Is God pleased if one simply desires
to desire Him?
2. Saint Francis speaks of the good of “spiritual avarice.” Is this
truly good?
3. How can we learn to better become beggars of spirit?
4. In what ways do faith and hope inspire this desire of love?
5. How does St. Francis’ thoughts about love compare with that of St. Thérèse
de Lisieux, who said, “… At last I have found my vocation. My vocation
is love. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and then I will
be all things.”
Jan 9, 9:09 AM
VisitationSiste: Sun Jan 12 730pm est
Jan 12, 7:22 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Hello!
Jan 12, 7:22 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Mother, Hi viewer
Jan 12, 7:22 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): We missed last week but they had a great chat-
Jan 12, 7:23 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): O, but I am glad that we are here tonight
Jan 12, 7:23 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Same here!
Jan 12, 7:24 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): he who has truly found it has found the fountain of life. I have just learnt something similar
Jan 12, 7:25 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): What are you referring to?
Jan 12, 7:25 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): My “class”
Jan 12, 7:26 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): welcome both viewers
Jan 12, 7:26 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Lisa
Jan 12, 7:27 PM
Lisa C: Hi Mother and Sr. Jennifer
Jan 12, 7:27 PM
Lisa C: I got the package, thank you
Jan 12, 7:28 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): We are so happy because one of them came back
Jan 12, 7:28 PM
Lisa C: Was the address wrong?
Jan 12, 7:29 PM
Lisa C: Hi Ruth
Jan 12, 7:29 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I think so
Jan 12, 7:29 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Hi Ruth!
Jan 12, 7:29 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Ruth
Jan 12, 7:31 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I guess we can begin!
Jan 12, 7:32 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Lisa, Sr. Susan Marie, Sr. Jennifer
Jan 12, 7:32 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hello Viewer.
Jan 12, 7:32 PM
Lisa C: Yes to question 1, because as soon as we want to desire God, Grace takes over
Jan 12, 7:33 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): According to
CCC: The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created
by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God
will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion
with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as
he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him
through love, and through love continues to hol
Jan 12, 7:33 PM
Dawn (Guest): hi everyone!…on to questions..
Jan 12, 7:33 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): God always wants our desire to increase so He can give us more
Jan 12, 7:33 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi, Dawn
Jan 12, 7:33 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Hi Dawn!
Jan 12, 7:34 PM
Lisa C: Our will says we want to love God and then God sends His Holy Spirit
Jan 12, 7:35 PM
Ruth (Guest): I think the grace comes even when we do not know that it is God we desire, but are seeking THE TRUTH, or BEAUTY, or LOVE
Jan 12, 7:36 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): We start somewhere and He leads us to Himself
Jan 12, 7:36 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Dawn. Glad you are here.
Jan 12, 7:37 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator
Jan 12, 7:37 PM
Dawn (Guest): Hi Ruth!
Jan 12, 7:37 PM
Dawn (Guest): Im glad you are here also
Jan 12, 7:39 PM
Dawn (Guest): Im actually glad we are all here!
Jan 12, 7:39 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Yes Dawn, I am glad to be here to “meet” all of you
Jan 12, 7:39 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): What do you think or have you experienced, spiritual avarice?
Jan 12, 7:42 PM
Lisa C: Today one of the prayers was that God will be pleased with His adopted children like he is with Jesus. I always wanted God to be pleased with me. Maybe that is a form of it. We want our parents to love us and approve of us.
Jan 12, 7:43 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I think it is the increasing desire to love God betetr and more and to be totally absorbed in Him
Jan 12, 7:44 PM
Dawn (Guest): Perhaps I have experienced this. it is like a grasping I think of outward things in order to be fulfilled in Gods love. maybe it is even searching for consolations all the time as ” proof” when I do not think this is so
Jan 12, 7:44 PM
Lisa C: How do we love?
Jan 12, 7:45 PM
Dawn (Guest): or, perhaps I do not understand spiritual aravice
Jan 12, 7:45 PM
Lisa C: We want to do what God wants us to do, I think.
