O Come O Come Emmanuel

O EMMANUEL, God with us, our King and Lawgiver, 

the expected of the nations and their Savior: Come to save us, O Lord our God.

O Come Desired of the Nations

O KING OF THE GENTILES and their desired One, the Cornerstone that makes both one: Come, and deliver man, whom You formed out of the dust of the earth.

O Come Dawn of the East

O DAWN OF THE EAST, brightness of the light eternal, and Sun of Justice: 

Come, and enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O Come Key of David

O KEY OF DAVID, and Scepter of the House of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: Come, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O Come Root of Jesse

O ROOT OF JESSE, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

O Come Lord of Might!

O LORD AND RULER of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come, and redeem us with outstretched arm.

O Come Thou Wisdom

O WISDOM, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: Come, and teach us the way of prudence.

Precious Gift

Rarely do we reflect upon what gifts our souls may possess,

Who dwells within them, or how extremely precious they are.

(St. Teresa of Avila)

Where I AM, you also may be

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. 

If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 

Where (I) am going you know the way. (Jn. 14:1-4)

What do you want me to do for you?

Tell me, my Lord, that you love me.
Speak to my heart once again.
Cry out to me ever stronger.
I am breathless when faced with your love.

Lord I have nothing to offer.
To you I would bind myself forever.
You hear the Psalm of my heart, Lord:
"O, to live only for love."

It is true I am nothing in your sight;
I have neither strength nor voice, Lord.
But when you let your gaze fall upon me,
I bloom beneath your grace and love.

Give me a heart that is burning.
Make mine a voice that shouts love,
ceaseless in telling all others,
how much you love me, my Lord.
How much you love us dear Lord.

(Bishop William Giaquinta)

Beautiful Love

In the different forms of life inspired by the Spirit throughout history, consecrated persons discover that the more they stand at the foot of the Cross of Christ, the more immediately and profoundly they experience the truth of God who is love. It is precisely on the Cross that the One who in death appears to human eyes as disfigured and without beauty, so much so that the bystanders cover their faces (cf. Is 53:2-3), fully reveals the beauty and power of God's love.

Saint Augustine says: "Beautiful is God, the Word with God ... He is beautiful in heaven, beautiful on earth; beautiful in the womb, beautiful in his parents' arms, beautiful in his miracles, beautiful in his sufferings; beautiful in inviting to life, beautiful in not worrying about death, beautiful in giving up his life and beautiful in taking it up again; he is beautiful on the Cross, beautiful in the tomb, beautiful in heaven. Listen to the song with understanding, and let not the weakness of the flesh distract your eyes from the splendor of his beauty."

The consecrated life reflects the splendor of this love because, by its fidelity to the mystery of the Cross, it confesses that it believes and lives by the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this way it helps the Church to remain aware that the Cross is the superabundance of God's love poured out upon this world, and that it is the great sign of Christ's saving presence, especially in the midst of difficulties and trials.

(John Paul II, Vita Consecrata, 24)

Look Up!

For me prayer is a surge of the heart,
it is a simple look towards Heaven,
it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
-St. Therese of Lisieux

(Only God could create intricate beauty such as this...)

Remain in Me

Nothing is lost in the Heart of Jesus.
It is in surrendering to Him that we discover ourselves and truly live.

Let Me Trust You

I kept faith, even when I said,

"I am greatly afflicted!"
I said in my alarm,
"No one can be trusted!"
How can I repay the LORD
for all the good done for me?
I will raise the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
Too costly in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful.
LORD, I am your servant,
your servant, the child of your maidservant;
you have loosed my bonds.
I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Hallelujah! (Psalm 116:10-19)

I Am With You...

Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Mt. 28:18-20)

Dare With God!

Mary thus stands before us as a sign of comfort, encouragement and hope. She turns to us, saying: "Have the courage to dare with God! Try it! Do not be afraid of him! Have the courage to risk with faith! Have the courage to risk with goodness! Have the courage to risk with a pure heart! Commit yourselves to God, then you will see that it is precisely by doing so that your life will become broad and light, not boring but filled with infinite surprises, for God's infinite goodness is never depleted!"

-Pope Benedict XVI, Dec. 8, 2006

Abandonment to Divine Providence

Yes, my heavenly Father, always yes...
-St. Francis de Sales

Surprised by Christ

There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.
~Pope Benedict XVI, April, 2005

Come to the Father...

The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.

The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbor envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

~St. Ignatius of Anitoch

Oh, let this be the desire of my heart...!

Courage that Comes from Communion

To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.
~St. Teresa of Avila

This is Hope

To know that You, Father, hold the world and its wonders in Your creating hand...and there is still room for me! How can I not but totally rely on Your infinite mercy, power, and promises?

