Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Perhaps you are familiar with the expression “Standing on the shoulders of giants,” which is a fitting way to summarize Saint Francis’ expression. Why do you think it is so important to take this humble approach to the spiritual/devout life? There is a concept of memory from ancient Judiasm that essentially means “making present the past.” The idea was that something from the past could be made real and effective in the present moment. For example, we as Christians live this with the Eucharist: we have ‘remembrance’ of the Last Supper. While each Mass is a memory of that past event, it makes real the event in the present moment. How might this concept of memory/remembrance connect with the above reflection by Saint Francis?Someday we will be part of the past. What can we do to leave a spiritual legacy/heritage for people to look back to and learn from and grow from?Do you sometimes think you are a “grub in devotion,” unable to fly, as St. Francis says? Or are you soaring to the mountains, at times?
Guest9866 (Guest): We are having a beautiful day here in NY. As Irv Gikofsky would say, “Golden sunshine and bright blue skies. Warm but not humid. I am well. Last Saturday was my adopted grandson’s Ordination to the priesthood. It was glorious. It took only an hour to get there. Unfortunately, I was sitting on the opposite side of the church from where he was. But it was a beautiful ceremony. I usually get teary eyed when the candidates prostrate themselves during the singing of the Litany of the Saints.
Jul 2, 7:28 PM
Jennifer Koo: Hi Lisa
Jul 2, 7:29 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): This year it was when the Cardinal gave the sign of peace to the 4 newly ordained priests. And again when the Cardinal knelt before them to receive their blessings.
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Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Hi Mother.
Jul 2, 7:30 PM
Dawn (Guest): Hi!
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SrSusan (Guest): We always here refer to the former Sisters of our Monasteries as “spiritual giants” becaus e they were! PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Now to “standing on the shoulders of giants.” We do well to listen to those spiritual giants who have gone before us. They have already trod the path we are walking. They certainly have some good advice for us.
Jul 2, 7:40 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Wonderful Carol Ann ! Praise God your retreat went well !
Jul 2, 7:40 PM
Carol Ann: Yes, Sr. A much Tighter bond is needed because we all live so far away from each other
7:41 PM
SrSusan (Guest): The gianys in our Order still live, like Mother Mary berchmans of Georgetown
Jul 2, 7:42 PM
SrSusan (Guest): A humble person is not too big to stand on someone else’s shoulders and ultimately they get a bigger view of the situation
Jul 2, 7:42 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Carol Ann, just a thought. How about a round robin letter. One person starts the letter, sends it on to the next person, who adds to it and sends it on to the next person and so on until it reaches back to the initial writer. And then it starts over again.
Jul 2, 7:42 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Father Sams from St Michaels passed away this week . I have been attending 645am Mass for years on Saturday ! We all miss him . A true spiritual Giant !
Jul 2, 7:43 PM
SrSusan (Guest): In the devout life we need to resemble Jesus who is meek and humble of Heart
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SrSusan (Guest): St Francis de Sales chapter?
Jul 2, 7:48 PM
Dawn (Guest): Yes, Mother. sweetness
Jul 2, 7:48 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Yes it is actually
Jul 2, 7:49 PM
SrSusan (Guest): In a way we are leaving a spiritual legacy
Jul 2, 7:49 PM
SrSusan (Guest): These chats are a form of legacy if they stay on line and people read them
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Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) making the present the past. This concept connects with the reflection in that if we take to heart the teachings of our forerunners and live them, then we are making present the past. ng present the past.
Jul 2, 7:50 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Soo true Sister !
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Lisa C: “making present the past”–God is eternal–as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be….He is outside time. Everything about Him does not change. PM
SrSusan (Guest): Very true Lisa There is no time in God or rather it is eternal and infinite? 7:52 PM
SrSusan (Guest): So present and past refer to our experience of eternal truths as we live them on earthPM
Carol Ann: We do though, in the sense that every generation faces a unique challenge to faith. We must use what our ancestors taught us in new ways to meet some of those challenges
Jul 2, 7:52 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Our enemy is always trying to get us or our culture to forget the Men and Women
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Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Isn’t it magnificent that we make present the past every time we celebrate the Eucharist! What a great gift Jesus has given us in leaving His presence for us so that we can be truly one with Him.
