Saint Francis talks about the commandment turning into contentment in Heaven. Can we experience this contentment here on earth?2. Why must God command us to love Him above all else in order to gain eternal happiness? Does this take away or enable our freedom?3. As sinful beings, are we ever actually able to love God as He commands on this side of eternity?4. Saint Francis compares mortal life to our infancy and eternal life to maturity. How does growth in our spiritual lives lead to greater infancy?
Jun 14, 8:59 AM
VisitationSiste: Sun Chat June 16 at 730pm est
Jun 16, 7:25 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi! I’ve signed in on my new iPad but am going to my desktop. It’s easier to use.
Jun 16, 7:26 PM
VisitationSiste: Good evening!
Jun 16, 7:36 PM
Carroll (Guest): Hi Ruth and Mother Susan Marie
Jun 16, 7:37 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi!
Jun 16, 7:38 PM
VisitationSiste: Who else is here
Jun 16, 7:38 PM
Carroll (Guest): Hi Dawn
Jun 16, 7:38 PM
Dawn (Guest): Hi Sr Susan, Ruth and Carroll
Jun 16, 7:39 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi Dawn and Ruth too
Jun 16, 7:40 PM
VisitationSiste: Ready to start? had a great retreat- thanks for carrying on with the chat when I am not here! You all do great.
Jun 16, 7:40 PM
Dawn (Guest): Glad you are back here, Sr Susan
Jun 16, 7:41 PM
VisitationSiste: Thank you!
Jun 16, 7:41 PM
VisitationSiste: Saint Francis talks about the commandment turning into contentment in Heaven. Can we experience this contentment here on earth
Jun 16, 7:42 PM
Ruth (Guest): Had to sign in again.
Jun 16, 7:42 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, but not the same.
Jun 16, 7:43 PM
Ruth (Guest): There is peace and joy, down deep, no matter the life situation, when we know we are following the Commandments of God.
Jun 16, 7:43 PM
Dawn (Guest): For me, at times yes. But I am often distracted by duties and such. I believe cloistered sisters and monks may have this more often. this is why I feel it is beneficial to spiritual growth to know and converse with
Jun 16, 7:43 PM
Carroll (Guest): I often think of Good Mother Marie DeSales Chapuis saying, ” Heaven on Earth is the Will of God accepted and loved.”
Jun 16, 7:43 PM
Dawn (Guest): those who have made a commitment
Jun 16, 7:43 PM
VisitationSiste: And hermits, where I stayed for retreat, really have silence and peace. But it also comes from one’s spiritual disposition
Jun 16, 7:44 PM
Carroll (Guest): So, when we can truly love His Will, then- yes!
Jun 16, 7:44 PM
VisitationSiste: So very true Carroll
Jun 16, 7:45 PM
VisitationSiste: Do you want to share who Mother Chappuis was? Maybe the others don’t know
Jun 16, 7:45 PM
Dawn (Guest): Also, I believe it is different for everyone, hermits cloistered or in the world
Jun 16, 7:46 PM
Dawn (Guest): I do not know who she was…
Jun 16, 7:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): Interesting — I had not thought of that — but of course! you’d need to go somewhere else for a retreat. Other sisters would probably be asking you questions or making demands on you all the time if you were in the Monastery — where I might go for a retreat!
Jun 16, 7:46 PM
Carroll (Guest): She was a Superior of the Visitation who was also instrumental in founding the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales.
Jun 16, 7:47 PM
Dawn (Guest): thank you Carroll
Jun 16, 7:47 PM
Dawn (Guest): good insight Ruth…of course!
Jun 16, 7:48 PM
Ruth (Guest): Thank you Carroll.
Jun 16, 7:48 PM
VisitationSiste: Thanks Carroll! That helps all!
Jun 16, 7:48 PM
VisitationSiste: Why must God command us to love Him above all else in order to gain eternal happiness? Does this take away or enable our freedom?
Jun 16, 7:48 PM
Dawn (Guest): is this a third order?
Jun 16, 7:49 PM
Carroll (Guest): Priestly order
Jun 16, 7:49 PM
Dawn (Guest): thanks
Jun 16, 7:50 PM
Carroll (Guest): Now there are also Oblate Sisters , an active order
Jun 16, 7:51 PM
Ruth (Guest): Loving God makes us free. In our culture, “license” is often mistaken for freedom: doing what you want.
Jun 16, 7:52 PM
Ruth (Guest): People normally choose what appears to them to be “good.” But sometimes — maybe even often — they are mistaken.
Jun 16, 7:52 PM
Carroll (Guest): Putting God above all else enables our freedom because it protects us from the false, worldly ” freedoms” that actually lead to bondage.