Rely on Receiving

[F]rom the point of view of the Christian faith, man comes in the profoundest sense to himself not through what he does but through what he accepts. He must wait for the gift of love, and love can only be received as a gift. It cannot be “made” on one’s own without anyone else; one must wait for it, let it be given to one. And one cannot become wholly man in any other way than by being loved, by letting oneself be loved. That love represents simultaneously both man’s highest possibility and his deepest need, and that this most necessary thing is at the same time the freest and most unenforceable, means precisely that for his “salvation” man is meant to rely on receiving. If he declines to let himself be presented with the gift, then he destroys himself. (Introduction to Christianity, Benedict XVI)

The Beloved of the Father

(Congregation For Institutes Of Consecrated Life And Societies Of Apostolic Life)

The Service Of Authority And Obedience

In the following of Jesus, the obedient Son of the Father

8. On this journey we are not alone: we are guided by the example of Christ, the Beloved on whom the Father's favor rests (Mt 3:17; 17:5), but also he who has freed us thanks to his obedience. It is he who inspires our obedience in order that the divine plan of salvation be completed through us.

In him everything is a listening to and acceptance of the Father (cf. Jn 8:28-29); all of his earthly life is an expression and continuation of what the Word does from eternity: letting himself be loved by the Father, accepting his love in an unconditional way, to the point of deciding to do nothing by himself (cf. Jn 8:28) but to do always what is pleasing to the Father. The will of the Father is the food which sustains Jesus in his work (cf. Jn 4:34) and which merits for Him and for us the superabundance of the resurrection, the luminous joy of entering into the very heart of God, into the blessed company of his children (cf. Jn 1:12). It is by this obedience of Jesus that “all shall become just” (Rm 5:19).

He also lived obedience when it presented a difficult chalice to drink (cf. Mt 26:39, 42; Lk 22:42), and he made himself “obedient to the point of death, and death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). This is the dramatic aspect of the obedience of the Son wrapped in a mystery which we can never totally penetrate, but which for us is very relevant, because it uncovers for us even more the filial nature of Christian obedience: only the child who senses himself loved by the Father and loves him with his whole self, can arrive at this type of radical obedience.

In imitation of the Beloved of the Father, let us draw out the "Fatherness of God". The more we allow ourselves to be His children, the more we behold Him as our Father, Who wants to pour His love and graces upon us who can do nothing without Him.

The Heart of Mary

What was Mary cherishing under the cross but the very Word of God...

Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring his every word: “She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the “rosary” which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life. (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 11)

Living Stones

Come out Apostolic Oblate, my beautiful friend, come to the light, where the cup is overflowing with the joy of self-giving. Come out Bethany of my dream, come to the fire stronger than death, open your Eucharistic heart to everyone, draw everyone to holiness and send many to sow hope along the city roads. This is the Lord’s invitation: we must come out from our sepulchers (our tombs), remove the stones that block our communion and resurrection. Let us come out from behind the harsh and deadly stone, that we might manifest God’s glory and others may believe. They will believe if they see our effort, our commitment, our love and good will in removing all obstacles to communion. Let us come out from our close-mindedness, so that every Bethany may continue to be for all time the “privileged place” and the life-giving place for all who yearn for life.

The passage from darkness to light demands that we remove the stones. What stones? And how? The unfastening of our hands and feet, in order to go, freed and renewed, to announce holiness to all. “We must stretch ourselves; if I said that we must burst out it might sound too strong an expression; but I say, we must expand ourselves, get larger. In this way we will find more space in our heart for joy, for meaning, and for life” (G. Giaquinta 1990).
-Giuliana Spigone, 2002)

Everything is grace...

"Everything is grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love. Everything is grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events -- to the heart that loves, all is well." -St. Therese of Lisieux

Eucharistic Heart

Our "Father" not only spoke to us of the Eucharistic Bread, but became himself the good bread that was eaten by everyone. The Founder spent long hours in the contemplation of the timeless Face of Christ, copying in himself Christ's features. For hours he paused in silent adoration and in attentive listening to the heartbeats of Jesus, which made his own heart expand beyond the limits of all human love. (Giuliana, June 15, 2004)

What could be more beautiful than the Heart of Jesus living in us?

The Father's Love

Everywhere and every moment we are involved in this tension toward the fullness of the love that the Father has shown us in His Son.
- Bishop Giaquinta

His Promise in Full Color!

The exhortation to not fear takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us with confidence through the familiar love of the One in whom we trust.

Indeed, when we free our spirits from fear and open our hearts to confidence, hope appears to us as a great rainbow in the sky. Not as a mere symbolic sign, but as the sure sign of a true reality – a reality truer than all the concerns that keep us anxious. It is the rainbow of hope, painted in many colors, symbol of our eagerness to walk toward the ultimate and final goal, while still pressed by the demands of our daily living. It is the luminous sign of our oblation that grows and enriches our lives with many gifts, blending into harmony the various parts of the same body – despite all our poverty and limitations.

