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A Spiritual Journey . . .

3/6/2013

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    Besides a daily reading of Scripture, you should be reading a spiritual book, if you aren't already doing so.  Every evening, after Liturgy of the Hours and before I go to bed, I read from the book My Daily Bread.  It is a book from the Confraternity of the Precious Blood.  It costs $8.50 and can be obtained from www.confraternitypb.org.  They also have My Imitation of
Christ
 - by Thomas à Kempis, also for $8.50.  These are two little books that pack easily for travel and give you much to meditate upon.

    Another website that will give you wonderful reading material is Ignatius Press at www.Ignatius.com.

    There are alot of books about Saints.  I read one about Father DeSmet, and although he isn't an official Saint, he should be.  If you are interested in history of the Western U.S. as I am, you will love this book.  If you google his name, there are several books that pop up.  Most are written from his numerous letters that the Jesuit Society have kept. He was one of the first explorers of the western United States.  Three Presidents asked him for help and advise regarding the Indian Nations as he lived for months with the various tribes. 

    Another is about Saint Philippine Duchesne by Louise Callan, R.S.C.Q.   Amazon carries her books.

    Or chose a book written by a Saint.  When I was young you would have to go to a library at a monastery or convent to read some of these books, but now they are available for all through bookstores and from the internet.  I just downloaded Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila audio book for free from the computer.  I love Confessions by St. Augustine, another audio book you can download for free.  His book, On the Trinity, the longest that he wrote, I downloaded for free - all 300 pages.  Catherine of Siena's writings are called The Dialogue.  And you can obtain The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Lent Given in 1662 from TAN books.  TAN books republishes books out of print and many of them are spiritual reading jewels.  They have combined with St. Benedict Press to offer new and as well as out of print books.  www.tanbooks.com.


Feel free to add your own recommendations to the comment section.

Just copy and paste the websites onto your browser.
Steps in a Journey class was posted to Youtube during COVID.  This is the first talk, introduction of Sister Mary Matthew and myself, Kathy Moore. "Follow" me, and all the videos made and posted will come up in the order they were posted.  This includes the video from the last three retreats, a Byzantine Service in 2021, with Fr. Blount, 2022, and Fr. James Northrop, 2023.
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A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/16/2013

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Contemplative Prayer in Scripture and as Described by the Saints and Mystical Writers
                              Unworded Prayer


    The saints have pointed out the scriptures that best describe the experience of contemplative prayer.  "Be still and acknowledge that I am God, supreme over nations, supreme over the world" (Psalm 46:10).  Contemplative prayer is a gaze of faith, fixed upon Jesus.  As a parishioner told the Cure of Ars, "I look at Him and He looks at me" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2715).

    Contemplative prayer could last a moment - it could last several hours.  A person realized that he has experienced it afterwards, as he realizes that he has changed.  The psalms sing to his soul:  "My whole being yearns and pines for Yahweh's courts, My heart and my body cry out for joy to the living God" (Psalm 84:2).  He realizes that he is in love with God!

_____________
See Thomas Dubay, Fire Within (San Francisco:  Ignatius Press, 1989) page 65-69.  Also see Elizabeth of the Trinity, Heaven in Faith and also Last Retreat, for an explanation of scripture as it relates to contemplative prayer.  These can be found in Elizabeth of the Trinity, The Complete Works, trans. Aletheia Kane, O.C.D., Volume One (Washington DC:  ICS Publications, 1984) all pages.

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A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/3/2013

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What it means to "offer it up" - And for those who wish to do the will of God in their lives - 


The Eternal Truth spoke to St. Catherine of Siena: "You ask me for suffering to atone for the offenses my creatures commit against me.  And you ask for the will to know and love me, supreme Truth.  Here is the way, if you would come to perfect knowledge and enjoyment of me, eternal Life:  Never leave the knowledge of yourself.  Then, put down as you are in the valley of humility you will know me in yourself, and from this knowledge you will draw all that you need. 


"No virtue can have life in it except from charity, and charity is nursed and mothered by humility.  You will find humility in the knowledge of yourself when you see that even your own existence comes not from yourself but from me, for I loved you before you came into being.  And in my unspeakable love for you I willed to create you anew in grace.  So I washed you and made you a new creation in the blood that my only-begotten Son poured out with such burning love.


"This blood gives you knowledge of the truth when knowledge of yourself leads you to shed the cloud of selfish love.  There is no other way to know the truth.  In so knowing me the soul catches fire with unspeakable love, which in turn brings continual pain.  Indeed, because she has known my truth as well as her own sin and her neighbors' ingratitude and blindness, the soul suffers intolerably.  Still, this is not a pain that troubles or shrivels up the soul.  On the contrary, it makes her grow fat.  For she suffers because she loves me, nor would she suffer if she did not love me.

"Thus, as soon as you and my other servants come in this way to know my truth you will, for the glory and praise of my name, have to endure great trials, insults, adn reproaches in word and in deed, even to the point of death.


"Behave, then, with true patience, with sorrow for sin and love of virtue, for the glory and praise of my name.  If you do, I shall be appeased for your sins and those of my other servants.  The sufferings you endure will, through the power of charity, suffice to win both atonement and reward for you and for others.


"For you will win the fruit of life:  The stains of your foolishness will be blotted out, and I will no longer remember that you had ever offended me.  As for others, because of your loving charity I will pardon them in proportion to their receptiveness."
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    Kathy

    Invite God into your heart to renew it and to instruct you.

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