Don’t Sweater the Small Stuff
Humor

Don’t Sweater the Small Stuff

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I have seen some outcry over this on social media.

Personally, I like that Cardinal Schönborn is reaching out to the Nephilim. I mean if you’re a biblical giant where can you hang your sweater to drip-dry?

Although, I hold the line at Nephilim ugly Christmas sweater contests.

Also, I don’t know if the Nephilim are responsible for this.

“Some of his sculptures can also be seen in the church or in front of the cathedral, mainly in disfigured or deformed form, such as a boxing glove, deformed houses, a body without a head, hands and feet, and bags on legs. At the Singertor there is a large hot water bottle on its feet, called “Big Mother”.”

Plus in my odd imagination, I can imagine that the guy who threw Pachamama into the Tiber might be making a visit to Vienna. I can also imagine him singing Weezer’s “Undone – The Sweater Song” while grabbing a thread.

“If you want to destroy my sweater Hold this thread as I walk away”

Source Catholic Answer’s Forum

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Punditry

The Weekly Francis – Volume 304 – 19 February 2020

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller
pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 4 February 2020 to 19 February 2020.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

General Audiences

Letters

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “Often we forget the Lord and deal with other gods: money, vanity, pride. Let us ask for the grace to understand when our heart begins to slide into worldliness. God’s grace and love will stop us if we ask in prayer. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 13 February 2020
  • “Today it would do us good to think – as an act of gratitude to God – about those who accompany us on our journey through life: family members, friends, colleagues… The Lord wants us to be together as a people. Thank you, Lord, for never leaving us alone! #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 14 February 2020
  • “Our prayer must not be limited only to our needs, to our necessities: a prayer is truly Christian if it has a universal dimension too.” @Pontifex 15 February 2020
  • “In #TodaysGospel, Jesus encourages us to move from a formal observance of the Law to a substantial observance, accepting the Law in our hearts. From the heart comes good and bad deeds.” @Pontifex 16 February 2020
  • “We alone cannot satisfy ourselves. We need to unmask our self-sufficiency, overcome our closures, go back to being small within, be simple and enthusiastic, filled with fervor for God and love for others.” @Pontifex 17 February 2020
  • “Every one of us has something that has hardened within our heart. The medicine to combat hardheartedness is memory: recalling the blessings of the Lord. This keeps our heart open and faithful. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 18 February 2020
  • ““Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Mt 5:5). Meekness can win over hearts, save friendships, and much more, because people get angry then they calm down. They rethink the issue before retracing their steps, and relationships can be rebuilt. #Beatitudes” @Pontifex 19 February 2020
  • ““Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The “earth” to conquer is the salvation of our brother and sister. There is no earth better than someone’s heart, no land more beautiful to gain than peace renewed with a brother or sister. This is the earth to inherit.” @Pontifex 19 February 2020

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An Initial Look at the Dynamic Parish Program
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An Initial Look at the Dynamic Parish Program

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

My parish is one of the parishes selected for the Dynamic Parish program. The costs of the program for the parishes selected are being covered by Dynamic Catholic donors. In part, they are endeavoring to discover what works and to adjust the program based on feedback. So a definite work in progress. The goals seem modest in that it works towards an increase in parish involvement over the standard 7 percent of people generally heavily engaged in the parish.

Matthew Kelly isn’t quite my cup of tea, but I have reviewed some of his books and find them generally solid in content. I am allergic to promotional speaker talk, and so am annoyed by the language. Hearing “Being the best version of yourself” so many times is apt to put me on a suicide watch. As an app developer, the version metaphor doesn’t work for me positively knowing all the bugs still in the best version of your software. Although the bugs metaphor kind of works in the spiritual life in that the saints saw clearly their imperfections. I just prefer the more traditional language in regard to growing in holiness.

Still, I am slowly learning that everything doesn’t have to be about me and I know a good number of people that have found his books very helpful to them and impactful.

I am also pretty skeptical of the Dynamic Parish program, but I am willing to see how it develops and what impact it actually has on the parish. So last night I attended the “Dream Event” which is kind of a kickoff to the program. Yes, it was pretty difficult for me to curb my skepticism and attend something called a “Dream Event”. Especially one that is given by a “Certified Dream Manager” working for Dynamic Catholic. I find it funny to go to a Dream Event after recently reading ‘Querida Amazonia’ with the Pope’s four great dreams for the Amazon region. What is all this dream stuff going on? Oh well, my parish is St. Joseph so I should be down with the dream stuff.

