All posts tagged: Jesus

Pilgrims of Hope

Published by

In a time that needs the witness of Christian hope more than ever, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, says the following about hope:   it is a gift of God and a task for every Christian.  He explains that it is more than just “a mere act of optimism.”  Rather, it is “waiting for something that has already been given to us” (salvation and full communion with the Lord.)  What might that look like in the world of today?  Many years ago, while presenting the pro-life position to a group of high schoolers, one boy asked what could be wrong with abortion if you were saving a baby from a terrible life of unhappiness.  Our seminarian responded by pointing out that if we were to follow that logic, we should take a gun out and shoot everyone who is currently unhappy.  The young man was not operating from a vision of life informed by hope but rather from the belief that happiness and unhappiness are unchangeable and, in fact, the only thing that really matters.  He did not have the wisdom to see …

Please Join Us for Our Next Spiritual Exercise: Christian Resistance to Evil

Published by

Sr.AnneMarie Walsh is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Sr.AnneMarie Walsh’s Zoom MeetingTime: Oct 14, 2024 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/95305999268?pwd=UQmUdWuZbdGwDCCnCu2d5T188lvShb.1 Meeting ID: 953 0599 9268Passcode: 241317 One tap mobile+16469313860,,95305999268# US+19292056099,,95305999268# US (New York) Dial by your location CHRISTIAN RESISTANCE TO EVIL – Session 66 The ordinary Christian knows something the unbeliever does not.  When Christians, especially Catholics, look at the state of the world, they know the primary source of evil is not cultural, political, or sociological.  It’s spiritual.  “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.”  Eph 6:12-13 As Catholics, we do not believe that anyone is born evil.  God creates us good.  We are, however, born wounded in the integrity of our nature because of the first sin.  The …

The Leaders We Deserve

Published by

 It’s often been said that God gives us the leaders we deserve. If that’s true, we should then do everything in our power to become worthy of good leaders. Everyone who grows anything knows that the stock you start out with is very important. If the stock is not healthy, it will not produce good fruit. Simply saying this, in a political season, can bring about the pressing temptation to pivot to our leaders and complain about our options. But the point is that reform begins with ourselves. If we want good leaders, we have to become good ourselves. It’s as simple as that. As a people, we produce our own leaders. But if we are trying to produce leadership without any connection to or real reference to God, and if the criteria for a good leader have become completely secularized, we are going to run right up against the impossibility of bringing anything good out of it.  God the Father is the source of every good gift, and if we are honest, we soon …

A Phrase for Life

Published by

Living life by a particular motto can have untold benefits.  Many of the saints had mottoes to which they oriented their entire lives.  “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?”  That motto spoke to St. Anthony of the desert as the conversion or turning point of his entire life.   We may be familiar with other mottoes, such as Padre Pio’s “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” Or, Pope St. John Paul II, who entrusted his life to the care and protection of Our Blessed Moth and encapsulated this in his papal motto: “Totus Tuus,””,  meaning “Totally Yours.”  St. Junipero  Serra’s motto was “Always forward, never back.” Padre Miguel Pro, who was martyred for the faith in Mexico during the Cristero uprising against the government and who died by firing squad, proclaimed the motto he lived his life by:  “Viva Christo Re!” or, “Long live Christ the King.” Each of us lives our lives according to our beliefs and the way we understand life in general.  At the …

Session 61: Finding Our True Selves

Published by

FACING OUR IMMORTALITY Sr.AnneMarie Walsh is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Finding Our True Selves Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/6516969698?pwd=WWQ4dndGQnVyTGx6SW1Hc0RrMjM3UT09 Meeting ID: 651 696 9698/Passcode: 246122 FINDING OUR TRUE SELVES Blessed Carlo Acutis, the young Catholic, Italian website designer who died of Leukemia at 15 years of age while living a holy life in the modern world, observed that “All people are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.” This is a problem if we understand that God has a master plan for our happiness but that many people do not, knowingly or unknowingly, choose to follow it.   Blessed Carlo understood this.  His plan for life was to stay close to Jesus and allow Jesus to unfold his life and its unique purpose.  It wasn’t a long life, but it was one in which he could say:  “…in eternal life, something extraordinary awaits us.”  “I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on those things which do not please God.”  He also understood that …

Receiving the Gifts of Our Lady: Spiritual Exercise 08/14/23

Published by

Please join us for our upcoming session with Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT. It takes place Monday 08/14/23 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT. Please click the link below for automatic entry. God Bless you. Click on Zoom: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09 Opening Prayer: The Memorare REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.  Amen Receiving the Gifts of Our Lady Our Lady has made various prophecies during her approved apparitions down through the centuries of time. Many of them are warnings. Most of them grant the possibility of mitigation if enough people repent and turn back to God. Our Lady also has obtained unique gifts for us, which She lavishly offers to her …

Living A Life Filled With The Holy Spirit: Spiritual Exercise 05/08/23

Published by

Please join us for our upcoming session with Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT. It takes place Monday 05/08/23 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT. Please click the link below for automatic entry. God Bless you. Click on Zoom: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09 Opening Prayer: The Memorare REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.  Amen Living A Life Filled With the Holy Spirit: Most of us are baptized. Most of us are confirmed. Most of us have received, therefore, the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Yet most of us don’t know much, nor do we expect the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate in us. We do not understand …

Notoriety And The Love Of God: Spiritual Exercise 02/13/23

Published by

Please join us for our upcoming session with Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT. It takes place Monday 02/13/23 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm mountain time. Please click the link below for automatic entry. God Bless you. Click on Zoom: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09 Opening Prayer: The Memorare REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen Notoriety and the Love of God It is hard to fathom that today’s world does not want God. It mirrors the fundamental struggle of our individual souls, the battle between being self-centered and being centered in God and His Presence in our lives and the life of the world. Scott Barry Hoffman reported in the Scientific American that …

The Dawn From On High: Spiritual Exercise 12/12/22

Published by

Happy Advent and early Merry Christmas to you all. Our next session falls on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and in anticipation of that, we will not hold our regular online meeting. Please rejoice in the following spiritual exercise as we prepare to welcome our Savior Jesus Christ. God Bless you and may you embrace the hearts of Mary, Joseph and the sweet Christ Child into your heart with overwhelming JOY this Christmas season! Opening Prayer: The Memorare REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen The Dawn From On High From the moment Jesus was conceived and then born into the world on Christmas night, He began …

The Work Of Suffering: Spiritual Exercise 08/08/22

Published by

Please join us Monday 08/08/22 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm ET). Click on Zoom: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09 Opening Prayer: The Memorare REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen The Work of Suffering Is there any real purpose to suffering? Why is there so much of it? What good can possibly come from it? These are questions humanity has asked almost from the beginning of time. No one goes through life without experiencing suffering in one form or other many times over. Sorrow and woe are woven into our existence here whether we like it (and most don’t) or not. But what good is it? …