. Following God more and more seems demanding. Saint Francis gives the example of Abraham being called to sacrifice Isaac. If God wants to give to us, why does God ask so much out of us?2. Pope Benedict wrote in his encyclical Spe Salve: “Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched…” How does this quote shed light on what Saint Francis is trying to teach us?3. The extreme exampl
Mar 13, 8:41 AM
VisitationSiste: 3.
The extreme examples of different saints given above by Saint Francis are
intense, for lack of better word. Is this something we are all called to? Or
are we all called to it in a different, unique manner to our lives?
4. What can we do to better prepare our hearts to be willing to make such a
leap of faith if God were to call us to do something so out of the ordinary?
Mar 13, 8:41 AM
VisitationSiste: Chat Sun Mar 17 2019 at 730pm est
Mar 17, 7:31 PM
VisitationSiste: Hello viewer
Mar 17, 7:33 PM
VisitationSiste: Waiting fora few others!
Mar 17, 7:35 PM
VisitationSiste: Are you a regular chatter or new to this site?
Mar 17, 7:36 PM
VisitationSiste: Be right back!
Mar 17, 7:41 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Hi Sister Susan and viewers ! God Bless You ! Brian
Mar 17, 7:42 PM
Guest (Guest): Hi, Brian
Mar 17, 7:43 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Happy St. Patrick’s Day !
Mar 17, 7:43 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi Brian
Mar 17, 7:43 PM
VisitationSiste: To you too! Hope it was a good one!
Mar 17, 7:44 PM
VisitationSiste: Maybe our chatters are still celebrating!
Mar 17, 7:44 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Beautiful sunshine in Buffalo today !!!!
Mar 17, 7:44 PM
VisitationSiste: Here too in Brooklyn!
Mar 17, 7:44 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Great Day for Parade !!!
Mar 17, 7:45 PM
VisitationSiste: I did not watch though- but we had corned beef and cabbage for dinner
Mar 17, 7:45 PM
Guest (Guest): St Patrick’s day
Mar 17, 7:45 PM
VisitationSiste: Our priest said that St Patrick probably would prefer we witnessed to the faith than drink green beverages!
Mar 17, 7:46 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): How are all the Sisters doing any prayer requests !!!!
Mar 17, 7:46 PM
VisitationSiste: Speaking of demands God asked a lot of St Patrick- kidnapping , slavery and then becoming a Bishop eventually!
Mar 17, 7:46 PM
VisitationSiste: We post them up on the boards and announce prayer requests
Mar 17, 7:47 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi Ruth!
Mar 17, 7:47 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): If you get a chance read the Confessions of St Patrick his story in his own words !!!
Mar 17, 7:48 PM
VisitationSiste: I read a part of it but never the whole
Mar 17, 7:48 PM
Carol Ann: Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Mar 17, 7:48 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Amazing Humble Priest !!!
Mar 17, 7:49 PM
Carol Ann: I have a new formation assistant that would like our meetings to be at 4pm on Sundays. That means I will be tardy a lot!
Mar 17, 7:49 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Hi Carol Ann !
Mar 17, 7:49 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hello Sr. Susan, Brian, Carol Ann, Guest and viewer.
Mar 17, 7:50 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Hi Ruth !
Mar 17, 7:50 PM
VisitationSiste: What’s a formation assistant?
Mar 17, 7:51 PM
Carol Ann: Oh, the person who works one on one with the postulant or novice
Mar 17, 7:51 PM
Ruth (Guest): There was a St. Pat’s Day Parade in my little mountain village, but this was only the 4th year and somehow it was not even announced in the local newspaper.
Mar 17, 7:52 PM
Ruth (Guest): Are they long meetings, Carol Ann?
Mar 17, 7:52 PM
VisitationSiste: Oh one on one- that’s great- and a priority of course!!
Mar 17, 7:52 PM
Ruth (Guest): Where do they take Place?
Mar 17, 7:53 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Pray for a large group of young men from nearby University of Buffalo have been attending 6:45am Mass at St Christopher’s !!! Potential Priests or Deacons !!! Incredible !!!
