O ROOT OF JESSE December 19-3rd O Antiphon:

3rd O Antiphon:

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:

O ROOT OF JESSE
December 19

Symbols: Plant with Flower

Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

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 Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

The flower which springs up from the root of Jesse is another figure of Christ. Isaiah prophesied that the Savior would be born from the root of Jesse, that He would sit upon the throne of David, and in Christ this prophecy is fulfilled.

Recommended Readings: Isaias 11:1-12

COME
To deliver us, and tarry not.

O Root of Jesse
"Come to deliver us and tarry not." The world cries out for Christ its King, who shall cast out the prince of this world (John 12:31). The prince of this world established his power over men as a result of original sin. Even after we had been delivered from the servitude of Satan through the death of Christ on the cross, the prince of this world attempts to exercise his power over us. "The devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8). In these trying times, when faith in Christ and in God has largely disappeared, when the propaganda of a pagan culture is broadcast everywhere, and the forces of evil and falsehood rise up to cast God from His throne, who does not feel the power of the devil? Does it not appear that we are approaching that time when Satan will be released from the depths of hell to work his wonders and mislead, if possible, even the elect? (Apoc. 20:2; Matt. 24:24.)

"Come, tarry not." Observe how thoroughly the world of today has submitted to the reign of Satan. Mankind has abandoned the search for what is good and holy. Loyalty, justice, freedom, love, and mutual trust are no longer highly regarded. Establish, O God, Thy kingdom among us, a kingdom established upon truth, justice, and peace. "Come, tarry not." "Thy kingdom come."

O Adonai [ O Almighty God]

Today is the second of the O Antiphons, O Adonai (O Almighty God). As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground . . . I am who am." "Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption.

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2nd O Antiphon:
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:

O Lord and Ruler
Thou art He "who didst appear to Moses in the burning bush." "I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the rigor of them that are over the works. And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land that floweth with milk and honey" (Exod. 3:7 f.). Thus spoke the Lord to Moses from the bush which burned but was not consumed, which is a figure of God's condescension to assume the weakness of human nature. The human nature of Christ is united to the burning divine nature, and yet it is not consumed.

As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. . . . I am who am" (Exod. 3:5, 14).

O Adonai, almighty God! Mighty in the weakness of a child, and in the helplessness of the Crucified! Thou, almighty God, mighty in the wonders that Thou hast worked! Mighty in guiding, sustaining, and developing Thy Church! "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

"Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption. "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you" (Matt. 25-34).

Long retreat - to be continued

Indian Muslim Girl left parents for Christ...Testimony

Changing Tracks: Mario Joseph, Muslim Imam convert

Freedom complete

Disciple: Who can be called a true Sanyasi?

Master: A man who is completely free.

D: It is said that vows make a man free!

M: No, N. He becomes a slave of the vows,
He will be constantly worried about keeping the vows.
He has a compulsion to keep the vows.
-devasia

Ignatius of Loyola - a reflection 31st July 2014

HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF ST. IGNATIUS 

By Cecil  Azzopardi, S.J.

     

My Dear Brothers and Friends,

I would like to share with you four dimensions from the life of St. Ignatius that forcefully come across to me in my exposure to this man, namely, his relationship to God / to Christ / to the Church / and to the World.

!gnatius is a man taken up with God,, and this comes across more forcefully because it was not always so. He was 31 years old when because of the experience he had at the river Cardoner, his whole life is projected in a dynamic movement towards God. And from then on there was no looking back for Ignatius.

There was only one reality he searched for with every fiber of his being, GOD. Only God, solely God, God alone are phrases we keep constantly bumping into in his writings. This

why Ignatian Spirituality can be summarized in just two words, ‘SEEK GOD’ — Seek God everywhere, seek God anytime, seek God anywhere, seek God in all things. And just living out these two words is a whole way of life.

But for Ignatius God is not only to be sought. God can also be found.

The whole of the Spiritual Exercises is founded on this

be tangibly experienced,

“Let God deal directly and personally with the retreatant,” Ignatius tells the Director of the Spiritual Exercises.