Jan 12, 7:46 PM
Dawn (Guest): yes
Jan 12, 7:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): I think it takes time and study and reflection to even have an idea what God wants us to do.
Jan 12, 7:47 PM
Lisa C: God knows when we want to do what He wants, and maybe it is as simple as love Him.
Jan 12, 7:47 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): His Will is not always easy to determine, but circumstances help to understand Divine Providence
Jan 12, 7:47 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Love and to love can never enough. One will never have too much of it. And God is love itself. He desire us to desire Him.
Jan 12, 7:48 PM
Ruth (Guest): This is probably especially true if parents are disapproving or approve of the wrong things or “religious education” puts the wrong emphasis on externals . . .
Jan 12, 7:50 PM
Ruth (Guest): “This” is a continuation of what I wrote above — about desiring to do the Will of God
Jan 12, 7:51 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): desiring to do His Will is love too
Jan 12, 7:51 PM
Lisa C: Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Mark 10:15 “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
Jan 12, 7:52 PM
Lisa C: I think we have to be like children to Him. If we try to discern too much we can go off track. If we are like children we will just follow Him.
Jan 12, 7:52 PM
Lisa C: That is like the question re St. Therese. She kept searching and searching until she realized all she had to do was love.
Jan 12, 7:52 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Simplicity in all things
Jan 12, 7:54 PM
Ruth (Guest): But loving is way more than a feeling . . . or even a desire for the good of the other
Jan 12, 7:56 PM
Lisa C: The drummer boy is popping into my head….what can we give God…He does not need anything….we can play our drum for Him or anything else we do, we just have to do it for Him.
Jan 12, 7:56 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): In what ways do faith and hope inspire this desire of love?
Jan 12, 7:56 PM
Dawn (Guest): Sacrificial love?
Jan 12, 7:57 PM
Ruth (Guest): Lisa, I love that . . . the drummer boy . . .
Jan 12, 7:57 PM
Lisa C: Dawn, I guess we are willing to accept whatever God wants in terms of suffering for us that He may send and that is part of love.
Jan 12, 7:58 PM
Dawn (Guest): thank you
Jan 12, 7:58 PM
Ruth (Guest): And that’s why I think we can reasonably hope that — even if it is unknown to the individual — there is salvation outside the Church — as Vatican II documents seem to “make room for”
Jan 12, 7:58 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): these are the 3 theological virtues- faith, hope and love
Jan 12, 7:59 PM
Lisa C: Salvation outside the Church is still through only Jesus and what Jesus did and does
Jan 12, 8:00 PM
Lisa C: That is a very touchy subject with the Abu Dhabi document
Jan 12, 8:00 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): Hi Sister Susan , Ruth, Dawn , Lisa and Sister Jennifer !!! God Bless You !!! Brian
Jan 12, 8:01 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Hi Brian!
Jan 12, 8:01 PM
Ruth (Guest): All Salvation comes through the Church — as steward of the graces, Sacraments, word of Our Lord . . .
Jan 12, 8:01 PM
Lisa C: Hi Brian
Jan 12, 8:01 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Brain
Jan 12, 8:01 PM
Dawn (Guest): Hi Brian!
Jan 12, 8:04 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Brian.
Jan 12, 8:05 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): How does St. Francis’ thoughts about love compare with that of St. Thérèse de Lisieux, who said, “… At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and then I will be all things.”
Jan 12, 8:06 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): This is one of my most favorites understandings about St Therese
Jan 12, 8:07 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): Soo Beautiful Sister Susan !!! St Therese is Right On !!!!
Jan 12, 8:07 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes Lisa, I’ve been wrestling with that — again — for some weeks now. Listening to both Taylor Marshall and Bishop Robert Barron — and how even Catholic Answers speakers sometimes misrepresent the Bishop — and the concerns of some that Francis is possibly an impostor.
