Gratitude & Thanksgiving

I read a paragraph purportedly written by Merryl Streep…. Copied it out in the post below.   For me, indeed -  having just turned 60 & having retired for just over a year - as Streep says, « a slower pace, but a steadier step. » It has been truly a gift - a beautiful letting go, learning to accept, to really see the world and the people around me, to cherish… ———————- Aging is not for the faint of heart. One day, you wake up and realize — youth has quietly slipped away. But it didn’t leave alone. It took with it your insecurities, your rush to please, your fear of not being enough. And in its place? It left you with something stronger: A slower pace, but a steadier step. The wisdom to say goodbye without fear. The grace to cherish those who choose to stay. The power to be you, unapologetically. Aging isn’t about losing — it’s about letting go. It’s about learning to accept, to release, and to truly see: That beauty was never just in the mirror… It lived in every story, sca...

The text below is taken from Facebook page "Interesting World". There was no author named but his/her  perspective resonates with me...

Transcript of talk by Fr Gerry Pierse, based on the teaching of Fr John Main

CS Lewis said, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us, we are wondering how painful the path to the best will turn out to be.” Notes taken from Advent sermon by Rev Fr Mike  as part of his  Face to Face - Advent with Fr Mike Schmitz  series, 2024 [DAY 4] https://link.ascension-app.com/xuJnSCtdZOb The heart of sin is to reject God.  God does not reject us. Sin means we reject God. God as the Good Shepherd seeks out the lost sheep, He seeks us out so as to lead us to the very best. Do I want to be led by the good shepherd Do I want the best? Do I trust the journey? The destination where God leads us will be beautiful and the best, but we are wondering about what we will need to go thru in order to reach our destination, to meet Him face to face.   We trust God wants the best for me, we are fearful how painful the path to the best will be, about how the path to the best looks like?  Psalm 23 -    I walk through the valley ...

Reflecting on Joshua 14:10 The Lord has kept me alive. How much love have I added? Do I view the positives or negatives in others? Am I congruent interiorly and exteriorly?

Life is not a series of calculus problems.   Life is about movement - moving through different terrains and circumstances. For parents, life is not about removing every obstacle and challenge for our children, but about equipping them with the skill and the mettle to face and overcome challenges on their own. Taken from an article in Life, Straits Times (circa October 2024)

Henri Nouwen’s beautiful reflection about life, love and death…. ‘It is possible to have intimate relationships with loved ones who have died. Death sometimes deepens the intimacy. . . .  [I believe] that after separation certain people continue to be very significant for us in our hearts and through our memories.  Remembering them is much more than just thinking of them, because we are making them part of our members, part of our whole being. Knowing this experience allows me to live from the deep belief that I have love to offer to people, not only here, but also beyond my short, little life.  I am a human being who was loved by God before I was born and whom God will love after I die.  This brief lifetime is my opportunity to receive love, deepen love, grow in love, and give love.  When I die love continues to be active, and from full communion with God I am present by love to those I leave behind.’ Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) Catholic priest, writer & theol...

  A reflection on Psalm 19:8 by Alicia Hernon (taken from the  Ascension App) Psalm 19 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple ————————- Transcription: We don’t know on a natural level how to please the Lord This is why we need the law of the Lord We would never be able to figure out on our own how to please God, how to please Him, what is the path to life.  This is why the Law of the Lord found in Scriptures and in the Church magisterium is so precious, it is precious because that is the path to life.    With the law of the Lord, we know how to be in relationship with God, how to grow in knowledge of Him. That is why the Law of the Lord gives wisdom to the simple. Do I love the Law of the Lord? How can knowledge of God’s law help me to grow in relationship with Him?

Notes taken from Advent sermon by Rev Fr Mike as part of his Face to Face - Advent with Fr Mike Schmitz series, 2024 https://link.ascension-app.com/xuJnSCtdZOb ————————- SERMON NOTES (not a transcription) ————————- PREPARING FOR THE LORD’S COMING The season of Advent is a time to prepare for the arrival of Jesus -  His three comings: - His coming at Christmas, preparing our hearts so that we can appropriately and adequately celebrate Christmas. - His coming  to us in the present, in prayer, Scripture and the Sacraments,  to recognise Him - His final coming at the end of time. As for the moment Christ will come at the end of time - we do not know the day nor the hour, but we do know we each have an appointment to meet Him at the last moment to our life, when we stand before the Lord. ————————- HOW DO I LIVE THE NEXT 25 DAYS? WHAT IF  I knew that Dec 25 is the day I was going to die, the day I was going to see the Lord, and I was given 25 days to prepare to see Him fa...

