Using the story of Abraham, St. Francis demonstrates the sacrifices that one must make to keep one’s desires fixed on the Lord. How does this apply to us? At the command of God, Abraham left country, kinsfolk and his father’s house, to journey into a strange land. To which parts of our life’s journey does this apply? Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. Are we also prepared to sacrifice what we hold most dear in life? In the story of Abraham, we often miss the son Isaac’s self-sacri
Mar 7, 11:05 AM
VisitationSiste: In
the story of Abraham, we often miss the son Isaac’s self-sacrifice. When are we
similarly asked to make such a sacrifice? How is the son’s sacrifice different
from the father’s? What does it teach us?
What kind of “self-loves” do we have in our lives? How do Lenten
practices help us subdue these desires
Mar 7, 11:05 AM
VisitationSiste: Sun chat Mar 8 730pm est
Mar 8, 7:19 PM
VisitationSiste: welcome viewers
Mar 8, 7:22 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Mother. Hi viewers
Mar 8, 7:25 PM
VisitationSiste: Hello!
Mar 8, 7:25 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi Blanca
Mar 8, 7:26 PM
Blanca Villa: Hello! I hope you all have been well.
Mar 8, 7:26 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Blanca. Thank you, we are fine.
Mar 8, 7:26 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Carroll
Mar 8, 7:26 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi Carroll
Mar 8, 7:27 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): How are you Blanca?
Mar 8, 7:27 PM
Carroll V (Guest): Just arriving at a Hospice House to visit a dear parishioner: Ellie
Mar 8, 7:27 PM
VisitationSiste: Beautiful ministry!
Mar 8, 7:29 PM
VisitationSiste: Tonight we can begin with sharing sacrifices we habve made, or can be made by others, to stay close to the Lord.
Mar 8, 7:29 PM
Carroll V (Guest): I am taking the prayer card with a piece of Sr. Francouse Therese’s Holy Habit to pray for her intercession for a miracle and for the cause of her beatification
Mar 8, 7:29 PM
Blanca Villa: I’m dealing with horrible allergies, otherwise I’m well, Thank God. People around me have been sick with the flu.
Mar 8, 7:30 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Debra
Mar 8, 7:30 PM
Carroll V (Guest): Sr Francoise Therese, dear Leonie
Mar 8, 7:30 PM
VisitationSiste: WElcome Debra!
Mar 8, 7:30 PM
Debra Walland: Hello Sister, and All!
Mar 8, 7:31 PM
Carroll V (Guest): Blessings to you all- perhaps I will join you later. God be praised!
Mar 8, 7:31 PM
VisitationSiste: Thanks for stopping in and may your prayer be blessed!
Mar 8, 7:31 PM
Carroll V (Guest): Thank you-
Mar 8, 7:32 PM
VisitationSiste: I think we have an example right here- I am sure Carroll would want to stay and chat but she is so charitable as to helpt he woman in hospice at this time. That can be a sacrifice as well as charity
Mar 8, 7:33 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): hi Ruth
Mar 8, 7:34 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Yes, mother. To visit someone in hospice at this time is really a sacrifice and an act of charity.
Mar 8, 7:34 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Hi Dawn
Mar 8, 7:35 PM
Dawn (Guest): Hi Sr Jennifer, and Sr Susan and everyone
Mar 8, 7:35 PM
VisitationSiste: Hi Dawn and Ruth!
Mar 8, 7:35 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Sr. Jennifer, and all — full house tonight. Good. Glad you made it Dawn. Debra, not sure we’ve “met” yet. Welcome!
Mar 8, 7:36 PM
Debra Walland: First-timer to the chat…
Mar 8, 7:36 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Welcome Debra
Mar 8, 7:36 PM
VisitationSiste: We just started the first reflection
Mar 8, 7:36 PM
VisitationSiste: Using the story of Abraham, St. Francis demonstrates the sacrifices that one must make to keep one’s desires fixed on the Lord. How does this apply to us?
Mar 8, 7:37 PM
Debra Walland: He gave up everything else he knew!
