured out in abundance, the goal of eternal life would become a reality for all those who cooperate and desire to live forever in glory with God. God proved His love, His word was spoken to us, but that speaking became sufficient as a reality when Jesus came, suffered died, was buried, and rose again. Jesus is the word of proof that God so loved the world, so loved me, and so loved you. Otherwise we could hear about the Father's love, and read about His love, but now we can believe in the Father's love, but the living proof we have. Talking about value, it's now visible and tangible, not the least bit intangible, to see and experience in a whole new way what Jesus really means to me. Graces are flowing today, blessed be God. Truly the words "Precious is the Lord", is magnified like never before. The song "Precious Lord Take my Hand" is coming to mind. And moving from Gospel to one of my favorites music genre is my response: "I Want You", an instrumental smooth Jazz version of the song by Marvin Gay. Instrumental songs affords an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to speak in song.
🎷 Precious Lord Take my Hand, Aretha Franklin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVMeRULuUB4&sns=em
🎺 I Want You, by Marvin Gay:
http://youtu.be/ON4lpRsU7bI
The project of redeeming you and redeeming me was love in action, give thanks, give thanks.
🎷 Precious Lord Take my Hand, Aretha Franklin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVMeRULuUB4&sns=em
🎺 I Want You, by Marvin Gay:
http://youtu.be/ON4lpRsU7bI
The project of redeeming you and redeeming me was love in action, give thanks, give thanks.
🔴 "Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us: in your love and tenderness remake us. In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness: for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us". By Saint Anselm of Canterbury
⚫️ "If we are worth anything, it is not because we have more money or more talent, or more human qualities. Insofar as we are worth anything, it is because we are grafted on to Christ's life, his cross and resurrection. That is a person's measure". By Blessed Oscar Romero
🔵 Scripture 'is inspired; light and power go out from it to enlighten and strengthen souls that are upright and sincere. Happy are they who meditate on it every day. They drink at the very well-spring of Living Waters. We can never find a more fruitful source of meditation than the words of the Divine Word Himself, as recorded in the Gospels, lending themselves as they do with equal ease to the first lispings of the soul beginning to see God and to the enraptured outpourings of the soul that has found Him.' By Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills by a Religious, Pelligrini
⚫️ "If we are worth anything, it is not because we have more money or more talent, or more human qualities. Insofar as we are worth anything, it is because we are grafted on to Christ's life, his cross and resurrection. That is a person's measure". By Blessed Oscar Romero
🔵 Scripture 'is inspired; light and power go out from it to enlighten and strengthen souls that are upright and sincere. Happy are they who meditate on it every day. They drink at the very well-spring of Living Waters. We can never find a more fruitful source of meditation than the words of the Divine Word Himself, as recorded in the Gospels, lending themselves as they do with equal ease to the first lispings of the soul beginning to see God and to the enraptured outpourings of the soul that has found Him.' By Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills by a Religious, Pelligrini
Answers to Donna's Questions from her Lenten Meditation on "Christ of St. John of the Cross", by Salvador Dali.
MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST: check out what the saints have to say:
❇️ St. Bonaventure: "He who desires to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus. There is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ."
❇️ Saint Alphonsus de Liguori: "St. Augustine said that a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread and water"
Donna's Questions
🎙1. Where have all gone?
John 6:67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve"
There were a variety of people attending the Crucifixion, many diverse personalities were encountered by The Lord. Some have gone on to experience the next big thing. There is a group that is extremely affected and mourning in sorrow. Some others are bitter and disappointed, always the indifferent are on the scene. The tried and true, sometimes to our number or be out numbered, will be graced to benefit and bear fruit abundantly.
🎙2. Did we leave Him also? Do we leave Him daily? Do we forget Him when all is going right? Do we only look for Him when we are feeling lonely ourselves?
John 6:68 "Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life"
In some from or fashion like Peter, James, and John, we leave in Him in many ways. There are mental lapses, and at times we err in thoughts, words, and deeds. The focus too often is on ourselves and as far as degree, it is too too much. In sorrow we forget all about His joyous blessings, and at times we forget that earth is not our final destination, that we have to travel home for everlasting fulfillment, wanting it all right here, right now.
Matthew 26:38-41 "Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death.* Remain here and keep watch with me.” He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
🎙Howfortunate for the times we are on target when graces are bring poured out and are fruitful. We compassionate The Lord, and we seek to follow Him and fulfill the Father's will. We praise and thank Him for the wonderful blessings and hold fast when things are difficult, riding high on faith and hope, because we know and feel His love. Thank God we try to keep constant company, sharing joys and receiving comfort and availing ourselves to His strength to make it through tough times.
