While not all Christians are called to the roles of Consecrated Life or martyrdom, every Christian is called to be a saint! Is the Church asking too much, or does the Church provide the necessary graces for sainthood?
The call to heroism builds up the Church, rather than watering down the truth. Which is more appealing to people, an easy life, or a challenging one?
Sister Susan Marie: I felt the topic important; first because I truly believe St Francis de Sales would always encourage growth in holiness with everyone
May 18 2014, 7:40 PM
Car: I agree!
Sister Susan Marie: and secondly, because I am very concerned about watering down.. in all areas
K (guest): That is a great concern of mine as well. We live in a culture of mediocrity.
Car: Yes
Sister Susan Marie: Personally if I had not had the Church’s standards to aim for, even when I was far from reaching them, I never would have moved beyond my issues
Carl: That is why certain clerics in high places ought to think before….
Last week; aiming low
K (guest): I see such a greater challenge in being Catholic than when I was Protestant.
Sister Susan Marie: That’s interesting
Car: He is brilliant but that comment from left field
Ki(guest): I heard the statement in the news this week that “the days of comfortable Catholicism are over”.
Car: Heroism of holiness for all I hope
May 18 2014, 7:44 PM
Sister Susan Marie: I did not hear that one
Car Yes, K- from prayer breakfast in DC
: Recap on Nat cat register
Evidently prophets of doom
Sister Susan Marie: What was the context of that statement?
K (guest): I don’t think it is doom, but reality. There is always hope.
Sister Susan Marie: Catholicism was never easy
Car: Surely hope but Nat cat prayer br prophesied rough waters ahead
Intentional discipleship
May 18 2014, 7:49 PM
K (guest): They have lost the luxury of being comfortable in their faith in 21st-century America. More than ever before, they must embrace the risks of discipleship by encountering others and witnessing to the Gospel.
Sister Susan Marie: Thanks I will check quickly
Car: Says it all
Sister Susan Marie: I see! or beginning to
K (guest): There was also the “Black Mass” situation at Harvard this past week.
Sister Susan Marie: Yes that I heard about
Car: Awful!
Mocking Fatima
Sister Susan Marie: So it’s, in a way, the “Breakfast” theology vs the “Cardinal’s” theology of Catholicism?
Car: Hahaha- yes
Sister Susan Marie: I missed the part about Fatima
Car: Held on 5/13
K(guest): Oh. So, there is such a great need for heroic Catholics!
Sister Susan Marie: Grace needs to work but like I said, if we don’t have the truth to aim for we won;t get there
May 18 2014, 7:54 PM
Car: I was only intentional after re-version
K (guest): I think one way to start is with better catechesis.
Sister Susan Marie: Me too actually- tho I never “left” i just did not “live” strongly
Sister Susan Marie: Grace needs to work but like I said, if we don’t have the truth to aim for we won;t get there
Ca: Yes,both true
Sister Susan Marie: Catechesis and example, and prayer deep prayer for those who are not living the faith well. I always wonder whose prayers moved me along
K (guest): I have wondered the same thing Sister. I think maybe it was my maternal grandparents. M
Sister Susan Marie: Maybe a nun I had in elementary school? Yes communion of saints
K (guest): I discovered St. James the Greater as I was coming into the Church in a dramatic way.
May 18 2014, 7:58 PM
Sister Susan Marie: If someone os not heroic in faith does not mean they don’t have heroism elsewhere- like in compassion etc..
Sister Susan Marie: How did you discover him
Car: The saint of works?
K (guest): Praying through his intercession that my Dad would be Baptized. Nine days after I started praying, I got a phone call.
Car: Wow; novena
K (guest): Yeah, and at the time I didn’t know what a novena was.
Car: Amazing
Sister Susan Marie: What was the phone call?
Sister Susan Marie: He was baptized?
K (guest): My Mom called to tell me that Dad was going to be Baptized on the following Sunday. He didn’
(guest): wasn’t even going to church before that.
May 18 2014, 8:01 PM
Car Miracle
K (guest): So I took James as my Confirmation name.