This means we are not chasing a dream, or running after a cloud. God can be met and tangibly experienced.

Ignatius was touched by this God.

— He shed tears that really spoilt his eyes because of his encounter with God.

— We find in his personal diary that his hair stood on end when his whole being was flooded by.God.

Hence Ignatius would dare say in his autobiography that towards the end of his life,

“each time and hour that he wanted to find God he found him.”

My Dear Brothers, I find this statement frightening in its boldness — and yet inspiring in its honesty.

It is in Christ that Ignatius finds his way to God. From early in his conversion lgnatius comes to discover that Jesus can take a hold of his heart as intensely and passionately as the lady of his dreams.

And so initially in remorse, but later out of gratitude and wonder Ignatius turns to ‘Christ our Lord hanging on the Cross and asks of himself:

 

“What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought Ito do for Christ?”

These questions well up from a heart moved with profound gratitude and love, for when eh was on the brink of despair because of guilt, he finds himself embraced in God’s mercy. This experience of God’s mercy is the foundation grace that links lgnatius and every Jesuit to Jesus.

Later on his pilgrimage through life we find a prayer of longing arising from the depth of his soul, an anguishing 

Prayer, “Mary place me with your Son Jesus)’ ignatius knew that Jesus, and Jesus poor, had become the most precious love of his life. This he had no doubt. But has the Lord accepted him in the intimate circle of his friends? — “like the apostles” aslgnath.is is often fond of repeating.

And so he asks Mary to intercede for him with her Son.

I would like to place here the deep-felt request we find Ignatius making later on in his spiritual journal, when he pleads.

“Eternal Father confirm me, Eternal Son confirm me,

Eternal Spirit confirm me, My only God confirm me.”

16 years after Pamplona Ignatius is confirmed, when at La Storta on his way to Rome, God the Father places Ignatius with His Son carrying the Cross.

                                                                       

                         Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me

There the Father binds lgnatius to Jesus by making him the servant of the same mission He entrusted to the Son.

— It is as servant of this mission that Ignatius is placed with Christ.

— It is as servant of this mission that Christ places him in the heart of the Trinity.

In his personal diary Ignatius will note down:

“I felt Jesus presenting me, or placing me, or simply being the means of union in the midst of the most Holy Trinity.” (February 27th, 1544)

This is why Ignatian mysticism is a mysticism of service. Union through service — Service out of loving union. Every human person is on a journey into the heart of the Divine. But for us Jesuits it is only as servants of Christ’s mission that we can find ourselves placed with Christ In the heart of God.

Ignatius’ relationship with the Church is intriguing and challenging.

He launches out as a free-lancer in the Church.

Touched by God he wants to converse with anyone willing

To listen about what is burning in his heart. However while doing this, he gradually finds himself coming in confrontation with the authorities of the Church.

While Ignatius nourishes his conversion experience in the arms of the Church, his first public encounters with Church authority seem to be one of opposition. For him at this stage, the Church seems to keep coming in the way of what he wants to do.

And yet, it is precisely in facing this authority in freedom that he finds the way where God is mysteriously leading him to.

In his Autobiography we do find, that whenever he feels that the Church closes the door to what he thinks he should be doing, Ignatius asks himself, “What must I do now?”

In this question we discover that Ignatius does respect the authorities of the Church. He takes seriously what is asked of him. And at the same time the very question reveals that he is not stifled. He keeps searching. lgnatius keeps that freedom of spirit not by fighting back, not by confronting, but by constantly searching.

Ignatius by integrating in a very delicate balance, obedience to the authorities of the Church without surrendering his liberty of spirit and his availability for the service of God’s people, he comes to discover his apostolic vocation within the Church. He is  more a free-lancer in the Church but an apostle sent by Christ through the Church.

Placed with Christ as servant of the mission entrusted by the Father, Ignatius finds himself sent through the Church into the whole world.

The Spiritual Exercises open with the Principle and Foundation and it is here that we can find a basis for understanding Ignatius relation to the world.

