Often we wonder how we can witness to God’s infinite love or give advice to people because we are broken and are sinners like everyone else. However, if we all had to wait to be perfect, then how would the Gospel ever be preached, how would sinners ever become convicted of their sins? Even though we are sinners, this does not give us an excuse to remain so, or to rejoice in sinning. We must still put away our old selves and become holy witnesses.
SrSusan (guest): Our living witness to the faith is intimately as important as the teaching of the faith. Do you believe that this teaches us anything about faith and works and how God has designed it so that our participation in redemption and salvation is pivotal? Why or why not?
How can we help the world regain the reality of sin without bringing with it the stigma of something negative to talk about?
Judy K: What a great title for a topic–the Lord’s Capacity to Forgive is infinitely greater that our Ability to Sin..
Aug 2 2015, 7:30 PM
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SrSusan (guest): Yes and the reality of that Judy is more than comforting! 7:31 PM
Judy K: His capacity to forgive is infinite and hence infinitely greater than our ability to sin. 32 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes I guess we cannot sin infinitely:32
Judy K: But in spite of our sinfulness, He calls us to be teachers of the Word. We do not need to be perfect to share the Gospel. Because we are sinners, we can more easily with sinners and share with them the remedies for certain sins.
Lisa C: Fr. Jonathan Morris wrote on Facebook last night…..that one of the people in his parish was afraid to invite people to church, because he was a sinner
Aug 2 2015, 7:35 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes, being compassionate because we understand yet if we have moved beyond a certain habit, we can encourage another
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Judy K: Also, if we were perfect, sinners might be put off by us and think us as unapproachable.
Aug 2 2015, 7:35 PM
Lisa C: Fr J said everyone is a sinner
Aug 2 2015, 7:35 PM
Anne M: If we were not sinners, the Lord never would have come to live among us
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Anne M: We are why he came015, 7:36 PM
Judy K: Oh happy fault of Adam, as it says in the Exultet of the Easter Vigil!!
SrSusan (guest): How do we put away our old selves and become holy witnesses to the Lord?
Aug 2 2015, 7:48 PM
Judy K: Wouldn’t you think that being in union with each other makes it easier to live in this world. Isn’t the fact that everyone prefers to do his/her own think the source of all the grief we have today.
Aug 2 2015, 7:49 PM
Judy K: Own thing.
Aug 2 2015, 7:49 PM
Lisa C: Sr Susan I think we can only let God do it to us we can’t do it ourselves
Aug 2 2015, 7:49 PM
Dawn L: But Jesus always kept God’s ( his) law and did break the human laws at times
Aug 2 2015, 7:49 PM
Lisa C: Mother
Aug 2 2015, 7:49 PM
Carol Ann: Judy, is it that we each have our own “thing” or that we are intolerant in things that don’t matter?
Aug 2 2015, 7:49 PM
Lisa C: We need Grace to put away our old selves
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Carol Ann: Judy, is it that we each have our own “thing” or that we are intolerant in things that don’t matter?
Aug 2 2015, 7:49 PM
Lisa C: We need Grace to put away our old selves
Lisa C: We have to cooperate with the Grace
Carol Ann: Or I’m thinking of things like politics where there are people who are liberal or conservative or anywhere inbetween acting as though their thoughts are the only ones that have a kernel f truth
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Guest9098 (guest): Had to change to phone ! Brian a big temptation when we take our eyes off our Lord Jesus is to become very very legalistic ! PM
SrSusan (guest): Our living witness to the faith is intimately as important as the teaching of the faith. Do you believe that this teaches us anything about faith and works and how God has designed it so that our participation in redemption and salvation is pivotal? Why or why not?
Aug 2 2015, 7:54 PM
SrSusan (guest): Hello Janie
Aug 2 2015, 7:54 PM
Janie McCarthy-Cheney: Hi all.
