Suffering With Joy

Sabbath Moments

April 10, 2010

Welcome to Sabbath Moments hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace. Sabbath moments are the moments we rest in God, when we take time to just Be with God rather than Do.  Sabbath moments are those times when we live in the moment and find the holy in the ordinary.

This week I struggled with fibromyalgia pain and chronic fatigue.  Through it all I finished my regular monthly newsletter for Una Voce Arkansas Ozarks and got it posted. Then I completed an article I was writing on the unavoidable tragedy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, researched for some blog posts and met with our insurance agent to find a better Medicare supplemental policy. These were not my Sabbath moments, but they led me to them.

My way of winding down after intense mental activity is to go out into God’s good sunshine and putter in the yard, to work on my digital art, or to gaze at a work of sacred art that leads me to prayer.  This week was great because I got to do all of it.  It may seem strange to say that puttering in the yard is a Sabbath moment, but it is.  When I am grooming plants, planting things or pulling weeds, I am reminded that all is God’s creation and am thankful He is letting me help take care of it and show His beauty to others.

When I work on digital painting, the beauty I create there is a dull reflection of God’s beauty.  It makes me think, “If this is beautiful, imagine what heaven will be like!”  Sacred art prompts me to meditate on the mysteries of salvation.

Through all these moments I keep thinking of God, my helplessness, and my need to trust in Him for all my needs, which leads to an undercurrent of constant prayer asking Him to help me to trust in Him more.

I want a good relationship with God.  Good relationships are built on trust.  Trust is letting go of self and selfishness and turning to face God.  Facing God, like facing the sun (the Son) brings warmth, peace, and well-being in a world gone mad.

Tags: chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, peace and joy

Sabbath Moments

February 13, 2010

Sabbath Moments is a Saturday meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace.  Sabbath moments are the moments when we rest in the Lord, when we halt our Martha activities and sit with Mary at the feet of Jesus.

In Psalm 116: 6-9 we have these beautiful verses:

Turn, O my soul, into thy rest: for the Lord hath been bountiful to thee.  For he hath delivered my soul from death: my eyes from tears, my feet from falling.  I will please the Lord in the land of the living.

Today I glimpse the peace and joy of paradise through the eyes of King David. To get ready for heaven I want to spend time thanking Jesus this and every day during Lent for his bountiful mercy in dying on the cross to save us all.

Tags: peace and joy

Top Ten Books for a Profitable Lent

February 13, 2010

Ash Wednesday is coming.  Are you agonizing over what to do for your soul during Lent? Every year I struggle with this, but today I read Father Tom Euteneuer’s Don’t Waste Lent post over at Human Life International and the Gordion Knot untangled. He said:

…stay simple; that is, don’t load yourself down with too many spiritual exercises or intentions that may discourage you if you run too fast out into the desert.

Good advice for a perfectionist like me!  For people under stress and struggling with various mental or physical health issues, simplification of life is essential.  If we focus on one new good habit to acquire during Lent we will have done more for our soul than if we had five or six penances we failed to do well.

I have 10 books to recommend for those who want to spend some minutes each day doing spiritual reading for Lent. They are great for a journey with the Lord into the desert – books for renewing the soul and enlarging the Christian heart.  Any of them would make a good Lenten companion.

1.  Holy Thursday: An Intimate Remembrance Francois Mauriac is known for the deep spiritual insight of his novels.  In this book, not a novel, he carries you to the table of the Last Supper and from there to the tabernacle.

2. The Passion of Jesus and Its Hidden Meaning This book by Father James Groenings, S.J. has been through many printings since it first came out in 1900.  Discover many lessons of the Passion you never dreamed were there, including those of the seven last words.

3. The Art of Praying: The Principles and Methods of Christian Prayer The great Father Romano Guardini was a noted philosopher, theologian, and spiritual director of the 20th century.  Here he teaches modern man to pray with greater depth in simple, practical ways.

4. The Plaints of the Passion,: Meditations on the Reproaches of the Good Friday Liturgy Father Jude Mead gives us beautiful meditations on the Reproaches of Good Friday.  It is sad that so many parishes do not use the Reproaches in their Good Friday liturgy because they are strong impetus towards true contrition.  The Extraordinary Form of the liturgy always has the Reproaches so if you can get to a Traditional Latin Mass nearby you will see what the Church celebrated for 1500 years.

