SrSusan (: At the end here Saint Francis touches upon the age-old tension between a person’s outward pious practices and the disposition of the heart. How might this connect when in Matthew 9:13 Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”? More simply, we could ask: What is the difference between the ‘bending of the knee’ and the ‘bending of the heart’? In James 3:1-12 we learn about the power of the tongue. How might this Scripture passage shed light on the reflection above? Where in your life might you let your tongue get the best of you? How might you be able to gain more growth in your spiritual life by taming your tongue?

 

Guest564 (Guest): Hi Sister Susan ! Have a great chat tonight ! Please pray for Kairos Men tonight! I still struggle at times trying to fix my children’s problems instead of just listening to them and allowing them to see more clearly God”s direction . It’s like I panin and want to fix their situation when I should just listen ! God Bless You All! Many prayers for you all ! Brian

 

VisitationSiste: Hi Lisa Happy Laetare Sunday

 

Mar 26 2017, 7:25 PM

Lisa C: Thank you, you too

 

Dawn (Guest): thoughtful question

Mar 26 2017, 7:35 PM

VisitationSiste: I like the phrase bending of the heart

6 PM

Dawn (Guest): yes, me too

Mar 26 2017, 7:36 PM

Lisa C: Jesus has a wounded heart that lets all of us in

Mar 26 2017, 7:36 PM

Lisa C: The least we could do is bend ours

, 7:37 PM

VisitationSiste: Our hearts may be wounded too but not in the way His was- I don’t think

 

Mar 26 2017, 7:37 PM

Lisa C: Bending the knee and outward piousness means nothing if we are not merciful to the needs of others

, 7:38 PM

Lisa C: Sacrifice was the way that the Israelites received forgiveness for sins under the old covenant. They were receiving forgiveness for transgressions committed against the law given to them by God. The Israelites kept breaking God’s law and kept having to make sacrifices to atone for sins. Jesus is righteous and perfect and is the only one able to fulfill the covenant of the Israelites with God. When He was sacrificed for us the sacrifice was perfect. No other sacrifice is needed. With the new covenant we

Mar 26 2017, 7:38 PM

Lisa C: we no longer need to make sacrifices over and over. Because of His mercy God sent us Jesus, the Lamb of God, to be our perfect sacrifice. If we have faith in Him we are saved. When we are saved we are called to live by the new covenant and we are called to love God and our neighbor. To do that we imitate Jesus and show mercy to one another.

39 PM

VisitationSiste: I think where I struggle is in showing too much mercy- is that possible- and not defending properly an injustice7,

Lisa C: Maybe you can show mercy, but speak truth

Mar 26 2017, 7:39 PM

Ruth (Guest): Hello Sister, Lisa Vicky Dawn, and I though Carol Ann was here for a few minutes. I couldn’t see the listing of those present until now.

 

VisitationSiste: Thank you Lisa- good point

Lisa C: Forgiving is merciful, but you can still speak about what is true

Lisa C: It is like Jesus and the woman at the well, he forgave her, but did not leave it at that. He told her to sin no more

Mar 26 2017, 7:41 PM

VisitationSiste: When someone hurts a third party who shows the mercy- thehurt one or the one looking on who is responsible- maybe both?

017, 7:42 PM

Lisa C: Both can17, 7:42 PM

Lisa C: Mercy is not really anything without truth

Mar 26 2017, 7:42 PM

Dawn (Guest): it would actually be more merciful to speak the truth while showing mercy in other ways, needs etc. this could be called giving spiritual mercy?

17, 7:42 PM

Lisa C: What is the mercy about without truth?

Mar 26 2017, 7:42 PM

VisitationSiste: Intersting phrase- spiritual mercy

Mar 26 2017, 7:43 PM

VisitationSiste: So truth is mercy?

 

017, 7:43 PM

Lisa C: no

Mar 26 2017, 7:43 PM

Ruth (Guest): Sister, I think I tend to have the same problem. But I imagine that it is better to err on the side of mercy than to demand justice all the time — at least for ourselves.

, 7:43 PM

Lisa C: Mercy requires knowing the truth on both sides

Mar 26 2017, 7:43 PM

VisitationSiste: Ah yes

7, 7:44 PM

Lisa C: If one person is oblivious to what they have done and the other lets it pass what effect does mercy have?

