Monday, May 28, 2012
Monday Memo
"Cast yourself into the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you work and give you strength." -St. Philip Neri
Monday, May 21, 2012
Monday Memo
"The heart of God invites all to put it to the proof. The more He gives, the more He desires to give. He loves to see the trust which makes us persist in knocking unceasingly." -Bl. Placid Riccardi
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Attitude - It's Everything
Recently I've learned, or rather realized once again, how much our attitude towards life effects us. I used to hate my job, absolutely despise it. I dreaded going to work and was miserable while I was there. This was partially because that's how everyone around me was also feeling. If all of us are miserable, negative nancies, who never see the good things or look for the positive or strive to be joyful - the world would be quite the miserable place.
A new manager came in at work, and she didn't absolutely hate her job. She actually enjoys to some extent. She is positive and cheery at work all the time, even when she may not want to be there. When she came in, there was a change, an attitude change. My coworkers who were miserable beyond words left, at least for the most part, and people came in having a fresh, positive attitude, making it a friendly environment, that was enjoyable to work in. I actually enjoy my job (to some extent). I at least don't dread it, most days, which is a big change, and some days I am content to be going to my job.
Brothers and sisters, if my attitude towards work made such a difference - how much more do you think our time in prayer, in Church, in serving, in loving depend on our attitude. If we take the "I go to mass because my parents make me" or "I guess I'll pray because I'm supposed to" or "I guess I'll go on this service day" attitudes - the indifferent or complacent type attitude, we won't see the beauty that is Jesus Christ... we won't see the truth that is the Catholic Church... we won't see the LOVE given in serving.
Today, I encourage you to evaluate yourself, your life. Are you dreading your prayer time? Do you dislike going to Church, youth group, or other forms of ministry? What kind of attitude are you taking in these times? Strive to be positive, look for the good things, pray for joy, pray for love.
Our greatest mission is to love one another as Christ loved. My friends, our love, first and foremost, comes from Christ, and is revealed through our joy. We are called to be a joyful people, we are called to be hopeful. May we, as disciples of Christ, carry a spirit of hope and joy within us, that we may share God's love through our joy, and permit our Father to use us as his ransomed, beloved ones.
A new manager came in at work, and she didn't absolutely hate her job. She actually enjoys to some extent. She is positive and cheery at work all the time, even when she may not want to be there. When she came in, there was a change, an attitude change. My coworkers who were miserable beyond words left, at least for the most part, and people came in having a fresh, positive attitude, making it a friendly environment, that was enjoyable to work in. I actually enjoy my job (to some extent). I at least don't dread it, most days, which is a big change, and some days I am content to be going to my job.
Brothers and sisters, if my attitude towards work made such a difference - how much more do you think our time in prayer, in Church, in serving, in loving depend on our attitude. If we take the "I go to mass because my parents make me" or "I guess I'll pray because I'm supposed to" or "I guess I'll go on this service day" attitudes - the indifferent or complacent type attitude, we won't see the beauty that is Jesus Christ... we won't see the truth that is the Catholic Church... we won't see the LOVE given in serving.
Today, I encourage you to evaluate yourself, your life. Are you dreading your prayer time? Do you dislike going to Church, youth group, or other forms of ministry? What kind of attitude are you taking in these times? Strive to be positive, look for the good things, pray for joy, pray for love.
Our greatest mission is to love one another as Christ loved. My friends, our love, first and foremost, comes from Christ, and is revealed through our joy. We are called to be a joyful people, we are called to be hopeful. May we, as disciples of Christ, carry a spirit of hope and joy within us, that we may share God's love through our joy, and permit our Father to use us as his ransomed, beloved ones.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Monday Memo
"The exercise of continual abandonment of one's self
to the hands of God
includes the most excellent manner of all other exercises
in their greatest simplicity, purity, and perfection."
-St. Francis de Sales
to the hands of God
includes the most excellent manner of all other exercises
in their greatest simplicity, purity, and perfection."