His search for God, his openness to the beyond, his quest for the more, takes place in the very context of the world. There is only one path for lgnatius to journey to God, and this 32 .IGNIS — 1999/3

is in and through the rest of creation’ as he puts it in the Principle and Foundation.

Because at the Cardoner Experience God is encountered at the center of everything, for Ignatius discovering God is simultaneously affirming the whole universe.

Hence after the Cardoner Experience there is a total re-orientation that takes place in his life:

                        

— from a penitential to an apostolic spirituality;

— from imitating Christ, to serving him;

— from renouncing the world to getting involved in the world.

If Ignatius asks us to seek and find God in all things, it is because God is at work in all things, even in the sinful situations of our world and the brokennes of humanity.

And so my Dear Brothers, without the slightest hesitation we can invest the whole of ourselves in the service of the world, seeking God, where God is not only just present but is also labouring in the world.

It is precisely because God is already at work in the world before we are sent, our Last General Congregation dares to affirm that for us Jesuits there is a level of consciousness of God that is only accessible in and through our apostolic commitments. (GC. 34, No. 252)

This is the core of an apostolic spirituality.

My Dear Brothers,

Touched by God, embraced in His mercy, sent with his Son into the world, may we be found to be men ablaze with God, who wish to give greater proof of their love and distinguish ourselves in the service of the Lord.

                                                                          

                                                       

The ambiguities of being Catholic Do we love God, or just want his attention? Posted on June 17, 2014, 4:38 PM

By Fr Michael Kelly
Bangkok: 

Perhaps because of my visits to Tokyo I’ve been haunted by images from a film I saw some time ago. The multi-award winning Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson, displays a relationship that unfolds between two Americans – a middle-aged man and a younger woman – when they meet in Japan.

Portrayed against the backdrop of Tokyo’s metallic and Perspex landscape, Lost in Translation is the story of two people desperately searching for different things and hoping they can find them in one another.

But they don’t, and they are left at the end of the film with a lonely emptiness both had sought to escape. They are ships that pass in the night, never noticing each other apart from what they want from each other. It is the portrayal of a relationship that isn’t to be. Each is saying to the other in their own misguided way: “Look at me!” They do not engage with each other or listen, but instead just seek to attract the notice and attention of the other.

Sometimes I think Catholics are like this couple in the way we engage with God. What we want from our faith is all about ourselves rather than God or the faith community we share.

We can have, as Catholics, just as we do in our ordinary relationships every day, a single-minded focus on our needs, what we have sacrificed, what hurt we have endured or what splendid things we have done in our care or service of others.

It’s all about me! And, as a result, we tire of God and we protect ourselves against other people. We overpower what God or other people might ask or want of us; we maintain a relentless focus on our measured contribution and ourselves; we keep away from anyone or anything that might upset the calm and disciplined world we create and control.

And love passes us by – love of God and love of others. As with the two would be lovers who pass as ships in the night, our faith dies and even our love dies for lack of nourishment.

This is the intimately personal level at which we can warp and distort our humanity as well as our Christian faith and all that it holds as a means to grow. It happens almost unconsciously even as we keep telling ourselves we are only doing what seems natural.

But we aren’t. Therein lies the ambiguity: apparently good things – loving, serving, believing, worshipping – end up being bad things that distract and destroy. And there’s something else that complicates this surprise even further.

Life cuts both ways and our lives do not simply amount to what we put into them or do with them, inspired or misguided as the contributions may be. The worlds we inhabit – families, workplaces, hobbies, interests, friends, what we see and read – also shape who we are and what we become. Those influences can enhance or distort us – as individuals, communities and nations, as believers and as Catholics.

All of us are parts of cultures that set the terms for how we grow or decline as human beings, as communities, as nations and as a Church. Rendering the Christian message in words, symbols and structures that communicate across cultures is never easy. What began in Israel two millennia ago was interpreted by Greeks and structured by Romans.

Then, 1,500 years after Jesus, all that was challenged when Christianity moved out of its European comfort zone into Asia and then Africa. In Asia, Christianity got a mixed reception – some were attracted, many repelled it and some sought to exterminate it. The vast majority remained indifferent to what appeared to be a culturally alien import.

