ST. GERARD  MAJELLA

Quote for the Day - Feast of St. Gerard Majella - Patron Saint of Expectant Mothers - October 16, 2010


"I am writing to you from Foggia, and I write in haste. My God, I would really like to know what is going on there. I don't know anything, because I have gotten no answer to any of my letters. It seems to me that you must not have paper to write to me. For mercy's sake, if that is true, send me word of it, so I can send you a notebook and you can reply rapidly. Enough for now."

From a letter of St. Gerard to Sister Michela of Saint Francis Xavier. The letter is dated, Foggia, Italy, July 10, 1753. I found it on page 123 of the book, Saint Gerard Majella, His Writings and Spirituality, Coordinating Editor, Noel Londono, C.Ss.R., translated by Peter Henegg, Liguori Publications, 2002. St. Gerard is often referred to as the Patron Saint of Expectant Mothers. A further "Patron Saint Of ____" possibility could be the Patron Saint of Those Expecting E-Mail or Notebook or Face Book communication. Reading this book I couldn't help but think of Gerard being at home in our modern world of Texting and "Face Booking", because St. Gerard was someone who wrote a lot of letters - as can be gleaned from the excerpt above from one of his many letters that can be found in the Liguori book listed in this note.







Picture on top is of the Redemptorist St. Gerard Majella [April 6, 1726 to October 16, 1755].

ST. TERESA OF AVILA

INTRODUCTION

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Avila – who died this day, October 15, 1582. She was 67 years of age.

For a reflection for today I simply gathered 10 quotes from St. Teresa of Avila – a doctor of the church. If other years I told about her image about spiritual growth as four ways of getting water – the first way being that of using a bucket to draw water from a well – to the fourth being caught in a down pour. She also gave the great image of the spiritual life as entering a castle – moving from room to room till one gets to the center where the King of Glory is.

HERE ARE TEN QUOTES

First Quote: “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.” St. Teresa of Avila. Wasn't there a song by Garth Brooks called, "Unanswered Prayers" - a song that developed this theme? A man goes to a hometown football game and he meets his old high school flame - the girl he prayed to God would be his wife for life - and in the experience of meeting her once again he realizes she wasn't quite the angel of his dreams. He also realizes how blessed he is to have married the woman he married. And the song ends with the refrain, "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers."

Second Quote: “Never do anything that you can’t do in the presence of all.” St. Teresa. That is basically what Jesus is saying in today’s gospel.

Third Quote: We’ve all heard this quote from St. Teresa of Avia or seen it on plaques or holy cards:
“Let nothing disturb you;
Let nothing dismay you;
All thing pass;
God never changes.
Patience attains
All that it strives for.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing:
God alone is sufficient.”

Fourth Quote: “It is true that we cannot be free from sin, but at least let our sins not be always the same.” St. Teresa. How’s that for having a sense of humor. How many times do priests here in confession, “Sorry Father, this is the same old same old.”

Fifth Quote: Continuing on the theme of sin, St. Teresa wrote, “It is right here, my daughters, that love is to be found. It’s not hidden away in corners, but it can be found in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be in comparison the greater.”

Sixth Quote: Not only can we grow in love of God and neighbor when struggling with sin choices, we can also learn other things. She writes, “To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.

Seventh Quote: Many like to tell the story what she said to God when she fell off her house while crossing a river. Complaining to God she hears God answering back “This is how I treat my friends.” “Well, then,” she answers back to God, “if this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them!”

Eight Quote: I love this quote from St. Teresa – a quote I’ve often heard. If she was like this, she’s my kind of saint. “From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.”

Ninth Quote: I’m sure you heard this quote. I’ve heard it in various ways – not sure who the author was. It was Teresa, unless she stole it from someone: "Christ has no body now, but yours.No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.Yours are the eyes through whichChrist looks compassion into the world.Yours are the feetwith which Christ walks to do good.Yours are the handswith which Christ blesses the world."

Tenth and Last Quote: This is for the ladies here: “About the injunction of the Apostle Paul that women should keep quiet in church, she said, “Don’t go by one text only.”



Painting on top: St. Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens [1577-1640]

THE INTERIOR COMMAND

Quote for the Day - Feast of Teresa of Avila - October 15, 2010


"I began to think of the soul as if it were a castle made of a single diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven there are many mansions."

