We’ll be talking about service this Sunday; here are some questions to prepare you for the discussion.
- Let us pull our questions directly from the reflection: Do the difficult times you encounter stifle you in your attempts to follow God’s will?
- Have you been able to abandon your attempts to have God’s will conform to your own desires and will?
- Do you really appreciate the gift that Jesus is to you?
- Additionally, how do you think offering service is actually not so much a giving away of ourselves but a gaining of ourselves? Or would you disagree with this? Consider these words of Jesus: “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43).
- MSusanMarie (guest): I was reading, rather translating one of the Holy Father’s Cuban talks, and it fit rather perfectly into our topic tonight- a phrase anyway- he said something like serving really means serving the fragilePMMSusanMarie (guest): Servir significa, en gran parte, cuidar la fragilidad. Servir significa cuidar a los frágiles de nuestras familias, de nuestra sociedad, de nuestro pueblo.
Sep 20 2015, 7:40 PM
Ruth (guest): Yes, the fragile need our love — love HE gave us first. And most of the people I serve professionally are VERY fragile. T
Sep 20 2015, 7:40 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Hi Judy,Carol Ann ,lisa,Sisr[[[[[
Sep 20 2015, 7:40 PM
Carol Ann: That’s the opposite of what I hear every day. When the elderly tell me they’d rather be in a home than be a “burden” to their families
Sep 20 2015, 7:40 PM
Lisa C: Hi Guest
Sep 20 2015, 7:40 PM
Ruth (guest): nuestro pueblo. Our home?
Sep 20 2015, 7:41 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): To serve signifies, infor a large part, caring for fragility, the fragile. To serve means to care for the fragile of our families our society our town /city
, 7:42 PM
Judy K: Perhaps the families of such elderly are distant, unloving, uncaring.
Sep 20 2015, 7:42 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): American culture, we never want to be a burden, we are all so independent, even the elderly. My mom lives alone, at 87, with much arthritis.
Sep 20 2015, 7:42 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): My sister is nearby but not in the house
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Guest4430 (guest): HI Lisa ! Brian
Sep 20 2015, 7:43 PM
Lisa C: My Grandparents lived with us growing up. It was wonderful!
Sep 20 2015, 7:43 PM
Carol Ann: many times simply distant. but the thought seems to be that caring for a parent is too hard when they have to work & raise kids and work in the parish & the million other things we fill our tie with. No room left for anything else
Sep 20 2015, 7:43 PM
Judy K: I hope that I will be able to continue to live alone until the Lord calls me home.
2015, 7:45 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): If it is God’s Will!
Sep 20 2015, 7:45 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): That’s always what we are looking for but sometimes our desires get in the way
47 PM
Judy K: That 4th question about service is probably the easiest one to answer. In the prayer of St. Francis, we sing “It is in giving that we receive.” Some years ago, I brought the Eucharist weekly to an elderly gentleman. He was an absolute delight. Wonderful sense of humor, great stories to tell. I always came away from feeling that I had been as blessed by him as he was by the Eucharist.
:48 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Ihave worked many years in a large assistive living facility with most of the people suffer from chronic mental illness and I have seen how this community has potential to be a very vibrant loving community that impacts the surrounding communities with the Love of Christ !!!
Sep 20 2015, 7:48 PM
Ruth (guest): Yes, it seems to me that at EVERY stage of life, whenever and wherever we are we need to be asking ourselves what GOD’S will is.
Sep 20 2015, 7:48 PM
Carol Ann: Always put God first and the rest will follow
, 7:50 PM
Guest4430 (guest): God wants us to be one ! the world wants us to be divided0 PM
Ruth (guest): I have had to struggle most of my life, just to stay alive, and yet, I know I am blessed, blessed in many ways, even when I am in PAIN, even when I don’t FEEL blessed.
Sep 20 2015, 7:50 PM
Judy K: My daily prayer is that the Lord will bring my will into perfect uniformity with His. It is my deepest desire that the will of the Lord will always be my will, not that my will be His.
Sep 20 2015, 7:51 PM
Ruth (guest): Great Judy K.
:52 PM
Judy K: I wonder if we can really be sure that we are totally in uniformity with His will. It is so easy for us to deceive ourselves.
Sep 20 2015, 7:52 PM
Ruth (guest): Once, when I had been told by doctor’s that I had only a short time to live, I was telling a friend that I had no fear of dying, but that I feared being dependent on paid help that did not even care . . .