-St. Francis de Sales
Sunday, May 13, 2012
All for Jesus and for His Glory
My life is continually being altered, changed, transformed. Recently the phrase "All for Jesus and for His glory" has been the one striking me more and more profoundly. Last Sunday I ran a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles. Through out this run, I suffered a lot. I have activity and allergy induced asthma...and I'm allergic to grass. At the start of our run, I was with a group of six others. Now, I would not typically be one to sign up to run 13.1 miles, a 5k or 10k, a little more likely, but I haven't ran much since my sophomore year of high school (I just finished my freshman year of College). However, our friend's dad Robert Diller was diagnosed with lou gehrig disease and his daughter, Brooke, had run half marathon's before. They found the Flying Pig half marathon which takes place in Cincinnati, OH, and all proceeds go to fund research for ALS (lou gehrig disease). So I didn't sign up for a half marathon just to do it...that would be a funny joke...I signed up to support my friends and their family in this hard time, and to honor Mr. Robert Diller.
Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of meeting Robert, but he has been a man who has changed my life. He saw all suffering, as a blessing. When he developed diabetes, he saw it as a blessing. When he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, he saw it as a bless. When he was diagnosed with ALS, he saw it as a blessing. The night before our run, we watched a testimony given by Robert, about his life. He was Christ's shining light, and that's what he wanted all to be - a light of Christ shining in the darkness of this world!
Needless to say, we made our run a prayer. We started off by offering each mile for an apostle. During our run, as I was starting to "die" due to my asthma, my running partner started praying the litany of humility, one of my favorite prayers. Our course was very hilly, and every hill (at least in the beginning) resulted in my asthma flaring up. Damian (my running partner) talked me through each hill firstly in reminding me to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, to help the oxygen flow and prevent my asthma attack. Then he would talk about how Jesus was practically dead, but carried the cross up mount Calvary and this little hill was nothing compared to what Jesus had done for me (for us all). Each hill was like a little Calvary for me - I was suffering and drawing closer to Christ in my suffering.
Then we reached about mile 6ish and I'm running low. We have a hill that is forever long, and I have to stop going up it. Once I let myself stop running it's really hard for me to get going again. So in order to help, Damian decided we would do a rosary. Actually, we probably started the rosary around mile 7. My legs were starting to feel like lead weights and all I could think about was how much it hurt. So Damian said he would pray the rosary, and he wanted me to reflect on it while we ran and every time I stopped running, he stopped praying the rosary. And he would start up again once I started running again. It worked really well to keep me going, and keep my mind off my physical pain.
Upon completion of our rosary, we had about 2 miles left. I had told Damian that he had to keep talking because it helped me. So he would just ramble, and all the while I started saying to myself "all for Jesus and for his glory."
Reflecting on this phrase I came to realize how all we do is truly for Jesus, and for His glory. Literally all our lives need to be for Jesus and to be glorifying Him. The other night at work one of our managers and I were talking about work and he was like I'm just here for the money, isn't that what we're all here for? We had been talking about how it's important to do things the correct way, and to take care of customers etc. But then we were like what it all boils down to is Panera wouldn't exist without customers, so if our customers aren't happy then we're out of a job, which means no money. Which all makes sense, but I was a little stumped by his question. I honestly don't care how much money I make (at least most of the time).
Less and less I seem to care about the money; I'm learning to care more about customers, and making them happy. I work to have money, yes, but the money is used to pay for gas, for food, for retreats, for things that aide me in glorifying God all of my life. The money is needed to pay for my school, so I can fulfill my vocation as a student, and later in my life serve God through my work as a nurse - caring for people and serving them. And as a student, I glorify God by uniting my school work to Christ, striving to integrate Christ into every aspect of my life.
So, this is super long. But my point is - all we do needs to honor our Lord.
All I do is for God and for his glory. I ran my 13.1 miles because my friend's dad died of ALS and a group of us did it together, in honor of him and in support of his family. We all wore the same shirts. They were blue, said Robert's Runners on the front, and on the back there was a cross and a quote that "We all have a vocation, and I'm chasing after mine." People recognized our shirts, and asked about them. We were able to witness to others.
Robert wanted all to be a light, and a witness to the love of Christ. He taught many of us so much, and so much of what we learned is that everything is a blessing, though it may not seem it at the time. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the saying goes. And we're all striving for one goal - the goal of reaching heaven some day. We're in it together, and to reach that goal, we ought to strive to live our lives based on the saying "all for Jesus, and for His glory."
The next time you are suffering, I encourage you to recall this phrase, because in some way the Lord is going to bring light, joy, goodness, and love out of every situation.