Mar 8, 7:38 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): We too have to fixed our whole being on the Lord even if there’s is some sacrifices to be make.
Mar 8, 7:39 PM
VisitationSiste: They can be little sacrifices- for ex to stay fixed ont he Lord in prayer rather than do something else
Mar 8, 7:39 PM
Ruth (Guest): I just had to try again to find the chat page. It had disappeared.
Mar 8, 7:40 PM
Ruth (Guest): But I was — surprisingly — still signed in.
Mar 8, 7:40 PM
VisitationSiste: Or they can be huge- like a conversion away from a vice that then brings one closer to Him..
Mar 8, 7:42 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): St. Francis takes about sacrificing our free will, the only child of our spirit.
Mar 8, 7:42 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): talks
Mar 8, 7:42 PM
VisitationSiste: yes that is a difficult sacrifice!
Mar 8, 7:43 PM
Ruth (Guest): What would normally be a little thing, I keep trying to be punctual or early. Still having a hugely hard time at it. Mea culpa; I even missed Mass today. Took me a while to figure out what had happened, why no one was there. Daylight Savings Time!
Mar 8, 7:43 PM
Debra Walland: How do you know if it is His will or yours?
Mar 8, 7:44 PM
VisitationSiste: Good question! and it takes discernment, and sometimes conversation with a spiritual director
Mar 8, 7:44 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): By listening to that little voice in your heart
Mar 8, 7:45 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Pray to God, He will show you His will.
Mar 8, 7:45 PM
Debra Walland: Working on that..
Mar 8, 7:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): AND making sure that that little voice is in alignment with Sacred Scripture and Church Dogma.
Mar 8, 7:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): Educated conscience.
Mar 8, 7:47 PM
Debra Walland: That’s where the director comes in? My priests are too busy with a huge parish.. where do I go?
Mar 8, 7:47 PM
Blanca Villa: Ruth I agree because sometimes that little voice can mislead.
Mar 8, 7:48 PM
VisitationSiste: Many Diocese headquarters have lists of spiritual directors; also nearby colleges and universities, if Catholic
Mar 8, 7:48 PM
Ruth (Guest): Karen, but you are right, there are so many goods sometimes competing.
Mar 8, 7:48 PM
Ruth (Guest): The process of discernment CAN be extremely challenging.
Mar 8, 7:49 PM
Ruth (Guest): But there are books — lots of ’em — about discernment of spirits. Some very good.
Mar 8, 7:51 PM
Ruth (Guest): St. Ignatius Loyola has written “Exercises” in which “consolation” is one indicator or what God is drawing you to.
Mar 8, 7:51 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Diocese headquarters have lists of directors and cathlic colleges too. Pray for the right one
Mar 8, 7:52 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Q2 At the command of God, Abraham left country, kinsfolk and his father’s house, to journey into a strange land. To which parts of our life’s journey does this apply?
Mar 8, 7:53 PM
Ruth (Guest): ALL of them!
Mar 8, 7:53 PM
Ruth (Guest):
Mar 8, 7:53 PM
Ruth (Guest): We really never know, for sure, what we can expect.
Mar 8, 7:55 PM
Ruth (Guest): I just thought of the witness of a new — almost new — married Mom from a good family with a good, loving, supportive husband and his family, discovering to her surprise how difficult the first year of her daughter’s life has been — while working full time — and her husband sometime away for his work.
Mar 8, 7:56 PM
Ruth (Guest): Love involves sacrifice — I think always.
Mar 8, 7:57 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): and certainly enrtering religious life applies to this question- and all one leaves behind and what one discovers in the new life
Mar 8, 7:57 PM
Ruth (Guest): She is joyful, too, thanks be to God, who gave her all the graces she needed to get through the rough spots.
Mar 8, 7:59 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): I think this will also apply to those who convert to Catholicism
Mar 8, 7:59 PM
Debra Walland: As a layperson, I find that I must choose my acquaintances most carefully. And often decline social invitations when there is not enough time in the day. We need more time alone.