Jul 2, 7:53 PM
Lisa C: I think that is also how when he came to teach us and die for our sins to save us and He also saved the people who were born before He came. He descended into hell (abode of the dead) to preach to them
Jul 2, 7:53 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Of God who have lived such Faithful lives ! 6 PM
SrSusan (Guest): How about how the legacy inspires our spiritual lives? Sometimes we seem to be growing so slowly and then read or hear something and we take off so to speak into a new way of seeing common things or experiences8 PM
Lisa C: Are we even able to grow on our own? Isn’t it all about grace given to us that we accept?
Jul 2, 7:58 PM
Dawn (Guest): very true Mother!
Jul 2, 7:58 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hello everyone. Glad to rejoin you. Was just reading what I could of the discussion that preceded. Before that was “chatting” with my niece . I hear that my brother is doing better!
Jul 2, 7:58 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Yes Lisa grace and our response to grace
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Ruth (Guest): Hello everyone. Glad to rejoin you. Was just reading what I could of the discussion that preceded. Before that was “chatting” with my niece . I hear that my brother is doing better!
Jul 2, 7:58 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Yes Lisa grace and our response to grace
Jul 2, 7:59 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) To leave a spiritual legacy/heritage for others to look at and learn from is to share with others the things we have learned, and even the mistakes we have make and how we overcame them. We frequently learn a great deal from our mistakes.
Jul 2, 7:59 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Our Brothers and Sisters who have gone before us are always inspiring us and reminding us to Trust God no matter what is going on around us !
Jul 2, 7:59 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Glad for that good news Ruth We kep praying
Jul 2, 7:59 PM
Carol Ann: I have been thinking lately about the Little Way. There is nothing there that seems spectacularly heroic–until you try to live it and realize it is much harder than heroic acts
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Jennifer Koo: Trusting God no matter what is going on is not easy9 PM
SrSusan (Guest): St Therese’s little way
Jul 2, 8:00 PM
Jennifer Koo: Trusting God no matter what is going on is not easy
Jul 2, 8:00 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) We might also engage in journaling to record our strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, valuable things that have learned. Our journals will survive us and serve as fodder for others.
Jul 2, 8:00 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Yes we all have practical experience of trusting God in the dark I suspect
Jul 2, 8:01 PM
Lisa C: St. T suffered a lot when she had TB.
Jul 2, 8:01 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Ah good idea Judy- if we dare to leave those journals behind
Carol Ann: I had one for a long time but I did not keep it in the end
Jul 2, 8:02 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): There is a sense of Peace and Joy that the Holy Spirit provides us in the Storms of Life and it is helpful to remember what others have gone through and kept there Trust in God !
Jul 2, 8:02 PM
SrSusan (Guest): When we truly live in the present moment with God things can be easier if we accept all as from His Hand
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Jennifer Koo: I went to the hospital to visit a lady, Agnes Seow, who is the sister of Fr Henry Seow.
Jul 2, 8:02 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) We might have to be selective about what we write in our journals.
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SrSusan (Guest): Today, Jennifer?
Jul 2, 8:03 PM
Jennifer Koo: She was suddenly falling sick, from a healthy active life, to ICU nearly turn into a vegetable.
Jul 2, 8:03 PM
Jennifer Koo: Few days ago
Jul 2, 8:03 PM
Lisa C: I think that that is where we need courage, Mother, to accept everything as it comes.
