How does your heart resonate with this approach in these tremulous times?
2.How have you put too much hope in yourself and your talents instead of into God?
3.What are the ways that you struggle to hope in God? What are the ways that help you hope in God?
4.Do you think saints like Saint Claude struggled to live out this virtue of hope, or do you think it was as simple as writing these words about it?

Sister Susan Marie: I think he has alot to offer re hope- do we need it in this world

Sep 14 2014, 7:35 PM

A: absolutely

Sep 14 2014, 7:36 PM

Sister Susan Marie: !
The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude de la Colombière
books.google.com
Saint Claude de La Colombière – ‎1998 – Preview
Jesus told St. Margaret Mary, “Father Claude is my perfect friend and servant. His gift is to lead souls to God.” St. Claude preached missions and retreats on the Sacred Heart.

Car: I find it can be hard to explain to people how people who are being persecuted and killed still have hope-it’s like people think the hope can only be temporal

Sister Susan Marie: To reach that place of hope Carol would mean a fairly deep spirituial lifr, no?

Sep 14 2014, 7:39 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Materialists won’t get it

7:39 PM

Sister Susan Marie: According to St Claude it is the Lord Himself who places us into that hope

Sep 14 2014, 7:40 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Or that’s how I understood it

Sep 14 2014, 7:40 PM

Sister Susan Marie: We can’t really reach it on our own

Sep 14 2014, 7:40 PM

Al: I think the 3 men Beheaded by Isis must have known our Lord. they never fliched

Sep 14 2014, 7:41 PM

Car It is not something we can give ourselves. It is supernatural. It is grace

: For sure James Foley did

Sep 14 2014, 7:41 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Yes We are talking reality here for sure Al and yes I think they do get special grace at that time too

Sep 14 2014, 7:42 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Even in lesser “terrors” that grace comes, but in my experience, just at the moment, not before it is needed

Sep 14 2014, 7:43 PM

Car: I haven’t heard anything about the others, but I remember reading that James

Loved the rosaryPM

Al: that explains his calmness

Sep 14 2014, 7:43 PM

Guest640 (guest): St. Frances de Sales in a letter to the Baronne of Chantal points out that looking upward — through a tiny hole in a nest floating on the sea — keeps the bird, the halcyon safe even in storms.

Ca: I am going to remember that!

Sep 14 2014, 7:44 PM

Al: me too

Guest640 (guest): The image — and related scripture — helped me yesterday and today.Guest640

014, 7:46 PM

Guest640 (guest): Ro 8:18, Phil 1:6 (3-12, and Phil 2:13

Car: Yes, we cannot expect an easier road that our King walked-and He walks it with us.

Guest640 (guest): God gives us the desire andgracePM

Sister Susan Marie: It is not easy to hold on to hope sometimes even if you are looking for the Will of God- that needed patience may be lacking and we try to anticipate God’s actionIt is not easy to hold on to hope sometimes even if you are looking for the Will of God- that needed patience may be lacking and we try to anticipate God’s action in our lives

Sep 14 2014, 7:49 PM

Sister Susan Marie: We have heard of “blind obedience” – this is like “blind hope”

Sep 14 2014, 7:49 PM

Car: I’ve done that a time or two-rushed grace. and sometimes I also sit in the road and cry when I should be moving!

Sep 14 2014, 7:49 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Hi Amy

7:50 PM

Guest640 (guest): I think St. Paul had a lot of CONFIDENCE. PM

Guest640 (guest): Guest 640 is Ruth. I’ve forgotten some password to sign in.

Sep 14 2014, 7:51 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Ah St Paul- confidence and great trust in the Crucified Lord

Sep 14 2014, 7:51 PM

Guest640 (guest): Yes, the trust came later.

Sep 14 2014, 7:51 PM

Sister Susan Marie: AS we heard today on this beautiful Feast

Am: I love this feast!

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Car: St Paul was so amazing -it’s like he didn’t care at all

7:52 PM

Am It was definitely God’s grace. He did just keep going, like one running a race

Sep 14 2014, 7:52 PM

Guest640 (guest): I “celebrated” by making the way of the cross after Mass. Alone. Later a priest I know came and did the same. We had a good talk.

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Al: thats awesome

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Ca: It is. I startled mine this morning by wishing him happy feast day on the way in.

Sep 14 2014, 7:54 PM

Sister Susan Marie: I always remember St John Paul 11 holding on to the Cross with that concentrated look on his face. The Cross was his hope

Am: I have been struggling hard with my cross, and it has been just so very tough to stay focused on hope

Sep 14 2014, 7:56 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Have you ever had a time in your life when you were hopeless

:56 PM

Am working on one now I got really sick this summer, and I received the grace to take care of my ailing priest friend, 8 hours a day, we struggled together. He just passed last week. it has been very hard

Sep 14 2014, 7:58 PM

Guest640 (guest): Amy, I’ve followed some of your FB entries.

Sep 14 2014, 7:59 PM

Car: Oh Am, I’m so sorry to hear-I will pray for both of you!

Sep 14 2014, 7:59 PM

Ali: So sorry for you loss

Guest640 (guest): Sr. Susan — I’ve never been hopeless, but I have FELT hopeless at times.