Mar 17, 7:53 PM
VisitationSiste: Fantastic! We will pray- such positive news!
Mar 17, 7:53 PM
Carol Ann: 45 minutes to an hour, by phone. We are picking up where I left off in Coopmmunity and Growth by Varnier, but she says she might not stick so rigidly to the reading list if it’s not giving me anything I need at the moment
Mar 17, 7:53 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): A Revival on a Large Public University !!! Praise God !!!
Mar 17, 7:54 PM
Carol Ann: Brian, that is so awesome!
Mar 17, 7:54 PM
VisitationSiste: Individual attention is geared to each soul- very good.
Mar 17, 7:54 PM
VisitationSiste: I really like this quote: Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched…”
Mar 17, 7:54 PM
VisitationSiste: So one on one also stretches the soul!
Mar 17, 7:55 PM
Carol Ann: For awhile now Christ has been running my program, so He must know imma ready for the next. Step
Mar 17, 7:55 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Some friends have been doing at outreach on Wed 1-4pm they get over 85 students from all over the world !!!
Mar 17, 7:55 PM
Carol Ann: Oh, I love that quote Sister
Mar 17, 7:56 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Wow what a quote Sister Susan !!!!
Mar 17, 7:56 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi Kristi!
Mar 17, 7:57 PM
Kristi (Guest): Hi Sister!
Mar 17, 7:57 PM
VisitationSiste: That’s From Spe Salve
Mar 17, 7:57 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Hi Kristi ! God Bless You !
Mar 17, 7:57 PM
Ruth (Guest): We have a strange (to me) new “custom” for Lent for praying for vocations: Three individuals or families — one from each of the Sunday Masses — takes home, for a week, a chalice, presented to them during Mass — with a sheet of suggested prayers for Vocations.
Mar 17, 7:57 PM
Carol Ann: What a great idea Ruth
Mar 17, 7:57 PM
Kristi (Guest): Thanks for the Blessing
Mar 17, 7:58 PM
Carol Ann: Hi Kristi
Mar 17, 7:58 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Your Welcome Kristi !!!
Mar 17, 7:58 PM
Kristi (Guest): Hi Carol Ann
Mar 17, 7:59 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Awesome Ruth !!!
Mar 17, 8:00 PM
Kristi (Guest): I’m at the St. Jane House in Minneapolis
Mar 17, 8:00 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Wonderful Kristi !!!
Mar 17, 8:00 PM
VisitationSiste: For a retreat? I know that house- I’ve been there!
Mar 17, 8:00 PM
Ruth (Guest): When I served as a sacristan, pre Vatican II, or during Vatican II, I had to set up for Mass without touching the sacred vessels.
Mar 17, 8:00 PM
Kristi (Guest): Yes
Mar 17, 8:01 PM
VisitationSiste: Are the Sisters running the retreat or a separate group?
Mar 17, 8:01 PM
Carol Ann: Oh yes Rough, that does make this seem a bit hard, but it’s good to have families pray for vocations
Mar 17, 8:01 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Kristi. Is that house associated with the Visitation Sisters?
Mar 17, 8:02 PM
Kristi (Guest): It’s a private retreat. IvI’ been walking over to the Monastery
Mar 17, 8:02 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Pre Vatican II, interesting
Mar 17, 8:02 PM
Kristi (Guest): Yes, Ruth.
Mar 17, 8:02 PM
VisitationSiste: Wonderful!
Mar 17, 8:03 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Are you contemplating a vocation Kristi !
Mar 17, 8:03 PM
VisitationSiste: To q1 If God wants to give to us, why does God ask so much out of us?2.
Mar 17, 8:03 PM
Kristi (Guest): Spoke to Sister Katherine quite a bit
Mar 17, 8:03 PM
Kristi (Guest): Yes
Mar 17, 8:04 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): We will all be praying for you Kristi !!!! God has a Great Plan for You !!!!
Mar 17, 8:04 PM
Kristi (Guest): I think so as well.
Mar 17, 8:05 PM
Ruth (Guest): Pope Benedict’s remark says it quite well. I probably would’ve used an image from sports or maybe learning to make music.