Mary Roberta Viano: Are you talking about “ordinary” Christians?
Sister Susan Marie: Yes
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s supposed to be an oxymoron, of course.
Sister Susan Marie: Very good point!
:
Mary Roberta Viano: I just had a conversation with a friend this afternoon about whether one can pray too long and still be a good Christian.
A: Hello Sister, sorry i am late
K (guest): Regarding you question on heroism Sister Susan Marie. Yes, I often admire people who are so compassionate even when I know nothing of their faith. Hi Al
Sister Susan Marie: Glad you’re here. Sr M Roberta, prayer?
Mary Roberta Viano: True, K
Mary Roberta Viano: One of my sons insists that you can be heroic without prayer.
Mary Roberta Viano: Good point, K
Car: Really? He must be reading too many comics
Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, it is a comic-book mentality.
K (guest): All that is good comes from God, whether we know it or not. M
Mary Roberta Viano: Or, if you child is pinned beneath a car…
Car: Baptize marvel & DC comics!
Ali: are we talking about heroic faith and /or heroic life?
Mary Roberta Viano: For me, I can strive more, knowing I’m loved by God.
Mary Roberta Viano: I think one equals the other, Al doesn’t it?
Car: Walking in friendship w/God is heroic
Sister Susan Marie: I think that prayer breakfast talk is very pertinent- look at this statement: “To believe in the Gospel is to make oneself a marked man or woman,” he said.
Ali: yes that is true Sister
M
Mary Roberta Viano: -and especially when you’re wearing a habit or a Roman collar!
Alit: I was thinking the case of a mother saving her child is instinctual
Mary Roberta Viano: -or a crucifix around your neck?
Ali: takes a lot of prayer to be heroic for sure
Sister Susan Marie: This was the sentence of contention: Heroism is not for the average Christian.
Ca: Average Christian can certainly rise to occasion
Alt: yes i can see that. some Catholics go thru the motions but true heroism is more
Mary Roberta Viano: But is the “average” Christian a “real” Christian?
Car: Look at all the martyrs
K (guest): If by average you mean a regular middle class or poor person – they can and are called to be heroic. But if average is one who doesn’t really care much, they probably do more harm than good.
Ali: More deeply into the faith. more prayers. more selfless acts. more love.
Ca: So many Joe & Jane six pack martyrs for the faith
Sister Susan Marie: Christian in name or culture only- but how is the Church to care for them? by keeping the truth in one’s vision or being “pastoral” in a way that comforts but does not challeng
Al: I think a challenge is needed to grow
Ki(guest): I think we must be challenged.
8:14 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s the hard thing with so much immorality surrounding Christians.
Ali: to keep doing the same thing does not lead to growth
K (guest): If we just remain comfortable, we will eventually go backward.
Car: A challenge to live a Christian lifestyle
May 18 2014, 8:16 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Anybody here study psychology?
Car: In the midst of current cultural climate
Yes
Ali: also I feel many Catholics may not know our whole faith
Ali: yes I have studied Psy.
Sister Susan Marie: If these statements about growth and challenge were also human development mores, we could support heroism on both faith and human development grounds
Ki(guest): We should never stray from truth, even at the expense of not “seeming” Pastoral.
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS seems to connect Christian heroism to hope: “As we desire God more, love turns its desire into hope, striving, and expectation, so that hope is a love that expects and desires.” – and so becomes more and more heroic. (TLG)
Car True K
May 18 2014, 8:18 PM
Sister Susan Marie: That’s great Sister!
Car: Fully integrated personhood
Ali: yes Carla!
Mary Roberta Viano: I think Pope Francis embodies that kind of hope that lovingly expects more of everyone he meets. 8 PM
Al: yes thats true. but i think he is misunderstood8:19 PM
K (guest): I have always said in teaching that the students will certainly not achieve if we don’t expect them to. :19 PM
K (guest): I have always said in teaching that the students will certainly not achieve if we don’t expect them to.
May 18 2014, 8:19 PM
Car: By media Ali?
