The beginning of this excerpt gives advice to share time between father and father-in-law. St. Francis seems to equate them on the level of family, but today we often see blood family as taking precedent over family that is created through marriage. Why is St. Francis’s emphasis so important?What is family?What is true liberty?While we are in the season of Lent, why is it important to have disciplines but not allow them to rigidly and legalistically guide our behavior?Does it seem like our spiritual (and ph
Mar 2, 2:36 AM
SrSusan (Guest): Does it seem like our spiritual (and physical) disciplines are often not so much for our benefit, but for the benefit of those in our lives? How so?Isn’t it easy to get annoyed when someone in our household disturbs our regular time of prayer? How can we admonish such a person and yet follow St. Francis’ advice?
Mar 2, 2:36 AM
SrSusan (Guest): Sun chat 730pm est Mar 3
Mar 2, 2:37 AM
SrSusan (Guest): newsletter for chat https://visitationspirit.org/2024/02/newsletter-for-sun-chat-mar-3/
Newsletter for Sun chat Mar 3 | Visitation Spirit
Mar 3, 4:16 PM
Carol (Guest): Hi Paula
Mar 3, 4:17 PM
Paula (Guest): Hi Carol
Mar 3, 4:17 PM
Paula (Guest): How are things with you?
Mar 3, 4:17 PM
Carol (Guest): I’m doing pretty well, how are you?
Mar 3, 4:18 PM
Paula (Guest): ok. Just got back from a trip visiting a convent
Mar 3, 4:19 PM
Carol (Guest): Which one?
Mar 3, 4:19 PM
Paula (Guest): Poor Clares. Are you in a community?
Mar 3, 4:20 PM
Carol (Guest): Yes, the Brothers and Sister of Charity, domestic littleportion.org
Mar 3, 4:20 PM
Paula (Guest): I’m probably too old for them
Mar 3, 4:21 PM
Paula (Guest): Had a fun time making altar breads and some of them said when are you coming back
Mar 3, 4:21 PM
Carol (Guest): For the Poor Clare’s, maybe. But not with our domestic side
Mar 3, 4:22 PM
Paula (Guest): really?
Mar 3, 4:22 PM
Carol (Guest): I bet that made you feel loved!
Mar 3, 4:22 PM
Carol (Guest): Yes, I started when I was about 57 and took final vows at 61
Mar 3, 4:23 PM
Paula (Guest): They did….They said that i have to speed it up to get in and get formed like now
Welcome to our Living Jesus Chat Room. Just sign in, using any of the methods below.
Mar 3, 4:23 PM
Paula (Guest): really? 57
Mar 3, 4:24 PM
Paula (Guest): where is your community located
Mar 3, 4:24 PM
Carol (Guest): Yes, it’s a long story. But I would speed it up for the Poor Clare
Mar 3, 4:24 PM
Carol (Guest): The monastery is in Arkansas, but the domestics live all over the country
, 4:26 PM
Paula (Guest): I really feel that I belong at Visitation though…the Lord gave me a Spiritual Director who loves SFDS
Mar 3, 4:26 PM
ar 3, 4:32 PMSrSusan (Guest): Q 1 The beginning of this excerpt gives advice to share time between father and father-in-law. St. Francis seems to equate them on the level of family, but today we often see blood family as taking precedent over family that is created through marriage. Why is St. Francis’s emphasis so important
r 3, 4:33 PM
Paula (Guest): family is family…we are all brothers and sisters
Mar 3, 4:33 PM
Carol (Guest): In our modern world, divorce is so common that your in laws may not be permanent family
Mar 3, 4:33 PM
SrSusan (Guest): in our family we never distinguished blood relatives from marriage relatives
Mar 3, 4:34 PM
Paula (Guest): and we should treat each other withe diginity and respect as such
Mar 3, 4:34 PM
SrSusan (Guest): true about divorce- I guess you can lose your relatives in a way
ar 3, 4:35 PM
Paula (Guest): not really some divorce people (relatives) still hang on to each other
Mar 3, 4:35 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I guess it is like the Bible too- cousins may be called sisters, so St Francis might come from a similar tradition
Mar 3, 4:35 PM
Steph (Guest): Hello alll
Mar 3, 4:35 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I can see that as a great thing Paula
Mar 3, 4:35 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Hi Steph!