Aug 2 2015, 7:54 PM
Judy K: In his quote, Pope Francis admits to sinfulness, who are we to see ourselves as otherwise. If the Vicar of Christ still struggles with sin, we should not be discouraged with our own struggles. Paul VI said that people listen to witnesses more that teachers. It is easy to teach without living the principles we teach. But when we witness, we should have already had some measure of conversion, and are then sharing a lived experience of the Lord in our lives as One Who draws us into deeper growth or Who pulls
SrSusan (guest): We all struggle with sin yet believers can still witness to the faith
5 PM
Judy K: us up out of our faults and failings. If we are submissive to the Lord of Mercy Who helps us to “reform” our lives, others will notice the change in us. And as the old adage says “Actions speak louder than words.” We show my our actions that we are truly in the process of conversion. 56 PM
Guest9098 (guest): We need to keep each other in prayer and ask groups to pray it brings the Body of Christ together and evaporates unbelief in certain circumstances !!!
Aug 2 2015, 7:56 PM
Judy K: Show “by” our actions. Hi Janie, Amy, 9098 and 620!
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Amy Cochran: Our best method of evangelization is in our sincerity of our worship. to really act what you believe, that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist
Aug 2 2015, 7:57 PM
Lisa C: The Church is missionary…it is meant to carry on the work of Jesus
Aug 2 2015, 7:57 PM
Guest9098 (guest): Amen Judy !!!
Aug 2 2015, 7:58 PM
Judy K: We may fall again, but what matters is that we seek forgiveness and continue on in our efforts at conversion which are moved forward by the Lord.
Lisa C: In Collosians 1:24-29 Paul says that the Church is called to suffer to complete what Jesus left undone and the Church is called to proclaim the Gospel.
In Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul also discusses how the members of the Body of Christ are given by Christ to do works in the Church.
In Dominus Iesus we are told that Jesus commanded the disciples to proclaim the Gospel and Baptize all nations and that the Church is missionary by its very nature upon the orders of Jesus.
Dawn L: I thought of our topic as I watched doc about Korean Salesian priest in Sudan.He became so one with the people and their suffering…helping. I think at some point Christ lives in us so fully – something to aspire to and pray for
Aug 2 2015, 8:00 PM
Lisa C: Pray no matter what….you cannot stop sinning if you do not pray
Aug 2 2015, 8:00 PM
Lisa C: The devil wants to separate you from prayer
Aug 2 2015, 8:00 PM
Lisa C: PRAY
Guest9098 (guest): We are Gods Children we will fall at times we all need to pick each other up and encourage each other to keep moving forward with our Lord Jesus !
Aug 2 2015, 8:01 PM
Lisa C: Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and through the HS, the Church,members are all part of the Father’s plan of salvation (Dominus Iesus). Included in redemptive work of the Church is Blessed Mother who is the first to accomplish this kind of work in the church (Redemptoris Mater). In Dominus Iesus everything is carefully worded to not undermine the work of Jesus, but to include the Holy Spirit in this work.
Lisa C: People cannot pretend that sin is not real
Aug 2 2015, 8:06 PM
Dawn L: Mother Susan, what is an example of this?
Aug 2 2015, 8:06 PM
Guest9098 (guest): Jesus is the Bread of Life ! He nourishes us ,He heals us , and He restores us to be the people He intended us to be !
Aug 2 2015, 8:06 PM
SrSusan (guest): Example of which comment?
Aug 2 2015, 8:07 PM
Carol Ann: It’s like you don’t have credibility to talk about the big issues if you are not able to be consistently loving in small things
Carol Ann: It’s like you don’t have credibility to talk about the big issues if you are not able to be consistently loving in small things
Aug 2 2015, 8:07 PM
Lisa C: We cannot stop sinning without recognizing what things actually are sins
Aug 2 2015, 8:08 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, Carol Ann, and that’s the hard thing: being CONSISTENTLY loving. It’s easy to lapse!
Aug 2 2015, 8:08 PM
SrSusan (guest): Dawn I did not understand
Aug 2 2015, 8:08 PM
Dawn L: How can we help the world regain the reality of sin without bringing with it the stigma of something negative to talk about? I think we are answer” but I think answer is coming forth in discussion
Aug 2 2015, 8:08 PM
Judy K: I think that we can help regain the reality of sin by advancing virtue and its beauty as THE way of life. Rather than beginning with vices and the exposition of their ugliness. we should begin with positive virtues and their beauty, making them attractive and thus desirable. For example, rather teaching on anger, we might better advance the beauty of self control, of forgiveness, of living together in peace, all of which are destroyed by anger.