Certified Dream Manager Tony Ferraro gave the talk, and yes that is his actual title. Mainly this was used as a focus to outline goals we see for ourselves and for the parish. To not be just content with the way things are and to just stoically accept them. To focus on what is truly important and what we want to accomplish as Catholics. So I see where they are going with this, even as the delivery is not to my personal liking. Promotional speaker talk just seems so manipulative to me. Still, my real criticism is that I wish it had been tied more profoundly to Gospel imperatives instead of seeing the goal as being dynamic Catholics. I understand that term as they use it as an umbrella term for being fully engaged Catholics spreading the Gospel. I just wanted it to be tied more directly to the language Jesus uses in the call to holiness and the message of the Gospel.

On the tech side, I found part of this event interesting is that they had people answering questions via text messaging on their phone and the anonymous results being displayed on the screen in a word cloud. I think this did result in some actual engagement in getting people to think about the topics that were presented.

As a pessimistic optimist, I am taking a wait and see approach to this program as to what the actual fruits are. Like many active Catholics, I certainly have my list of hobby horses as to how to increase engagement in parish life. I am not quite ready to send my hobby horses off to the glue factory, but again am trying to objectively evaluate this program.

Just to be clear, I do have concerns considering the Matthew Kelly “takeover” of parish life. The “Christ Renews His Parish” program is now under his auspices as the renamed “Welcome”, CRHP 2.0. I am not a fan of the new name, although the old name didn’t grab me either. There are certainly blurred lines between Dynamic Catholic’s paid consultancy and these forays into parish life. I am not skeptical at all about Matthew Kelly’s motives, just that some of this can be problematic and something to be aware of.

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Punditry

The Weekly Francis – Volume 303 – 12 February 2020

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller
pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 25 January 2020 to 12 February 2020.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

Apostolic Exhortation

General Audiences

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “Video #PrayAgainstTrafficking” @Pontifex 6 February 2020
  • “Both John the Baptist, who is the greatest man born of woman, and the Son of God have chosen the path of humiliation. God shows this path to Christians so they can move forward. One cannot be humble without having suffered humiliation. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 7 February 2020
  • “Saint Bakhita, patron saint of victims of trafficking, faced the pain of slavery and witnessed the freedom and joy of encountering the Lord. Let us pray that all may live this joy and break the chains of slavery. #PrayAgainstTrafficking” @Pontifex 8 February 2020
  • “Together against trafficking. Only together can we defeat this scourge and protect the victims. Prayer is the strength that sustains our commitment. #PrayAgainstTrafficking” @Pontifex 8 February 2020
  • “In the #GospelOfTheDay (Mt 5:13–16), Jesus calls His disciples to be salt and light in the world. The person who lives and spreads the grace of Christ is salt. The person who lets the Gospel shine with good deeds is light.” @Pontifex 9 February 2020
  • “Faith grows when we invoke the Lord with confidence, bringing to Jesus who we are, with open hearts, without hiding our sufferings.” @Pontifex 10 February 2020
  • “I entrust to the Virgin Mary, Health of the Sick, all those who carry the burden of illness, along with their families and healthcare providers. I warmly assure everyone of my closeness in prayer. #WorldDayOfTheSick #OurLadyOfLourdes” @Pontifex 11 February 2020
  • “Jesus Christ offers His mercy to those who endure distress due to situations of frailty, suffering, and weakness. He invites everyone to share in His life in order to experience tender love. #WorldDayOfTheSick http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/sick/documents/papa-francesco_20200103_giornata-malato.html” @Pontifex 11 February 2020
  • ““Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4). Wise and blessed is the person who welcomes the pain that comes with love, because they will receive the consolation of the Holy Spirit,who is God’s tenderness who forgives and corrects.#GeneralAudience#Beatitudes” @Pontifex 12 February 2020
  • “I am addressing the present Exhortation to the whole world. I am doing so to help awaken their affection and concern for that land which is also “ours”. #QueridaAmazonia http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia.html” @Pontifex 12 February 2020
  • “I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of the poor, the original peoples and the least of our brothers and sisters, where their voices can be heard and their dignity advanced. #QueridaAmazonia” @Pontifex 12 February 2020
  • “The Lord, who is the first to care for us, teaches us to care for our brothers and sisters and the environment which he daily gives us. This is the first ecology that that we need. #QueridaAmazonia http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia.html” @Pontifex 12 February 2020
  • “I dream of Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features. #QueridaAmazonia” @Pontifex 12 February 2020
  • “The Amazonian peoples have a right to hear the Gospel: the proclamation of God who infinitely loves every man and woman, and has revealed this love fully in Jesus Christ, crucified for us and risen in our lives. #QueridaAmazonia” @Pontifex 12 February 2020