Jan 12, 8:07 PM
Lisa C: She said she will spend her Heaven doing good on Earth
Jan 12, 8:08 PM
Lisa C: How do they compare? I think St. FdS is the more cerebral form of the same thing as St. T who is the more simple form…child like.
Jan 12, 8:08 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): True Love puts us right in the position to bring God to others where they are at !!!
Jan 12, 8:08 PM
Lisa C: He works and works with his brain to come to the same place as a little girl.
Jan 12, 8:08 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): St Therese was influenced by St Francis de Sales, remotely because of the Visitation nuns in the family and the Vis boarding schools
Jan 12, 8:09 PM
Ruth (Guest): Good observation, Lisa.
Jan 12, 8:09 PM
Lisa C: Her Sister and her Aunt I think
Jan 12, 8:10 PM
Lisa C: Her Sister may have entered after St. T died, not sure
Jan 12, 8:11 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Yes Leonie entered agfter St Therese died and stayed. She tried earlier but had to leave several times. Now uo for beatification
Jan 12, 8:12 PM
Ruth (Guest): Pretty clear how sanctity seems to run in families and with close friends.
Jan 12, 8:13 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): do you understand the phrase beggars of spirit? That’s something to think about!
Jan 12, 8:13 PM
Ruth (Guest): Those “poor in spirit”? That’s how I read it.
Jan 12, 8:14 PM
Lisa C: I think St. Paul keeps describing that in the Epistles. The only real life we have is life in the Spirit.
Jan 12, 8:14 PM
Ruth (Guest): They KNOW that they are “beggars.”
Jan 12, 8:14 PM
Lisa C: It is the only part of us that will live on when we die
Jan 12, 8:14 PM
Lisa C: That is the Glory in Heaven that belongs to God and our life is how we participate in that
Jan 12, 8:15 PM
Lisa C: Our other actions are just dead
Jan 12, 8:15 PM
Ruth (Guest): Opps! Lisa: Apostles Creed: “I believe in the resurrection of the body”
Jan 12, 8:15 PM
Lisa C: Ruth, yes our bodies are glorified bodies then
Jan 12, 8:16 PM
Lisa C: Like Jesus after the Resurrection
Jan 12, 8:16 PM
Lisa C: He was like He was with the Transfiguration
Jan 12, 8:16 PM
Lisa C: Much more amazing
Jan 12, 8:16 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Poor in spirit- dependancy on God?
Jan 12, 8:17 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): Amen Sister Susan !!!
Jan 12, 8:17 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): In the Scriptures the literal poor are considered especially close to God because of their complete dependence upon Him. They place their trust and confidence in God rather than material possessions and worldly power. In the Gospel of Matthew this “blessedness” is extended to all people, irregardless of their status in the world, who recognize their complete dependence and reliance on God.
Jan 12, 8:17 PM
Ruth (Guest): We hear it often in the words of the struggling poor . . . “If God wills it . . .”
Jan 12, 8:18 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): Amen Sister Jennifer !!!
Jan 12, 8:18 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I may have said this before but a woman without much means or resources once told me how it is the poor do not despair- because they cling to God and repeat- it will get better
Jan 12, 8:19 PM
Ruth (Guest): Beatitudes in Luke: the poor is more concretely what everyone would recognize as poor — materially poor, not “just” poor “in spirit.”
Jan 12, 8:20 PM
Lisa C: poor in spirit is humble
Jan 12, 8:20 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Yes Lisa!
Jan 12, 8:20 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): To be “poor in spirit” is to be humble, recognize our sinfulness, and to trust in more in God than in the things of the world
Jan 12, 8:22 PM
Dawn (Guest): and this virtue would precede the 3 or be a part of?
Jan 12, 8:22 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): faith hope and love- that 3?
Jan 12, 8:22 PM
Dawn (Guest): yes
Jan 12, 8:23 PM
Ruth (Guest): Precede in time or in importance?
Jan 12, 8:23 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): Jesus displayed all three too us on the Cross !!!
