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

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)

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)

The Greatness of God's Love

"'The Lord is good. His kindness endures forever, and His faithfulness is to all generations'
(Ps 100:4).
With these words from the Psalm, we proclaim our joy and faith
to the Lord for 'He is good', and great is His love.
By recognizing God's greatness,
we get a glimpse of our own greatness.
In this thought, we find the joy of living, and of expanding our hearts,
as we recognize our capability for the infinite,
because Infinite is the Eternal One who loves us."
(Giuliana Spigone, May 1, 1999)