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Lisa C: Examination of conscience can blow you away if you do it right
Aug 2 2015, 8:09 PM
Carol Ann: Judy, thank you–those are just the words I was trying to find earlier!
Aug 2 2015, 8:09 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: and that’s the beauty of life in a religious community, Judy.
8:10 PM
Guest9098 (guest): It helps when we are honest and admit our own sin to others ! It opens the door for others to share their sin ! M
Mary Roberta Viano: without self-control and the desire to advance in virtue, always by God’s grace, we sisters would be at one another’s throats!
Aug 2 2015, 8:10 PM
Judy K: So much of the world is consumed with greed or avarice. How much better to advance the virtue of generosity or thoughtfulness toward others!
Aug 2 2015, 8:11 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s why I miss the chapter of faults!
Aug 2 2015, 8:11 PM
Lisa C: Sister Mary Roberta maybe that is why they used to have wimples…..throat armor
Aug 2 2015, 8:11 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Ha, Lisa, you may be right!
8:11 PM
Lisa C: Sister, they do not have the chapter of faults? 2 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Our Mother Berchmans, in her weekly ferverino always calls for us to respond generously to one another.
Aug 2 2015, 8:12 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: only in our 1st-Fed houses, Lisa
Aug 2 2015, 8:12 PM
Guest9270 (guest): I see in these responses the beauty of the Salesian virtues of gentleness, kindness, patience, optimism and many more – to live each moment in the presence of God and walk through our challenges in his presence.
Aug 2 2015, 8:12 PM
Lisa C: what is a ferverino
8:13 PM
Lisa C: Did the second federation used to have it Sister?
Aug 2 2015, 8:13 PM
Janie McCarthy-Cheney: Ha!! Sr M Roberta!! So true and honest. I am a Benedictine Oblate and while watching the sisters for many years I know that they are not sinless but they have shown me an exemplary way of life that is virtuos and peaceful
Janie McCarthy-Cheney: Ha!! Sr M Roberta!! So true and honest. I am a Benedictine Oblate and while watching the sisters for many years I know that they are not sinless but they have shown me an exemplary way of life that is virtuos and peaceful
Aug 2 2015, 8:13 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: It’s what a coach tells his players before each game, Lisa.
Aug 2 2015, 8:13 PM
Guest9098 (guest): The World is Afraid and when we allow the peace of Christ to rule witin us they are drawn to Christ !
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Judy K: I don’t know about Chapter of Faults. In my novitiate days, not everyone took it seriously, and in fact, almost treated it as a joke. I have to confess to not being in favor of telling your faults before a group of people. It should be between the individual and the superior.
Aug 2 2015, 8:13 PM
Carol Ann: In the places I visited, no one did Chapter of Faults
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Mary Roberta Viano: Right, you keep hearing about people who visit religious houses and say they want what the monks/nuns have. PM
Mary Roberta Viano: or visit loving families and feel the sam 8:14 PM
Judy K: If kept between the individual and the superior, the superior can explore with the sister the root of the fault and give helps to overcome it.
Aug 2 2015, 8:14 PM
Carol Ann: I agree with you Judy. It is one thing to admit a fault and be corrected, but a public Chapter o Faults can potentially be pretty humiliating
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Lisa C: How can you become humble without some humiliation
Aug 2 2015, 8:15 PM
Dawn L: and easily become slaunderous
8:15 PM
Lisa C: How can people really be away of how what they do affects others
Aug 2 2015, 8:15 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: but that’s why: humility requires humbling oneself before the whole community you live with.
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Janie McCarthy-Cheney: Yes, Sr MR!!
Aug 2 2015, 8:16 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: You always know in your heart whether or not you acted with charity (love for the other) or not.
Aug 2 2015, 8:16 PM
Carol Ann: Lisa, humility is coming to the knowledge of the truth in some aspect of yourself. A public Chapter can expose someone to public shaming, which is humiliation, not humility
Lisa C: Sister you know your intention, but you do not know your effect on the other person
Aug 2 2015, 8:16 PM
Guest9270 (guest): As one who lived through the telling of faults publicly, it sometimes became rather automatic – there was a list and you chose one off the list. How much better it is to acknowledge a fault when necessary and be specific about the fault – not one off a list.