Mar 8, 8:00 PM
Blanca Villa: Sister Susan can you share what was the most unexpected thing you encountered when you entered religious life.
Mar 8, 8:00 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, that is the part of the journey that Abram’s obedience seems to me to show powerfully — he journeyed to a land that God was going to point out to him. No AAA maps,no idea even where it was he was going to journey to.
Mar 8, 8:01 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): One thing that springs to mind is that I could live in a cloister after having spent a career with lots of travel. And that I was at peace
Mar 8, 8:02 PM
Debra Walland: Sister, can I ask how old were you when you entered?
Mar 8, 8:02 PM
Ruth (Guest): He didn’t have to leave much behind except the known bit of land; they traveled with an extended family, their servants, their animals, everything. But they traveled to the unknown.
Mar 8, 8:04 PM
Ruth (Guest): And ? Sister, you are one of the most traveling monastics I have ever known of.
Mar 8, 8:04 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I was 36
Mar 8, 8:04 PM
Ruth (Guest): Does it wear you out? Certainly not what you expected?
Mar 8, 8:04 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): It did if I fought it but now I know Jesus wants to travel with me!
Mar 8, 8:05 PM
Ruth (Guest): Please tell us more, Sr. Susan. I remember hearing that you were in TV.
Mar 8, 8:05 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I did tv research for NBC
Mar 8, 8:05 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes! That’s what makes the difference: WHO you are traveling with!
Mar 8, 8:06 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Not much different than Abraham! he traveled with God and heard His voice – what a blessing that was
Mar 8, 8:06 PM
Blanca Villa: There’s no better traveling companion than Jesus.
Mar 8, 8:07 PM
Ruth (Guest): Did the research require you to travel, interview people, check out scenes where newsworthy events were taking place?
Mar 8, 8:07 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): How is Abraham’s experience reflected in your lives?
Mar 8, 8:07 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): No Ruth- it was numbers research and facility research and presentations to other administrators at tv stations
Mar 8, 8:08 PM
Ruth (Guest): You are a statistician?
Mar 8, 8:08 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): No- it was simple stuff
Mar 8, 8:09 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Q Are we also prepared to sacrifice what we hold most dear in life?
Mar 8, 8:10 PM
Ruth (Guest): But you were an administrator. Good training for your later role in God’s “program.”
Mar 8, 8:11 PM
Blanca Villa: I took care of a niece & nephew for about 8 years and a few years ago they went back to their dad, my brother. I still miss them, but God wanted to reunite them with their parents. That’s what I thought of when I read the chapter.
Mar 8, 8:12 PM
Ruth (Guest): In the end we give up EVERYTHING whether we choose to or not, everything — hopefully — except our attachment to God himself.
Mar 8, 8:12 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): That was difficult, Blanca!
Mar 8, 8:13 PM
Debra Walland: To address your question, Sister, I am widowed now 2 years and waiting to what God wants of me. I had a vocation of wife for 36 years and now I am trying to find where I am supposed to be… Abraham left his home with conviction to a calling. I am waiting for mine.
Mar 8, 8:13 PM
Ruth (Guest): Oh, my Blanca, it is good that you were clear that that was God’s will because it must have been awfully, awfully difficult.
Mar 8, 8:14 PM
Ruth (Guest): I hope you can still see, the children often.
Mar 8, 8:15 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Are you looking towards religious life? Pray to St Jane de Chantal who was also a widow
Mar 8, 8:16 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yes, there are many widows who founded religious orders or organizations.
Mar 8, 8:17 PM
Debra Walland: Yes, I am drawn to the the Visantines, but who would take me into their order at 64? Reading about St Jane got me thinking.
Mar 8, 8:17 PM
Ruth (Guest): And many sisters who have previously been married and raised a family.
Mar 8, 8:17 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): The Mobile Monastery might
Mar 8, 8:17 PM
Ruth (Guest): If you are healthy, there are quite a few nowadays.