Mar 26 2017, 7:44 PM

VisitationSiste: That’s where the “power of the tongue” comes in- speaking the truth

:45 PM

Lisa C: Gently speaking the truth

Mar 26 2017, 7:45 PM

Dawn (Guest): good point Lisa

7:45 PM

Lisa C: Like a VA Nun7:45 PM

Ruth (Guest): And often justice cannot be obtained anyway. Even the effort to get justice can be so stressful that it may be better to just let the matter go. M

VisitationSiste: The truth leads to justice, eventually

 

Mar 26 2017, 7:47 PM

Lisa C: The world I think is less welcoming of truth, than a real Catholic, in my experience

Mar 26 2017, 7:47 PM

Lisa C: We should be able to tell each other anything true, but in the regular world people seem to hate truth

Mar 26 2017, 7:48 PM

Dawn (Guest): spiritual mercy, I am thinking of the spiritual works of mercy I think

PM

VisitationSiste: What about the next q as it relates to the first one- we learn about the power of the tongue. How might this Scripture passage shed light on the reflection above? Where in your life m

SrSusan (Guest): Where in your life might you let your tongue get the best of you? How might you be able to gain more growth in your spiritual life by taming your tongue?

 

Mar 26 2017, 7:49 PM

Dawn (Guest): I agree Ruth, on unattainable justice. sometimes…let it go

Mar 26 2017, 7:50 PM

Lisa C: By being humble we can get better control of the tongue

1 PM

Lisa C: Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Mar 26 2017, 7:52 PM

Dawn (Guest): lately I have had temptation to talk to much. its troubling to me, so the remedy I think is more silence. quiet sitting for periods of time. not even busy with prayer. to Be Still

5 PM

VisitationSiste: Depends too on personality- some people are not much for talk and others talk a lot

 

Mar 26 2017, 7:55 PM

Ruth (Guest): But that is probably true, what you say, Lisa, about speaking the truth. It astounded me that a “Catholic Daughter” who nearly hit me in anger with a spatula , saying “I’m driving you out of this kitchen” when I asked “How do you get the bacon to be so flat?” after I’d asked “Is there anything I can do to help?” and not gotten any response — never even apologized. I should have confronted her at some other time. Instead I held my tongue way too long.

 

 

7:58 PM

Carol Ann: If we stay silent too long, 2 things can happen. One is that we hold back so long that we explode seemingly out of nowhere, causing harm to self and other. The other is that we are not true to ourselves or our calling

1 PM

VisitationSiste: Role playing difficult situations can help in growth in these areas

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:01 PM

Dawn (Guest): good point Carol , when we are talking about taming our tongue. because sometimes we need to speak up the truth, with courage..I think it takes courage to do that

Mar 26 2017, 8:02 PM

Ruth (Guest): Carol Ann, I think you are right. I was quite traumatized by the incident, because my mother used to act similarly, but I had not experience anything quite like that in decades -.

Mar 26 2017, 8:02 PM

Carol Ann: Yes, because there are many times we are called to speak up even though the other won’t like what we say

PM

VisitationSiste: Ruth- this happens- these repeat situations- to help us grow I think

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:03 PM

Carol Ann: Exactly Ruth, and in the moment you might not have bern able to responsor at all, gently or not

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:04 PM

Ruth (Guest): Good idea Sister. I used to do that with my students. But I could learn from it, too. I think part of the difficulty was that I never saw the woman alone, and did not want to be uncharitable by calling attention of others to her inappropriate behavior.

Mar 26 2017, 8:04 PM

Lisa C: Thinking about Sisters in the Monastery. They do not really speak until recreation. It must be very hard to wait so long.

Mar 26 2017, 8:05 PM

Dawn (Guest): past emotional traumas can just rear their head in a certain situation…like the situation for you Ruth

8:05 PM

Carol Ann: It’s true, Dawn and we all have triggers that run away with us

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:05 PM

VisitationSiste: One loses the moment in a sense but also one has time to consider an appropriate respons

26 2017, 8:06 PM

Lisa C: Yes, I think it is better to pray when I am angry than to react immediately PM

Carol Ann: It is also good to remove ourselves from situations that will trigger us until we are healed enough to handle it

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:07 PM

Ruth (Guest): It was particularly bad because I had been instructed to be there early, had gotten up at 4 AM to do so, and was still in a lot of pain from a prior accident, and had to walk a long distance to get to the place where we were to prepared a “pancake breakfast” — sale — a fund raiser.

Mar 26 2017, 8:08 PM

Dawn (Guest): I often think of Sr MR , little drops of wisdom. like…surrender to God and He will do everything for you

Mar 26 2017, 8:08 PM

VisitationSiste: There is a subtle way of speaking without talking w==with gestures but we are not supposed to do that

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:08 PM

Carol Ann: What way Sr.?

8 PM

VisitationSiste: Eye contact- making a face-

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:08 PM

Ruth (Guest): It is funny in retrospect. There were a lot of athletes in town, and one seeing walk down a long hill with difficulty, asked, “Do you want a piggy back ride?”

:09 PM

Carol Ann: Eye co n tact can be good, face-making, not so my check

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:09 PM

Carol Ann: Much

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:10 PM

Ruth (Guest): It really depends on what kind of gestures, I’d say.

017, 8:12 PM

Dawn (Guest): thank you Sr Susan for saying that. 7, 8:12 PM

Lisa C: The Sisters staying quiet is really quite an example

 

 

13 PM

Lisa C: It is an example of real humility

Mar 26 2017, 8:13 PM

VisitationSiste: But in the world one would think someone is giving them the silent treatment!