Jul 2, 8:03 PM
Carol Ann: That is frightening
Jul 2, 8:04 PM
Ruth (Guest): Sr. Susan, that is my feeling, too. I’m inclined to think that my journals are mainly a way of forcing myself to be attentive in prayer, and sometimes to remember God’s mercies, or guidance. I’ve only rarely shared a little of a journal with a confessor. That was helpful, though.
Jul 2, 8:04 PM
Jennifer Koo: She is full of sorrow
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Jennifer Koo: She is full of sorrow and so helpless
Jul 2, 8:04 PM
Lisa C: Even when we do not understand
Jul 2, 8:04 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): Judy) I am reminded of a little verse on trust: Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee; trust Him when thy faith is small; trust Him when simple to trust Him seems the hardest thing of all.”
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Jennifer Koo: I saw that a big portion of her head sunken, that was told that in order to save her,
Jul 2, 8:05 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) That should read “when simply to trust Him.”
Jul 2, 8:05 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Oh my what a trial
5 PM
SrSusan (Guest): That verse is precious Judy Sound like you have it memorizedM
Jul 2, 8:06 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Can trust be a legacy? Examples of trust perhaps can
Jul 2, 8:06 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Romans 8:28 ! All things work together for good for those who love God ! Those who are called according to His purpose !
Jul 2, 8:06 PM
Dawn (Guest): mother, have any sisters or giants from past left journals for the sisters to read?
Jul 2, 8:07 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Some people have such tremendous suffering. I should be ashamed of myself when I complain about my small sufferings. Yes, I have memorized that little verse which I learned in my childhood.l
Jul 2, 8:07 PM
Lisa C: Yes, “Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence”
8:08 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Yes Dawn and some are published in part in biosPM
Jennifer Koo: We cannot compare suffering, that was what I learn from counselling. No ones suffering is smaller than ours
Jul 2, 8:08 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Such an inspiration Judy !
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Guest5049 (Guest): Such an inspiration Judy !
Jul 2, 8:09 PM
8 online10 PM
Carol Ann: The book project we started is a legacy
Jul 2, 8:10 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): Wow aweso
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Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Such trustful surrender to Divine Providence is needed especially when we feel ourselves to be grubs in devotion. I believe that all people have times then they feel like grubs and times hen they are soaring to the mountains. We might feel like grubs if things are not going well in our lives, when we are feeling blue, or lost, or incapable of doing things that we need to do. Unable even to pray.
Jul 2, 8:12 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I cannot think of an examplbut like Sr Mary Martha Chambon
I am in my last day retreat, mid morning prayer will soon start. Please pray for Agnes Seow as she’s suffering badly.
Jul 2, 8:12 PM
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SrSusan (Guest): Yes I will- what happened
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Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Such trustful surrender to Divine Providence is needed especially when we feel ourselves to be grubs in devotion. I believe that all people have times then they feel like grubs and times hen they are soaring to the mountains. We might feel like grubs if things are not going well in our lives, when we are feeling blue, or lost, or incapable of doing things that we need to do. Unable even to pray.
Jul 2, 8:12 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I cannot think of an examplbut like Sr Mary Martha Chambon
Jul 2, 8:12 PM
Lisa C: St. Margaret Mary
Jul 2, 8:12 PM
Ruth (Guest): Mea culpa. I found my poem and explanation almost by “chance” several weeks ago. I thought I brought it into the office to scan and send, but last night I spent hours “tidying” the office — long barely used — looking for the poem and story but did not find it.
Jul 2, 8:12 PM
Dawn (Guest): thank you Lisa!….
Jul 2, 8:13 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Yes Lisa Thanks!!!
Jul 2, 8:13 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) this would generate grub like feelings. If things are goind well, if we are feeling well, if er have an active prayer life and it seems that theLord is very close to us, then we are soaring to the mountains. We can move back and forth from one to the other.
8:13 PM
Lisa C: St. Jane too!
Jul 2, 8:13 PM
Lisa C: At least her letters
Jul 2, 8:13 PM
Lisa C: Not sure there is a diary
Jul 2, 8:14 PM
Ruth (Guest): It troubles me a lot that many of my undertakings remain unfinished or incomplete — especially in the last several years since the triple concussion.
