Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 8,16-18.

No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away."

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
No Greater Love

"Take care, then, how you hear"

Listen in silence. It is because your heart is brimful of a thousand things that you are unable to hear God's voice in it. But as soon as you set about listening to God's voice in a peaceful heart, it becomes full of God. This takes many sacrifices. If we think we want to pray then we have to prepare ourselves for it. Without delay. I am only referring to the first steps towards praying but unless we carry them out with determination we shall never reach the final step, the presence of God.

That is why our training has to be perfect from the start: we begin listening for God's voice in our heart and, in the heart's silence, God begins to speak. Then, out of the fullness of the heart there rises up what the mouth must say. That is where the connection lies. In the silence of the heart God speaks while you have only to listen. Then, once your heart has reached its plenitude because it finds itself filled with God, filled with love, filled with compassion, filled with faith, it falls to your mouth to speak.

Bear in mind that, before speaking, you need to listen and only then, from the depths of a receptive heart, can you speak and be heard by God.

 

Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. -St. Augustine of Hippo

In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.

 --Henry Ward Beecher

You have a solemn obligation to take care of yourself,
because you never know when the World will need you.

Rabbi Hillel, 30 B.C. - 9 A.D.

The peace of God has been placed in our hearts and in our hands. The heart is pure to hold it, and the hands are strong to give it. We cannot lose.

Author Unknown

Pride is an admission of weakness; it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals. 

 

-Fulton Sheen 

 

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), foundress of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
A Simple Path

Draw near to God like a little child

Begin and end the day with prayer. Go to God as a child turns to its mother. If words don't come spontaneously to you then say, for example: «Come, Holy Spirit, guide me, protect me, enlighten my thoughts so I can pray.» Or even better, if you speak to the Virgin Mary, say: «Mary, Mother of Jesus, be a mother to me now and help me to pray.»

When you pray, thank God for all his gifts: since all is his, all things are a gift he makes to us. Your soul is God's gift. If you are a Christian you can say the Lord's prayer; if you are a Catholic, in addition to the Our Father, your prayers are those of the «Hail Mary», the Rosary, the Creed. If your family, or you yourself, have particular devotions, pray according to your own custom.

If you truly put your trust in the Lord and in the power of prayer, you will rise above all your doubts and fears and that sense of solitude so many people feel.

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

 

 

 

From an email forwarded to me:

 

A message every adult should read because children
are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one. 

  
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make my
favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always
talk to, and I learned to trust in Him. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help take care of each
other. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of
your time and money to help people who had nothing, 
to those who don't. 
 
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you take care
of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have
to take care of what we are given. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw how you
handled your responsibilities, even when you didn' t
feel good, and I learned that I would have to be
responsible when I grow up. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw tears come
from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw that you
cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be. 
 
When you thought I wasn't looking I learned most of
life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up. 
  
When you thought I wasn't looking I looked at you and
wanted to say,'Thanks for all the things I saw when
you thought I wasn't looking.'

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.

-Calvin Coolidge

Maturity is the ability to do a job whether or not you are supervised, to carry money without spending it, and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.

-Ann Landers

 

What is beautiful is not always good, but what is good is always beautiful.

-Unknown