5.  The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation) This great book by the great layman, St. Thomas More, teaches alertness and patience in the Christian life.  Written in the Tower of London while awaiting execution, it is his last work.  As he faced death, he left us a testament of resolve and courage drawn from the Scriptures.

6.  The School of Jesus Crucified: The Lessons of Calvary in Daily Catholic Life The Passionist priest, Father Ignatius of the Side of Jesus, gives us 31 daily meditations on the Passion and nine spiritual exercises.  You can use this book every day of the year if you have a special devotion to the Passion of Christ.

7. Sermons of The Cure of Ars St. John Vianney is the patron saint of priests perhaps because he was such an excellent pastor.  He confronts and probes the various rationalizations we have for sinning and addresses the following topics among others: Be Religious or Be Damned, Do You Want to Be Happy?, Repairing the Wrong Done, The Duties of Parents, The Sewer of Hell.  He was well known for walking in the forest, falling on his knees and weeping to God for the souls of his flock.  People came from great distances to confess their sins and obtain spiritual advice.

8. Spiritual Combat: How to Win Your Spiritual Battles and Attain Peace This famous classic by Father Lorenzo Scupoli was first published in 1589 and was a favorite book of St. Francis de Sales.  It contains 66 short chapters on how to grow in holiness and combat concupiscence.

9. What Jesus Saw from the Cross Father A. G. Sertillanges lived in Jerusalem and spent many days walking the streets where Jesus walked.  It brings new insight into the Passion of Christ, taking us back 2000 years.  One of my favorite books.

10. Praying With Icons This book opens our hearts to the treasure of our Eastern Catholic heritage.  Pope John Paul II spoke of the two “lungs” of the Church as necessary for her breathing.  The Orthodox are separated from us, but they share the same spiritual heritage as our Eastern brethren.  Jim Forest is an Orthodox layman who writes of icons as the aid to prayer and contemplation they are, not just art.  I included this book for Lent because of the importance of icons and sacred images to those whose health makes reading difficult but who may find prayer much easier by gazing at an icon.

You can use these books for yourself or as part of family prayer.  Home schoolers may find them a springboard to activities or projects when covering religious subjects.  Besides the links here, all are available in my Amazon store.  Have a joyful Lent in the peace of Christ in the desert.

Tags: Lent, peace and joy

Sunday Snippets

Sunday Snippets–a Catholic Carnival is a chance for Catholic bloggers to share their best posts with others. It doesn’t matter if you blog exclusively about things Catholic or not, you are welcome to join us.

I have four posts this week, most short, and if you want to look at all of them, go to http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/blog.  The two I’m putting up for consideration this week are my post on how niacinimide helps with fibromyalgia brain fog, dementia, and Alzheimers and another post covering several short subjects.  Niacinimide does reverse dementia and Alzheimers according to recent research at the University of California, Irvine.  If you have relatives with dementia or want to prevent it in yourself and improve memory, see my post: Another really cheap way to feel better – Fibro-fog, niacinimide and me.

I have been posting articles to Helium, a sort of writer’s co-op.  The first post listing links to my articles and information about the patron saint of the internet – did you know there is one? – plus a link to my monthly newsletter about the Traditional Latin Mass and happenings are at New Items.  I will be posting links to all my articles on Helium when they are live so if the subject matter interests you, you can go there to read.  Most likely I will have a couple of posts a week with these links.

I am also working on my own Amazon store which I will be putting up at this site so you can see books, CDs, and DVDs I recommend and not have to leave this site to order them if you are interested.  This store will take awhile to get filled with all the things I want to share, but when it’s ready I hope you’ll do your on-line shopping at Amazon through this site so I can have help keeping it going.  In addition to items related to the Blessed Mother and saints, I’ll be listing books on wellness that have helped me, movies I like, and sacred music I love.  I have so much to share!

God bless everyone who reads the blog.  May he fill you with peace and joy.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, peace and joy

Christendom Awake by Father Aidan Nichols, O.P.

