For Your Glory

You have put into my heart a marvelous love

for the faithful ones who dwell in your land. (Psalm 16)

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.

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)

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)

Abandonment to Divine Providence

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

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

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)

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)

The Great Romance

To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances;

to seek Him, the greatest adventure;
to find Him, the greatest human achievement"
~ St. Augustine

May the Name of the Lord be Praised!

From the rising of the sun to its setting let the name of the Lord be praised.
(Psalm 113:3)

The Glory of God!

Both the Letter to the Hebrews and the Book of Wisdom have tried to present us this image, this Icon that is Jesus. Hebrews defines Jesus: “This Son is the reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the Father’s being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word...” (Heb 1:13). The face of the Father is resplendent and full of glory, resplendent as the sun – we cannot stare at the sun without going blind; we can look at its life-giving rays, though. In the same way Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God, the radiance of His face. (Bishop Giaquinta, Face of the Father)