Sep 20 2015, 7:52 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): That’s the best disposition Judy. Yet we can find ourselves struggling anyway even with a good disposition, when the going gets rough. But struggle does not mean abandoning God’s Will
2015, 7:53 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): Perhaps an example of how we might deceive ourselves could help I am trying to think of one! 53 PM
Lisa C: The struggle is important too, it is the Cross
Sep 20 2015, 7:54 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): Good point Lisa
Jesus wants us to wash each others feet ! He set that example to us ! When we encounter others we should consider how we can serve or wash that persons feet ! What service would be best at that moment it may be just to listen to them5, 7:55 PM
Carol Ann: It leads me back to questioning how I can know which of two ways is God’s will. Maybe both choices are5, 7:55 PM
Judy K: Yes, Mother, we do struggle, but you are quite right. Struggle does not mean abandoning God’s will. Indeed, in struggle, we might hold on more tenaciously to His will. The struggle itself might be God’s will for us at that time. , 7:55 PMRuth (guest): The friend, who had just lost EVERYTHING but the cloths on her back — not even a change of clothes to her name — caring for her sick mother, and then having family members throw out EVERYTHING she owned, said to me: “Ruth, if you need to be cared for someone will NEED to care for you.” She had a sense that God has EVERYTHING in hand.
Sep 20 2015, 7:56 PM
Judy K: And to come safely through the struggle makes us stronger.
Sep 20 2015, 7:56 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): That’s also a good insight Judy! Carol, that’s where the Ignatian discernment works I think
6 PM
Lisa C: We cannot avoid God’s will, everything is His will, so I think when we are not sure the trick is to wait
Sep 20 2015, 7:56 PM
Carol Ann: You are right. I tend to lean that direction
Sep 20 2015, 7:57 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): In salesian discernment we try to find ourselves amidst the “2 wills of God” which are only truly one- but it means looking at God’s signified will (ie commandments) and His Will of Good Pleasure (circumstances)
Sep 20 2015, 7:57 PM
Lisa C: Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence says that even bad things that happen to us are part of God’s will, He uses it in some way for our good
9 PM
Judy K: I had always feared a diagnosis of cancer. I thought that I would just tell the doctors to just make me comfortable and let me go. But I consented to the surgery and chemo and radiation and just threw myself into Jesus’ arms and knew tremendous peace through the whole experience.
Sep 20 2015, 7:59 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): Determining one’s life course however is best following what Lisa just said- the waiting on God
2015, 7:59 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): And see what a blessing you are to all of us Judy! 5, 7:59 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Like a sailboat relies on the wind to move it along God has provided us the Holy Spirit to move us along and to sail through every storm ! PM
Ruth (guest): Lisa, SOMETIMES waiting is what is called for; sometimes ACTION, even without clarity or certainty. But what you say about God being able to use even what we consider a bad circumstance for our good, is what I was getting at, in that story.
0 PM
Judy K: Mother, if I am a blessing to you, it is a gift from the Lord.
Sep 20 2015, 8:00 PM
Carol Ann: and to pick us up when we try to walk on water
1 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): This question is interesting- and contains a presumption, of course: 2. Have you been able to abandon your attempts to have God’s will conform to your own desires and will? 01 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Today is the 13th anniversary of my husband Roberto’s death (and his 58th birthday), so Mother B. allowed me to reminisce about him at a longer recreation.
Sep 20 2015, 8:02 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Hi Sister Mary Roberta
2 PM
Carol Ann: That is so important to do…remember the good times
Sep 20 2015, 8:02 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: So you’re discussing discerning God’s will?
Sep 20 2015, 8:03 PM
Ruth (guest): Hello Sr. Mary Roberta and — is that Brian 4430?
Sep 20 2015, 8:03 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): What a beautiful gesture and loving community- that you have the opportunity. I will pray tonight for you and him
Sep 20 2015, 8:03 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Yes its Brian Ruth !
Ruth (guest): The friend, who had just lost EVERYTHING but the cloths on her back — not even a change of clothes to her name — caring for her sick mother, and then having family members throw out EVERYTHING she owned, said to me: “Ruth, if you need to be cared for someone will NEED to care for you.” She had a sense that God has EVERYTHING in hand.
Mary Roberta Viano: So you’re discussing discerning God’s will?Sep 20 2015, 8:03 PM
Ruth (guest): Hello Sr. Mary Roberta and — is that Brian 4430?
Sep 20 2015, 8:03 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): What a beautiful gesture and loving community- that you have the opportunity. I will pray tonight for you and him
Sep 20 2015, 8:03 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Yes its Brian Ruth !
MSusanMarie (guest): Yes in light of service
Sep 20 2015, 8:04 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Thanks, Mother Susan Marie!
Sep 20 2015, 8:04 PM
Lisa C: Today is also my sister’s birthday
Sep 20 2015, 8:04 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Special day for sure, Lisa!
Sep 20 2015, 8:05 PM
Lisa C: Yes, we are the same age for a while
Sep 20 2015, 8:05 PM
Ruth (guest): Sr. Mary Roberta, he was only 45?