December 31, 2009

Today I got hooked on Chapter 14 of this book, Christendom Awake: On Re-Energizing the Church in Culture while I was researching an article I was writing for the monthly newsletter I publish.  Father Nichols is a preeminent British theologian who writes in a way that the ordinary person can understand.   I first got acquainted with Father Nichols when I read his excellent book Looking at the Liturgy: A Critical View of Its Contemporary Form.

Chapter 14 is titled “Resituating Modern Spirituality”.  In it, Father Nichols discusses the change in Catholic spirituality that began in 1886 and how it is exemplified by St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) and others.  Childlike trust in God was the basis of their spirituality and directly contrapuntal to the New Age spirituality which says, like John Denver, “One day I will be God.” (Unfortunately he ended up in little pieces at the bottom of Half Moon Bay, never having become God.)

Vilnius Divine Mercy Image

Today we face a hoard of challenges to our Catholic Faith from both inside and outside the Church.  Our Judeo-Christian traditions are under attack as never before in the history of the world, yet, for me, John 14:1-3 is a source of hope:

Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be.

Whatever 2010 brings to us, now is the time to practice trust in Jesus.  Think of the Divine Mercy chaplet and image.  Jesus had a reason to give it to St. Faustina in the 20th century and tell her to spread the devotion.  Happy New Year  and peace and joy to all.

Tags: Aidan Nichols, Divine Mercy, peace and joy, trust in God

O Rex Gentium

December 22, 2009

O Rex gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum; veni, et salva hominem quem de limo formasti.

O King of nations, and their desired One, and the cornerstone that makest both one; come and save man whom Thou formed out of clay.

Isaiah 9:7: His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Haggai 2: 7-9: And I will move all nations: and the Desired of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

Eph. 2: 14-16: For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh: Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace; And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross…

Eph. 2: 19-20: Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…

Gen. 2: 7: And the Lord God formed man of the clay of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Jesus comes to unite all Israel and the Gentiles into one body by the Cross of salvation.  He is the cornerstone upon which the family of God is built. In today’s antiphon, we ask Him to save us – to reshape us, reform us, take away our sins, to change us into what He wants us to be, we who were formed out of clay.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons, peace and joy

O Sapientia

December 17, 2009

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter, suaviterque disponens omnia; veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Wisdom, that proceedest from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end mightily, and disposing all things sweetly, come and teach us the way of prudence.

Isaiah spoke of the Messiah:

Isaiah 11:2-3: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord, He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.

Isaiah 28:29: This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.

God disposes sweetly through Caesar Augustus who issued a decree ordering the enrollment of the whole world in the city of their birth.  And so it was that the prophesy of Micah 5:2 was fulfilled:

And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.

The Virgin and her dear husband Joseph journeyed to the little town of Bethlehem, the house of Bread, to obey Caesar, and so the prophecy was fulfilled.  God’s wisdom is unbounded.  He does not judge by our eyes or ears, but by His infinite wisdom.

“…teach us the way of prudence”, one of the four cardinal virtues on which all other virtues hinge.   Wisdom is knowledge of the Divine.  If our purpose on earth is to know God, to love and serve Him in this world so that we may be happy with Him in the next, then wisdom, a gift of the Holy Spirit, is something we must not only spend a lifetime seeking, it is necessary for the development of prudence.

St. Thomas Acquinas tells us that prudence is of the intellect. The more deeply we know God the more our intellects can apprehend what is prudent in the eyes of God and the more likely we are to exercise our will in union with His.  Acting in union with God brings peace and joy, certainty to the heart.  The Church cries out for us all, “O Wisdom…come…”.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons, peace and joy

Gaudete

The Preaching of St. John the Baptist, c. 1690, Baciccio, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris

This past Sunday was the third Sunday in Advent called “Gaudete” because both the Introit and the Epistle are from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, 4:4:  Rejoice in the Lord always: again, I say rejoice.… (1962 liturgical books)

I love this Sunday when the priest wears rose-colored vestments (not pink, please) as also on “Laetare” Sunday in Lent. The organ plays and flowers deck the altar. The penitential somberness of Advent is suspended for the day.

I also love what St. Paul says: “And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sometimes it is hard to do this, especially when one is sick and suffering, or has family problems, or is bereaved. But Holy Mother Church gives us the big pointing arrow in the Gospel of the day: John 1:19-28  where we have the Pharisees questioning John the Baptist about who he is.