Mar 17, 8:05 PM
Carol Ann: That’s wonderful Kristi!
Mar 17, 8:05 PM
Carol Ann: I think God asks much of us because He is preparing. Us for Himself
Mar 17, 8:06 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): God asks Soo much of us because His desire is to save everyone !!! Through are many trials we are able to point soo many more to Christ !!!
Mar 17, 8:06 PM
Ruth (Guest): We humans need to exercise or practice in order to get good at anything, even people who have special gifts or talents. So maybe God is not being any harder on us — though it may seem so to us — than any good coach or music teacher.
Mar 17, 8:07 PM
VisitationSiste: To enter into God in eternity is so awesome that we need to be prepared as best as possible
Mar 17, 8:07 PM
Kristi (Guest): To achieve holiness and follow his will.
Mar 17, 8:07 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Remember we are unprofitable Servants of God !!! We just have to keep doing whatever He calls us to do !!!
Mar 17, 8:10 PM
VisitationSiste: What can we do to better prepare our hearts to be willing to make such a leap of faith if God were to call us to do something so out of the ordinary?
Mar 17, 8:10 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Remember in the military they have Special Forces that are sent to trouble spots to impact those communities ! God sends us to sometimes very dark places soo that His Light can shine through us to others in darkness !!!
Mar 17, 8:10 PM
Ruth (Guest): The “prize” for our struggles — those God places upon us, especially when we have or hearts set on Union with Him — is so much greater than that of becoming a great athlete or a great musician.
Mar 17, 8:11 PM
Ruth (Guest): I like that image, Brian. And we have to learn to be completely transparent to the Light he places in us.
Mar 17, 8:12 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): It’s only in darkness we sees stars
Mar 17, 8:12 PM
Carol Ann: We are called to pray and to fast, but also to rejoice always
Mar 17, 8:12 PM
VisitationSiste: And if we accept God’s Will each day as best as we can, this will prepare us for the next thing He leads us to
Mar 17, 8:13 PM
Ruth (Guest): Most of the time, we let something of ourselves cloud or distort the Light.
Mar 17, 8:13 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Amen
Mar 17, 8:13 PM
Ruth (Guest): His “training” helps to clear those distortions away.
Mar 17, 8:13 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): As a great athlete or musician inspires soo many in those fields we have the opportunity through our Lord Jesus Christ to inspire Soo many to come to Christ Soo that Jesus can fill up Heaven !!! No greater Task in Life !!!
Mar 17, 8:14 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Sometimes the training could be very hard
Mar 17, 8:15 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Amen !!!
Mar 17, 8:15 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes! and why would God’s training be any easier?
Mar 17, 8:15 PM
Carol Ann: As when we are asked to give up an old way of doing things, or suffer an illness
Mar 17, 8:15 PM
Ruth (Guest): Indeed! And Brian, you are able to make such a good contribution through your work with Kairos!
Mar 17, 8:15 PM
Carol Ann: And we will train so hard for an earthly reward, why not even harder for the heavenly?
Mar 17, 8:16 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes St Paul speaks of that!
Mar 17, 8:16 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Sometimes, we thought that it’s beyond our endurance, but extra graces were given
Mar 17, 8:18 PM
Kristi (Guest): I think God gives us what we can handle if we follow his will.
Mar 17, 8:18 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Ruth only possible because of the Faith of Soo many who support Kairos in Prayer around the World ! Received e-mail from Sister who did Kairos in Albion in 80sand 90s because of poor health has not worked weekend since 1993 . She is a faithful prayer warrior for Kairos !!!
Mar 17, 8:18 PM
Carol Ann: We just don’t know we can
Mar 17, 8:18 PM
VisitationSiste: Beautiful!
Mar 17, 8:19 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, it seems that God has an individualized “curriculum” for each of his children.
Mar 17, 8:19 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Amen Kristi !!!
Mar 17, 8:19 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Amen Ruth !!!