Jan 12, 8:24 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): And love is the greatest
Jan 12, 8:25 PM
Ruth (Guest): Love endures in heaven. Apparently, then, we no longer have need of Faith and Hope.
Jan 12, 8:25 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): Greater Love Has No Man than This That A Man Lay Down His Life For His Friends
Jan 12, 8:25 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Amen!
Jan 12, 8:26 PM
Ruth (Guest): But sometimes I wonder how the joy of heaven can be complete when we are still aware of the sinfulness of those still living — bodily — on Earth.
Jan 12, 8:26 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I think precede Dawn altho I am sure our souls are humble in heaven
Jan 12, 8:27 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): It was good to be back this week- sorry missed you all. I am leaving now- but will keep you all in prayer. God bless your first week of “ordinary time”
Jan 12, 8:27 PM
Lisa C: Ruth, I think people in Heaven see that Jesus overcame sin and death
Jan 12, 8:27 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): We must give up our lives for others even our worst Enemy !!!
Jan 12, 8:28 PM
Dawn (Guest): I recalled St Francis speaking of it , we spoke of it in chat. so I found this from devout lifeThe swallow with its sharp cry and keen glance has the power of frightening away birds of prey, and for that reason the dove prefers it to all other birds, and lives surely beside it;–even so humility drives Satan away, and cherishes the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit within us, and for that reason all the Saints–and especially the King of Saints and His Blessed Mother–have always esteemed the grace
Jan 12, 8:29 PM
Dawn (Guest): of humility above all other virtues.
Jan 12, 8:29 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): good night and God bless
Jan 12, 8:29 PM
Dawn (Guest): good night Sr Jennifer. thank you! God bless
Jan 12, 8:29 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): We Must Love God and Others !!! The World Hates Everbody !!! God Loves Everybody !!!
Jan 12, 8:29 PM
Lisa C: Thanks for that quote Dawn
Jan 12, 8:29 PM
Dawn (Guest): it is that simple Brian!!
Jan 12, 8:30 PM
Ruth (Guest): Teresa wanted to spend her heaven doing good on Earth — and many do respond to her simple ways — the roses, for instance. Was this “just” an overflowing of her love, her loving spirit or perhaps an example of what makes heaven heaven, whether after death or in this life.
Jan 12, 8:31 PM
Lisa C: God be praised!
Jan 12, 8:31 PM
Dawn (Guest): Amen!
Jan 12, 8:31 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): When we Plant the seed of Love in our Lives God allows it too Grow Forever !!!
Jan 12, 8:31 PM
Dawn (Guest): We now enter Ordinary time but I think there may be nothing ordinary about it!
Jan 12, 8:32 PM
Dawn (Guest): God Bless. I recall a little quote, I have a mustard seed and I know how to use it…thinking of seeds Brian
Jan 12, 8:33 PM
Dawn (Guest): Good night Sr Susan. God bless you and all the sisters. and everyone here. thank you
Jan 12, 8:33 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): Amen Dawn !!!
Jan 12, 8:34 PM
Dawn (Guest): Goodnight all~
Jan 12, 8:36 PM
Ruth (Guest): Good night, dear ones. Ordinary has to do with “ORDER” rather than commonplace. I like both of your quotes, Dawn. And even if we each have only a piece of a mustard seeds, when we put those pieces together we get a seed that can sprout and grow.
Jan 12, 8:37 PM
Ruth (Guest): Come, O Holy Spirit! fill the hearts of thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of thy love. O heavenly love, when wilt thou fill my soul?
Jan 12, 8:38 PM
Guest5733 (Guest): God Bless You All !!! Thank You for the Prayers for Toni’s Funeral !!! Beautiful Woman of God !!! Bob is Heartbroken , he misses her dearly !!! Beautiful Talk by her daughter who had been rebellious !!! Read the Visitation and Magnificat in St Luke just before service !!!! Toni reminded me of Mary !!!! Praise God Toni !!!!