John answers, vs. 26: “John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.” I have to examine my own conscience on this verse.  How many times have I been unable to recognize Jesus when he was in my midst?  Why could I not see Him for Who He is?  How Pharisaic am I?  That’s the trouble with us humans – we get so tied up in our own pains and issues we fail to see Jesus giving us the gift of Himself through the very suffering we want to reject. Yet he is right there, patiently waiting for our blind eyes to see. If we recognize Him, we will have “the peace of God which surpasseth all understanding.”

The Communion verse is from Isaiah: 35:4. “Say: Ye fainthearted, take courage and fear not: behold our God will come and will save us.” This week and forevermore I must concentrate on what this past Sunday’s liturgy said to me:

Life is learning to “rejoice in the Lord always,” to keep our “hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord”, to truly see Him in our midst, to bless Him for loving us, to take courage for He has saved us, and to thank Him for all He sends us.

Tags: liturgy, peace and joy, suffering

Our Lady of Guadalupe: Feast in Advent

Our Lady of Guadalupe under the title: Morning Star, Norma Salazar Orozco, oil on canvas

Tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I wrote an article about her appearance to St. Juan Diego which I invite you to read in the articles section of this site. Truly, if you are like me, it will increase your love of God and Our Lady.

For years Guadalupe has interested me, but until I read a couple of books (referred to in the article), I didn’t realize the many miraculous aspects of this event.  Who knew that St. Juan’s tilma should have disintegrated 450 years ago?  Not the average person like me!  And there is so much more to it than that.  Please send this post on to your friends because this joyous story is much needed in our day.

Aspects of the apparition related to Advent

First and foremost, Our Lady’s image on the tilma, and also how she appeared to St. Juan Diego, is as a woman with child.  She is expecting Jesus whom we also expect in recollection of His birth over 2000 years ago.

Second, she appeared in Advent, 1531.  Jesus could have sent His mother to the people at any time, but He chose Advent, a liturgical time of yearning and looking forward to the Savior.  Few people among the Aztecs had converted to Christianity before the apparitions.  Afterwards, grace was poured out upon the people.  They became believers in Jesus.  The yearning in their hearts for God that St. Augustine speaks of  in his Confessions was satisfied: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee…”.

Third, the message of Mary appearing as a mestizo was a sign of the peace God desired between the indigeneous people and the Spanish, a blending of the races under the Prince of Peace, Counsellor, God the Mighty as Isaiah 9:6 foretold : “For a Child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.”  Her image was a sign of great blessings, peace and joy to come, just as the Advent liturgies celebrate the sign of great blessings to come.

About the painting in this post

The painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe in this post is by Norma Salazar Orozco, a gifted Mexican artist from a family of gifted artists.  Visit her site and see how she has used Our Lady’s image from the tilma to illustrate Mary’s different titles.  Among their many subjects, the Orozco family is obviously devoted to honoring the Blessed Mother in art.  If you love art, you will love the work of this family and their story.

Tags: Advent, Our Lady of Guadalupe, peace and joy

Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary

December 8, 2009

Today the Church celebrates with joy the advent of our Savior, Jesus Christ, through the Immaculate Conception of His mother, Mary, in the womb of her mother, St. Anne.  We celebrate the sublime privilege by which Mary was preserved from Original Sin from the beginning of her conception by the power of God.

Immaculate Conception c.1626, Peter Pauwel Reubens, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

 A Painting for this Feast 

This beautiful painting of Our Lady under the title of “Immaculate Conception” portrays Mary as the woman of Revelations 12:1.  She is the one promised by God in Genesis 3:15.  It is one of my favorites because of the rendition of colors and technique and because of the rich symbolism Reubens included.  Great religious art is always meant to convey the truth of the revealed Word of God, and can be a great aid to prayer.  Reubens accomplished this for me as it fills my heart with joy to contemplate what God has done for us in the Blessed Virgin.

Mary in Today’s Liturgy

Mary was not only the daughter of God, she was Mother of the Son and bride of the Holy Spirit.  For this reason she could not be permitted to suffer the impurity of Original Sin, but was instead filled with grace (Lk. 1:28) from the very beginning of her conception (Cant. 4: 7). Without Original Sin, she lacked the concupiscence we all inherit from Adam and Eve and thus remained sinless throughout her life. 