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Punditry

The Weekly Francis – Volume 302 – 05 February 2020

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller
pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 29 January 2020 to 5 February 2020.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” (Mk 4:24). Let us ask the Lord for the grace to not fear the cross, let us ask for the capacity to feel humiliated, because this is the path He has chosen for us to be saved. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 30 January 2020
  • “May the holiness of Saint #JohnBosco, who we remember today as a father and teacher to youth, be a guide, especially to you dear young people, in achieving your future projects, as you welcome the plan that God has for each of us.” @Pontifex 31 January 2020
  • “May the Lord give us the grace to send us a prophet always – be they a friend, our confessor, our child, our mother – who warns us when we are slipping into a feeling that everything seems legitimate because we have lost our sense of sin. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 31 January 2020
  • “Whoever keeps their gaze fixed on Jesus learns to live in order to serve. They do not wait for others to start, but set out to seek their neighbor. #ConsecratedLife” @Pontifex 1 February 2020
  • “Today we celebrate the #WorldDayforConsecratedLife. Let us pray for consecrated men and women who dedicate themselves to God and to their brothers and sisters through daily service: may they be ever faithful witnesses of Christ’s love. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200201_omelia-vitaconsacrata.html” @Pontifex 2 February 2020
  • “The #GospeloftheDay (Lk 2:22–40), for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, shows us the amazement of Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anne at what was happening before their eyes. The ability to be amazed makes our encounter with the Lord fruitful.” @Pontifex 2 February 2020
  • “Loneliness is not overcome by closing in on ourselves, but by crying out to the Lord, for the Lord hears the cry of those who find themselves alone.” @Pontifex 3 February 2020
  • “Brothers and sisters, in moments when we are far from God, it would do us good to hear this voice in our heart: ”My son, my daughter, what are you doing? Please, don’t kill yourself. I died for you.“ #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 4 February 2020
  • “The Document on Human Fraternity, signed one year ago, has written a new page in the dialogue between religions and people of good will. As brothers and sisters, we want to say ”no“ to violence, and together promote peace, life, and religious freedom.” @Pontifex 4 February 2020
  • “There is a poverty that we must accept, that of our own being, and a poverty that we must seek instead – a concrete one – from the things of this world, in order to be free and to be able to love. #GeneralAudience #Beatitudes” @Pontifex 5 February 2020

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Reflections on the 3rd Anniversary of my Wife’s death
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Reflections on the 3rd Anniversary of my Wife’s death

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my wife’s death.

“Grief is not, as I thought, a state but a process: like a walk in a winding valley which gives you a new landscape every few miles.” (C.S. Lewis Letter to Dom Bede Griffiths, O.S.B.)

I find this insight accurate to my experience. It has knocked me down this month as the thought of this anniversary has dragged me down memory lane.

Part of this is feeling adrift. Sometimes you think you have life figured out and are just going along for the ride. I just never imagined being without her and when I thought of death I was certain it would be me first. So when I now think of my vocation I feel like I am in vocation purgatory. There are many examples from scripture of widows opened up to live a life for the Gospel. Historically lots of widow-saints and even consecrated widows in the Canon Law for Oriental Churches. For widowers – not so much. Although I am sure there are examples historically, just none that come to mind. Sometimes walking around my parish cemetery where my wife is interred I always seem to notice those graves of both the husband and wife and how almost always the husband died first. So this makes me feel out of order, even as I know other men in the same situation as I. Plus my parish has a group for widows, but not for widowers. Maybe I should identify as a widow.

Still, the last thing I need is to constantly think of myself and my current state. So I have been concentrating more on praying for others and opening myself up to others. So there have been opportunities along this route. There are events I now participate in not so much for what I am able to gain from it myself, but more regarding what I can contribute. Often tempted to just stay home and read and such and so I have to be vigilant against this self-centeredness.

Chesterton also constantly reminds me to have gratitude. To see those things in life to be grateful for even those events following the cross. So I am grateful that she was in my life and that I am all the better for that.

the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord.