Today, the ambiguities of such “culture contact” are no less pressing. The Catholic Church in most parts of Asia is a minority community. Yet its communities and leaders recognize the need for many adaptations to local customs and practices if the person and message of Jesus is to be intelligible in cultures far removed from anything Jesus and the early Christians could be expected to appreciate.

Framing the message in a language and through symbolism that can be grasped by those not familiar with the Greco-Roman culture that Christianity adopted to explain itself is not all that happens when Christianity localizes or “inculturates”.

The cultures to which Christianity reaches for language and symbols also transform elements of the message not often anticipated or even consciously recognized. At times, absorbing a local culture that may be common even to hundreds of millions of people can have the desired effect of sharing the message.

But, often unconsciously, elements of particular cultures can contribute to massive distortions of the Christian message. Historical examples abound – from popes who ordered torture and executions as ways of defending the Catholic faith to Catholic communities who hated and killed Jews because they allegedly were responsible for killing Jesus.

Some cultural absorption and adaptation is necessary, as is evident in the way Catholics celebrate sacraments. The Passover, the use of water in baptism and the use of oil in several sacraments, are obvious instances of the employment of pre-existing symbolism to express Christian beliefs.

However, there is the use of cultural and political forms developed from European historical models that are today simply anachronistic, such as the monarchical papacy and the titles used by cardinals and bishops. And then there are cultural adoptions that are downright sinister and a contradiction of the Gospel, some of them operating in Asia.

Many Asian societies have inherited cultural patterns of respect, organizational hierarchy and the allocation of status that come from cultures developed long before the Gospel was preached in them. Yet, and presumably unconsciously, Catholics, especially clerics, can model patterns of authority and social status that owe more to the native culture than the Gospel.

Because Confucian societies may place clerics on a special pedestal as learned and superior beings, the clerics can come to see themselves as authoritative and significant people who don’t need to seek out and serve the needy and the humble. In Buddhist and Hindu cultures, religious people can be seen as “special” and otherworldly rather than engaged in the world of everyone else, with its pains and uncertainties.

Hiding in a status and suffocating the Gospel are easy traps to fall into in any culture unless there is the circuit breaker of an objective look at our behavior in the light thrown on it by the person and message of Jesus.

Otherwise, hypocrisy reigns. The ambiguity of people who are falsifying the faith that they believe themselves to be the successful embodiment of is not far from the ambiguity of two people who think they’re in love with each other but haven’t really met.

Jesuit Fr Michael Kelly is executive director of ucanews.com 

Dryness and joy in prayer - sure to be there.

Agnelo Vaz	Jun 14 (2 days ago)
to

A CANOPY UNDER WHICH TO PRAY

AUGUST 21, 2011

A A A

Do we ever really understand or master prayer?  Yes and no.  When we try to pray, sometimes we walk on water and sometimes we sink like a stone. Sometimes we have a deep sense of God’s reality and sometimes we can’t even imagine that God exists. Sometimes we have deep feelings about God’s goodness and love and sometimes we feel only boredom and distraction. Sometimes our eyes fill with tears and sometimes they wander furtively to our wrist-watches to see how much time we still need to spend in prayer. Sometimes we would like to stay in our prayer-place forever and sometimes we wonder we even showed up. Prayer has a huge ebb and flow.

I remember an incident, years back, where a man came to me for spiritual direction. He had been involved for several years in a Charismatic prayer-group and had experienced there powerful religious emotions. But now, to his surprise, those emotions had disappeared. When he tried to pray, he experienced mostly dryness and boredom. He felt that there was something wrong because his fiery emotions had disappeared. Here’s how he expressed it: “Father, you’ve seen my bible, seen how most every line is highlighted with a bright color because the text spoke so deeply to me. Well, right now, I feel like pitching my bible through a window because none of that means anything to me anymore! What’s wrong with me?”