Ali: yes Car
Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, his is not compassion that says anything goes, but compassion that says, love more, be more.
May 18 2014, 8:20 PM
Sister Susan Marie: So educational standards also support our “striving for heroism”
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, K!
Car: Wow, awesome !
K (guest): “lovingly expects” that is the key:
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s, I think, why our students excel: because they know they’re really loved and supported by teachers, staff, and us sisters. :21 PM
Car: That is key!
Ki(guest): My nephew is a phycologist working currently in the juvenile criminal justice system. We were talking Friday night about if they only had someone to show them that they care. 3 PM
Ca: The only way they respondPM
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS says: “I love nothing at all but God, and all souls for God.” (in a letter) So that kind of selfless love should bring others close to God. PM
Ca Wise
May 18 2014, 8:25 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, Kim! That’s why I’ve been writing to prisoners for a decade not: to show them someone cares.
K (guest): The “Visitation”. We are to take Christ to others.
May 18 2014, 8:25 PM
Ali: is there a point where loving some people can be codependence
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, K. That was the original inspiration.
Car: Yes, Ali
PM
Ali in other words, they are there just to use youPM
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s more “enabling” than “loving.”
Alit: while you are there to help
014, 8:26 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s where the concept of “tough love” comes in.
Car So I learned in psych classes
K (guest): when we love we make ourselves vulnerable.
Mary Roberta Viano: – especially with one’s own kids!
Al: so true
harder to step back when its your own
Mary Roberta Viano: In the Intro. SFdS says: “As to sins, we must neither occasion or tolerate them in our friends.” Hmm..
Car: Fraternal correction is tricky
May 18 2014, 8:29 PM
Ali: well thats good to know. something to think about
K (guest): It is a tough call sometimes, that’s why do everything in prayer. 9
Car: Agree
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS continues: “It is either a weak or wicked friendship (or concern) that sees our friend perish and does not help him, that seems him die of an abscess and does not dare to save his life by opening it with the lancet of correction.”
Mary Roberta Viano: sees him die
K (guest): We must care more about the person than if they like us or not.
May 18 2014, 8:31 PM
Ali: by the time we are ready for the lancet-we are probably angry
May 18 2014, 8:32 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: In a letter to SJdC he said we should compassionately provide for others’ needs, but more importantly for their “spiritual advancement.”
Al: that is so important to remember
May 18 2014, 8:32 PM
Ca Very
May 18 2014, 8:33 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: And he says you do that “with great affection but making use of all legitimate means to perfect him according to God.”
Mary Roberta Viano: -and without seeming “superior” to anyone!
Ca: I am a blundering idiot in such matters
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Alic join the crowd Caa! LOL
Mary Roberta Viano: One of my favorite saints is St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave up his life willing in place of another in a concentration camp.
Car: I admire him too
Al: me too
May 18 2014, 8:35 PM
K (guest): Heroic Faith – A Saint.
May 18 2014, 8:35 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Here he was an “important” priest but knew he was first called to be an “important’ (read “heroic” Christian).
May 18 2014, 8:36 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: And that’s the thing K: “We’re all called to be saints – to be “heroes.”
Car: Real heroism
Mary Roberta Viano: I like SFdS humble way to sainthood: just do the next loving (really loving, self-forgetful) thing.
May 18 2014, 8:37 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: – like St. Therese of Lisieux’s “Little Way”.
May 18 2014, 8:37 PM
K (guest): Amen.
May 18 2014, 8:37 PM
Car: Yes or Kolbe’s true devotion to Mary
May 18 2014, 8:38 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Right, Car
Alt: are only certain people capable of sainthood?
May 18 2014, 8:38 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Christ says no to that, Al.
May 18 2014, 8:38 PM
Ali: well good to know
K (guest): I like the prayer: may others become holier than I provide that I become as holy as I should.
May 18 2014, 8:39 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: In fact, the littler (more humble) I am, the more heroic I can be – via God’s grace in me.
Mary Roberta Viano: Perfect, K!