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October 20, 2020OUR PIUS UPDATE
October 20, 2020
DEEPENING GOD’S LIFE IN ME
Yesterday, October 19 was the observance of the North American Martyrs (sometimes called the Canadian Martyrs), in memory of a group of French Jesuit missionaries killed at various times and locations in what is now upstate New York and Canada around 1642. (We observed this in Canada in September.) In the Gospel for that day, Luke12: 13-21.
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus responds to a listener asking him to take sides in an inheritance dispute. The response that Jesus gives, reminds us not to focus our attentions and affections on the accumulation of wealth—the things of this world—but instead to “grow rich in the sight of God.”
I’ve certainly experienced the desire for God to “take sides” in my problems or disagreements with others—up to and including elections, Church developments, and just about anything that gets me fired up. I’ve also occasionally become what Ignatius would have called “inordinately attached” to my concerns over finances, my hopes for success at work, or similar personal issues.
In the First Principle and Foundation of his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius points us instead toward those things that matter to God. To the extent that our gifts and aspirations help us to “develop as loving persons”, we should appreciate and engage in these pursuits. But if they become the center of our lives, they prevent us from finding the inner freedom to respond to God’s invitations.
“Our only desire and our one choice should be this:
I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.”
(Translation from David Fleming, S.J.)
Take time to listen to this deepening today.
(SOURCE: Tom Reynolds, Daily Inspiration from www.JesuitPrayer.orgPRAYER
Lord, my God,
when your love spilled over into creation
You thought of me.
I am from love, of love, for love.
Let my heart,
O God,
always recognize,
cherish and enjoy your goodness in all of creation.
Direct all that is me towards your praise.
Teach me reverence for every person, all things.
Energize me in your service.
Lord God,
may nothing ever distract me from your love…
neither health nor sickness, wealth nor poverty, honour nor dishonour, long life nor short life.
May I never seek nor choose to be other than You intend or wish.
Amen.
SOURCE: Prayer based on the First Principle and Foundation, from the Take and Receive series
by Jacqueline Syrup Bergan and Sr. Marie Schwan, CSJ.
10 TIPS FOR BRINGING HOPE TO YOUR LIFE
If you are overwhelmed, tired, or need hope, here are 10 things to try today to bring restoration to your life. You might even bring hope to others too!
1. Spend the day NOT watching the news.
I don't care who you are voting for or why but we need to unplug from the news.
Try it for just today and see how you feel tomorrow: doctor's orders!
2. Engage your brain.
Do something that you love that involves using your brain.
Read a book or create some art.
Work in your garden or write in your journal or blog.
3. Don't be a troll.
Yes, we are all nosy Americans and social media has only made this worse.
We tend to enjoy living under the bridge and merely being a bystander instead of being engaged.
Today, get on Facebook and actually COMMENT on other folks' posts.
4. Take a nap.
A short nap will rejuvenate your soul and your body.
5. Spread the love.
Write some thank you cards or emails to people who are awesome in your personal or professional life.
They probably need it.
6. Plan your week.
Spend 10 minutes with your calendar (home/work) and map out how your week will unfold.
This will ease your anxiety if you wake up with a "case of the Mondays."
7. Hug or kiss someone.
Please do not do this to a random stranger at Target and then blame it on me.
Hug your children or friends.
Kiss your spouse or significant other. Don't forget to hug your pets -- unless you own a turtle.
(Remember your bubble)
8. Sit in silence.
The death penalty sounds better to some of you than sitting in silence.
Monks master this technique, and while we do not wear awesome robes and sandals, we need to shut it and be silent sometimes.
Spend a minutes in silence today.
Check your heartbeat before and after this exercise.
Slow down!
9. Listen to music.
Jam out to some music that you need.
Maybe you need a lot of beats or maybe you need to chill out in the jazz café.
10. Pass this on. (No explanation needed).
SOURCE: Jason Weirich, www.catholicmom.com)
12 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ST. TERESA OF AVILA
Did you know how in love she was with reading? October 15 is the Feast of St. Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), probably the female saint and mystic with the greatest influence in the world.
For the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, we decided to ask a Carmelite why this saint—a Doctor of the Church, representing the culmination of Christian mysticism—is relevant and useful for new generations.
So we turned to Sr. Cristiana Dobner, one of the most prolific Carmelite nuns and Catholic women today. She translates German, English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Hebrew, and Russian, and is a contributor to various publications, including the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
So to get to know this saint better for her Feast Day, here are a dozen interesting facts about the saint:
1. She felt that a day when she couldn’t read a new book was a day lost.
2. With the complicity of her mother and behind the back of her strict father, she read books about the great deeds of knights, which were very popular at the time.
3. There are hypotheses that suggest that Teresa was part of a network of women who exchanged books.
4. She was independent and autonomous. When she understood that God was calling her to be a nun, and after she told her father (who rejected the idea), she decided to leave her parents’ house, and she went to the monastery of the Incarnation (in Avila).
5. The day she entered the monastery (November 2, 1535), the bells were ringing for All Souls Day.
6. She overcame bureaucratic and economic obstacles—and, Dobner says, also the male chauvinism of the time—and managed to found new convents.
7. She established small convents throughout Spain. She traveled on foot, and thus became called the “walking” (“andariega”) saint.
8. She taught her nuns to think and pray on their own, and to concentrate in order to hear the Lord in their interior, in what she called the “Interior Castle”.
9. She was closely watched because she was suspected of heresy, but they couldn’t find anything that contradicted the idea that she was obeying God’s will.
10. She always abandoned herself to God’s will, and was a very determined woman who knew where she was going. She often used to say, “I am yours, Lord; I was born for You. What do you want from me?”
11. In 1970, together with Saint Catherine of Siena, she was declared a Doctor of the Church.
12. As she herself admitted, sometimes she felt like “a lion”, and other times like “an ant”.
SOURCE: Miriam Diez Bosch , www.aleteia.org