Jul 2, 8:14 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) I also think that people who are experiencing difficulties, by God’s grace, may be soaring to the mountains as well.
Jul 2, 8:14 PM
SrSusan (Guest): No diary but yes letters
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Guest5049 (Guest): I remember story in paper of family in Niagara Falls . Young mother was in coma with young children . Grandparents raised the children in their home and whole family took care of Mother in the home for decades. The children said how wonderful it was to have their mother there while they were growing up even though she could not communicate to them ! What Love ! Praise God!
Jul 2, 8:19 PM
Carol Ann: I think she is the third woman made doctor
Jul 2, 8:19 PM
SrSusan (Guest): What a legacy the Martin family has left 3 saints so far and one Venerable Leonie
Guest5049
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Ruth (Guest): Yes, I see more and more the need to just TRUST. A sermon mentioned that by praying regularly we become more efficient and therefore able to not neglect other responsibilities. I said — and was quoted years later by a friend who became a priest — that when we are very busy, that is when we most need to take the most time to pray. Still, I think my “prayer” may have to become just trusting God’s Spirit to pray through me, because I can not . . Dawn (Guest): Ruth, were they speaking of st teresa calcutta? PM
Lisa C: I always think that the other Martin sisters are Saints too, but very humble Saints we know less about.
Jul 2, 8:21 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Teresa of Calcutta has already been canonized also.
Jul 2, 8:21 PM
SrSusan (Guest): You are probably
SrSusan (Guest): You are probably right- they were a holy family3 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Soaring in prayer may not always be felt- the soul may soar without our knowing it- do you agreeM
SrSusan (Guest): Soaring in prayer may not always be felt- the soul may soar without our knowing it- do you agree
Jul 2, 8:23 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) I was especially touched when Zelie and Louis Martin were canonized. For a married couple to canonized together gives a powerful message to the Church that one does not have to be a priest or religious to be a sain.
Jul 2, 8:24 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Saint.
Jul 2, 8:24 PM
Carol Ann: Yes, I do. It is when Jesus does an inner transformation that only He can see for a long time
Jul 2, 8:24 PM
Lisa C: Yes, Mother, I think any prayer makes the soul soar, because a prayer links the soul directly to God
Jul 2, 8:24 PM
Ruth (Guest): Theresa of Avila is/has been. I’m not sure about Teresa (the “Little Flower”). But then, I had the impression that the interview — being broadcast in Africa — may have been a few years old.
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Dawn (Guest): Ruth, that is a beautiful prayer! to ask the Holy Spirit to pray through you, because you can n ot. Romans 8:26 Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray the way we should. …. us. He prays through groans too deep for words. … But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words
Jul 2, 8:26 PM
SrSusan (Guest): https://saint-therese.org/life-of-st-therese/st-therese-doctor-church/
Jul 2, 8:26 PM
SrSusan (Guest): St. Therese joined a special group of saints on October 19, 1997. St. Pope John Paul II dec
Jul 2, 8:27 PM
Guest9866 (Guest): (Judy) Mother, I do think that one’s soul may be soaring even if one is not aware of it. Perhaps persevering in prayer is what makes the soul soar.
Jul 2, 8:27 PM
SrSusan (Guest): She was a doctor from 1997
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SrSusan (Guest): St. Therese stands out among the doctors of the Church. She is one of four women doctors and the youngest at the time of her death. She is also joined by two other Carmelite saints, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.
Jul 2, 8:29 PM
Ruth (Guest): Thank you for the link. Don’t know how I missed this! Twenty years ago!
Jul 2, 8:30 PM
Guest5049 (Guest): One of the fruits of the Spirit is longsuffering ! Our Spirit soaring when we are going through longsuffering Trusting God !
Jul 2, 8:30 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I did not realize it was that long ago either