Psalm 28:7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him"
🎙A major short coming is not not focus or loose sight of what The Lord has done for us. To truly focus on this, would help us to grow by leaps and bounds in love. As love grows, surrender becomes easier and easier, and more total and all encompassing. Dear Lord help me/us to realize the great price you have paid, and to respond with our whole heart, mind, and soul.
MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST: check out what the saints have to say:
❇️ St. Bonaventure: "He who desires to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus. There is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ."
❇️ Saint Alphonsus de Liguori: "St. Augustine said that a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread and water"
Donna's Questions
🎙1. Where have all gone?
John 6:67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve"
There were a variety of people attending the Crucifixion, many diverse personalities were encountered by The Lord. Some have gone on to experience the next big thing. There is a group that is extremely affected and mourning in sorrow. Some others are bitter and disappointed, always the indifferent are on the scene. The tried and true, sometimes to our number or be out numbered, will be graced to benefit and bear fruit abundantly.
🎙2. Did we leave Him also? Do we leave Him daily? Do we forget Him when all is going right? Do we only look for Him when we are feeling lonely ourselves?
John 6:68 "Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life"
In some from or fashion like Peter, James, and John, we leave in Him in many ways. There are mental lapses, and at times we err in thoughts, words, and deeds. The focus too often is on ourselves and as far as degree, it is too too much. In sorrow we forget all about His joyous blessings, and at times we forget that earth is not our final destination, that we have to travel home for everlasting fulfillment, wanting it all right here, right now.
Matthew 26:38-41 "Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death.* Remain here and keep watch with me.” He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
🎙Howfortunate for the times we are on target when graces are bring poured out and are fruitful. We compassionate The Lord, and we seek to follow Him and fulfill the Father's will. We praise and thank Him for the wonderful blessings and hold fast when things are difficult, riding high on faith and hope, because we know and feel His love. Thank God we try to keep constant company, sharing joys and receiving comfort and availing ourselves to His strength to make it through tough times.
Psalm 28:7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him"
🎙A major short coming is not not focus or loose sight of what The Lord has done for us. To truly focus on this, would help us to grow by leaps and bounds in love. As love grows, surrender becomes easier and easier, and more total and all encompassing. Dear Lord help me/us to realize the great price you have paid, and to respond with our whole heart, mind, and soul.
Donna's Lenten Meditation on "Christ of St. John of the Cross", by Salvador Dali.
Article: "Merciful like the Father: Ven. Cornelia Connelly", by a Meg Hunter-Kikmer
Info from this site:
http://www.piercedhands.com/merciful-like-the-father-ven-cornelia-connelly/
"Cornelia Connelly is a woman who knew suffering and yet managed to live with joy. Born into a wealthy Philadelphia family in 1809, Cornelia Peacock married Pierce Connelly, an Episcopalian clergyman, when she was 22. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to frontier country: Natchez, Mississippi. Pierce was very unhappy at what seemed to be a dead end position and began to question his Episcopalian faith. Before long, he had decided to renounce his priesthood and enter the Catholic Church. But Pierce, always very focused on success and worldly recognition, felt convinced that he needed to become a priest, even though to do so would have required him to separate from his wife and small children forever. Despite his wife’s devotion (and misgivings), the family sold their home and belongings so that they could travel to Rome to pursue this dream of Pierce’s.
On their way to Rome, the Connellys spent some time in New Orleans, where Cornelia’s attraction to Catholicism was confirmed. She was received into the Church, despite the opposition she knew she would experience, just before the family sailed for Rome. Pierce himself became Catholic in the Eternal City before the family returned to America a few years later, Pierce still a layman but desperate to do whatever it took to be ordained. Deeply in love with her husband, Cornelia was distraught: “Is it necessary that Pierce sacrifice himself and me too? I love my husband and my darling children. Why must I give them up?” Nor would this be her only suffering during this time. Shortly after they moved to Louisiana, their fourth child, Mary Magdalene, died in infancy. Not long after, their third child, John Henry, was knocked into a vat of boiling sugar. Cornelia held him as he slowly died, 43 hours of agony. But her suffering had only begun.