The quick answer could have been: “God is wrong with you!” I pointed him towards the experience of Theresa of Avila who, after a season of deep fervor in prayer, experienced eighteen years of boredom and dryness. Today, I would have him read the journals of Mother Theresa who, like Theresa of Avila, after some initial fervor in prayer, experienced sixty years of dryness.

We nurse a naïve fantasy both about what constitutes prayer and how we might sustain ourselves in it. And what often lies at the center of this misguided notion is the belief that prayer is always meant to be full of fervor, interesting, warm, carrying spiritual insight, and carrying the sense that we are actually praying. Coupled with this notion is the equally misguided notion that the way to sustain feeling and fervor in prayer is through constant novelty and variety or through dogged concentration. Classical writers in spirituality assure us that, while this is often true during the early stages of our prayer lives, when we are neophytes at prayer and in the honeymoon stage of our spiritual lives, it is becomes less and less true the deeper we advance in prayer and spirituality.

Much to the relief and consolation of anyone who has tried to sustain a prayer life over a long period of time, the great mystics tell us that once we are beyond the early, honeymoon, stage of prayer, the single greatest obstacle to sustaining a life of prayer is simple boredom and the sense that nothing meaningful is happening. But that doesn’t mean that we are regressing in prayer. It often means the opposite.

 

Here’s a canopy under which to pray even as we struggle with boredom and the sense that nothing meaningful is happening: Imagine you have an aged mother who is confined to a retirement home. You’re the dutiful daughter or son and, every night after work, for one hour, you stop and spend time with her, helping her with her evening meal, sharing the events of the day, and simply being with her as her daughter or son. I doubt that, save for a rare occasion, you will have many deeply emotive or even interesting conversations with her. On the surface your visits will seem mostly routine, dry, and dutiful. Most days you will be talking about trivial, everyday, things and you will be sneaking the occasional glance at the clock to see when your hour with her will be over. However, if you persevere in these regular visits with her, month after month, year after year, among everyone in the whole world you will grow to know your mother the most deeply and she will grow to you know you most deeply because, as the mystics affirm, at a certain deep level of relationship the real connection between us takes place below the surface of our conversations. We begin to know each other through simple presence.

You can recognize this in its opposite: Notice how your mother relates to your siblings who visit her only very occasionally. During those rare, occasional visits there will be emotions, tears, and conversations beyond the weather and the trivia of everyday life. But that’s because your mother sees these others so rarely.

Prayer is the same.  If we pray only occasionally, we might well experience some pretty deep emotions in our prayer. However, if we pray faithfully every day, year in and year out, we can expect little excitement, lots of boredom, regular temptations to look at the clock during prayer … but, a very deep, growing bond with our God.

Another master disciple story.

One jesuit:

You wrote a "master disciple" story about jesuits where the master says that all the jesuits are sleeping always. You are  a jesuit and are you also sleeping?

2nd jesuit:
I woke up and opened my eyes , and when I saw the reality I got frightened and closed my eyes again and went to sleep.
devasia

World communications day June 1 2014 by Cedric Prakash sj

Prashant Dio <prashantdioc@gmail.com>	May 28 (8 days ago)
to Cedric, bcc: me

Dear Bishops, Sisters, Brothers,Fathers, Friends,

The Church in India has decided to observe World Communications Day together with the Universal Church from this year(2014) onwards

So it will be on SUNDAY JUNE 1st 2014 instead of the Sunday before the Feast of Christ the King.

We request that you ensure the observance of this day in an appropriate way.

warm wishes and prayers,

Fr Cedric

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj

Director

"PRASHANT"   (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052,Gujarat, INDIA
Tel :+91 (0)79-27455913/66522333

Cell : 9824034536

Fax:+91 (0)79-27489018

Blog: www.humanrightsindia.in

CHALLENGES ON WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY                           

(1st June 2014) 

                                                                                   -Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

“Today we are living in a world which is growing ever “smaller” and where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to be neighbours.  Developments in travel and communications technology are bringing us closer together and making us more connected, even as globalisation makes us increasingly interdependent.  Nonetheless, divisions, which are sometimes quite deep, continue to exist within our human family.  On the global level we see a scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor.  Often we need only walk the streets of a city to see the contrast between people living on the street and the brilliant lights of the store windows.  We have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer unsettle us.  Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization and poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic, political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.”