Mar 17, 8:20 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): God’s training to Jesus as a fully human has never been easy, likewise many of the holy men and women
Mar 17, 8:21 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes and many dramatic examples there
Mar 17, 8:21 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Jesus Truly understands what we are going through !!!
Mar 17, 8:23 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Obedient gain through suffering.
Mar 17, 8:23 PM
Ruth (Guest): My former parish, St. Frances de Chantal, has a special ministry — praying for the needs of the parish and parishioners — into which particularly the sick, handicapped, homebound, aged can be enrolled. It is called the “Ministry of Praise”. Membership is lifetime. And it has had clearly a very positive impact on the parish — at the same time as it helps those who accept the ministry to feel much more fully incorporated into the parish.
Mar 17, 8:23 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): When we go through great difficulties God Always brings somebody beside us who is going through similar difficulties soo that we can encourage them through our true understanding !
Mar 17, 8:24 PM
VisitationSiste: That is a true grace
Mar 17, 8:24 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Awesome Ruth !!!
Mar 17, 8:25 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Sometimes, training could be a ‘one to one’
Mar 17, 8:25 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Soo True !!!
Mar 17, 8:25 PM
Carol Ann: Your parish comes up with the best ministries Ruth
Mar 17, 8:26 PM
VisitationSiste: In little ways too we are led- we need to pay attention to these little moments
Mar 17, 8:26 PM
Ruth (Guest): My friend Stephany, now deceased, used to ghostwrite for the pastors the newsletters that helped keep the ministers of praise connected with one another and aware of the special needs of the parish and the people who request prayers.
Mar 17, 8:26 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): We carry our cross to follow Jesus
Mar 17, 8:26 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Soo important Sister Susan !!! We can miss those if we are too busy !!!
Mar 17, 8:28 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, the “Little Way” of Theresa of the Child Jesus, “The Little Flower” made of her a great saint.
Mar 17, 8:28 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): Soo True Guest 8349 !!!
Mar 17, 8:30 PM
VisitationSiste: And we are each so unique so our paths, though similar in some ways, will have very unique elements
Mar 17, 8:31 PM
Ruth (Guest): Guest 8349, do you mean that the “one-on-one” is God, Himself “training.” That it is by “talking things over” with the One True Teacher — Rabbuni — that we get the training.
Mar 17, 8:32 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): He will never leave us or Forsake Us !!!!
Mar 17, 8:32 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Yes, unique MOTHER Susan
Mar 17, 8:32 PM
Carroll (Guest): Amen! Thank you everyone for being here tonight- just got finished with work; Look forward to prayerfully reading tonight’s chat
Mar 17, 8:33 PM
Guest8349 (Guest): Amen. Guest 8346
Mar 17, 8:33 PM
VisitationSiste: Carroll, glad you came by!
Mar 17, 8:33 PM
Carol Ann: Hi Carroll!
Mar 17, 8:33 PM
VisitationSiste: Have a great and blessed second week of Lent!
Mar 17, 8:34 PM
Carroll (Guest): Grateful to be here… thank you.
Mar 17, 8:34 PM
Carol Ann: You too, and thank you Sr, Susan Marie
Mar 17, 8:34 PM
Kristi (Guest): Thanks, Good night, Everyone. Quick hello, Carroll!
Mar 17, 8:34 PM
Guest8346 (Guest): You are all such an inspiration to me in our Lord Jesus Christ !!! Keep Shining for Jesus All !!! God Bless You All !!!
Mar 17, 8:35 PM
Carol Ann: Good night Kristi, goid night Brian
Mar 17, 8:36 PM
Carol Ann: Ruth, did you hear from Dawn or Judy this week?
Mar 17, 8:36 PM
Ruth (Guest): Blessings to each of you as we strive to know and DO the will of God.
Mar 17, 8:40 PM
Ruth (Guest): No, Carol Ann. But I also failed to reach out to either of them . . . Lord have mercy! Sometimes I think that if it is true that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, I’m well on my way to where I do not want to go!
Mar 17, 8:42 PM
Ruth (Guest): I want to call my goddaughter, too, and her mother, who is now in a nursing home — both in Germany. But I don’t want to call too late, and with the 6 hour difference, and my mornings always packed, it seems each day another day slips away without my DOING the good I intend.