 

 

 

:13 PM

Lisa C: No, it would not work there, but it makes me think that saying what I think all the time is not necessary

Mar 26 2017, 8:14 PM

Lisa C: It is an example of how God knows what we think and that is what really matters

:14 PM

Carol Ann: I get that a lot, though not as much as when I fir s t left the monastery. Trained to silence. Or as our mothers used to say, if you can’to say anything nixe, don’t say anything at all PM

VisitationSiste: There is a new book on silence by Cardinal Sarah- pub by Ignatius Prwess

8:18 PM

Carol Ann: I still do not chatter as I did before and when I do it is about God. I’m boring they say. Or unfriendly when I am just quiet

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:18 PM

Ruth (Guest): There are usual gestures with a blessing, for example. And even, in special circumstances, it is possible to bless with an unusual gesture that is understood because of a discussion that preceded it .

8:18 PM

Ruth (Guest): There are usual gestures with a blessing, for example. And even, in special circumstances, it is possible to bless with an unusual gesture that is understood because of a discussion that preceded it .

Mar 26 2017, 8:20 PM

VisitationSiste: CWR Archive: Interview
Interview
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Cardinal Robert Sarah on “The Strength of Silence” and the Dictatorship of Noise
October 03, 2016
In a wide-ranging interview with “La Nef”, Cardinal Sarah discusses his new book, published in France, saying, “By living with the silent God, and in Him, we ourselves become silent.”

VisitationSiste: Cardinal Robert Sarah: “God’s first language is silence.” In commenting on this beautiful, rich insight of Saint John of the Cross, Thomas Keating, in his work Invitation to Love, writes: “Everything else is a poor translation. In order to understand this language, we must learn to be silent and to rest in God.”

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:21 PM

Ruth (Guest): Thank you for the specific title, Sister.

Mar 26 2017, 8:21 PM

VisitationSiste: La Force du silence (The Strength of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise).

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:21 PM

VisitationSiste: in English at Ignatius Press

2 PM

VisitationSiste: Regaining the sense of silence is therefore a priority, an urgent necessity.

Silence is more important than any other human work. Because it expresses God. The true revolution comes from silence; it leads us toward God and toward others so that we can place ourselves humbly at their service. :22 PM

Lisa C: It is confusing to hear someone call God silent. I find that we must be silent to hear Him.

Mar 26 2017, 8:23 PM

VisitationSiste: Cdl. Sarah: Silence is not an idea; it is the path that enables human beings to go to God.

God is silence, and this divine silence dwells within a human being. By living with the silent God, and in Him, we ourselves become silent. Nothing will more readily make us discover God than this silence inscribed at the heart of our being.

I am not afraid to state that to be a child of God is to be a child of silence.

Conquering silence is a battle and a form of asceticism.

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:23 PM

Dawn (Guest): with social media and phones it is like the world can not stop talking, there is a saturation point…but reading good books like this sounds good

:24 PM

VisitationSiste: I read his bio on line in his first book- very interesting

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:24 PM

Carol Ann: We learn to be silent, to not fear what we will find in the silence

:25 PM

VisitationSiste: The first book

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:26 PM

Lisa C: Maybe he will be a pope

Mar 26 2017, 8:26 PM

Ruth (Guest): I walked with a friend in need silence for about a week once. We spoke only twice that I remember. The poem I did not yet send in is “To Ursula” with a little explanation afterward.

Mar 26 2017, 8:26 PM

VisitationSiste: Possible Lisa

7, 8:26 PM

Lisa C: He is a very conservative Cardinal 7 PM

VisitationSiste: Ruth the poem- did you send it to someone else

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:27 PM

Ruth (Guest): in need in silence, that should say

7 PM

Ruth (Guest): in need in silence, that should say

Mar 26 2017, 8:28 PM

Ruth (Guest): No, sister. I’ve just been busy with other things.

Mar 26 2017, 8:28 PM

Lisa C: Looking at the first book, the last chapter is, “God does not speak but His voice is clear”. I like that, because the “silent God” was a confusing term

8:29 PM

Ruth (Guest): His sheep know his voice and he knows theirs.

Mar 26 2017, 8:29 PM

VisitationSiste: Yes we do hear Him, in different ways, and some, locutions

:30 PM

Dawn (Guest): hearing of these 2 books seems perfect way for this chat to close! always delighted to hear of good spiritual reading…and these because I do need to be quiet for awhile

Mar 26 2017, 8:30 PM

Ruth (Guest): And we see him in the loving gestures of others.

, 8:31 PM

Carol Ann: There are so many good books

 

Mar 26 2017, 8:31 PM

Ruth (Guest): Also, check out FORMED.

Mar 26 2017, 8:31 PM

Blessed Week!