Jun 16, 7:52 PM
VisitationSiste: Parents command in a sense, but one can’t force love
Jun 16, 7:53 PM
Ruth (Guest): Since God is perfect goodness, THE GOOD, THE TRUTH, LOVE — loving Him is freeing.
Jun 16, 7:53 PM
Dawn (Guest): Freedom. and hope.
Jun 16, 7:55 PM
Dawn (Guest): helpful point Sr, it is through time and experiences that we can fall in love. not meant in a worldly sense. being present to his loving us
Jun 16, 7:55 PM
VisitationSiste: When one spends time just with God, there is nothing like it!
Jun 16, 7:57 PM
Dawn (Guest): learning to spend time with him even when I am busy….and seeing him everywhere
Jun 16, 7:57 PM
Ruth (Guest): I have a friend who was given a dog while she was sick with cancer. She named the dog Hope. She was recently diagnosed with a different, unrelated cancer, but early enough that there is a very good chance that the treatments she’s already had will ne curative. Wednesday, at Mass, during the kiss of peace, she told me, “Hope died.” It had happened the day before.
Jun 16, 7:57 PM
VisitationSiste: Our free will is a tremendous gift
Jun 16, 7:59 PM
VisitationSiste: It is hard to lose a dog like that, given as a helper when you are sick
Jun 16, 8:00 PM
VisitationSiste: As sinful beings, are we ever actually able to love God as He commands on this side of eternity
Jun 16, 8:00 PM
Dawn (Guest): when I had especially distracted day this week, in the evening as I was making my way to car in a great downpour, there was a young man sitting in his wheelchair out of the rain. As I passed him I smiled and he said “this is SO beautiful!” I felt he was from God , so full of light and love…
Jun 16, 8:01 PM
Carroll (Guest): I’m not fully understanding what you mean, Sr Susan
Jun 16, 8:01 PM
VisitationSiste: The fullness of love- can we give that now
Jun 16, 8:02 PM
Carroll (Guest): That is beautiful, Dawn
Jun 16, 8:03 PM
Ruth (Guest): She is president of our CDA group at St. B’s, a retired teacher, and a very prayerful person. That dog meant a lot to her. But Wednesday evening we had an appreciation and going away dinner for our priests; the pastor is leaving for a different “stand in/substitute” priest assignment. That friend was MC for the event, and she was in perfect form, seemingly completely at ease. I think the grace of her life of loving God and neighbor made that possible.
Jun 16, 8:04 PM
Ruth (Guest): It gave her the FREEDOM to do what the situation called for.
Jun 16, 8:04 PM
Dawn (Guest): the question…. can we give the fullness of love here?
Jun 16, 8:05 PM
Ruth (Guest): The freedom we have in loving God is a freedom to DO rather than a freedom FROM, it seems to me.
Jun 16, 8:05 PM
Dawn (Guest): Yes. but I am not sure it is the same we may experience in Heaven
Jun 16, 8:05 PM
VisitationSiste: I doubt it will be the same because heaven is the fulnnes s of all and is infinite
Jun 16, 8:07 PM
VisitationSiste: Eye has not seen nor ear heard…
Jun 16, 8:07 PM
Dawn (Guest): So, I would say it is a grace from God to receive moments of love, Gods love, here. it is like having a treat to sustain us
Jun 16, 8:08 PM
Carroll (Guest): That is really beautiful Ruth…
Jun 16, 8:08 PM
Ruth (Guest): Fullness of Love: maybe being free FROM our broken bodies when we get to heaven will make the fullness of love more not only possible but actual.
Jun 16, 8:09 PM
VisitationSiste: Like that Dawn!
Jun 16, 8:10 PM
VisitationSiste: Beautiful thoughts, all!
Jun 16, 8:11 PM
Ruth (Guest): Dawn, that’s a good insight. We are, if we allow it, sometimes given a “treat” — something to entice us to keep on keeping on, even when the rest of the time we cannot see, hear, feel the Presence who IS, and IS LOVE.
Jun 16, 8:13 PM
Carroll (Guest): After a few delays, George finally moved to long term memory care facility… I got 2 job interviews: one with a lady named Mary and another with a lady named Elisabeth…
Jun 16, 8:13 PM
Dawn (Guest): yes, Ruth. that was a treat to see the young man sitting there, I have never seen him before. and he bid farewell to me by saying God bless you. Truly a treat!
Jun 16, 8:13 PM
VisitationSiste: we will pray for the one God wants for you Carroll
Jun 16, 8:14 PM
Dawn (Guest): Yes, Carroll
Jun 16, 8:14 PM
Carroll (Guest): He decided: I am with Elisabeth …
Jun 16, 8:15 PM
Ruth (Guest): I had another friend, Jeannine, dying of colon cancer and multiple other terminal illnesses. She was impatient to die, but still lived fully in the moment, opening her home for special home Masses, with dinner to follow, cheerful even while in pain. Someone asked her: “Do you believe in heaven?” “No,” she replied, “I KNOW there is a heaven.” She had “tasted” moments of heaven hear on Earth.
