Chatters came from around the world Sunday night to talk about New Year’s Resolutions: the Phillipines, India and all over the USA!
What are your expectations for the New Year? Comment on our Salesian Founders remarks for New Years! What are some of the ways we can help ourselves live those decisions all year through?
How does St. Jane’s advice encourage you?
What can the contemporary Visitation Sisters do to help you keep to your resolutions? Are you thinking of making a resolution this year?
Dec 30 2012, 7:19 PM
Sister: St Jane also said: Let us walk with a new and lively spring in our step in the service of God and one another. Let us renew our efforts to grow in our perfection. Let us take great courage to earnestly labor and master ourselves, and to purify ourselves of those things that prevent us from being more of who God calls us to be.
Well I have been pondering how to grow closer to Jesus this year
How to be less selfish, more patient and a better Visitandine.
Rob: More patience and less selfish is something we all need to work on
Car: yes, me too!
Rob: at times it is very difficult to be patient
Sister : Yes, no matter where one is!
Dec 30 2012, 7:32 PM
Car: yes, I find it hard to be patient in a big crowd-i just want to get through it!
Sister : But that is an essential Salesian virtue- patience
Sister : St Jane suggests : To begin the year without planning to tend to our labors is to run the risk of allowing yet another year to slip away without any profit to our soul
Rob: Yes, it is essential we plan. once you plan and get done what you plan required you always feel better
xel: yeah but its also frustrating
Sister : St Jane also says : consider how well you are making use of each and every present moment that God gives you.
xel: i just realized it recently the hard way
xel: i think we should learn to plan but dont put expectations,and just leave the rest to God
Car: or pray first and try to discern what God wants us to work on
Sister : That’s very good advice. Without prayer we don’t know God’s will too easily
Rob: Prayer is always the most important part of plannning.
Guest722 (guest): We are already on new year’s eve, here in India
Car: you are way ahead of us!
Guest722 (guest): Yes
Guest722 (guest): Ys, a tradition here too, but as mentioned earlier we have to pray while making reso’s; so that they work for us
Rob: as St Paul said the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
Guest722 (guest): And also, we need to review last year’s progress too
Car: yes, every moment we must remember to let the Lord work in us
Sister : If each of us are making resolutions, another can be that we each pray for each other this year to keep them.
xel: yeah and the temptation is always there,so we should perserappenver while praying for it to h*persevere while praying to happen
Sister : As St Jane reminds us too: . While we ultimately must depend and rely upon God’s mercy, let us at the same time remember to do as much good as we can in the time that God gives us now.
Rob: It is important to make good use of our time.
Dec 30 2012, 7:44 PM
Guest722 (guest): Hope all have worked on the resolutions for this year, thanks be to God
Sister : I tried! My ongoing one was to grow more deeply in living our Spiritual Directory Are you familiar with it? All can follow it
Guest722 (guest): Yes, Time Management rightly said as Self Management
Dec 30 2012, 7:45 PM
Car: Mine was to spend more time in prayer and to keep going with my discernment
xel: Mine was to be a better christian to other people
Sister: It is a guide by St Francis de Sales on how to live throughout the day
Guest722 (guest): Yes, prayer is very important – probably wake up earlier and pray
Sister : For ex: Spiritual Directory of St Francis de Sales
Let us learn to meditate after the instructions of St. Francis de Sales.
An important element of meditation is the preparation of the day. This means reflecting on the different events which may possibly occur during the day. This will dispose you to act well and to make right decisions at the proper moment.
If for some reason you are unable to make this mental prayer in the morning, try to make it at some other time during the
day
Rob: It is a way to get in another Rosary
): Spending quality time with Jesus, in prayer
meditation is very important. H and I are reading ” St Margaret Mary & the Promises of the Sacred Heart”. Meditation is something one must learn and then learn to work on.
I have told her to consider what the gospel may have said or what Father spoke over in the sermon. To think about it, how she can put it to work in her own life. this something you consider, inside, not outwardly with others.
Guest722 (guest): That’s very nice . Reading on the Saints really helps us to think about where we are spiritually and where we need to go
Rob It is between you and Jesus
Yes, we love to read about the Saints. It does help us all to grow spiritually. After all they were all human beings just like us.
Car: and finding a good Bible study course helps too
Sister : That develops intimacy with the Lord. And yes, reading Saints is one of the best ways to increase one’s fervor I think
Rob: The way we started was to read Lives of the Saints. It is a different Saint each day and usually only one or two pages.
In saying the Rosary I have often suggested she look at pictures of the Mysteries we are saying and concentrate on that mystery.