Mar 3, 4:35 PM
Paula (Guest): Hi Steph
Mar 3, 4:36 PM
Carol (Guest): Ive had people tell me my sister inlaw’s family is not part of my family and I am not part of theirs, only my brother is
Mar 3, 4:36 PM
Paula (Guest): I have a cousin named Steph
Mar 3, 4:36 PM
Paula (Guest): well, look at the story of Ruth in the old testament
Mar 3, 4:37 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Each family can be so different and in different cultures a whole tribe might be considered family
Mar 3, 4:37 PM
Steph (Guest): I have a step brother, but never use the word step in introductions, he is my brother
Mar 3, 4:37 PM
Paula (Guest): Ruth loved her mother-in-law Naomi
Mar 3, 4:38 PMSrSusan (Guest): like my mom, she has a step granddaughter but refers to her as her grandaughter
Mar 3, 4:38 PM
Steph (Guest): All the apostles were considered brothers of Jesus
Mar 3, 4:38 PM
Paula (Guest): Yep….Jesus’ family (cousins) are spoken of as brothers
Mar 3, 4:39 PM
Carol (Guest): You are all so lucky
Mar 3, 4:39 PM
SrSusan (Guest): What is family
Mar 3, 4:39 PM
SrSusan (Guest): each family is different for sure
Mar 3, 4:39 PM
Paula (Guest): the whole world
Mar 3, 4:40 PMSteph (Guest): Exactly Paula, cousins were brothers too!
ar 3, 4:41 PMSrSusan (Guest): cousins have at least one common grandmother and grandfather
Mar 3, 4:41 PMSrSusan (Guest): q What is true liberty?
Mar 3, 4:42 PM
Paula (Guest): Doing God’s will as it presents itself
Mar 3, 4:42 PM
Carol (Guest): The ability to act as Jesus directs at any momen
ar 3, 4:42 PMSrSusan (Guest): freedom from serious sin too?
r 3, 4:43 PMPaula (Guest): As SFDS says Being in the moment
Mar 3, 4:43 PMCarol (Guest): Maybe from all sin
Mar 3, 4:44 PM
SrSusan (Guest): interior liberty even if outward liberty is restricted
Mar 3, 4:44 PM
ar 3, 4:44 PMPaula (Guest): being filled with the Holy Spirit
Mar 3, 4:45 PMPaula (Guest): doing as the Spirit directs
Mar 3, 4:45 PMSrSusan (Guest): obedience as liberty just came to me
Mar 3, 4:46 PMSrSusan (Guest): liberty not license
Mar 3, 4:47 PM
Carol (Guest): License is selfishness
Mar 3, 4:47 PM
Paula (Guest): Doing all for the honor and glory of God in accord with His will
Mar 3, 4:47 PMSrSusan (Guest): so then liberty must be in some way self-giving or outreaching?
Mar 3, 4:48 PMCarol (Guest): Yes
Mar 3, 4:48 PM
Jennifer (Guest): That resonates with me – obedience as liberty. I find myself struggling with obedience but I can see how it be related to liberty.
Mar 3, 4:48 PM
Steph (Guest): Outreaching with grace of God asking Holy Spirit guidance
Mar 3, 4:49 PM
Carol (Guest): We must be detached from our own wants
Mar 3, 4:49 PM
SrSusan (Guest): so opposite to what our nation often thinks of as freedom
Mar 3, 4:49 PM
Paula (Guest): yes, but it is also always in accord with God’s laws and commands
Mar 3, 4:49 PMJennifer (Guest): Completely relying on God
ar 3, 4:49 PMCarol (Guest): Yes opposite
ar 3, 4:50 PMSrSusan (Guest): q While we are in the season of Lent, why is it important to have disciplines but not allow them to rigidly and legalistically guide our behavior?
Mar 3, 4:52 PMJennifer (Guest): When we are too rigid, we might miss someone in need.