I am naturally ebullient and not prone to depression. Although I realize that depression is something that can happen to anybody. I believe my current feelings lead more to the reflective and the real feeling of loss. This morning when I woke up I decided to take a day off. So went to Mass at my parish followed up by a public recitation of the Rosary in our Eucharistic Chapel and then a Holy Hour there. Then I walked out to where she is interred and sang the Divine Mercy. Trying to spend the day in thankfulness. I am also not the type to ask God “Why me?”, I figure “Why not me?” since I am not exempt from the realities of life. Plus recently I have been drawing strength from a daily reading of one of St. John Henry Newman’s meditation.

“Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.”

Yes, He knows what He is about.

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 301 – 29 January 2020

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller
pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 22 January 2020 to 29 January 2020.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Papal Tweets

  • “Ecumenical hospitality requires a willingness to listen to other Christians, paying attention to their personal stories of faith and to the history of their community.” @Pontifex 23 January 2020
  • “This year I want to dedicate World Communications Day to the theme of storytelling. In order not to get lost, we must make the truth of good stories our own. Stories that build up and help us find our roots and the strength to move forward together. http://vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/communications/documents/papa-francesco_20200124_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html” @Pontifex 24 January 2020
  • “Envy and jealousy are seeds that generate war. Let us ask for the grace to have a transparent heart, like that of David, a transparent heart that seeks justice and peace. #SantaMarta” @Pontifex 25 January 2020
  • “The Bible is the great love story between God and humanity. At its centre stands Jesus, whose own story brings to fulfilment both God’s love for us and our love for God.” @Pontifex 25 January 2020
  • “We need God’s Word: so that we can hear, amid the thousands of other words in our daily lives, that one Word that speaks to us not about things, but about life. #SundayoftheWordofGod
    http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200126_omelia-domenicadellaparoladidio.html” @Pontifex 26 January 2020
  • “Let us make room for the Word of God! Each day, let us read a verse or two of the Bible. We will discover that God is close to us, that He dispels our darkness and, with great love, leads our lives into deep waters. #SundayoftheWordofGod” @Pontifex 26 January 2020
  • “God’s Word consoles and encourages us, it challenges us, frees us from the bondage of our selfishness and summons us to conversion; because it has the power to change our lives and to lead us out of darkness into the light. #SundayoftheWordofGod” @Pontifex 26 January 2020
  • “If we lose our memory, we destroy our future. May the anniversary of the Holocaust, the unspeakable cruelty that humanity learned of 75 years ago, serve as a summons to pause, to be still and to remember. We need to do this, lest we become indifferent. #DayofMemory” @Pontifex 27 January 2020
  • “The Gospel will not go forward with boring, bitter evangelizers. No. It will only go forward with joyful evangelizers, full of life. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 28 January 2020
  • “The Beatitudes are the ”identity card“ of a Christian. They are not about the joy that passes, but about happiness that knows how to live side by side with suffering. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 29 January 2020

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 300 – 22 January 2020

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller
pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 31 December 2019 to 22 January 2020.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “The Lord has so much compassion, He involves Himself in our problems. Let us often repeat this simple prayer: Lord, I am a sinner, have mercy on me, have compassion for me. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 16 January 2020
  • “Jesus looks at the paralytic and focuses on what is essential: ”Your sins are forgiven“. Physical health is a gift that we must preserve but the Lord teaches us that we must also preserve the health of the heart, spiritual health. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 17 January 2020
  • “Whoever has faith feels a great need for God and, in our own smallness, we surrender ourselves, trusting fully in Him.” @Pontifex 18 January 2020
  • “Let us pause at #GospelofToday (John 1,29–34), perhaps even contemplating an icon of Christ, Son of God made lamb, to free us from evil. Yes, we are still poor sinners but not slaves, no, but children, children of God!” @Pontifex 19 January 2020
  • “Being Christian does not mean defending yourself with an ideology in order to move forward. To be Christian is to be free, because we have confidence, because we are docile to the Word of the Lord. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 20 January 2020
  • “Through Baptism, we Christians are all anointed by the election of the Lord, and this is a pure gift. Today let us ask the Holy Spirit to be able to preserve this gift with faithfulness. This is Christian holiness. #HomilySantaMarta” @Pontifex 21 January 2020
  • “This year, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is dedicated to the theme of hospitality. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 22 January 2020
  • “Working together to practice hospitality, especially towards those whose lives are most vulnerable, will make us better human beings, better disciples, and a more united Christian people. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 22 January 2020

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Edith Stein and Companions: On the Way to Auschwitz – Review
Punditry

Edith Stein and Companions: On the Way to Auschwitz – Review

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

On the same summer day in 1942, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) and hundreds of other Catholic Jews were arrested in Holland by the occupying Nazis. One hundred thirteen of those taken into custody, several of them priests and nuns, perished at Auschwitz and other concentration camps. They were murdered in retaliation for the anti-Nazi pastoral letter written by the Dutch Catholic bishops.

