It’s counterintuitive to my self-reliant heart the freedom of surrendering to my neediness. Not a popular stance by the world’s account but oh how I see the joy on my Savior’s face and the warmth of love radiating from His sacred heart when I do.
Breathe holiness in me. Put fresh winds in my sails. Unbutton my lips, dear God and I’ll let loose with your praise
I need you, Lord, I need you. Every hour I need you my one defense my righteousness oh how I need you. Amen
The Spirit is present wherever people live by love, witness to the truth, act in solidarity, and practice compassion. Wherever such realities are manifest in human beings, anywhere in the world, it is a sign that the Spirit has come upon them and is active within them.
We all need the Holy Spirit.
This world needs the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit has a specific, overarching mission. His task is to teach us about Jesus. He is the invisible presence of God on earth, inviting us to take his hand and walk towards purification to live eternally.
Holy Spirit, renew the hearts of your people. Light a fire in our hearts. Amen
Clutter isn’t only those piles of belongings on floors or shelves that serve as barriers to comfort and serenity in your home. The clutter between my ears causes me the most stress: all those things that take up space that I really don’t need anymore. My brain can be a messy place, an interesting place, and, without a doubt, an overcrowded place.
We can pare down our thoughts through therapy and mindfulness practice. Just as we make a practice of cleaning up our physical space, we can regard and contemplate the piles of thoughts that we’ve created in our head, and decide what we need to keep and what we can throw away.
Lately, I’ve been throwing out self-judgment and harshness. I’ve reorganized outdated ideas about what I need to be doing with my days and my life, scrapping fear and insecurity. Clearing out the negative mental clutter has created a lot more space for curiosity, positivity, and creativity. How do you sort through your clutter? What are you making room for?
Lord, thank you for helping me hang on to thoughts that serve me and that are made of your truth, allowing me to chuck the rest. Amen
The mutual love of the Father and the Son, which Jesus gratuitously extends to us as his friends, should bear fruit in charity. The first Christians took very seriously Christ’s command of charity. It was their distinctive mark. It set them apart from the peoples among whom they lived. It was the magnetic force that attracted so many to join their ranks.
The command to love each other is the logical result of our personal worth as people loved by the Lord. If Jesus loves my brother or sister so much that he gave his life for him or her, can there be any excuse for me not to show respect and deference on their behalf? Charity is the badge of every true Christian. How can I better live Christ’s commandment of love, starting within my own family?
Jesus, I pray that I will never cease to be astonished by the depths of your personal love for me. You call me your friend even though I have not always lived up to the demands of this calling. I want to be a better and truer friend of yours. As a signal of my intention, I will show a simple act of kindness to a member of my family today. Amen
We need to pray for the right order of things in our life. Many of the Saints lived a life of simplicity which helped them focus on what was important to pass through the narrow gate of God.
It has been said that we do not seek to understand, but need to believe in order to understand. Faith and reason are important partners but to walk the path of transformation and change, we must believe and then Gods grace through the Holy Spirit allows us to hear, see and understand. Our hearts are receptive to what they need to hear.
Lord, I pray for the faithfulness to believe in your constant presence and goodness in all of creation. May all your creation wake up and participate in the circle of life according to Your will, in love. Amen
We all need great role models. The Saints provide us with holy examples of how we can live today. St. Catherine of Siena was born in 1347 in Italy. She became a third order Dominican, learned to read and write, and was known for her service to the poor and her involvement in politics. She worked for the unity of the Church and was loyal to the pope. She died April 29, 1380 at the age of thirty-three and was later proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. Her best known spiritual writing is The Dialogue. Her quotes, though over six hundred years old, are still relevant today and can be a launching pad for our personal prayer. The Church celebrates her this week, we will explore several quotes from St. Catherine of Siena by Meredith Frediani and we will start with one of my favorites.
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
We all have to discern our path in life. For some it is easier than others. When I see what others get to do in order to be part of building God’s kingdom and compare it to my task, I feel like maybe what I am doing does not matter. I have not published a bestseller that inspires people to pray, and I am not on the speaking circuit revving up young adults. I am here, doing my thing. I have faith that it is what God desires from me and for that reason alone it is important. St. Catherine reminds me that even though it may seem insignificant, it is helping set the world on fire for God.
Lord, Help me today to be who you created me to be so I can set the world on fire with Your love. Amen
HOLY – WHOLLY – HOLEY Three words that sound alike, are spelled differently, have their own distinct meaning and yet are connected one with the other.