ar 3, 4:52 PMCarol (Guest): Because if they don’t come as relationship with God then we are merely slaves (courtesy of our pastor this morning)
ar 3, 4:53 PMSteph (Guest): Everything with God as center, following his will. We are truly Church militant these days with all these social obstacles, need to be flexible as disciples
ar 3, 4:53 PM
Paula (Guest): I think SFDS point was that we must have obedience and disciplines most of the time but ease them for exceptions
Mar 3, 4:53 PM
SrSusan (Guest): St Francis de sales often speaks of liberty of spirit
Mar 3, 4:53 PMSteph (Guest): Yes Carol,Father said something similar this morning. don
Mar 3, 4:54 PMSteph (Guest): Don’t be slaves to our sins
Mar 3, 4:55 PM
Carol (Guest): Or to rules, because if you do you will rebel, even against God’s Law, because you are not with Him
Mar 3, 4:55 PM
SrSusan (Guest): St Jane followed her demanding spiritual director too closely before she met St Francis- he gave her the permission to be more internally free
Mar 3, 4:55 PMSteph (Guest): Yes sister in your except, he said go with the flow if someone interrupts your schedule
Mar 3, 4:55 PMPaula (Guest): as the opposite case….no rules is no good…to lax
Mar 3, 4:56 PMSrSusan (Guest): balance is important
ar 3, 4:56 PM
Carol (Guest): Yes, and God must always be the center
Mar 3, 4:57 PM
Paula (Guest): but SFDS…says to not allow the disruption of meditation
Mar 3, 4:57 PM
SrSusan (Guest): St Jane grew closer to God with that liberty than she did following the rigid style
ar 3, 4:57 PMSrSusan (Guest): but when the doorbell rings during meditation, oh well!
Mar 3, 4:57 PM
Paula (Guest): but SFDS stresses meditation every where in His writings
Mar 3, 4:57 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes
Mar 3, 4:58 PMCarol (Guest): But the needs of others come first?
ar 3, 4:58 PMSrSusan (Guest): charity guides us too
Mar 3, 4:59 PMPaula (Guest): not unless a fire alarm is going off….meditation
Mar 3, 5:00 PMSrSusan (Guest): from Introduction to DL, Paula?
Mar 3, 5:00 PMPaula (Guest): we must unite ourselves with Jesus in the scriptures
ar 3, 5:00 PMPaula (Guest): even in the Treatise
ar 3, 5:01 PM
Steph (Guest): Lol Paula! I think behind the doorbell may be someone in need or a message for us, or lesson
Mar 3, 5:01 PM
SrSusan (Guest): q Does it seem like our spiritual (and physical) disciplines are often not so much for our benefit, but for the benefit of those in our lives? How so?
Mar 3, 5:01 PM
Paula (Guest): it refreshes the soul….SFDS even says to do it on an empty stomach to stay awake
Mar 3, 5:02 PM
SrSusan (Guest): I think we help others on occasion by example altho today people like to “do their own thing”
Mar 3, 5:02 PM
Steph (Guest): I think those in our lives, after adoration I am so joyful and happy, it would be good time for someone to borrow some money from me LOL
Mar 3, 5:02 PM
Carol (Guest): It could be leading by example
Mar 3, 5:03 PMCarol (Guest): That’s funny Steph
ar 3, 5:03 PM
Jennifer (Guest): I think when we enrich ourselves spiritually, we can be more present for others.
Mar 3, 5:03 PM
SrSusan (Guest): and how many times a beggar does come to our door here during adoration!
ar 3, 5:04 PM
SrSusan (Guest): true Jennifer we grow unselfish
Mar 3, 5:04 PM
Carol (Guest): There is that saying about entertaining angels unawares
Mar 3, 5:05 PM
Paula (Guest): We have to take care of ourselves in order to be able to take care of others
Mar 3, 5:05 PM
Carol (Guest): How do we respond to interruptions? Are we willful in wanting to spend that time our way?
Mar 3, 5:05 PMSrSusan (Guest): I have to watch myself re interruptions, a major flaw for me
Mar 3, 5:06 PMSrSusan (Guest): I always regret when I do not respond correctly
Mar 3, 5:06 PM
Paula (Guest): interruptions can be the Lord at work asking us to do something and then again it cannot be
ar 3, 5:06 PMCarol (Guest): I can be simply distracted with the best of them, not just interrupted
ar 3, 5:08 PM
Paula (Guest): I think that interruptions during meditation should be avoided or put off
Mar 3, 5:08 PM
SrSusan (Guest): the problem for me is that I am doing something for someone else and a second someone else interrupts- so one charity vs another?
ar 3, 5:08 PMSrSusan (Guest): may not be in meditation time but just in general
Mar 3, 5:09 PM
Paula (Guest): that’s why i say the direction of intention with everything
Mar 3, 5:09 PM
Paula (Guest): it’s usually peaceful
Mar 3, 5:09 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes that is a good advice for sure Paula
ar 3, 5:10 PM
Paula (Guest): when I forget…look out!