17 PM
Guest620 (guest): (RosemaryNY) Those we live with already know our faults _ we should be able to admit h
Aug 2 2015, 8:17 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: and so you confess your wrong intention, Lisa. You don’t worry so much about the other’s reaction.
Aug 2 2015, 8:17 PM
Guest9098 (guest): It is a comfort to others when they hear the struggles of their brothers and Sisters ! We all realize we are not alone we are all sinners who need Jesus !
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Lisa C: Sister some people could be selfish and think they are doing great things and could be hurting someone
Aug 2 2015, 8:18 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: so true, 620, especially to your spouse and kids
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Mary Roberta Viano: Well, Lisa, they wouldn’t last long in a religious community! :18 PM
Judy K: I think that we can become aware of how our actions have an effect on others by looking at ourselves and seeing how the actions of others affect us. How deeply hurt by such and such an action. Or how were helped by an action of someone who had no idea that he/she was helping us. :19 PM
Lisa C: Sister the nuns would tell them?
Aug 2 2015, 8:19 PM
Dawn L: this would be good in a community or household that is living in love.
12 on
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Mary Roberta Viano: oh yes, Lisa! PM
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS says in the INTRO: “If you desire to embrace the devout life, you must not only give up sin but also free your heart from all attachment to it.”
Aug 2 2015, 8:21 PM
SrSusan (guest): The word transparency is used alot these days and that concept can guide us somewhat
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Janie McCarthy-Cheney: I must read The Devout Life
Aug 2 2015, 8:21 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: “…for such attachment no only places you in danger of relapsing but is a constant source of weakness and discouragement, preventing you from doing good readily, diligently and frequently, which is the essence of devotion.”
Aug 2 2015, 8:21 PM
SrSusan (guest): Our hearts and intentions transparent to one another- no hidden agendas, no manipulation
2 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: so true: Transparency = freedom from grave sin
Aug 2 2015, 8:22 PM
Guest7782 (guest): Hello. Just a question, since I don’t know the subject well, but is that why so many men and women have left communities? Because they become depressed and feel unworthy, if they are being told their failings all the time?
Lisa C: Mother, I think some people who do not know themselves do not even know that they are manipulative and have agendas
Aug 2 2015, 8:23 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: good question, 7782. There are lots of other reasons people leave, but I think “feeling unworthy” means you’re on the road to God, don’t you?
Aug 2 2015, 8:23 PM
SrSusan (guest): People leave commitments for a host of reasons
Aug 2 2015, 8:23 PM
Guest9098 (guest): Just went to Christian Music Fesival and I was amazed by the deep sharing that was going on with many hurting people ! After they shared you could see The Lord strengthen them before your eyes !
Guest7782 (guest): Not unworthy to serve God, but maybe they feel that the members of the order think they aren’t good enough to join them.
Aug 2 2015, 8:25 PM
SrSusan (guest): One of the primary steps in the spiritual life is to get to know oneself
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Guest7782 (guest): I know of several good people who have now started Christian orders on their own. No longer Catholic.
Aug 2 2015, 8:25 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, and that means acknowledging and repenting of one’s sins
Aug 2 2015, 8:26 PM
Lisa C: Guest 7782 how is leaving the authority of the church founded by Jesus good?
Aug 2 2015, 8:26 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: As SFdS says (INTRO): “Sin is shameful only when we commit it; when it is converted into confession and penance, it becomes honorable and wholesome.”
Aug 2 2015, 8:26 PM
Judy K: In an address on the New Evangelization, now Bishop Elect Barron, spoke of three steps necessary-first beauty, then the good, and finally the true. Beauty leads to the good, and the good, in turn, leads to truth. Seeing the beauty in life, in nature, in people, leads us to desire the good, and the good leads us to the truth. For example tell the story of a saint, canonized or not, whose life was filled with beauty in the relationship with God and with others.
Aug 2 2015, 8:27 PM
Guest9098 (guest): Bullying can easily sneak into Community life we must always be on guard again it ! Love God Love everybody truly !
Aug 2 2015, 8:27 PM
Guest9270 (guest): I believe it is very important in community to realize that each person is essentially good – to optimistically recognize that we are all in “process”and we are here to support one another and to help the goodness inherent in every person to grow. There was a song many years ago that said we must accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative…” This is a good way to live.