God bless!
Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of meeting Robert, but he has been a man who has changed my life. He saw all suffering, as a blessing. When he developed diabetes, he saw it as a blessing. When he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, he saw it as a bless. When he was diagnosed with ALS, he saw it as a blessing. The night before our run, we watched a testimony given by Robert, about his life. He was Christ's shining light, and that's what he wanted all to be - a light of Christ shining in the darkness of this world!
Needless to say, we made our run a prayer. We started off by offering each mile for an apostle. During our run, as I was starting to "die" due to my asthma, my running partner started praying the litany of humility, one of my favorite prayers. Our course was very hilly, and every hill (at least in the beginning) resulted in my asthma flaring up. Damian (my running partner) talked me through each hill firstly in reminding me to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, to help the oxygen flow and prevent my asthma attack. Then he would talk about how Jesus was practically dead, but carried the cross up mount Calvary and this little hill was nothing compared to what Jesus had done for me (for us all). Each hill was like a little Calvary for me - I was suffering and drawing closer to Christ in my suffering.
Then we reached about mile 6ish and I'm running low. We have a hill that is forever long, and I have to stop going up it. Once I let myself stop running it's really hard for me to get going again. So in order to help, Damian decided we would do a rosary. Actually, we probably started the rosary around mile 7. My legs were starting to feel like lead weights and all I could think about was how much it hurt. So Damian said he would pray the rosary, and he wanted me to reflect on it while we ran and every time I stopped running, he stopped praying the rosary. And he would start up again once I started running again. It worked really well to keep me going, and keep my mind off my physical pain.
Upon completion of our rosary, we had about 2 miles left. I had told Damian that he had to keep talking because it helped me. So he would just ramble, and all the while I started saying to myself "all for Jesus and for his glory."
Reflecting on this phrase I came to realize how all we do is truly for Jesus, and for His glory. Literally all our lives need to be for Jesus and to be glorifying Him. The other night at work one of our managers and I were talking about work and he was like I'm just here for the money, isn't that what we're all here for? We had been talking about how it's important to do things the correct way, and to take care of customers etc. But then we were like what it all boils down to is Panera wouldn't exist without customers, so if our customers aren't happy then we're out of a job, which means no money. Which all makes sense, but I was a little stumped by his question. I honestly don't care how much money I make (at least most of the time).
Less and less I seem to care about the money; I'm learning to care more about customers, and making them happy. I work to have money, yes, but the money is used to pay for gas, for food, for retreats, for things that aide me in glorifying God all of my life. The money is needed to pay for my school, so I can fulfill my vocation as a student, and later in my life serve God through my work as a nurse - caring for people and serving them. And as a student, I glorify God by uniting my school work to Christ, striving to integrate Christ into every aspect of my life.
So, this is super long. But my point is - all we do needs to honor our Lord.
All I do is for God and for his glory. I ran my 13.1 miles because my friend's dad died of ALS and a group of us did it together, in honor of him and in support of his family. We all wore the same shirts. They were blue, said Robert's Runners on the front, and on the back there was a cross and a quote that "We all have a vocation, and I'm chasing after mine." People recognized our shirts, and asked about them. We were able to witness to others.
Robert wanted all to be a light, and a witness to the love of Christ. He taught many of us so much, and so much of what we learned is that everything is a blessing, though it may not seem it at the time. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the saying goes. And we're all striving for one goal - the goal of reaching heaven some day. We're in it together, and to reach that goal, we ought to strive to live our lives based on the saying "all for Jesus, and for His glory."
The next time you are suffering, I encourage you to recall this phrase, because in some way the Lord is going to bring light, joy, goodness, and love out of every situation.
God bless!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Make the Ugly Beautiful
I went to Adoration tonight and the image of flowers at the bottom of the alter, holding Jesus struck me. You see, I've been struggling to lay down some of my burdens and allow Christ to take control. So I wanted to share this with you all. The good Lord takes all things and makes them beautiful, no matter how ugly or awful it may seem, there will be good that comes of it, for our God is a God of mercy and love.
Father, may we trust forever in your perfect plan and find hope in your love and mercy.
Father, may we trust forever in your perfect plan and find hope in your love and mercy.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Monday Memo
"The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and to put all our trust in Almighty God. That is what I have done" -St. Therese of Lisieux
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