Mar 3, 5:10 PM
SrSusan (Guest): to continue on this trail: Isn’t it easy to get annoyed when someone in our household disturbs our regular time of prayer? How can we admonish such a person and yet follow St. Francis’ advice?
Mar 3, 5:10 PMJennifer (Guest): That’s helpful to remember Paula.
ar 3, 5:10 PMCarol (Guest): Thats hard, Sr!
Mar 3, 5:11 PM
SrSusan (Guest): It is good to set boundaries with others as regards prayer time
Mar 3, 5:11 PM
Jennifer (Guest): I’m thinking that perhaps the more we meditate, the less annoyed we might get.
Mar 3, 5:11 PM
SrSusan (Guest): true
Mar 3, 5:12 PMCarol (Guest): If we can remain undisturbed interiorly the interruption might be part of the prayer
Mar 3, 5:12 PM
Paula (Guest): charity….make an excuse for them….even if they are being malisous
Mar 3, 5:12 PM
Steph (Guest): Kindly teach them lesson patience, and have them wait
Mar 3, 5:13 PM
Paula (Guest): don’t stoop to their level on vengefulness
Mar 3, 5:13 PM
SrSusan (Guest): in my case sometimes it is a meeting that overruns the time set and I am late for prayer
Mar 3, 5:15 PMSrSusan (Guest): this is all good practice for monastic life where things are set in a schedule pretty firmly and then something gets in the way
Mar 3, 5:15 PMSrSusan (Guest): do you all have set prayer times?
Mar 3, 5:15 PMPaula (Guest): try to cut short the meeting and go to prayer…others have to learn discipline as well
ar 3, 5:16 PMCarol (Guest): I try to, but my job often means I schedule around other people’s needs
Mar 3, 5:17 PMSteph (Guest): I try to get up early and get my rosary in first thing, then start my day, that is like my coffee in the morning, if not, I say rosary during my commute
Mar 3, 5:17 PMJennifer (Guest): I don’t have set limits but I need to do that. I had a colleague who was a school principal and set time from 1-1:30pm daily.
ar 3, 5:18 PM
SrSusan (Guest): That’s pretty disciplined for a principal
Mar 3, 5:18 PM
SrSusan (Guest): they can be so busy
Mar 3, 5:19 PM
Jennifer (Guest): Yes. He was a good example for us.
Mar 3, 5:19 PM
Paula (Guest): I have some set and unset times
Mar 3, 5:19 PM
SrSusan (Guest): Glad to see you pray the rosary Steph
Mar 3, 5:20 PMPaula (Guest): I make that my goal before Mass and Mass is my first goal
ar 3, 5:20 PMSrSusan (Guest): very important, and it is good Mass is available for you
Mar 3, 5:21 PM
Paula (Guest): Actually my self offering of the day is my first goal before Mass and the rosary
Mar 3, 5:21 PM
Steph (Guest): Yes Paula, with all the church closures, so sad to see daily mass limited
Mar 3, 5:21 PM
Carol (Guest): And liturgy of the hours. Morning and evening are mandatory for us, i always try for noon. If its a very good day ill get mid morning and mid afternoon too
Mar 3, 5:22 PM
SrSusan (Guest): We have had a difficult time getting priests here lately but now it is working out better with a generous priest who comes 3 times a week plus the otrhers who celebrate the rest of the days but for a while we were not able to gwet a priest
Mar 3, 5:22 PM
Steph (Guest): I had a great supervisor once that let me arrive later so I can get to mass in the morning. I used to be able to walk to church and walk to work. It was such a blessing
ar 3, 5:22 PMSrSusan (Guest): we had permission to go out to Mass on those occasions
Mar 3, 5:23 PM
Paula (Guest): but the first self offering of very thing is most important….or else what about all of the good works we do all day
Mar 3, 5:23 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes true
SrSusan (Guest): I got signed out or something
Mar 3, 5:24 PM
Paula (Guest): I made time for Mass while working….before, midday or evening
Mar 3, 5:24 PM
SrSusan (Guest): back now
Mar 3, 5:24 PM
Steph (Guest): Thank you Sister, thank you all, have a blessed week, and lets squeeze in a prayer for more vocations
Mar 3, 5:24 PM
Steph (Guest): Good night
Mar 3, 5:24 PM
SrSusan (Guest): yes blessed Lenten week!
ar 3, 5:25 PM
Paula (Guest): Have a good week all!
Mar 3, 5:25 PM
Carol (Guest): Thank you Sr Susan and everyone!
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