This sign appears to us not only as a sign of hope, but also as a messenger of peace, inviting us to overcome divisions and to become witnesses of something new, something greater.
(Giuliana, Aug. 2004)

Found by Him

At the end of the road, day, year, time, at the front of the Church, at the top of the cross, in the secret of my heart, You wait for me.
You passionately call, remind, encourage, desire, and gaze upon me.
What are these gentle gifts that You hold out before me but a burning invitation to be eternally united with You, forever receiving the Father's love?

Clothed in Glory

I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation,
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
So will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations.
(Is. 61:10-11)

Draw all Nations to Yourself, Lord!

PRAYER OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI AT THE WESTERN WALL
Jerusalem, Tuesday, 12 May 2009

God of all the ages,
on my visit to Jerusalem, the “City of Peace”,
spiritual home to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike,
I bring before you the joys, the hopes and the aspirations,
the trials, the suffering and the pain of all your people throughout the world.

God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
hear the cry of the afflicted, the fearful, the bereft;
send your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East,
upon the entire human family;
stir the hearts of all who call upon your name,
to walk humbly in the path of justice and compassion.

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him” (Lam 3:25)!

Lead Me Lord

LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My travels and my rest you mark;
with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
LORD, you know it all.
Behind and before you encircle me
and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is beyond me,
far too lofty for me to reach.
Where can I hide from your spirit?
From your presence, where can I flee?
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.
If I fly with the wings of dawn
and alight beyond the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me,
Your right hand hold me fast.
(Psalm 139:1-10)

Peace be with you

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows
in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.
Mother Teresa

Theology of Risk: Rainbow of Hope

There is a reality that goes beyond us: the tomorrow that we must build, a tomorrow that logically involves risks, but for us it is not so important to finish the work as to work for the Lord.

We must build the future, as much as is possible one understands, as instruments, as useless servants, keeping always this will of building together with a sense of optimism. It serves nothing to depress ourselves. Let us try to have a supernatural outlook: where we finish, God begins. We have trust in Him. Let us not forget that in our equations we cannot take everything into account, because there is an unknown, and this unknown is the infinite omnipotence of God. We must know how to look toward the future, not only our personal one but also that of the Institute, rooting ourselves in the Lord. We must have a healthy sense of optimism that will give us the courage to face the difficulties. We are here to pray the Holy Spirit to infuse this courage into us, not, obviously to be imprudent, but to know how to look to the future with generosity and to know how to risk.

We must know how to accept so much that is imperfect, negative, finite, limited that there is in the work of the last five years. We are not here to judge or to judge ourselves, but to love each other, to look ourselves in the eye, to understand in what way, counting above all on the love of God the Father, of Jesus Christ, of Our Lady, we can together face this new moment, this new development of the Institute.

Here we have the theology of risk become a rainbow of hope, full of light. I am certain that this will be our Chapter. (Bishop Giaquinta, Theology of Risk)

Little Steps

"We live in an age of inventions. We need no longer climb laboriously up flights of stairs; in well-to-do houses there are lifts. And I was determined to find a lift to carry me to Jesus, for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection. So I sought in holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: 'Whosoever is a little one, come to me.' It is your arms, Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less."
(St. Therese of Lisieux)

Clothed with the Sun!

In giving birth to the Son of the Most High, everlasting king with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Mary is truly the Mother of God and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, having conceived by his intervention: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy" (Lk 1:35).

Thus Mary, in virtue of being Mother of God and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, is, we might almost say, by right, Queen. Hence, God could not fail to bring her to Heaven in body and soul, and crown her as Queen of the Angels and Saints.

In the Apocalypse, St. John tells us that He saw, in Heaven, "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev 12:1). We believe that Mary is this woman, crowned by God.

(Sister Lucia)

Little Flowers

Our Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature, and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its springtide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the greater is their perfection.
(St. Therese of Lisieux)

Little Mountains

I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new.

(St. Therese of Lisieux)

Wellspring of Joy!

It is also through joy that we will be able to fulfill our apostolic oblation and be self-offering - a permanent, as well as a daily offering, as the essence of our consecration. An offering that permeates our intelligence, as well as our heart, that inspires all our steps and gestures. An offering that lasts through time, and that expands itself so that others, too, may receive the gifts of grace, and arrive at the wellsprings of water where they can draw water in abundance....

This will give us greater hope and joy, and will enable us to give hope and courage to everyone. We will become the sowers of hope that the Lord wants us to be not only for the Institute, but also for the entire world. “Let us open wide our hearts…That is to say, let us expand our love, so that many more people, and the whole world, may enter in and be welcomed by our embrace of love. To see and to love, to love and to see! To have a practical, broad, and sincere vision of love toward all brothers and sisters, and to receive them with understanding, tolerance and collaboration” (W. Giaquinta, Homily May 1, 1989).

