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Showing posts with the label Cloistered Heart

The Purpose of Life

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(from The Cloistered Heart)

When We Must Leave The Altar

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  (from The Cloistered Heart)

Cloistered at the Carnival

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I once had a dream about a carnival. Specifically, I dreamed I was living in a little house on carnival grounds. It was night, but the light streaming in through my windows was bright and garish. It flashed bursts of purple and white and blue and yellow, ceaselessly, across walls and floors and faces. There were other people in the house... (continue)

One Thing

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From The Cloistered Heart

The Nights of Many Bells

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In some monasteries, the new day begins in the middle of the night. "Not long after midnight," writes Mother Mary Francis PCC, "Sister Sacristan...sets her jaw for what is at once a beautiful and a grim task:  to rouse all the other sleeping nuns.  It is a beautiful task because the sacristan's bell is summoning the community to a midnight tryst with God.  It is a grim business because Poor Clares unfortunately carry their souls about in the same clay casing found on the rest of humanity..." (A Right to Be Merry, pp. 115-118) Out here in the world, I can't identify with bells that rattle me from sleep in the middle of the ni... O but wait. O yes. Yes, I can. The nights of many bells were several decades ago for me now, but some of you are reading these very words between two such nights.  We know what it's like.  We're deep into a sound sleep, having finally fallen exhausted into bed, when the baby cries.  Is it time for her to eat again?... o

A Valentine

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(from The Cloistered Heart)

Joy in Your Presence

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(from The Cloistered Heart)

As Often as I Draw Breath

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(from The Cloistered Heart)

A Saint for Bloggers

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I like to imagine that, were he living in our age, St. Francis de Sales would be a blogger.  After reading the following on Catholic Online, I suspect my idea may not be all that far-fetched....   "Francis' unusual patience kept him working.  No one would listen to him, no one would even open their door.  So Francis found a way to get under the door.  He wrote out his sermons, copied them by hand, and slipped them under the doors.  This is the first record we have of religious tracts being used to communicate with people."  It is primarily because of his tracts, copied tirelessly by hand and slipped under doors, that Francis de Sales has been named patron of Catholic journalists. I cannot imagine a more appropriate saint for bloggers. May he pray for all who slip faithful, God-honoring, blog posts through today's cyber-doors... from thecloisteredheart.org

An Act of Mercy

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It is one of my favorite scenes in Scripture. Thomas, who had not been present when Jesus appeared to the disciples just after His Resurrection, was skeptical. "'I will never believe it,' said he, 'without probing the nailprints in His hands, without putting my finger in the nailmarks and my hand into His side...' What strikes me most about this is Jesus' tender mercy to Thomas. There are no reprimands. Our Lord doesn't say "oh you of little faith, why do you doubt? You've got to exercise faith , Thomas! You can do it! Just make up your mind!" No. Jesus simply offers Thomas the precise help he needs.. ( continue reading.. .)

My Refuge

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(from The Cloistered Heart.org)

Repent Greatly

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(from The Cloistered Heart)

I Resolve...

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'During this new year I resolve to begin a new life. I do not know what will happen to me during this year. But I abandon myself entirely to You, my God. And my aspirations and all my affections will be for You. I feel so weak, dear Jesus, but with Your help I hope and resolve to  live a different life; that is, a life closer to You.'   St. Gemma Galgani (from The Cloistered Heart)

If You're Not Feeling Merry

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It's a bad time of year to be hurting.  Not that there is a good time for pain, of course, but the days around Christmas and New Year's can be particularly poignant for some. Many of us have had such seasons. Times when we can't be with loved ones, or a close friend has died, or we've suffered a miscarriage, or we're sick, or we've lost our job, or there is illness in the family.  Even the time of year can make us feel blue.  Here in the northern hemisphere, night falls early in these months of bleak midwinter. We may be struggling to adjust to the long, long, long dark. For anyone reading this who is sad, in pain, or maybe just wishing the holidays would be over and gone - know that you're not alone... (continue reading)

Rest Awhile

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(from The Cloistered Heart)

In This Time of Preparation

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‘Silence is so lacking in this world which is often too noisy, which is not favorable to recollection and listening to the voice of God. In this time of preparation for Christmas, let us cultivate interior recollection, so as to receive and keep Jesus in our lives.’ Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI    (from The Cloistered Heart)

The Advent Window

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My 'Advent Window' opened when I was twenty years old. I was in what I call my 'God doesn't bother me and I don't bother Him' phase. There was so much to do... friends to hang out with, boys to date, parties to go to. I took no time to think about God; in fact, I was ignoring Him altogether. God, however, was 'thinking' of me, and began reminding me of Himself through a series of little seasonal things. A song heard on the radio, a nativity scene featured on the courthouse steps, Christmas songs piped into stores to draw customers... (click to continue..)

Advent's Intention

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'Advent is concerned with  that very connection  between memory and hope  which is so necessary to man.  Advent's intention is to awaken  the most profound and emotional  memory within us; namely,  the memory of the God Who became a child.  This is a healing memory;  it brings hope....  It is the beautiful task of Advent  to awaken in all of us  memories of goodness  and thus to open doors of hope.' Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (from The Cloistered Heart)

A Continual Conversation

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(from The Cloistered Heart)

Unceasingly

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'For my heart is always with Him; day and night it thinks unceasingly   of its heavenly and divine Friend, to Whom it wants to prove its affection.' St. Elizabeth of the Trinity   (The Cloistered Heart)