Oct 22 Chat

Judy (Guest): Hi Everyone! Happy Feast of Pope St. John Paul II! I cannot but recall the intensity on his face when he was praying. Holiness seemed to exude from him, even as it from St. Teresa of Calcutta.

Judy (Guest): Brian, where had you been living before?

Judy (Guest): Glad you are here Lisa and Carol Ann!

Judy (Guest): No complaint here. The weather has been truly beautiful for the past few days, but we are anticipating heavy rain on Tuesday, which we really need.

Judy (Guest): Let’s hit question 1. Augustine tells us that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. St. Francis tells us that as son as a creature finds what it desires, it quickly desires something new. God does not allow us to find rest except in Him.

Judy (Guest): Isn’t it amazing that when we are spending quality time with God, nothing else seems to matter. Would that we could maintain that intensity of concentration on Him all through the day. We would never seek for anything else.

Judy (Guest): Hi Dawn!

Judy (Guest): Brian put a note at the very beginning, but I do not see him as listed on line now.

Judy (Guest): If we could keep Augustine’s words in our minds, perhaps we would not go wandering all over the place searching for things that can never satisfy.

Judy (Guest): Perhaps the Lord is amused by our wandering. He must think, “What is with them? Haven’t they gotten the message yet? How many ways must try to keep their attention.

Judy (Guest): Now there are some words to ponder : it is God Who wants us! The Divine Creator of all things, Who is sufficient unto Himself, wants us. His love is so great that He wants to share it with us, not matter how many times we may stray from Him. He always calls us back.

Judy (Guest): But when I think of how great His love is, I just want to run into His arms.

Judy (Guest): St. Francis speaks of the restlessness of people. Se do see this restlessness in others who are endlessly seeking more money, a bigger house, a more expensive car, more expensive jewelry, a more upscale neighborhood, dinners at more exclusive restaurants. But this seeking never stops. We see it especially in actors musicians, sports figures, business giants. Nothing is ever enough for them.

Judy (Guest): At least for some of them. Some have discovered the Lord and have changed because of that.

Judy (Guest): Virtue in others is so beautiful to behold. If only more people sought after virtue instead of things, if they sought after the Lord, how much better our world would be. There would be less greed, less need to lord it over others, less need for power. That would be the beginning of peace in the world. Imagine a world where everyone was content with he had. Was not running around seeking to amass greater wealth, but rested with his present condition.

Judy (Guest): What beautiful words from Psalm 100: “Know that the LORD is God, He made us, we belong to Him, we are His poeple, the flock He shepherds.“ God made us; we belong to Him, we are His property, so to speak; and He cares for us as a shepherd cares for His flock. He provides for our needs directly, or provides the means by which we can obtain the things we need. Often it is by giving us emotional and physical strength to do the work that is ours, through which we earn our living.

Judy (Guest): He also provides for our spiritual needs through the Church which gives us the Bread of Life and bestows the mercy of god upon us.

Judy (Guest): Mercy of God.

Judy (Guest): Yes! the old Baltimore Catechism answers this question for us: God made us to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this life so as to be happy with Him in eternity. In Psalm 139, we see that we are not arbitrarily made. The Psalmist says to the Lord: You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know. My bones are not hidden from you.

Judy (Guest): When I was being made in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me unformed; in you book all are written down; my days were shaped before one came to be.“ We are not happenstance, not accidents of nature. Each of us is planned by Bod and formed in His image and likeness. He made us out of love and calls us to a love relationship with Him.

Judy (Guest): Planned by God

Judy (Guest): He knew us from the beginning of time, from before we were even conceived. He wanted us to be. He wanted to love us and wanted us to love Him. There can be nothing greater than that, nothing greater than to be loved by God.

Judy (Guest): And all of the hungers we experience are really hunger for Him.

Judy (Guest): While we need a certain healthy self-love, love must be shared with another.

Judy (Guest): Hi Mother! It is chugging along.

Judy (Guest): I think Merton could mean all of the above.

Judy (Guest): To borrow a line from “The Sound of Music” love isn’t love until you give it away.

Judy (Guest): We are all what Henri Nouwen called wounded healers. Our woundedness may never be completely healed in this life, but we should continue to extend our healing love to others to help heal their woundedness. Just as their live helps to heal our woundedness.. And this does enable us to grow in holiness.

Judy (Guest): Their love helps to heal our woundedness.

Judy (Guest): Love is like a dew that causes the rose buds to open up. Love helps us to open our hearts to receive all that the Lord has to give us

Judy (Guest): And to open our hearts to share that love with others.

Judy (Guest): Let us spend the week ahead being wounded healers for all those we meet. Let us embrace their sufferings and hopefully alleviate them. Praised be Jesus Christ now and forever.