Sunday, August 26, 2012

August 24, 2012

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Reflection on the Spirit of the Sacred Heart
August 24, 2012
Untitled 2
God of the dark,
I love you,
still and stark
in the shadows.
Faith is only
flinging my arms
wide in the lonely
length of life
and feeling the breath
of your Spirit
on my heart.

No need to hear, to see
to hold. I grow
strong in the night
of your faith in me.

From Smile the Sun Around My Heart,  
the Collected Poems of Anna Mae Marheineke rscj

   For Reflection... 

I will come to you in the silence, I will lift you from all your fear.
You will hear my voice, I claim you as my choice, be still and know I am here.

I am hope for all who are hopeless, I am eyes for all who long to see.
In the shadows of the night, I will be your light, come and rest in me.



From the song, You Are Mine
Text and music: David Hass, b. 1957; © 1991 by GIA Publications, Inc.
Used in the Liturgy of Religious Profession, January 30, 2011
Villa Lante, Rome

   

from shadow tona monzon  

      
Painting by Tona Monzon, rscj   

August 17, 2012

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Reflection on the Spirit of the Sacred Heart
August 17, 2012
A desire that is permanently transformed into spiritual life.
Waiting that is hard to bear:

years of patience, though desire is as keen
years of uncertainty, though direction is not lost
years of frustration, though the Spirit is never stifled.

A desire that can wait without despair will bear more fruit;
a desire that grows and keeps on growing while waiting is the seed of the hundredfold.

A hope that guides us infallibly:
Rose Philippine's desire is

no empty promise,
no hollow inspiration,
no vain word;

it is convincingly real, rich, exemplary;
it is creative action, dynamic, rock-solid, pregnant with the future;
a dream already come true, yet still to be realised.

Rosario Valdeavellano rscj
from Peru, Comunidad Internacional, Roma


   For Reflection... 

Rose Philippine, our holy sister, had a heart so like your own Lord; you kept feeding the spring that welled up in her, and we ask you to do the same in us.

Arouse in us the same fiery, impulsive desire, the same passionate longing for your Kingdom, the insatiable thirst and hope of always being able to find you; give us, too, hearts like your own.


Rosario Valdeavellano rscj
from Peru, Comunidad Internacional, Roma



sunrise set rpsales  

      
Painting by Paz Rozales, rscj   
   

Sunday, August 12, 2012

August 10, 2012

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Reflection on the Spirit of the Sacred Heart
August 10, 2012
My grace is enough for you,  
for in weakness, power reaches perfection.  
And so I willingly boast of my weakness instead,  
that the power of Christ may rest upon me....    
For when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong.

2 Cor. 12: 9-10

From Our Experience of Creaturehood, a Reflection by Maureen Currie, rscj, United States



   For Reflection... 

Peter's experience of being 'broken' changes him from having a blind and self-satisfied heart to having a vulnerable and compassionate one. In his vulnerability, Peter's weakness is transformed into power - the power to love: 'Feed my lambs.'

Peter becomes a 'rock', not a rock of personal strength, but one of weakness and brokenness that allows God's strength and love to come to perfection in him: 'When I am powerless, it is then that I am strong', he came to realize, as St. Paul did.


From Our Experience of Creaturehood, a Reflection by Maureen Currie, rscj, United States


  

 
  miyako ocean rock

      
Photograph by Miyako Namikamal, rscj   
   

Sunday, August 5, 2012

August 3, 2012

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Reflection on the Spirit of the Sacred Heart
August 3, 2012
What really is, is the fleeting present moment;
don't ruminate over the past
and don't speculate about the future.

Pay attention to"just this,"
moment by moment.
Everything is full of wonder.
All creatures are preaching.

Joan Kirby, rscj, United States



   For Reflection...
    
When you open your eyes, the whole world comes into them. Each of you is one with the whole world. You are nothing else than the whole world, the whole world is nothing other than you. When you have no consciousness of self, the whole world is yours.

Master Unmom, in Case 16 of the Mumonkan, The Gateless Gate


 

  lee suki  
 

Artwork by Lee Sukil, rscj    

Colleen Curran
Houston Area Associates of the Sacred Heart
http://shassociateschouston.blogspot.com/ 

Friday, July 27, 2012

July 27, 2012

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Reflection on the Spirit of the Sacred Heart
July 27, 2012
I knew, then, there was neither flight nor
death nor drowning.
That when the sea comes calling you stop
being good neighbors,
Well-acquainted, friendly-from-a-distance
neighbors.
And you give your house for a coral castle,
And you learn to breathe under water.

From the poem, House by the Sea, by Carol Bialock, rscj
  

   For Reflection...
    
Without water, human life cannot sustain. But we can be overwhelmed by it, overcome by it, founder and drown in it; or we can learn to be in it, to breathe in it, to trust in it - both water and life. As newborns we wail, our first lesson in adaptation, and so we continue, trusting ever in the Divine, believing the promise of God, I am with you always, breathe...

  ocean schadewal


 

Photograph by Sandy Schadewal, rscj    

Friday, July 20, 2012

July 20, 2012

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Reflection on the Spirit of the Sacred Heart
July 20, 2012
To the season of Summer, God said:
'To you I will give the gift of growth.
You shall live twixt
Spring and Autumn.
You shall inherit the gift of Spring
as well as touch the gift of Autumn.
You, with your gift of growth,
shall be the bridge between
life and death...
And God smiled and saw that it was (all) good.

From Seasons of Our Life, a reflection by Maureen Currie, rscj, Canada
  

   For Reflection...
    
Lord, God, You come into our lives from beginning to end: in the dawn of anticipation; in the morning as life unfolds; in the noon days of growth, with success and failure, fear and comfort; in the twilight of harvesting with joy. Help us to be attentive to Your presence, and your gifted-ness at each 'season of our life' so that we respond generously and build your Kingdom of love. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

From Seasons of Our Life, a reflection by Maureen Currie, rscj, Canada
  


sunflowers painting  

Painting by Trinidad Alvarez, rscj  

Sunday, July 15, 2012

July 13, 2012

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Reflection on the Spirit of the Sacred Heart
July 13, 2012
Loving after the manner of Jesus Christ is loving those we have been given,
not just those we choose.

Loving after the manner of Jesus Christ is learning to live without illusions
and perhaps even with a measure of regret. 

Loving after the manner of Jesus Christ is loving with Christ's unfailing love,
with forgiveness, forbearance, evenness, generosity,
and surely a dollop of humor when things get really tough.

Kathleen Hughes, rscj, 2006
From a speech delivered in St. Louis for the Feast of St. Madeleine Sophie 
  


   For Reflection...

    
Charity for Madeleine Sophie Barat was not just one virtue among many others from which we might pick and choose; mutual love for her is the essence of our lives; ... Mutual love, Sophie knew, was costly, but in the long run she was convinced that a lack of charity was costlier still.  

Yet in the midst of trial she could say: "Seek your sanctification in bearing lovingly with all around you, in forgiving and excusing and not dwelling on their faults. People in general are very little culpable in God's eyes, and God sees more often weakness and not malice."


shadows 

Photo by Juana Lopez, 2002