Mar 8, 8:18 PM
Blanca Villa: It’s been the hardest thing that I’ve done in my life, but God brought my brother and their mom back from a life of drugs & my brother came back to church. I do see them, but it’s not the same. I offer God that pain & He knows what He’s doing.
Mar 8, 8:19 PM
Ruth (Guest): Such faith, Blanca!
Mar 8, 8:19 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Sounds like some miracles there
Mar 8, 8:19 PM
Ruth (Guest): Did you have any children of your own?
Mar 8, 8:20 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): I thought the point about the difference between Issac’s sacrifice and Abraham’s was an interesting perspective though I cannot describe the difference in words yet
Mar 8, 8:20 PM
Debra Walland: I need to learn about the “Mobile Monastery”. Blanca, how wonderful to lose and then get back your family. Addiction is so powerful.
Mar 8, 8:20 PM
Dawn (Guest): Im coming to believe there is no other way thru the narrow gate but by uniting our suffering with his
Mar 8, 8:21 PM
Blanca Villa: I’ve never had children, but I pra t
Mar 8, 8:21 PM
Blanca Villa: I took care of 5 siblings.
Mar 8, 8:21 PM
Blanca Villa: While growing up.
Mar 8, 8:22 PM
Ruth (Guest): No. I never married.
Mar 8, 8:23 PM
Blanca Villa: Our family has seen some mighty miracles in our family. We do not doubt God’s love for us.
Mar 8, 8:23 PM
Debra Walland: As far as Isaac, It is comforting to think that her really didn’t know what was happening, so I stay with that interpretation. I don’t think he was strong enough to sacrifice himself. And I hope there was no anger at his father.
Mar 8, 8:24 PM
Ruth (Guest): Opps, I thought a guest/viewer was asking me if I’d had children, but it was my question of Blanca. TBI does some challenging stuff. to
Mar 8, 8:25 PM
Blanca Villa: I’ve never married either Ruth.
Mar 8, 8:25 PM
Ruth (Guest): Or terror, when he realized what was happening, just before Abraham was redirected to the ram in the thicket.
Mar 8, 8:27 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Lent is a good time to reflect on sacrifice and I think our culture needs to be more aware of this- esp at this time of spreading illness.
Mar 8, 8:27 PM
Dawn (Guest): thank you for sharing some of your story Blanca and Debra. and Sr Susan, also Ruth.
Mar 8, 8:27 PM
Ruth (Guest): I think Isaac was a grown man; he carried the wood. He didn’t know as they were going up the mountain, but soon it must have dawned on him.
Mar 8, 8:28 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Mobile Visitation Monastery: http://www.visitationmonasterymobile.org/
Visitation Monastery of Mobile
Mar 8, 8:28 PM
Debra Walland: Thank you, Sister.
Mar 8, 8:28 PM
Sister Susan Marie (Moderator): Have a blessed Second week of Lent, God bless!
Mar 8, 8:29 PM
Sr Jennifer (Guest): Good night and God bless
Mar 8, 8:29 PM
Blanca Villa: I heard a song with a lyric that says, “come and see faith on earth, a father who sacrifices his only son and the son who offers up his neck” I’m translating from Spanish.
Mar 8, 8:29 PM
Dawn (Guest): Today at Mass the priest said only by hand receive Eurcharist. so sacrifices are here
Mar 8, 8:29 PM
Debra Walland: This hour has been a gift. Thank you all.
Mar 8, 8:29 PM
Ruth (Guest): The story of Abraham and Isaac is a Vorbild — can’t think of the English — of God the Father offering His only Son, Jesus.
Mar 8, 8:30 PM
Dawn (Guest): Good night Sr Jennifer and Sr Susan. thank you Ruth, had not thought of it
Mar 8, 8:30 PM
Blanca Villa: Have a blessed week ever8
Mar 8, 8:30 PM
Blanca Villa: Everyone!
Mar 8, 8:30 PM
Dawn (Guest): Good night all!
Mar 8, 8:34 PM
Ruth (Guest): Blessings to all of you. Second Sunday, second week of Lent, and International Women’s Day.