Jun 16, 8:15 PM
Dawn (Guest): God does have a sense of humor sometimes! Mary or ELizabeth
Jun 16, 8:15 PM
VisitationSiste: !!!!
Jun 16, 8:15 PM
Carroll (Guest): She is a 96yo lady who left the Church in her early 20s and has now just been admitted to Hospice care
Jun 16, 8:16 PM
Dawn (Guest): beautiful, Ruth
Jun 16, 8:16 PM
VisitationSiste: Pray for her return to God!
Jun 16, 8:17 PM
VisitationSiste: Saint Francis compares mortal life to our infancy and eternal life to maturity. How does growth in our spiritual lives lead to greater infancy?
Jun 16, 8:18 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes! People start asking the “right” questions when they see that their lives are changing or even slipping away. A good time for evangelizing.
Jun 16, 8:18 PM
Ruth (Guest): And without prayer, “evangelization” is useless.
Jun 16, 8:19 PM
Carroll (Guest): Growth in our spiritual lives leads to more and more complete TRUST and dependence on Him!
Jun 16, 8:19 PM
Ruth (Guest): I didn’t understand the expression “greater infancy.”
Jun 16, 8:20 PM
VisitationSiste: dependence on God?
Jun 16, 8:20 PM
VisitationSiste: abandonmnet, surrender, sort of advanced spiritual states
Jun 16, 8:21 PM
Ruth (Guest): “Unless you become like a little child . . . ”
Jun 16, 8:22 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes that’s it!
Jun 16, 8:22 PM
Ruth (Guest): Greater child-likeness.
Jun 16, 8:23 PM
Ruth (Guest): Soooo hard for me. Trust has been violated so often . . .
Jun 16, 8:23 PM
Carroll (Guest): Just thinking… When God became incarnate, He did so through infancy… maybe as He becomes incarnate within us, we take on that infancy, in a sense
Jun 16, 8:23 PM
Dawn (Guest): I think of a newborn, so dependent. can not so anything alone. in a state of surrender by its very being
Jun 16, 8:24 PM
Ruth (Guest): Wow! Carroll.
Jun 16, 8:24 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes!!
Jun 16, 8:25 PM
VisitationSiste: Our webmaster thinks our chats could be published as an e book with names all changed What do you think
Jun 16, 8:25 PM
Carroll (Guest): I understand what you say about trust, Ruth… I think that’s one reason God gives us consolations and the sorts of ” treats” mentioned earlier…to help us trust.
Jun 16, 8:26 PM
Dawn (Guest): It could be helpful to others!
Jun 16, 8:26 PM
Ruth (Guest): I know of someone who was healed of the trauma of his 2 year old brother dying when he, himself was not much older. When he entered into the life of Christ as an Infant — fleeing as all the children under 2 were being massacred by the jealous Herod.
Jun 16, 8:27 PM
VisitationSiste: Good examples!
Jun 16, 8:27 PM
Carroll (Guest): I know how much reading chats I missed has helped me, so I think it is a good idea… we never know who might be encouraged…
Jun 16, 8:28 PM
VisitationSiste: Thanks- we can talk about ti more in future- blessings and chat next week!
Jun 16, 8:29 PM
Dawn (Guest): Thank you! G’night to all……
Jun 16, 8:29 PM
Ruth (Guest): It is for that reason that I choose to be as open as I am on this site. But I do not want to link it to Facebook or other sites, because I feel that people coming to THIS one will be more open to these thoughts, ideas, concerns.
Jun 16, 8:29 PM
Carroll (Guest): Ruth- thanks for sharing that… I know God heals, totally and completely!
Jun 16, 8:30 PM
Dawn (Guest): yes, Ruth, I agree!
Jun 16, 8:30 PM
Carroll (Guest): Yes.
Jun 16, 8:31 PM
Carroll (Guest): I should say, ” goodnight,” as Elisabeth is waiting for me. Have a week full of blessings!
Jun 16, 8:31 PM
Ruth (Guest): Thank you, Sister, Dawn, Carroll AND those who did not “show up” this week. You are a blessing to me. And I wish you every true blessing this week and always.
Jun 16, 8:31 PM
Dawn (Guest): Prayers to you all, happy trails to you, until we meet again!
Jun 16, 8:33 PM
Ruth (Guest): “Happy trails!” even in the rain! Smiles.
Jun 16, 8:33 PM
Dawn (Guest): I believe the Holy Spirit is with us here! haha yes, even in the rain