Pierce had resolved to become a priest and asked Cornelia to agree to a separation and a life of perpetual celibacy. Mourning the loss of her marriage, Cornelia agreed to give all to God. Though she several times asked him to reconsider for the sake of their family, Pierce was blind in his insistence that he could not be happy if he weren’t ordained. So Cornelia moved to England, at the prompting of the Holy Father, to found the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. In order to do so, her bishop required that she put her two younger children, ages 10 and 5, in boarding school. In anguish, she obeyed, and made vows as a religious sister within the year, finding peace amid all her troubles.
But Pierce was not at peace. He was becoming more and more unstable, eventually demanding to see Cornelia despite restrictions against it. Cornelia refused to see him. When he couldn’t influence her with persuasion, he chose to punish her by abducting her children and poisoning them against her and the Catholic Church. Enraged by her resistance, Pierce brought a lawsuit against his wife demanding his conjugal rights, despite having relinquished them years before. He renounced his Catholic priesthood and his faith and declared that he was attempting to rescue her from the Church. The English press naturally had a field day with this court case, particularly when Pierce won. Mercifully, Cornelia was granted an appeal and never made to return to the husband who had forced her to leave him and then attempted to force her to break her vows as a religious. Her reputation ruined by allegations of improprieties with the bishop, her heart broken, her children stolen from her, Cornelia returned to life as a Sister.
Pierce ended his life an Episcopalian priest in Florence, bitter and cruel to his death in his attacks on the Catholic Church. Merty, their oldest, died at age 20; Ady returned to the faith after the death of her father; Frank died as angry and anti-Catholic as his father. And what of Cornelia? Despite constant attacks from within her order and without, Cornelia was a woman of radiant joy. Asked once why she wasn’t miserable, with all she had suffered, Cornelia replied with a smile, “Ah, my child, the tears are always running down the back of my nose.” Cornelia grieved her suffering deeply but chose still to live in the joy of Christ risen. From what I can tell, Cornelia wrote very little of the sufferings of her life except to offer them to the Lord and to remind her daughters in religion of the good suffering can do to the soul. “We have all a large share of suffering, and if we had not, we should never become Christlike as we ought,” she said, speaking volumes about her ability to forgive. Indeed, the joy Cornelia exhibited could only have been possible if she was a woman of great mercy.
I can’t think how I would react to the constant attacks Cornelia underwent, but I’m quite sure those who knew me wouldn’t describe me as radiant with the love of God. Most of us, I’m sure, would become terribly bitter in such circumstances. But Mother Cornelia was always a beacon of peace and full of smiles. She even viewed smiling as an offering to the Spirit: “Give to the Holy Ghost many smiles and offer each smile as an invocation–a fidelity–a cooperation with grace.” All this amid more suffering than most of us will ever experience.
Cornelia Connelly has become a dear friend of mine in recent months as I offer her witness of interior peace in a difficult marriage to friends who are suffering from difficult marriages themselves. Her ability to cling to the Lord and continue to trust him, even when trusting him seemed to have destroyed her happy life, is a witness to us all. More than anything, perhaps, I’m struck by her willingness to accept the circumstances of her life as a gift from God when I would have called them a curse. Certainly Cornelia spent her life offering mercy to her husband, but I see in her also a desire, if it’s possible, to be merciful to God. Rather than curse, abandon, or resent him, Cornelia chose love. It seems silly to suggest that we ought to be merciful toward the Father as well as being merciful like the Father. And of course he’s done nothing wrong, nothing that could warrant our forgiveness. But many of us still harbor resentment against the Lord for suffering we see as his fault. Perhaps this week we can walk with Venerable Cornelia Connelly and ask her prayers that we might accept God’s will–even when it’s awful–and love him all the more for it."
Info from this site:
http://www.piercedhands.com/merciful-like-the-father-ven-cornelia-connelly/
"Cornelia Connelly is a woman who knew suffering and yet managed to live with joy. Born into a wealthy Philadelphia family in 1809, Cornelia Peacock married Pierce Connelly, an Episcopalian clergyman, when she was 22. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to frontier country: Natchez, Mississippi. Pierce was very unhappy at what seemed to be a dead end position and began to question his Episcopalian faith. Before long, he had decided to renounce his priesthood and enter the Catholic Church. But Pierce, always very focused on success and worldly recognition, felt convinced that he needed to become a priest, even though to do so would have required him to separate from his wife and small children forever. Despite his wife’s devotion (and misgivings), the family sold their home and belongings so that they could travel to Rome to pursue this dream of Pierce’s.