The third is HOLEY – H-O-L-E-Y.
This holey is porous, permeable, spacious, expansive. I think of a donut hole. The hole of the donut offers a space, a spaciousness. Without its hole, it would be a different pastry. For us, the holey space is a place of being. It is not for doing, it has no form for doing. It is a space, which allows inner stillness that fosters authentic connection. I think of the womb, a spaciousness where a child becomes. In the silence and spaciousness of this holey space, a song, a poem, or this reflection is born.
Rabbi Mosche Gersht says, “It is in this inner spaciousness that we monitor our inner dialogue. From this spaciousness, the true power of who we are will shine the way it was meant to be. Everything seems to emanate from this space, there is a source of being in truth.” This space is that deep knowing that we experience. A knowing that seems to be filled with goodness, with God-ness inside, a place where our creator God is guiding, directing and moving the world toward the highest good. This kind of holey is a space inside us that allows creativity, connection and love to expand. It seems to me that it is the spaciousness of the tomb in which Jesus becomes the Christ of Resurrection.
Hafiz, the Sufi mystic and Persian poet, writes, “I am a hole in a flute that Christ’s breath moves through…..listen to the music.”
To become holey we rest and stay in silence where there is a space where we can authentically engage with the Divine. Perhaps, this prayer by Christin Lore Weber is ours to consciously consider: The world needs the hollowness of you. At times, this hollowness will be a passage that people will find their way through you. Or your hollowness will be a bowl and people will eat from you and not know hunger. Your hollowness will be a cup for those who thirst from suffering, they will find wisdom and love as they drink from you.
I believe from this spaciousness we may discover our sameness and oneness as the human race, with all creatures and all subatomic atoms. From this spaciousness, we will believe all are equal, all is one, and all is love. We will know there is a difference, but not separation, only connectivity.
HOLY – WHOLLY – HOLEY
Lord, Weave these three ways of being into one and allow us to become the manifestation Your glory…the Glory of God. Allow us to become radiant and who we are born to be. May our Easter Season and long beyond be holy, wholly and holey!
Excerpt from Easter Vigil Reflection March 30, 2024 Sister Marie Therese “MT” Summers, OSB, Prioress, Benet Hill Monastery
HOLY – WHOLLY – HOLEY Three words that sound alike, are spelled differently, have their own distinct meaning and yet are connected one with the other.
The second WHOLLY – W-H-O-L-L-Y. This wholly means complete, total, altogether. It is this wholeness that is a journey of the undivided life, living a full life. Thomas Merton says it is about living with the grace and integrity of being your whole self, your true self. He writes, “there is in all things … a hidden wholeness.” Other spiritual writers down through the ages say wholeness is holiness. Wholeness and holiness are connected, intertwined into one. This is why when we have a direct experience of our wholeness, it tends to feel like a mystical experience of gratitude, love, and abounding energy.
Lord, draw me to wholeness and holiness today. Created in Your image, I grant You permission to heal me and shine your light in the darkness of my heart.. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen
Excerpt from Easter Vigil Reflection March 30, 2024 Sister Marie Therese “MT” Summers, OSB, Prioress, Benet Hill Monastery
HOLY – WHOLLY – HOLEY. Three words that sound alike, are spelled differently, have their own distinct meaning and yet are connected one with the other.
Holy, H-O-L-Y.
Repeatedly in the Hebrew Scripture in Leviticus, we hear: Be holy because I am holy. Be holy as I am holy. Be holy for I your God am Holy. Again in the Christian Scriptures in 1 Peter, it says: As God who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”[a] This Holy means sacred, morally blameless, consecrated, saint. And though we know ourselves as both saint and sinner, each one of us is called to this holiness.
Lord, draw me to holiness today. Created in Your image, I grant You permission to make me Your instrument. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen
Excerpt for the Easter Vigil Reflection, March 30, 2024, Sister Marie Therese “MT” Summers, OSB, Prioress, Benet Hill Monastery
Day 9
Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from it great peace and great rewards, even when I confer on you the grace of immolation, of repentance, and of love. Then what does suffering matter? It seems impossible to you?
Close your eyes and say with all your soul, “Jesus, you take care of it.” Do not be afraid, I will take care of things and you will bless my name by humbling yourself. A thousand prayers cannot equal one single act of surrender, remember this well. There is no novena more effective than this.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
Mother, I am yours now and forever.
Through you and with you I always want to belong completely to Jesus
Smitten With Goodness 