St. Teresa of Avila [1515-1582], Interior Castle, I, I, [16th Century]

Painting on top - according to Wikipedia, where I found these paintings - this one from 1576, when she was 61 years of age, is probably the best for getting a glimpse at her likeness. The one below it is by Francois Gerard [1770-1837]

GROWING  OLDER

WITH GRACE 

AND WISDOM

Quote for the Day - October 14, 2010


"There is no such thing as old age; there is only sorrow."

Eidth Wharton [1862-1937], A Backward Glance [1934]. A First Word

MANY LIES, 

MANY MEMORIES

Quote for Today - October 13, 2010

"Vanity plays lurid tricks with our memory."


Joseph Conrad [1857-1924], Lord Jim [1900], chapter 41

IN TOUCH 

WITH ONESELF 

October 12, 2010

Quote for the Day


"When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too."


Anne Morrow Lindbergh [1906-2001], Gift from The Sea [1955], chapter 3

HAVE TO OR WANT TO?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 28th Monday in Ordinary time is, “Have To or Want To?”

There are two types of people, “Those who have to and those who want to.”

There are two types of people who come to Mass: “Those who have to and those who want to.”

There are two types of people at meetings, “Those who are there because they have to be there and those who want to be there.”

Sometimes we join an organization – or we volunteer for something – and then ugh! It’s horrible. We’re stuck. Some people know how to bow out gracefully and sometimes some people just silently disappear. Then there are those who remain in the group and they hate every minute of it.

When I got to our major seminary, someone came up to me the first day and asked me if I wanted to help with the horses. I was new and ready for everything and just finished a year in our novitiate, so I said, “Yes!” The result was I shoveled horse manure one week a month – early morning going down to our barn and feeding Alan, Rusty and Lady – every evening going down and cleaning them, feeding them and shoveling out their mess. I stayed with it for 6 years – going there 14 times a month – not freely – but out of obligation.

As priest I have discovered that lots of people stay married to someone who is much different than expected – and do it out of duty – because of their word or their commitment – or their children – or out of not wanting to be labeled, “Divorced,” “A bad person,” or “Someone with bad judgment.”

TODAY’S READINGS

Paul – when he was Saul – pursued and tried to destroy Christians out of duty – out of righteousness – out of compulsion. He practiced his religion with a vengeance – keeping the law – and every iddy bit of the law.

So in today’s first reading we hear Saul – now Paul – freely giving us his advice – from what he learned in life. Today’s first reading ends with these words, “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firmand do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”

In today’s first reading Paul says we have a choice to be children of Hagar or children of Sarah – children of the “Slave Woman” Hagar or children of the “Free Woman” -Sarah.

I love it that Sarah laughed.

I have discovered that those who are free can laugh.

Looking at your life: are you doing what you’re doing freely or out of duty and slavery. Do you find yourself often laughing freely – or are you a stiff? A complainer? A whiner? Unable to laugh?

FATHER FLYNN

Yesterday I was on duty. I had baptisms – a few other things – and mass here at 5 for the high school kids. I was hoping big time that the duty phone would not ring – that there would not be a call to the hospital. I especially needed time to work on a different homily for the evening mass – different from my morning homily.

Surprise – Father Pat Flynn comes up to me and says, “Let me have the duty phone. I want to go up to the hospital, because we’re going to be up at that meeting in New Jersey all this week – and I want to make sure any new patients see a priest.

He was being a child of Sarah; I was being a child of Hagar.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel we have reference to Jonah. If there ever was someone who felt stuck – asked to do something – that he felt was a duty, an obligation, it was Jonah. He got on a ship and headed the other way from Nineveh.

And as the parable of Jonah unfolds in the scriptures God delivers him by force to Nineveh and surprise, surprise, everyone repented after he preached.

I hope he laughed and laughed and laughed and learned to preach and do life out of joy and laughter – than out of duty and “ugg I hate doing this”! Amen.

CONCLUSION

All of us are away this week at a big meeting. I’m going out of mixed feelings – out of some have to feelings and out of some want to feelings. I’m going to meet some good friends and catch up with them – what’s happening in their lives – and I assume there will be some sessions I’ll be at out of duty.

I laugh realizing that. Welcome to life 101.