On their way to Rome, the Connellys spent some time in New Orleans, where Cornelia’s attraction to Catholicism was confirmed. She was received into the Church, despite the opposition she knew she would experience, just before the family sailed for Rome. Pierce himself became Catholic in the Eternal City before the family returned to America a few years later, Pierce still a layman but desperate to do whatever it took to be ordained. Deeply in love with her husband, Cornelia was distraught: “Is it necessary that Pierce sacrifice himself and me too? I love my husband and my darling children. Why must I give them up?” Nor would this be her only suffering during this time. Shortly after they moved to Louisiana, their fourth child, Mary Magdalene, died in infancy. Not long after, their third child, John Henry, was knocked into a vat of boiling sugar. Cornelia held him as he slowly died, 43 hours of agony. But her suffering had only begun.
Pierce had resolved to become a priest and asked Cornelia to agree to a separation and a life of perpetual celibacy. Mourning the loss of her marriage, Cornelia agreed to give all to God. Though she several times asked him to reconsider for the sake of their family, Pierce was blind in his insistence that he could not be happy if he weren’t ordained. So Cornelia moved to England, at the prompting of the Holy Father, to found the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. In order to do so, her bishop required that she put her two younger children, ages 10 and 5, in boarding school. In anguish, she obeyed, and made vows as a religious sister within the year, finding peace amid all her troubles.
But Pierce was not at peace. He was becoming more and more unstable, eventually demanding to see Cornelia despite restrictions against it. Cornelia refused to see him. When he couldn’t influence her with persuasion, he chose to punish her by abducting her children and poisoning them against her and the Catholic Church. Enraged by her resistance, Pierce brought a lawsuit against his wife demanding his conjugal rights, despite having relinquished them years before. He renounced his Catholic priesthood and his faith and declared that he was attempting to rescue her from the Church. The English press naturally had a field day with this court case, particularly when Pierce won. Mercifully, Cornelia was granted an appeal and never made to return to the husband who had forced her to leave him and then attempted to force her to break her vows as a religious. Her reputation ruined by allegations of improprieties with the bishop, her heart broken, her children stolen from her, Cornelia returned to life as a Sister.
Pierce ended his life an Episcopalian priest in Florence, bitter and cruel to his death in his attacks on the Catholic Church. Merty, their oldest, died at age 20; Ady returned to the faith after the death of her father; Frank died as angry and anti-Catholic as his father. And what of Cornelia? Despite constant attacks from within her order and without, Cornelia was a woman of radiant joy. Asked once why she wasn’t miserable, with all she had suffered, Cornelia replied with a smile, “Ah, my child, the tears are always running down the back of my nose.” Cornelia grieved her suffering deeply but chose still to live in the joy of Christ risen. From what I can tell, Cornelia wrote very little of the sufferings of her life except to offer them to the Lord and to remind her daughters in religion of the good suffering can do to the soul. “We have all a large share of suffering, and if we had not, we should never become Christlike as we ought,” she said, speaking volumes about her ability to forgive. Indeed, the joy Cornelia exhibited could only have been possible if she was a woman of great mercy.
I can’t think how I would react to the constant attacks Cornelia underwent, but I’m quite sure those who knew me wouldn’t describe me as radiant with the love of God. Most of us, I’m sure, would become terribly bitter in such circumstances. But Mother Cornelia was always a beacon of peace and full of smiles. She even viewed smiling as an offering to the Spirit: “Give to the Holy Ghost many smiles and offer each smile as an invocation–a fidelity–a cooperation with grace.” All this amid more suffering than most of us will ever experience.
Cornelia Connelly has become a dear friend of mine in recent months as I offer her witness of interior peace in a difficult marriage to friends who are suffering from difficult marriages themselves. Her ability to cling to the Lord and continue to trust him, even when trusting him seemed to have destroyed her happy life, is a witness to us all. More than anything, perhaps, I’m struck by her willingness to accept the circumstances of her life as a gift from God when I would have called them a curse. Certainly Cornelia spent her life offering mercy to her husband, but I see in her also a desire, if it’s possible, to be merciful to God. Rather than curse, abandon, or resent him, Cornelia chose love. It seems silly to suggest that we ought to be merciful toward the Father as well as being merciful like the Father. And of course he’s done nothing wrong, nothing that could warrant our forgiveness. But many of us still harbor resentment against the Lord for suffering we see as his fault. Perhaps this week we can walk with Venerable Cornelia Connelly and ask her prayers that we might accept God’s will–even when it’s awful–and love him all the more for it."
Video presentation by Fr. James Brent: "Fulton Sheen on Pain and Suffering"
YouTube video link: http://youtu.be/Q-ks-bwbtDw
YouTube video link: http://youtu.be/Q-ks-bwbtDw