Sep 14 2014, 8:02 PM

Ca: Also like our Mother Mary

Ca: because choice is an act of the will, not dependent on emotion (though it

Guest640 (guest): By the Grace of God I’ve always been able to choose hope,

Holy Father SFdS says: “Hope is simply the loving complacence that we take in looking towards and striving for our supreme good.” (TLG)

Sep 14 2014, 8:06 PM

Am: Abandonment to the will of God

Sep 14 2014, 8:07 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: So, whatever happens, I cling to my Supreme Good – Jesus!

Am and pray for the gift of joy

Sep 14 2014, 8:07 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: That’s why I became Roman Catholic: to be close to Our Eucharistic Lord every day.

Sep 14 2014, 8:07 PM

Guest640 (guest): “Loving complacence” ?

Loving complacence just means deep happinessPlease sign in

SR R

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Guest640 (guest): Sr. Mary Roberta, that would be my best “excuse” for becoming a sister: Our Eucharistic Lord is often miles away behind locked doors.

Mary Roberta Viano: “Complacence” is an old-fashioned word, meaning “take pleasure with or in.”

Sep 14 2014, 8:09 PM

Sister Susan Marie: That is the best reason!

Sep 14 2014, 8:09 PM

Am: The power of the Eucharist is like nothing else. To sit in His Presence is all there is. Sometimes it has been hard to “pray” but to just sit is so peaceful

Sep 14 2014, 8:09 PM

Car: I miss having that every day-Mass and Adoration.

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Mary Roberta Viano: Good point, Guest 640! That was definitely one of my reasons!

Ali: Ca, sometimes i just sit in front of the Tabernacle

Sep 14 2014, 8:10 PM

Guest640 (guest): Sometimes I really feel jealous of religious who can take TIME with the Lord — as a “duty

10 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: My current bedroom in the monastery is directly across from the chapel on that floor. Wow, what a privilege

Car: you too? I felt that way too and that helped start me on my journey

Sep 14 2014, 8:11 PM

Ali: wow! Sister that is a gift!

Sep 14 2014, 8:11 PM

Am: wow, how wonderful. I sometimes drive for miles to find a mass

Sep 14 2014, 8:11 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: And that’s the ironic thing, Guest 640, that taking time with the Lord should be everyone’s main duty.

Guest640 (guest): SFdS in some of his letters says he has to find sufficient leisure to discuss — in a letter — something important.

Sep 14 2014, 8:12 PM

Am You have to fall in love with Jesus

Sep 14 2014, 8:12 PM

Sister Susan Marie: I always place ALL who cannot be with HIM as I am in my heart and words and bring everyone there whether they know it or not

Car: out here we spend so much time on the road, driving from here to there and back again for work, school, errands, that stopping at church can feel extra, even when we can find one that’s unlocked. So I say my devotions while I’m driving

Sep 14 2014, 8:13 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, so true. So all of our chat-room friends are with me whenever I sit before Our Lord in the Tabernacle!

Sister Susan Marie: It is a mystical presence I suppose

Sep 14 2014, 8:13 PM

Am: it is a shame that churches have to be locked

8:14 PM

Am: Fulton Sheen said something about if a church was locked he would stand outside and pray

Sep 14 2014, 8:14 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: That’s why it’s important to have annual or biannual retreats.

Ali: thank you Sisters for bringing me before Our Lord. I am probably at work and would so love to be there

Sep 14 2014, 8:14 PM

Car: And why we who are called should spend as much time as possible in prayer

Sep 14 2014, 8:15 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: Good idea, Amy! Or go next door and get the pastor!

Sep 14 2014, 8:15 PM

Am: yes, they will unlock for you

14 2014, 8:15 PM

Guest640 (guest): When I was in med school in Germany, I somehow found time for Mass, one hour of Adoration, plus scripture reading AND sharing with friends — and I was working as many as 5 part time jobs to help keep body and soul together. I usually bicycled to chapel — knew all the schedules throughout the city. But here everything is very far apart. Many churches have only one or two Masses per week, and are locked the rest of the time.

Sep 14 2014, 8:15 PM

Am I used to bother the priest so much he eventually just gave me a key

Sep 14 2014, 8:16 PM

Guest640 (guest): good, Amy. I’ve done

16 PM

Guest640 (guest): good, Amy. I’ve done that, too.

Sep 14 2014, 8:16 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: Yeah, Amy!

Sep 14 2014, 8:16 PM

Am: guest 640, it’s amazing how those who love daily mass seem to know all the schedules lol

Sep 14 2014, 8:17 PM

Sister Susan Marie: The advantages of a city that i never realized- Manhattan anyway- churches were always open- not in Brooklyn tho

Sep 14 2014, 8:17 PM

Car ha we should all do what Amy does

Sister Susan Marie: I think that should be a main campaign for Catholics- get those Churches open!

Sep 14 2014, 8:18 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Or at least the Blessed Sacrament Chapel if they have one

Sep 14 2014, 8:19 PM

Guest640 (guest): Thank you sister Susan. Someone has to have been doing that for me for a long time.