Sep 20 2015, 8:05 PM
Judy K: Sister Mary Roberta, your husband must have been such a major part of your life and how hard it must have been for you to lose him. But see how the Lord has stepped in and given you a new spouse, Himself.
Sep 20 2015, 8:05 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: No, he was just turning 58, Ruth.
Sep 20 2015, 8:05 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: so today would have been his 71st birthday
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Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, Judy, I recognize God’s hand/will in all He’s allowed me to do in this life of His!
Sep 20 2015, 8:07 PM
Ruth (guest): My Dad had just turned 58 when he died of complications of Hodgkin’s Disease and Lymphatic Leukemia. He was sick for about 5 years.
Sep 20 2015, 8:07 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: my husband was sick for 3-1/2 years
Sep 20 2015, 8:07 PM
Carol Ann: That is so hard. I took care of my Dad for four years
Sep 20 2015, 8:08 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: The Lord grants us the grace of accompanying our loved ones on their journeys to Him.
Sep 20 2015, 8:08 PM
Ruth (guest): My Dad lived just long enough to become a convert to Catholicism — on his death bed.
08 PM
Carol Ann: That is beautiful
Sep 20 2015, 8:08 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Wow…really special, Ruth!
Sep 20 2015, 8:09 PM
Judy K: It seems that most, if not all, of us have had various types of suffering in our lives. But these struggles do not seem to have stifled our attempts to follow God’s will (question #1.) I can how all of you are moving ahead.
Sep 20 2015, 8:09 PM
Judy K: I can see how all of you
Sep 20 2015, 8:10 PM
Carol Ann: I would do it again.
Sep 20 2015, 8:10 PM
Ruth (guest): And it was soooo special that I was able to be there, and be instrumental. I’d been praying for his conversion for ten years. I drove some 400 miles on an inner impulse — or leading of the Holy Spirit — and arrived just on time.
Sep 20 2015, 8:10 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Yes, Judy, and now Pope Francis’ visit this coming week will shed even more light on God’s will for us!
Sep 20 2015, 8:10 PM
Judy K: My brain and my fingers do not seem to be able to keep up with each other.
Sep 20 2015, 8:11 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: That was definitely the Holy Spirit’s leading you, Ruth1
Mary Roberta Viano: Our sisters are super-excited about being up front at the Pope’s Mass in the Basilica on Wednesday!
Sep 20 2015, 8:11 PM
Guest4430 (guest): A friend of mine was killed in car crash last year driving his son and friend home fom game weather changed suddenly ! Thank God the boys survived ! It has been atough year for family but I noticed today his wife Christine’s strength and the closeness she now has with her children and with God !
Sep 20 2015, 8:11 PM
Judy K: What a joyful moment for both you and your father, in spite of the inevitable sadness, Ruth.
Judy K: I too can get discouraged, but I do not let that stifle my attempts to follow the Lord’s will.
Sep 20 2015, 8:13 PM
Carol Ann: I often feel like this: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/549579960756155526/
Sep 20 2015, 8:14 PM
Judy K: More and more, I am offering my struggles for priests and seminarians.
Sep 20 2015, 8:14 PM
Lisa C: I offer them for souls
Ruth (guest): It is a story I like remembering. It reminds me of God’s faithfulness, and that he answers prayers. My father was so weak that he could not take a sip of water without help, but when he received his first Holy Communion, which was also his Viaticum, he literally jumped out of bed and DANCED around the room, his arms up in the air, sing-songing “I’m the happiest man on earth!” Right after than he was in a coma from which he never recovered consciousness.
Sep 20 2015, 8:15 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Be Strong and Courageous for the Lord your God is with you Judy ! Keep Shining Sister you have been a great encouragement to me !!!
Sep 20 2015, 8:16 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I like SFdS on God’s will: “It is not sufficient to accept God’s will generally. We mus accept it in every detail and circumstance.”
Guest4430 (guest): Praise God Ruth !!!
Sep 20 2015, 8:18 PM
Judy K: That is such an amazing story, Ruth.
Sep 20 2015, 8:18 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: To who else shall we go?, as the Apostles said!
Sep 20 2015, 8:18 PM
Ruth (guest): Thank you, and thanks be to God! The priest who heard his confession was newly ordained — his first hospital visit as a priest. He always sent my mother a Christmas card, and called her “Mom” which she liked.
9 PM
Judy K: I knew a Sister, a number of years ago, who was known to state frequently “Whatever He wills.” I often pray to her that I might have that same grace.
Sep 20 2015, 8:20 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Bottom line, as SFdS points out in a Christmas sermon: “The one whose only concern is to do the divine will obtains from His goodness all that he/she needs.”