Taken from Sandra Cisneros' short story Eleven.... What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you are eleven, you are also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday, you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. And you don't feel eleven at all. You feel like ten underneath the year that makes you eleven. Like some days, you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama's lap because you are scared, and that's the part of you that's five. And maybe one day when you are all grown up, maybe you will need to cry like if you are three.  That's what I tell mama when she's sad and needs to cry.  Maybe she's feeling three. Because the way you grow ol...

What matters in prayer is not what we do, but what God does in us during these moments. ------------------------ CCC 2672: “The Holy Spirit, whose anointing permeates our whole being, is the interior Master of Christian prayer.  He is the artisan of the living tradition of prayer.  To be sure, there are as many paths of prayer as there are persons who pray, but it is the same Spirit acting in all and with all.” --------------------------- This post is an excerpt from the Daily Rosary Meditation with Dr Mike Scherschligt (@ The School of Faith).  Please feel free to share.   https://www.dailyrosarymeditations.com/ --------------------------- In prayer, one must be less concerned about doing things and more concerned about being open to God’s action. The essential act of prayer is to place ourselves in God’s presence and remain there.  We cannot sit before a fire without becoming warm.   We cannot be out in the sun without tanning.  Likewise, i...

Jesus died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven around 33 AD .  A bout 10 years later, in 42 AD, King Herod unleashed a violent persecution of the Catholic Church. He put to death The Apostle James and all the Apostles were scattered.  -- ------------------------- This post is an excerpt from the Daily Rosary Meditation with Dr Mike Scherschligt (@ The School of Faith).  Please feel free to share.     https://www.dailyrosarymeditations.com/ --------------------------- PLANTING CATHOLICM BEYOND JERUSALEM Propelled out on mission by this persecution. Thomas the Apostle travelled from Jerusalem to Damascus in Syria and then eastward, preaching the Gospel and establishing the Catholic Church in towns along the way in Persia (modern day Iraq and Iran) until he arrived in Punjab, Pakistan, 20 miles north-west of Islamabad.  ------------------------ RECALLED BACK IN JERUSALEM TO WITNESS TWO IMPORTANT EVENTS Having planted Catholicism there, the Hol...

How often do we find ourselves overwhelmed by our situation or by the world around us?    Some of us spend a lot of our time worrying about the chaotic storms that are blowing all around us - the dysfunction within ourselves, dysfunction in our families, the dysfunction in our church,  the dysfunction in our politics, the dysfunction in the international scene... and we despair, and we sink, like Peter did... -------------------------- This post is an excerpt (with my re-arrangement of the learning points) from the Daily Rosary Meditation with Dr Mike Scherschligt (@ The School of Faith).  Please feel free to share.    https://www.dailyrosarymeditations.com/ ---------------------------- Matthew 14:23-33 When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw...

Psalm (118/119)  [Mass reading on 5 Oct 24]: "It was good for me to be afflicted, that I may learn your statutes . (v67) And in your faithfulness you afflicted me . (v75)" Dr Tim Gray shares his reflection on this psalm: "We don't often know to think that God in his faithfulness afflicts us . We think that God has forgotten us, that he abandons us or that he is punishing us when we suffer. But o ften times, affliction and suffering and trials are a sign of God's deep love for us . God in his faithfulness is doing a work in us. In suffering, we learn to submit, we learn God's Word, we learn His ways, we learn to trust in Him, and we learn the great divine wisdom. It is what Job models for us, as he came to deeper wisdom." ------------------- St John Paul II in his apostolic letter " Salvifici Doloris": " Suffering is in itself an experience of evil, but Christ has made suffering the firmest basis of definitive good, namely the good of eter...

Today is the Feast of St Therese of Liseux.  The wise young girl who was so filled with the Spirit says,  “Jesus does not demand great deeds but only gratitude and self-surrender .” This is the key that unlocks the power of the spiritual warrior that was Therese.  -------------------------- This post is an excerpt (with my re-organisation of the learning points) from the Daily Rosary Meditation with Dr Mike Scherschligt (@ The School of Faith).  Please feel free to share.    https://www.dailyrosarymeditations.com/ --------------------- Surrender to God simply means this :  We do what is within our power.  Then we let God do what He wants, through all the people and events  that are beyond our power   or our zone of responsibility. ---------------------------------------------- 1     SURRENDERING  - With a  positive and fruitful attitude Often, when we are confronted with painful occurrences, we either rebel, endure t...