Mar 17, 8:43 PM
Carroll (Guest): I know the feeling Ruth, but that gives us even MORE to offer up… the weaker I am, the more fervently I ask Our Blessed Mother to take my well intentioned infidelities and transform them into something useful on the altar of Her Immaculate Heart.
Mar 17, 8:44 PM
Carroll (Guest): … even as I pray to the Holy Spirit to please animate, direct, and sanctify all of my actions.
Mar 17, 8:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): That is beautiful, Carroll. Early on I developed a relationship with the amazing, transcendent God, and then with Jesus, and the Spirit he sent to be with us always, but it is only in recent years, it seems, that I am getting to know Our Mother!
Mar 17, 8:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): It is such a joy and comfort.
Mar 17, 8:46 PM
Carroll (Guest): Amen!
Mar 17, 8:47 PM
Carroll (Guest): Are you also a convert?
Mar 17, 8:51 PM
Ruth (Guest): I was baptised as a baby, but I FEEL a little like I am a convert because my parents were of different denominations, and had a lot of opposition from home, and by age 12 I had begun an “experiment” seeking the TRUTH. It was tough doing so in a public school — but God was merciful, and alone at home at age 15, He revealed to me his majesty. From that moment I knew, joyfully, that the rest of my life would be consecrated to Him.
Mar 17, 8:52 PM
Carroll (Guest): Forgive me- maybe I shouldn’t ask that… I have just heard from many other converts that it took quite a bit of time for them to really come to know Mary as Mother. I was fortunate to develop a relationship with her as I prepared for Confirmation because our parish was going through Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin. I had to wait until Pentecost instead of completing RCIA at Easter, and that proved to be a rich time with Our Lady.
Mar 17, 8:52 PM
Ruth (Guest): From age 13 I began attending daily Mass.
Mar 17, 8:52 PM
Carroll (Guest): Wow- what a gift!
Mar 17, 8:54 PM
Carroll (Guest): Please never doubt how much of a difference your presence here makes. You are truly an inspiration.
Mar 17, 8:54 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, I did the preparation for Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin several years ago, and made the consecration, gladly, but it is only very gradually really “sinking down.”
Mar 17, 8:56 PM
Ruth (Guest): I have a Mother, who Loves me. And loves me well — wants even more than I am able to desire — that I love and serve her Divine Son. Wow! Never again alone in this struggle for LIFE!
Mar 17, 8:57 PM
Carroll (Guest): A very wise Sister once told me that the Holy Spirit works through peace and patience… I suppose the “patience” part makes sense because relationships take time.
Mar 17, 8:57 PM
Carroll (Guest): Amen!
Mar 17, 8:58 PM
Carroll (Guest): Thank you for sharing Ruth. I should say “goodnight.” I will look forward to next week.
Mar 17, 8:59 PM
Ruth (Guest): Thank you, Carroll. You are truly a blessing to this group. How long ago was your conversion? His Word clearly fell on good soil.
Mar 17, 8:59 PM
Carroll (Guest): Pentecost 2011… and He is still working on tilling and fertilizing this soil…
Mar 17, 9:03 PM
Ruth (Guest): Good night, Carroll. Good night, visitor. Though we do not know your name, I hope that even just “listening in” becomes for you a blessing. (How often I’ve thought I’d like to be just a “fly on the wall” when good conversations and intelligent talk were taking place.)
Mar 17, 9:03 PM
Carroll (Guest): He can transform ANYONE, and how awesome it is to be His child. I know He will never give up on me, or any of us.
Mar 17, 9:04 PM
Carroll (Guest): Years ago, I was a “fly on the wall” too and I was definitely blessed by what I learned here. Goodnight!
Mar 17, 9:06 PM
Ruth (Guest): In 2012 I was commissioned by our Bishop to be an instructor for RCIA . . .
Mar 17, 9:07 PM
Ruth (Guest): Good night, Carroll. Good night, Viewer. May this second full week of Lent bring much holy growth . . . Peace.