Aug 2 2015, 8:27 PM
Lisa C: I did not mean that to be obnoxious if it sounded that way but why leave our church?
Aug 2 2015, 8:27 PM
Guest7782 (guest): Felt they couldn’t live up to what the Church rules were. They have very large followings now. Bringing many people to God.
, 8:28 PM
Dawn L: the process of repentance , turning away from sin, :28 PM
Lisa C: Guest…..omg no one can live up to every rule all the time that is why we need Jesus to help us keep trying when we fail
Aug 2 2015, 8:28 PM
Lisa C: The rules are God’s rules
Aug 2 2015, 8:29 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I think coming close to God means trying to live up to His standards, not lowering them to make life easier.
Aug 2 2015, 8:29 PM
Guest7782 (guest): Yes! But communities often put their own rules above everything else.
Aug 2 2015, 8:29 PM
Judy K: that can then be seen as good, and therefore desirable. Once seen as good, the truth become recognizable, and therefore desireable and therefore accessible.
Aug 2 2015, 8:29 PM
Dawn L: then learning the not so obvious ways we ( i) can sin….it is the way to advance towards holiness. it is sometimes painful for awhile…like purgation…
Guest9270 (guest): Cardinal Wuerl has just issued a Pastoral Letter which I have been reading – it is a statemnt about our identity as Catholics and also refers to the challenges facing us as our culture issues laws which are at odds with our Catholic faith. It is a tremendous challenge, but if we are rooted in our Baptismal commitment we will have the grace to stand firm.
Aug 2 2015, 8:30 PM
Dawn L: but I feel it is a grace from God to go through this process
Aug 2 2015, 8:30 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: right, Dawn, and I think growth in holiness requires a sense of humor, too – in order not to think little of yourself, but to think of yourself very little.
Aug 2 2015, 8:31 PM
Guest9098 (guest): Being Honest breaks down walls !
Aug 2 2015, 8:31 PM
Dawn L: oh yes….like I just heard this priest from the Bronx say…get over yourself!
Guest7782 (guest): Being honest often makes that “honest” person proud.
Aug 2 2015, 8:32 PM
Judy K: Oo, Sister Mary Roberta, I like that–think of yourself little, rather than think little of yourself.
Guest7782 (guest): I have learned that God is merciful but people are not.
Lisa C: Sister, have I got a quote for you…From St. Gertrude The Great, The Herald of Divine Love: “During a sermon she heard the preacher say that no one could be saved without the love of God, and that everyone must have at least enough to be brought to repent and to abstain from sin for the sake of the love of God. She considered in her heart that, in departing this life, more people seem to repent through a fear of hell rather than for love of God. To this the Lord made answer: ‘When I see the death agony
Aug 2 2015, 8:34 PM
Lisa C: ‘When I see the death agony of those who have at any time found my remembrance sweet, or who have done some meritorious work, even if on the point of death, I show myself to them so full of kindness, love, and mercy that they repent from the bottom of their hearts for having ever offended me, and through this repentance they are saved. And so I would like my chosen ones to praise me for this benefit, among the general benefits for which they give me thanks.’
8:34 PM
Guest9098 (guest): Let’s be merciful ! It makes all the difference ! People really begin to see God !’!!
Aug 2 2015, 8:35 PM
SrSusan (guest): The Year of Mercy is approaching
5 PM
Lisa C: Jesus is giving everyone a chance down to the last second
Aug 2 2015, 8:35 PM
Judy K: Oh I believe that there are merciful people in the world. We need only look at Mother Teresa to see mercy in action. Pope Francis is also giving an example of mercy in his care for the poor such as setting up places where the homeless can get showers.
Aug 2 2015, 8:35 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Good, Lisa. Yes, Our Lord says He desires mercy above all.
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Aug 2 2015, 8:36 PM
Guest9098 (guest): Look at how merciful God has been to us ! Let’s do the same for others !
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Judy K: It has also been said that in order to overcome our faults and sins, we should reflect more on the goodness and love of God rather on the sin.
Aug 2 2015, 8:36 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: So, let’s trust in God’s mercy more than ever during this coming week!
Aug 2 2015, 8:36 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes! and I must say goodbye for now. Blessings to you and prayer for you