At Vespers of the Divine Office today the Church chants the Magnificat antiphon:

All generations shall call me blessed, because He that is mighty hath done great things for me, alleluia.

The prayer at Mass and at the end of each hour of the Divine Office is:

O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin didst prepare a worthy dwelling-place for Thy divine Son; grant, we beseech thee, that, as by the foreseen merits of the death of this, Thy Son, Thou didst preserve her from every stain of sin, we also may, through her intercession, be cleansed from our sins and united with Thee.  Through the same Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

History of the Celebration

The early Fathers of the Church taught this dogma which they inherited from the Apostles.  Dom Prosper Guerenger, the great Benedictine monastic and liturgical reformer of the 19th century, tells us in his first volume on the Liturgical Year that  

1. by the 500s, the feast was celebrated in the Eastern Church,
2. by the 700s in Spain,
3. by the 800s in Naples,
4. by the time of Charlemagne in France,
5. by 1066 in England,
6. by 1049 in Germany,
7. by 1142 in Belgium.

History shows that it was Pope Sixtus IV who published the decree for the celebration of  Our Lady’s Conception in Rome in 1476.  Pope St. Pius V included the feast in the universal edition of the Roman breviary in 1568. 

A Celebration of God’s Omnipotence and Mercy

This great and joyful feast is a celebration of God’s love and glory, His omnipotence and mercy towards man.  He knows how weak we are, and has taken pity on us.  Not only did the Father send us His Son to free us from our slavery to sin through the Immaculate Virgin, He gave us in her a loving Mother (Jn 19: 26-27) whose example of purity and fidelity to God’s will shows us the way to turn our feet. 

We who were not conceived without sin have a Brother who is God and a Mother who was without any stain of sin and is perfectly united to Him.  She is, moreover, a human being who experienced the same kinds of pain and suffering we suffer as human beings, save sin.  She knows our plight.  Whatever God the Father asks of us, no matter how difficult it seems, we can find joy and peace following the example of Mary, the human being who most closely imitated His Son, Jesus.  It pleases Him that we honor this most beautiful of His creations.  We are truly blessed.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, Divine Office, Liturgical calendar, peace and joy

All Saints – Our Heavenly Family

Today, November 1st, is a special feast in the liturgical year – All Saints Day.  In the Divine Office hour of Vespers, a short scriptural reading called the “chapter” is from Apocalypse 7: 2-3:

Behold, I, John, saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, who had it in their power to harm the earth and the sea, saying: do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

The prayer for the day, said at Mass and after each hour of the Divine Office is:

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given us in one feast to venerate the merits of all Thy saints; we beseech Thee through the multitude of intercessors to grant us the desired abundance of Thy mercy.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

The Gospel of the day is Matthew 5: 1-12, the Beatitudes.People behind the pro-death agenda have given themselves over to the Prince of Darkness, whose kingdom is the world.  Our offering of pain and suffering of persecution for justice’ sake guarantees us a share in the heavenly kingdom and bears more fruit for those living in darkness than we can know in this life.

Finally, the Gospel of the Beatitudes teaches us how we will get to heaven to join our family of saints.  Which beatitude are you most attracted to?  Mine is “Blesed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  The world hates God and the natural law.  No doubt the babies targeted for abortion are persecuted, and soon the disabled and the elderly will also be persecuted overtly if things continue on their current trajectory. 

The prayer reminds us that we have countless people in heaven who want to see us join them some day.  They are interceding to God for us.  We are not forgotten.  Just as God was merciful to them, He also extends His mercy to us when we ask with a sincere heart.

This day celebrates every person who is in heaven, whether known and officially named in the Church’s liturgy or not.  It is interesting to me that the seal of the angels is on the forehead and not the heart.  Our heart represents our feelings, our forehead represents our mind and will.  We may not feel like doing what God wants, but by an act of will, we do it anyway, and, if we are really humble, we do it joyfully rather than begrudgingly.  Just the thing for people who are suffering to keep in mind!

Be sealed with the mark of Christ, the Cross.  Rejoice in seeking God’s mercy for others by suffering with joy.

Paradise,1375-76, Giusto de' Menabuoi, fresco, baptistry, Padua

Tags: Divine Office, Liturgical calendar, peace and joy, pro-life