The Balm That Heals The Ingratitude Of The World

Make the resolution today to be nothing for creatures, nothing for yourself, and all for God.  The great secret of holiness, I repeat to you, is to love, and saints are nothing but chalices of sorrowful love, "fools of faith, beings of light."  Another day I will speak to you about the martyrdom of love, that which most crucifies, and obtains the most graces.  For now you have enough to entertain yourself at the feet of Jesus.  I only tell you that humble souls are the ones who know how to love truly, and are the only ones to receive and communicate the rays of sovereign goodness.

Love, then, but with a love born of humility; we are not holy because we are not humble.  Do you love me more than these?  Tell him: "This is what I desire, Jesus of my heart, this is what I long for with all the enthusiasm of my humble heart.  To love you more than all the angels and saints."  To love you, to love you!  All the rest is detail, Jesus, images that pass, they are smoke that vanishes, only you, Jesus, Jesus and Mary.  I want to enter into your heart, more deeply than the lance, more profoundly than your heartbeats, and live from its warmth and its light, its charity and zeal, its meekness and humility.  That wound bleeds, that wound is waiting for me and hopes that I may be the balm that heals the ingratitude of the world and of those who are his own.  You, the Jesus who lives and breathes not far away, but right near to me, the one whom I devour with the inmost ardent desire every morning, shall be, from now on, the confidant of my secrets, of my confidences.

You love me, and this electrifies me.  You want to be my Father, my guide, my companion, by brother, my friend, my spouse, my everything!  O sweet Jesus, look at me!  One glance from you, and my heart will be opened to holy growth.  Give me your heartbeats, give me your voice, your heart, your tenderness, you compassion!

Possess me, absorb me, transform me, divinize me, simplifying me so that we may be two in one, you in me, I in you!

~Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (Conchita)

I Got This

"I know this looks bad.  But we'll be out of here in a few minutes.  I got this."
~tom cruise in Knight And Day (movie)
http://www.knightanddaymovie.com/#/home

Contemplative Prayer

Paradoxical as it may seem, it would not even occur to a person -- no, nor to an angel or saint -- to desire contemplative love were it not already alive within him.  I believe, too, that often our Lord deliberately chooses to work in those who have been habitual sinners rather than in those who, by comparison, have never grieved him at all.  Yes, he seems to do this very often.  For I think he wants us to realize that he is all-merciful and almighty, and that he is perfectly free to work as he pleases, where he pleases, and when he pleases.

Yet he does not give his grace nor work this work in a person who has no aptitude for it.  But a person lacking the capacity to receive his grace could never gain it through his own efforts either.  No one at all, neither sinner nor innocent, can do so.  For this grace is a gift, and it is not given for innocence nor withheld for sin...

Contemplative prayer is God's gift, wholly gratuitous.  No one can earn it.  It is in the nature of this gift that one who receives it receives also the aptitude for it.  No one can have the aptitude without the gift itself.  The aptitude for this work is one with the work; they are identical.  He who experiences God working in the depths of his spirit has the aptitude for contemplation and no one else.  For without God's grace a person would be so completely insensitive to the reality of contemplative prayer that he would be unable to desire or long for it.  You possess it to the extent that you will and desire to possess it, no more and no less.  But you will never desire to possess it until that which is ineffable and unknowable moves you to desire the ineffable and unknowable.  Do not be curious to know more, I beg you.  Only become increasingly faithful to this work until it becomes your whole life.

To put it more simply, let that mysterious grace move in your spirit as it will and follow wherever it leads you.  Let it be the active doer and you the passive receiver...  Your part is to be as wood to a carpenter or a home to a dweller.  Remain blind during this time, cutting away all desire to know, for knowledge is a hindrance here.  Be content to feel this mysterious grace sweetly awaken in the depths of your spirit.  Forget everything but God and fix on him your naked desire, your longing stripped of all self-interest.

from The Cloud Of Unknowing
which was written in Middle English by an unknown mystic of the 14th century.

Augustine re the Will

The whole of our life is God stretching the will until it is wide enough to contain the infinite.

~ Saint Augustine

"Love One Another"

"The less we have, the more we give.  Seems absurd, but it's the logic of love."...
True love causes pain.  Jesus, in order to give us the proof of His love, died on the cross.  A mother, in order to give birth to her baby, has to suffer.  If you really love one another, you will not be able to avoid making sacrifices.  The poor do not need our condescending attitude or our pity.  They only need our love and our tenderness.

To me, Jesus is the Life I want to live, the Light I want to reflect, the Way to the Father, the Love I want to express, the joy I want to share, the Peace I want to sow around me.  Jesus is everything to me.

If faith is scarce, it is because there is too much selfishness in the world, too much egoism.  Faith, in order to be authentic, has to be generous and giving.  Love and faith go hand in hand...

God has created us so we do small things with great love.  I believe in that great love, that comes, or should come from our heart, should start at home: with my family, my neighbors across the street, those right next door.  And this love should then reach everyone.

~Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

from the May 2010 -- Vo. 12, No. 3 issue of Magnificat

True Charity

Never reach out your hand
unless you are willing to
extend an arm.

~ Pope Paul VI

Wealth Vs Money

You aren't wealthy until you have
something money can't buy.

~ Garth Brooks

Flexible Committment

Stay committed to your decisions,
but stay flexible in your approach.

~ Tony Robbins

Pain And Perseverance

Pain is temporary.
Quitting lasts forever.

~ Lance Armstrong

Problems Perceived

One of the nice things about problems is that
a good many of them do not exist.

~ Steve Allen

Lincoln On Power

Nearly all men can stand adversity,
but if you want to test a man's character,
give him power.

~ Abraham Lincoln

Habits Vs Expectations

If you do what you've always done,
you'll get what you've always gotten.

~ Tony Robbins

Berra On Becoming

If you don't know where you are going,
you might wind up someplace else.

~ Yogi Berra

Leseur's Lenten Disciplines

I have jotted down in my notebook my lenten resolutions, but I want to confirm them here.  I must truly renew my life, and it is God whom I ask in all simplicity to transform me.  I want to live interiorly more spiritually, exteriorly more gently and lovingly so as to make God better loved, who is the beginning and end of my spiritual life.  More than ever I want to hide in the heart of Jesus my good works, my prayers, my self-denial, to preach only through example, to speak not at all of myself and little of God, since in this sad world one only gives scandal or annoys others by showing one's love for God.  But whenever someone approaches me, or whenever it seems to be God's will that I should approach another, I will do so simply, very prudently, and disappear as soon as the task is done, misxing no thought of self with God's action.  And should I be misunderstood, criticized, and judged unfavorably, I will try to rejoice in remembering our divine exemplar, and I will seek to be of no consequence in the eteem of others, I who am in fact so poor and little in the eyes of God.

~Elizabeth Leseur
exerpt fround in Magnificat Vol. 11, No. 13

Romans 8

Every word is a treasure!

Praise You Lord for Your lavish Goodness!!!  Praise be Jesus Christ! :))

Chopin's Ballade No. 4 in F Minor

Normally I quote words!  But this piece is so moving to me today, I want to quote it here w/out much comment.  There's one particular melody-fragment in the middle that touches me w/ its exquisite tenderness.
http://lala.com/zTLr

God bless Chopin!

Tarrying Tips

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."
~ Mark Twain

"The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure."
~ Henry David Thoreau

"The future will be better tomorrow."
~ Dan Quayle