Sep 14 2014, 8:19 PM

Car: and if we all actually went security would not be such an issue

Sep 14 2014, 8:19 PM

Am: I agree, to lock a church is so sad, so one doesn’t even feel like doing a brief visit.

Guest640 (guest): Good point, Carol. Although I have been accosted in a church.

Sep 14 2014, 8:20 PM

Ca it’s so disappointing. Me and Jesus crying on opposite sides of a wall

Sep 14 2014, 8:20 PM

Guest640 (guest): I feel safe here in the Adirondack Park — even with prisons one of the main “industries.”

Sep 14 2014, 8:20 PM

Alit: the churches here on Long Island usually leave the door nearest the rectory open,strangeley in Maine they were locked.

Sep 14 2014, 8:20 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: In a bio of SFdS I read that he went to Holy Communion weekly, which was considered rare in those days, the normal practice being once a month.

Guest640 (guest): Sr. Mary Roberta, I’ve heard of that. And of even less frequent — St. Theresa.

Mary Roberta Viano: But at least we do what SFdS says: “make a thousand adorations each day to this divine Sacrament in thanksgiving for the love with which God dwells among us.”

Sep 14 2014, 8:24 PM

Car: Is it because of the sacredness-so that people won’t take it for granted?

Sep 14 2014, 8:24 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: -whether we’re in front of the Tabernacle or not

Guest640 (guest): Here I’ve had to learn to put myself in his presence even away from the Blessed Sacrament. But now I’ve found a couple of places/times where I can spend a hour or more with HIM at least a couple of times per week.

25 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: When we pray the pray the Luminous Mysteries, we end with thanksgiving for the Institution of the Holy Eucharist.

Sep 14 2014, 8:26 PM

Am Yes, and for years I never realized what His Presence felt like

Sep 14 2014, 8:26 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, the strong desire to be in His Presence puts us there.

Am: Yes, sister, it’s a pull you can’t explain to anyone, it’s consuming 8:27 PM

CarI’ve found that only other people who feel that pull understand me anymore

Sep 14 2014, 8:27 PM

Sister Susan Marie: Total LOVE

8:28 PM

Guest640 (guest): Yes. sometimes I feel his presence; sometimes even in his Eucharistic presence I feel nothing; it’s not feeling that matters — although I am grateful for consolations; it is choosing to consequently BE WITH HIM.

Sep 14 2014, 8:28 PM

Alit: its good to be able to share like this

Sep 14 2014, 8:28 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: As SFdS says, Our Lord want “to unite us so perfectly with Himself as to make us one with Him,” so that we can love with His strength.

Am: yes, that’s it, complete love like nothing else. Amen

Sep 14 2014, 8:29 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: Because I can do nothing without Him, as He pointed out.

Sep 14 2014, 8:29 PM

Guest640 (guest): HE chooses us, affirms us.

14 2014, 8:30 PM

Carheals, loves and comforts us :30 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: With are with Him, loving, on His cross. Our Visitation cross is empty because we’re supposed to be there with Him.

Am: there is no corpus on the cross?

Sep 14 2014, 8:31 PM

Car that’s beautiful

Guest640 (guest): Sr. Mary; in the Carmel a Dachau it was like that, too. No corpus. WE are his body.

Sep 14 2014, 8:32 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: No, just the letters IHM and symbols of His Passion

Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, our arms open wide, like His!

Sep 14 2014, 8:33 PM

Car: lined up, nail to nail

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Mary Roberta Viano: That was what today’s Feast was all about!

Sep 14 2014, 8:34 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: If we suffer with Him, we’ll be exalted with Him.

Sep 14 2014, 8:34 PM

Am: Ave crux, spec unica st. Benedicta of the cross

Sep 14 2014, 8:35 PM

Car And there is no other place worth being1

Sep 14 2014, 8:35 PM

Am Translated, Hail cross, our only hope

Sep 14 2014, 8:35 PM

Ca: that is a true mystery-that death is salvation

M Mary Roberta Viano: May Our Lord makes us worthy to meet Him! Sep 14 2014, 8:37 PM

Guest640 (guest): Yes, Sr. Mary, NOW and in the life to come. Sep 14 2014, 8:38 PM

Sister Susan Marie: May our Eucharistic and Crucified LOrd bless each of you this week! Sep 14 2014, 8:38 PM

Mary Roberta Viano: Have to go write to a Christian prisoner who is suffering his family’s total rejection. Till next Sunday…praying for you. Sep 14 2014, 8:38 PM

Car: Thank you so much! God bless you all! Sep 14 2014, 8:39 PM

Ali thank you all! Sep 14 2014, 8:39 PM

Am Good night! Freeze warning tonight. brrrr Sep 14 2014, 8:39 PM

Carthis is such fun Sep 14 2014, 8:39 PM

really? we’re baking out here Sep 14 2014, 8:39 PM Guest640 (guest): But, can we every be worthy? It is HIS redemptive love which makes that hope a safe hope. Realistic. Sep 14 2014, 8:40 PM Guest640 (guest): Good night. God bless all of you. Sep 14 2014, 8:40 PM