(Giuliana, June 25, 2003)

Mary the Sanctuary

Mary is the first altar, and therefore the first sanctuary, where we have been ransomed. We venerate this altar, this sanctuary, the place of our first salvation, and the wonderful temple in which Jesus, for nine months, fulfilled His law of love and devotion to God. Already in the womb of Mary, Jesus offered Himself to His Eternal Father in a spirit of adoration, in a spirit of obedience to His will, in a spirit of love for the Father and for the humanity He came to ransom. He offered himself in a spirit of self-giving, ready to accomplish all that the Father might ask of Him, and ready to give of Himself to poor humanity that they might dispose of Him according to their needs.
(Bishop Giaquinta, Program of Spiritual Life)

Delight in the Lord

Trust in the LORD and do good
that you may dwell in the land and live secure.
Find your delight in the LORD
who will give you your heart's desire.
Commit your way to the LORD;
trust that God will act
And make your integrity shine like the dawn,
your vindication like noonday.
Be still before the LORD;
wait for God.
(Psalm 37:4-7)

Flowers for Mary!

Bring flowers of the rarest
bring blossoms the fairest,
from garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
our full hearts are swelling,
our glad voices telling
the praise of the loveliest flower of the vale!

O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today!
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.

The Core of Our Oblation

At the core of each Oblate’s form of oblation is the Cross, for it is the greatest possible demonstration of the gratuitous, infinite live of the Father and Jesus for us. As St. Paul did, Oblates draw from the Cross the strength to live and be bearers of the love and hope of Christ through their apostolic donation, their will to participate in the immolative life of the Master, and, for the consecrated Oblates, their vows lived in their true spirit.
(Bishop Giaquinta, Sowers of Hope)

The Beautiful Face of the Institute

Realize that you do not represent only yourselves. From the moment a person has made a commitment in an Institute, she is a part of an “all.” Your actions are not only yours but your Institute’s. The person passes by and the face disappears; a veil and a gown remain. They are the veil and the gown of the Apostolic Oblate.
(Bishop Giaquinta, Suscipe Hanc Oblationem)

The Rainbow of the Covenant

In the morning we must raise our thoughts and words to the Lord. At the rising of the sun, the Lord must be our thirst and our desire: “O God, you are my God; for you I long. For you my soul is thirsting, and my body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water…” (Ps 63:2). Only in this way we can avoid making the numerous activities of our day a burden for our heart, or allow them to separate us from what is good. Only in this way we can allow the confused dreams of the dark night of our soul be dispelled by the light of a new day. Only in this way we can silence the confused range of our thoughts and useless words, and make room for the Risen Christ.

It is also in the light of the new day that we wish to prepare for the Celebration of the Covenant – the rainbow of thousand colors that unites heaven and earth. I am speaking of the Celebration in which we renew our yes to the oblation – offered for every man and woman, so that all may be led to the infinite love of the Lord. Let us pray for a renewed commitment to Fraternity – offered for the building of a civilization of love. Let us ask for a Cenacle that lives in communion and is at the service of the Church and of the world.
(Caterina Fava, March 2008)

Deep as the Sea, Eternal Trinity

Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no greater gift than the gift of yourself. For you are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, you are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its light and causes me to know your truth. By this light, reflected as it were in a mirror, I recognise that you are the highest good, one we can neither comprehend nor fathom. And I know that you are beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, you gave yourself to man in the fire of your love.
(St. Catherine of Siena)

A Tiny Whispering Sound...

"Then the LORD said, "Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by." A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD--but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake--but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire--but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound" (1 Kings 19:11-12).

"God is present to Elijah not in the big events but in the peace, in the serenity and gentleness... When we wish to feel close to the Lord, we must be able to find Him in the interior peace and interior gentleness, as much as possible, without letting all that surrounds us disturb us, whether it be wind, fire, or storm. We must make it a habit to create an interior cave in which we nestle next to the Father, without becoming disturbed by events or people. We should remain tightly united with God, to see Him somehow, even though not in the way we would like to, but in the answer Jesus gives to Philip, which is also an answer to our quest. We should make every effort to see the Father in Jesus...For, while we have this interior need, this longing, as did Philip, to see the Father, we also know that – although He is the invisible, the unutterable, the all-powerful, the greatest and the immense – He chose to come among us, to become visible flesh so that, unable to see Him directly, we could see Him in Jesus. Thus our desire to see the Father finds an answer in our listening to the Son" (Giaquinta, Face of the Father).

Duc in altum!

Duc in altum: let us take to the sea, let us go into the deep, let the Word guide us, and not be afraid to share the fatigue of the catch: the Master, Peter, and Padre Guglielmo are with us. (Giuliana Spigone)

Our God is the God of Details!

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)