Spotlight within darkness,
Lord reveal my self to my self,
Healing,
Opening,
Elevating,
In order to go beyond myself,
Wings of desire,
Alight Holy Spirit,
Kindly,
Gently descending,
Brush the blood from the brow,
Soften the weary heart,
Keep the exhausted mind untainted,
And the aging body chaste,
Embolden the weeping spirit,
Have mercy Lord.
The Joyful Mysteries
The Annunciation
The Silent Way
“I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me”.
So often God performs His greatest works in silence. Mary is alone as the Holy Spirit comes upon her and the power of the Most High covers her with its shadow she conceives the Holy one to be called the Son of God. The whole world was to be affected by this event which God worked in seclusion and silence. So, too, does His grace work in one’s soul. Mary’s was a secret joy until God willed to reveal it to others.
Mother Mary, pray for us that we may always allow God’s grace to work silently in our soul.
The Visitation
The Blessed Way
“Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth knows what God has done for Mary and for all mankind. What greater blessing than to be chosen by the Father to be the mother of all of us. Through it, all glory and honor are given to the Father. “Through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are Yours, Almighty Father, for ever and ever”. No two women ever shared in a joy like that of Elizabeth and Mary.
Mother Mary, pray for us that our souls may be blessed with all the graces that Jesus has merited for our salvation.
Wings Dulce María Loynaz
“You have wings and I don’t. You flit through the air like a butterfly, while I go off to learn, from every last road on earth, what it means to be sad”.
“Within you there is the weariness of a wing that has been stretched a long time”.
Two prose pieces from Dulce María Loynez ‘Absolute Solitude’. The introduction to the first two Joyful Mysteries are taken from the Saturday afternoon prayer guide we utilize at St Paul Shrine, put together by extern Poor Clare Sister Regina.
An image of seven-fold grace.
We cannot help but admire the stark simplicity and poverty of Joseph’s end. We know where the patriarchs were buried: Scripture tells us the resting places of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… We are told nothing about Joseph: no trace of him remains on earth. On account of this silence some claim that he was taken up into Heaven. Yet we can interpret this silence in a different way and understand that it helps us to discover Joseph’s spiritual poverty —the poverty of this father who exercised so unique an authority and who is truly the servant par excellence —the servant of the New Covenant, gentle and faithful but dispensable. – – Father Marie-Dominique Philippe ‘The Mystery of St Joseph
Every morning a rose rots in somebody’s coffin.
Every night God is sold for thirty pieces of silver.
And you complain of betrayal when it bites into your side, of mud when it splatters your face. You! who want to love without darkness and without toil! Pray tell. Is your love greater than a rose? Or is it greater than God?
I never call your name,
But you are in me
Like the song in the nightingale’s throat
Even when it’s not singing.
A poet splendidly introduced by the Cuban poet friend from St Paul Shrine. She attended a conference on the poet in Brooklyn, speaking inspiringly of her experience. Her admiration with her fellow country woman extends to enchantment regarding communist persecution in Havana due to the poet’s commitment to her Catholic faith. A collection of the poet’s, ‘Absolute Solitude’ has been ordered.
This woman is phenomenal. The book can be purchased on Amazon, including a Kindle edition.
Body and soul, I always had my way.
My soul was rebellious. Like a lion tamer in a circus I had to confront it whip in hand. In the end I made it jump through rings of fire.
My body was more submissive. The truth is, it was weary of my soul’s constant coming and going.
It wanted nothing more to do with it. I didn’t manage to free it, but at peace with my soul and a little bit in debt, perhaps, to my body, I gathered up into the two of them, not unlike a shepherdess, a few fragments of Martha and a few of Mary.
Fragments, nothing more. But enough to tell them, when they come and ask me, I have served God.
In times of crisis — whether they be personal ones or those of a community — surely a return to the origin is needed, a return to what was chosen and desired at the beginning, in order to overcome the crisis with love and intelligence. This is perhaps the ultimate meaning of a crisis and the very reason that God allows it to happen. – – Father Marie-Dominique Philippe ‘The Mystery of St Joseph’, elaborating thoughts ingrained upon my being by Pope Leo XIII in the crucial social justice document Rerum Novarum–a huge influence upon my political and personal views.
An interesting note on tthe precious French family Father Marie-Dominique Philippe was born into and formed as an individual.
Father Marie-Dominique Philippe was born on September 8, 1912 at Cysoing, France, the eighth of twelve children in a family who gave the Church three Dominican brothers and four contemplative religious sisters.
Marie Domnique Philippe brother to Thomas
I have been attending a Saturday morning Mass at St Dominic in Shaker Heights. The early 6:30 AM Mass is followed by a Eucharistic Holy Hour. The Holy Hour is organized, a piece of paper dispersed with communal prayers to be read by a speaker every fifteen minutes. It is a hallowed service, sublimely providing space for prayer. Here is one of the prayers read.
Prayer for Vocations
By Pope John Paul II
Mary, your life was a humble and generous service. You were the servant of the Word when the angel announced to you the divine plan of salvation. You were servant of the Son, giving him life and remaining open to His mystery.
You were servant of the redemption, standing courageously at the foot of the cross, close to the Suffering Servant and Lamb, who was sacrificing himself for love of us. You were servant of the Church on the day of Pentecost, and with your intercession you continue to generate her in every believer, even in these our difficult and troubled times.
Let the young people of the third millennium look to you, young daughter of Israel, who have known the agitation of a young heart when faced with the plan of the eternal God. Make them able to accept the invitation of your Son to give their lives wholly for the glory of God.
Make them understand that to serve God satisfies the heart, and that only in the service of God and his kingdom do we realize ourselves in accordance with the divine plan, and life become a hymn of glory to the most Holy Trinity. Amen.
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