Sep 20 2015, 8:20 PM
Guest4430 (guest): Whatever suffering we are going through or is coming in our life and even when the Lord calls us home we can know that we are assisting God in the Salvation of souls !
required is that each person place all their confidence in Him and say from their heart: Into Thy hands I commend my spirit, my soul, my body, all that I have, to do with them as it shall please Thee.”
Sep 20 2015, 8:22 PM
Carol Ann: It is completely awesome, though I often wonder how he can use what happens to me
hat trust the Lord places in us in allowing us to be His assistants in the task of salvation!
Sep 20 2015, 8:24 PM
Lisa C: Carol Ann, He is God, He can do anything, we will never be able to comprehend how
Sep 20 2015, 8:24 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Like our dear Sr. Rose, who lost all the fish and plants in her newly-dug fish pond, but has accepted it as God’s will and is moving on to put more fish and plants in it.
Sep 20 2015, 8:24 PM
Carol Ann: I have seen Hi do some really unbelievable thngs
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Carol Ann: He really can do ANYTHING
Sep 20 2015, 8:26 PM
Judy K: As I think about my last comment, I am truly humbled by His faith in me. I am His unworthy servant and He accepts me even in my unworthiness.
Sep 20 2015, 8:27 PM
Judy K: How can I not appreciate the gift He is to me!
Sep 20 2015, 8:27 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: “Cast your care upon the Lord, and He will support you.” (I Peter 5:7)
Sep 20 2015, 8:27 PM
Lisa C: St Francis de Sales said in Treatise that God did everything in one act, even though to us it seems like He does things in steps. He is so awesome that He knew everything that needed to be done and did it all in one Word
:28 PM
Judy K: With Mary, I can say “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. He Who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name.”
Sep 20 2015, 8:28 PM
Carol Ann: And that He exists in every moment that ever was or ever will be simultaneously
Sep 20 2015, 8:28 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): Yes we break things down but God is totally Unity- totally ONE
Sep 20 2015, 8:28 PM
Ruth (guest): Yes, and His will is always that we be united with Him. St. Thomas Aquinas, when, in prayer, God approved of his treatis and asked him what he wanted for a reward saidnly You.
M
Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS writes in a funny way about God’s will in a letter: “it must be all the same to us, whatever the sauce God chooses for us. This is the center of perfection at which we must all aim and whoever gets closest to it will win the prize.”
Sep 20 2015, 8:29 PM
Lisa C: Ruth, did you see that on Bishop Barron’s coat of arms
Sep 20 2015, 8:29 PM
Ruth (guest): Funny! a colon plus an O became a sort of smily face.
:30 PM
Ruth (guest): Yes, Lisa, and I’d heard it before, too. I was just looking up the latin, though.
Sep 20 2015, 8:31 PM
Judy K: Lisa, I have not seen Bishop Baron’s coat of arms. Can you describe it?
31 PM
Lisa C: NON NISI TE DOMINE
Sep 20 2015, 8:32 PM
Ruth (guest): You beat me to it! Here’s the link. http://www.wordonfire.org/resources/video/bishop-barron-on-his-episcopal-coat-of-arms/4918/
Sep 20 2015, 8:32 PM
Lisa C: Judy, look for word on fire…he describes it. It takes a very long time. There are stories about each part
Sep 20 2015, 8:32 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: God alone
Sep 20 2015, 8:32 PM
Lisa C: Nothing, but you, Lord
Sep 20 2015, 8:32 PM
Lisa C: Nothing if not you, Lord
Sep 20 2015, 8:32 PM
Judy K: Thanks Lisa and Ruth.
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Mary Roberta Viano: SFdS adds: “Let me be Your lute; touch any string You please. Always and forever let me make music in perfect harmony with your own. 4 PM
MSusanMarie (guest): I love that quote!
Sep 20 2015, 8:34 PM
Judy K: Oh that is so beautiful Sister Mary Roberta!
Sep 20 2015, 8:34 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Speaking of music, I’d better get tomorrow’s ready. Good night and Happy Pope Watching!
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Judy K: May we all grow in our uniformity with God’s will and abandon more and more our own desires and dreams to follow His. Have a wonderful week, everyone! 6 PM
Carol Ann: Have a blessed week! I will be praying for us all
Sep 20 2015, 8:36 PM
Ruth (guest): Beautiful!
Sep 20 2015, 8:36 PM
Guest4430 (guest): ST PERPETUA VISION OF STEPING ON THE ENEMIES HEAD AND CLIMBING LADDER TO HEAVEN ALONG WITH HER FRIENDS !Lets pray and clear the path for others to join us on the ladder to heaven our brief sufferings in this life is the step on the enemies head so others can climb the ladder with us !