A powerful opening paragraph indeed from our Holy Father Pope Francis for the 48^th World Communications Day which the Universal Church observes on Sunday 1^st June, 2014! The theme this year is ‘Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter’. 

The message of the Pope is not merely inspiring but also challenging “the walls which divide us can be broken down only if we are prepared to listen and learn from one another”.  “A culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give but also to receive”.   It is very symbolic that a new Government in India takes charge in the very week that World Communications Sunday is being observed. The run-up to the elections, the campaigning, the advertisements, the media onslaught for several months were truly on a high. The paid media in the country became “cheer leaders” and “flag bearers” for a particular school of thought. The big corporates of the country justified this with terminology like ‘market savvy’, ‘branding’, ‘hard-sell’, etc. They did triumph in their aggressiveness and a fairly large portion of the credit has surely to go to the print, electronic and to social media!

It is in this context that Pope Francis minces no words when he says “whenever communication is primarily aimed at promoting consumption or manipulating others, we are dealing with a form of violent aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable who was beaten by robbers and left abandoned on the road”. 

Pope Francis poses challenges to the Christians: to be a bruised Church which goes out to the streets “where people live and where they can be reached both effectively and affectively”. “The digital highway” he says “is one of them,  a street teeming with people, who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope.”  He questions whether the Church is capable of communicating that it is the ‘home of all’.  “We need a Church”, he emphasizes “capable of bringing warmth and of stirring hearts”. “We are challenged”, he continues, “to be people of depth, attentive to what is happening around us and spiritually alert.”

In the context of the increasing divide that is taking place all over the world, Pope Francis hopes and prays that “our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine that gladdens hearts”. He encourages all Christians “not to be mere passer-bys on the digital highways” but to ensure that our authentic encounters help in every possible way to create a more loving, just and truthful world. “Therevolution taking place in communications media and in information technologies represent a great and thrilling challenge; may we respond to that challenge with fresh energy and imagination as we seek to share with others the beauty of God”.

As we in India observe ‘Communications Day’, let us truly commit ourselves to ensure that our communication too is at the service of an authentic culture of encounter.

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad-based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace and the Secretary for Social Communications of the Western Region Catholic Bishops Council)

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad – 380052 Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333    Fax:  79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com     www.humanrightsindia.in

Inner Critic

How to Silence Your Inner Critic & Create More Empowering Conversations

“Any moment you spend attacking yourself is a moment away from your 
higher purpose and your power to love. Don’t go there.” ~Martha Beck

All human beings have an inner dialogue – conversations that we have with ourselves about our day, our appearance, achievements, relationships, finances, goals and dreams.
(It’s that little voice in your head that right now may be saying “What inner dialogue? I don’t have an inner dialogue.”)
Depending on the conversations you have with yourself, your inner dialogue can be what empowers you on to achieve big wins in your personal life, career or business…
Or, you’re extremely self critical, it can block you from getting where you want to go.
The fact is, your inner dialogue is often programmed by forces outside of you – from messages you absorb from your friends, families, the media and society without even realizing it – messages telling you that you need to do more, be more, strive more.
Instead of letting your inner dialogue run unconsciously, try tuning in and getting present to the conversations that you are having with yourself, in particular around money and success!
Journaling, even if it’s just jotting down a few notes, is a great way to do this.
Is your inner dialogue unrelentingly critical? Or does it give you the same encouragement that a best friend would?
If you realize your inner dialogue is mostly disempowering, here’s a simple trick to re-programming it to support you in your goals instead of getting in your way…
Consider writing up a simple one, two or three line mantra to say to yourself anytime you get present to that critical inner voice.
If you notice that you have a persistent negative conversation about money for example, a great mantra to say to yourself often would be: “I am worthy of abundance.”
Whatever you choose, say your mantra regularly and you’ll soon manifest greater results and satisfaction in your business and personal life.
You can do it!
To your success,

Want more free tips and videos on how to create the income you desire and a life you love, subscribe here for free updates!