While the story of Edith Stein is somewhat well-know, this book goes into the lives of other Catholic Jews who were arrested at the same time and most were killed on the same day as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. This book is not intended to provide an in-depth biography of Edith Stein. Mostly this book provides, as much as possible, a biography of those who were mostly arrested and executed as retaliation regarding the Dutch Bishop’s pastoral letter.

This book includes a list of eighty-three persons, which is probably not a complete list. This list included thirty-one men and fifty-two women. This included two priests, two brothers, six women religious, and two third-order members.

What I found very interesting was the story of the lives of these people who for the most part were adult converts to the Catholic faith. They often had difficult lives because of their decision being ostracized by their families. This runs parallel to the life of Edith Stein and her sister. Parts of this book are repetitive as far as events go, but the effort is to provide biographies for as many people as they were able to. I am glad to know these stories now, as heart-wrenching as they are.

Some were caught by surprise to some extent regarding their arrest. Others though seemed to have been preparing for this and offering their lives as a sacrifice for the conversion of others – a common thread.

Since this was in retaliation to the Dutch Bishop’s letter I found some of there responses to this intriguing.

“She recounted, among other things, that the leaders of the camp had said to the prisoners who were religious sisters and brothers “You know, after all, that you can thank the bishops for your fate.” The religious had answered, “We thank God that we have such bishops, and we gladly suffer for our Holy Church.”
”In her last letter to her confessor, Father Matthias Frehe, O.P., Dr. Lisamaria Meirowsky writes from the Westerbork concentration camp on August 6:“
”I want to send you a last greeting and to tell you that I am full of confidence and wholly surrendered to God’s holy will. Even more, I consider it a grace and election to have to leave under these circumstances and in this way to give witness to the words of our fathers and shepherds in Christ… . I go with courage, confidence, and joy, as do the religious who go with me. We are permitted to bear witness to Jesus, and with our bishops we are allowed to bear witness to the truth. We go as children of our Mother, the Church, and want to unite our suffering with that of our King, Redeemer, and Bridegroom. We want to offer our suffering for the conversion of many, for the Jews, for those who persecute us: thereby we want to contribute to peace in the Kingdom of Christ.”

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Thoughts on the St. Augustine March for Life
Punditry

Thoughts on the St. Augustine March for Life

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

So I had never gone down to the March for Life in St. Augustine before. I had not realized that there would be so many people from other diocese attending. There were a good many from Orlando, some from Tampa Bay, and even Miami. Out of state, there were also those from Savannah, Georgia. So this was fairly well attended. Plus there were those from in-area Baptist churches. This march started 15 years ago.

So it was pretty cool to march through the oldest city in the U.S. with part of our route in the old town with cobblestone streets. Tourists were snapping shots of us. Encountered no pro-abortion protesters.

The homily from my bishop was excellent with pro-life themes I have heard him express on other occasions. I especially liked his recital of a prayer from St. John Henry Newman (listed at the end). I think I will add this to my daily prayers.

I also enjoyed the various speeches made. They were mostly short, inspiring, and to the point. Doug Tooke of ODB Films was hilarious. Jason “Moose” Hamilton, a local man with Down Syndrome, gave the most inspiring speech. List of speakers.

You so often hear about how many young people there are at pro-life events. This was certainly in evidence here. I ran into some college students I know from local abortion protests.

I also ran into a woman I had had recently met at one of the bible studies I attend. Fairly new to the area and widowed last year after fifty some years of marriage. We had a great conversation as we marched, especially as she was so knowledgeable about the faith. I knew she was intelligent since she knew that she wanted to know much more.

Meditations on Christian Doctrine – March 7, 1848

  1. God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all {301} created to His glory—we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.
  2. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.
  3. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He {302} may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.
    O Adonai, O Ruler of Israel, Thou that guidest Joseph like a flock, O Emmanuel, O Sapientia, I give myself to Thee. I trust Thee wholly. Thou art wiser than I—more loving to me than I myself. Deign to fulfil Thy high purposes in me whatever they be—work in and through me. I am born to serve Thee, to be Thine, to be Thy instrument. Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see—I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used. (St. John Henry Newman)
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