Poor Clare Nuns

Monastery Happenings 2015-12-12 01:05:00

December 12, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

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Christoph Blumhardt
God’s will finds its simplest expression in the words: “Peace on earth.” God wants peace.…For this reason, our longing for peace should extend far beyond the time when guns are silent and we cease to kill each other. There is much, much more at stake. Human peace, in which the nations give up war “for a while,” is never enough. The peace of Christ is greater than all our understanding and cultural achievements; for even where we work hard for harmony, strife among us and in our families breaks out far too easily. What we need is deep-rooted reconciliation in Jesus Christ – God’s peace for us all, changing this earth into heaven.
Source: When the Time Was Fulfilled

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Peace on Earth

December 9, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

Daily Dig for December 9

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December 8 Feast of Mary, the Immaculate Conception.

December 8, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

The Immaculate Conception has nothing to do with the Virgin Birth per se.

It means that Mary was conceived without sin.

Today’s Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a celebration for everyone, a celebration of God’s perfect intention for every human person. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI declared “Mary is the greatest boast of the human race”. At her conception, a new way of being human is revealed. We suffer the division of original sin; Mary is the perfect capacity of our human nature.

In Mary, we find a perfectly pure heart. A heart that desires one thing, to love God and do His will perfectly. I love the way Fr, Michael Gaitley puts it, “a person is complex and complicated when they have all kinds of different desires. A person is simple when they have one desire”. I want to be simple! Of course Mary’s only thought was YES to the angel Gabriel’s announcement that God was asking her to be the Mother of God! The answers to questions become simple when a heart is motivated by a single desire.

In the first reading from Genesis we read the story of original sin. Eve’s desire for something other than God is the catalyst for her sin. In the same way, our alternate desires distract us from God and lead us to sin. Mary is called the New Eve because her perfect obedience to God’s will undoes the knot of sin caused by Eve’s disobedience. In our own lives, what specific desires cause division and keep us from having a pure heart?

Jesus promise is great for those who cultivate a pure heart. “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). What does it mean to “see” God? St. Thomas Aquinas wrote “a heart which is free from thoughts and affections alien to God, is like a temple consecrated to the Lord, in which we can contemplate Him even in this world”. The world around us is a voice that speaks to us. When our hearts are divided the voice distracts us, pulls us away from God and focuses our attention on itself. As the desire in our heart to love God grows, the more the outside world begins to speak of Him. It becomes a sign of God’s presence and a place we encounter Him. The pure in heart are graced with a sacred sensitivity, attentive to every hint of heaven’s proximity.

So let the purification begin! This Advent, let’s give our hearts to Mary and ask her to undo the knots that complicate and divide them. May our prayer be for undivided, pure & simple hearts that see God within and around us.
—Colleen Scariano, Co-Founder – SoulCore, Catholic Speaker

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Monday December 7 2nd Week of Advent

December 7, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

Daily Dig for December 7

G. K. Chesterton
There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.
For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honor and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.
A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam,
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.
This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.
To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
Source: “The House of Christmas” (1915)

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Saturday Congratulations Sr. Lydia

December 6, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

Congratulations,

<strong>Hayes School Publishing</strong> Citizenship Certificate (Set of 30)

Sister Lydia became a United States Citizen December 5.
We are very proud and happy for her.

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Saturday 5th Mary Waits

December 5, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

Daily Dig for December 5

Philip Britts
The direction to which our wills must be put is, like Mary,
in obedience to God’s will. Then something decisive happens for this earth. In place of the confusion of injustice, strife, open war and treachery, there is revealed a path of the most lively unity and clarity. We are released from the servitude of our own wants and desires, our selfish hopes and fears – we are redeemed, we become free.
Source: Watch for the Light

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Friday December 4

December 4, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

Daily Dig for December 4

Alfred Delp

If we want Advent to transform us – our homes and hearts, and even nations – then the great question for us is whether we will come out of the convulsions of our time with this determination: Yes, arise! It is time to awaken from sleep. A waking up must begin somewhere. It is time to put things back where God intended them. It is time for each of us to go to work – certain that the Lord will come – to set our life in God’s order wherever we can. Where God’s word is heard, he will not cheat us of the truth; where our life rebels he will reprimand it.
Source: When the Time Was Fulfilled

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December 3

December 3, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

Daily Dig for December 3

Eberhard Arnold

We are convinced that there is One who will create peace and social justice for everyone. We expect him and thus long with a humble spirit that his rulership is recognized in every country. And when this happens, he will turn bloody weapons into tools for work, and we shall become true brothers and sisters. The Messiah-King of peace and justice, the world ruler of love and joy will reign! This was the expectation of old, and this is what we think of when we approach the season of Jesus’ birth.

Source: When the Time Was Fulfilled

www.plough.com

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December 2

December 2, 2015 by Poor Clare Nuns

Daily Dig for December 2

Jörg Zink
We humans contribute to the world’s gloom, like dark shadows on a dark landscape.…But now this man from Nazareth comes to us and invites us to mirror God’s image, and shows us how. He says: you too can become light, as God is light. What is all around you is not hell, but rather a world waiting to be filled with hope and faith. This world is your home as surely as the God who created and wrought it is love. You may not believe it, but you can love this world. It is a place of God. It has a purpose. Its beauty is not a delusion. You can lead a meaningful life in it.
Source: “Doors to the Feast”

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