Living water

Faith and Evolution

Married Priest

   

• Save
Photo: Perla Akiki receives Communion from her father, Fr Wissam Akiki, after he was ordained to the priesthood.Feb 28 2014

ST. LOUIS (AP) The Maronite Catholic Church in the United States has ordained a married priest for the first time in nearly a century, after Pope Francis gave his permission.

A ceremony at the ornate St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral in St. Louis ordained Deacon Wissam Akiki on Thursday night.

Maronites are among more than a dozen Eastern Catholic church groups in the United States. Eastern Catholics accept the authority of the pope, but have many of their own rituals and liturgy.

Eastern Catholic churches in the Middle East and Europe ordain married men. However, the Vatican banned the practice in America in the 1920s after Latin-rite bishops complained it was confusing for parishioners. But Pope John Paul II called for greater acceptance of Eastern Catholic traditions. And over the years, popes have made exceptions on a case-by-case basis for married men to become Eastern Catholic priests in the U.S.

"Almost half of our priests in Lebanon are married, so it's not an unusual event in the life of the Maronite Church, though in the United States it is," Deacon Louis Peters, chancellor at St. Raymond's, said Thursday.

Peters said the pope's action does not lift the ban on married priests in the U.S. It is simply an exception.

Whether the decision would open the door for more married priests wasn't clear. Experts cautioned against reading too much into it.

"This is certainly not an automatic indication that the mandate of celibacy within Roman rite will be overturned," said Randy Rosenberg, a theological studies professor at Saint Louis University.

Akiki, 41, completed seminary studies at Holy Spirit University in Lebanon, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminary in Washington, D.C., and the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. He has been a deacon at St. Raymond's since 2009 and worked as the assistant to the bishop. He and his wife, Manal Kassab, have one daughter, Perla, 8.

Peters said that in the most recent Maronite Patriarchal Synod, the church reaffirmed its position in support of allowing married priests, a tradition that, worldwide, dates back centuries.

Peters said having married priests "does not in any way detract from the value that the church finds in the vocation to celibacy. The celibate priesthood continues to be highly esteemed."

Fr. Matt Malone, SJ - Witness

Take my hand

A parable – Take My Hand 

January 18, 2014 

One day Mulla Nasrudin saw a crowd gathered around a pond. The village miser had fallen in the water and was calling for help.

People were leaning over and saying, “Give me your hand! Give me your hand!” But he didn’t pay attention to their offer to rescue him; he kept wrestling with the water and shouting for help.

Finally Mulla Nasrudin stepped forward: “Let me handle this.” He stretched out his hand toward the miser and shouted at him, “Take my hand!”

The man grabbed Mulla’s hand and was hoisted out of the pond. People, very surprised, asked Mulla for the secret of his strategy.

“It is very simple,” he replied. “I know this miser wouldn’t give anything to anyone. So instead of saying ‘Give me your hand,’ I said, ‘take my hand,’ and sure enough he took it.”

- fwd: reuben tellis

Best poem

BEST POEM IN THE WORLD  I was shocked, confused, bewildered  As I entered Heaven's door,  Not by the beauty of it all,  Nor the lights or its decor.  But it was the folks in Heaven  Who made me sputter and gasp--  The thieves, the liars, the sinners, The alcoholics and the trash.  There stood the kid from seventh grade  Who swiped my lunch money twice.  Next to him was my old neighbor  Who never said anything nice.  Bob, who I always thought  Was rotting away in hell,  Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,  Looking incredibly well.  I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?  I would love to hear Your take.  How'd all these sinners get up here?  God must've made a mistake.  'And why is everyone so quiet,  So somber - give me a clue.'  'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.  No one thought they'd be seeing you..'  JUDGE NOT!!  Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a  Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car. Every saint has a PAST...  Every sinner has a FUTURE! Now it's your turn... Share this poem.Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil...It has no point!     "I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't,  Than to live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is."