Sister : Sometimes we need a good system to keep to our resolutions, like reading one page of the Gospels every day or a saint’s life we never knew about every month
Car: Rob, that is such a helpful idea. did you know you can find videos on youtube of the Rosary and Chaplet to help with this>
Sister : Beginning every reading exercise, if we ask for the grace for that exercise, we do receive it from the Holy Spirit
Rob: Yes, I have watched them Even shared them with others on my Face book page as well as the Advent Antiphons
Car: they’ve been such a big help for me too
Guest722 (guest): Even learning from Mother Mary, how she submitted to God’s will, is also another consideration for a resolution this year
Sister : Yes and Since Jan 1 is the Feast of the Motherhood of Mary, our Blessed Mother will help us keep our promises
Rob: I am certain the Lord wants us to use all HE has provided.
Car: Yes, Mary will always take us to Jesus
Sister : I liked this simple sentiment of St Jane: . Let us resolve to do the best we can with what ever little we possess. While God wants only what we can do, God clearly expects us to do what we can. Therefore, let us be careful to give what – in justice – is due to God and to one another.
Guest722 (guest): I think for me – also going more frequently to confession will be another resol.
Car: ooh, yes, that’s an excellent one!
Rob: The more frequently you go, the easier it is and the better you feel. I go every 2 weeks and it is a wonderful feeling to go that often.
Guest722 (guest): It is a very nice advice by St. Jane – makes you think.
Rob: At times it is easier for those who do no go often is to make the effort to go every season, then increase to monthly and so on. At times it is easier for those who do no go often is to make the effort to go every season, then increase to monthly and so on.
Sister : That’s Salesian advice!!!
Car: I still find it easier to go when there is a general penance service that includes private confession
__Ra: a yearly resolution I may stick with for a while, but then, I forget or make excuses to not do it… but if I do daily resolutions instead, I am able to hold myself accountable daily
SR Ma: I kike what SFdS said in one of his letters: “Do not undertake too many vigils or austerities. Go rather by the way of the Love of God and of your neighbor, and of humility.”
Rob: Nightly during prayers I always try to examine my conscience and always before confession
Kev: Kev says – for 2012, it was to say the family rosary every day. We’re trying to stick to that
Rob: Good Resolution.
SR Ma: SFdS is always right on target: “The devil does not care how the body may suffer from its penances, provided we are doing our OWN will thereby. It is not austerity but obedience the he fears.”
__Ra: Sister , I believe in the Way of Perfection St Teresa basically says the same thing
Dec 30 2012, 8:19 PM
Car: so, we could do something, like say sleeping on a rock, to atone for our sins, but if God did not direct us to do that, it’s useless?
SR Ma: Right, . Strange to think about that.
xel: i dont think the way of penance isnt important to God but the reason behind it
SR Ma: God’s directions will usually involve stretching ourselves to do something loving toward my neighbor.
Car: so how do you know if you are doing penance for yourself or for Him?
Guest722 (guest): I read about obedience even in St. Faustina’s Diary
Rob: In the book H & I are reading St Margaret Mary dread being told things in some cases by Jesus. He told her at one point she had to be a victim and make it known at the assembly…she really was saddened by being told to do so.
However, in obedience she had to ask Mother Superiors permission and do so.
SR Ma: To be a victim without anyone knowing, except God – now that’s a real challenge!
__Ra Well, Car, it would seem to me that in religious life, any penances you do you’d have to get permission for, because your superior would be directing you according to God’s will.. of course, I could be totally wrong. As far as secular, I’m not sure
Rob: Yes, but we all know she is a wonderful saint!
Car: yes, I don’t do anything now without asking them or one of my directors
SR Ma: But in religious life penances abound as we serve one another with patience and love!
Rob: that is a beautiful way of life!
__Ra: yea, I think sometimes it’s harder to be nice and patient with others than to like fast or something haha
SR Ma: No need to ask the Superior to allow us to be REALLY loving toward our sisters!
Guest722 (guest): Just met a Relegious yesterday, who said the same to me yesterday, Sr.
Car: you know, serving in love never seems like penance to me!
SR Ma: Right, because it feels so good because we were made to do just that.
__Ra:, you are doing better than me- It seems to me that God puts people in my life (especially at work) that want to try my patience constantly- like they will say something about me being Catholic or make fun of me.. stuff like that
Car: ooooh, I get tried all the time-and I’m not always successful, but being able to be loving doesn’t seem like penance or punishment,
SR Ma: So, you quietly smile at them and try to do something nice for them. Now, THAT’S hard!
Dec 30 2012, 8:26 PM
__Ra: that’s why I said it’s harder for me to be patient than to fast or do some other penance
SR Ma: Happens all the time among us sisters.
Guest722 (guest): Yes, Maybe prat for them in the mind in those moments
Dec 30 2012, 8:27 PM
Guest722 (guest): Sorry, I meant pray for them
__Ra: yes I do
SR Ma: Ask their Guardian Angels to step in!
Dec 30 2012, 8:28 PM
Sister : That’s why St John the Evangelist repeated almost exclusively, Children love one another