Mother Teresa on Luke 8:16-18

2008-09-22

Lk 8,16-18.
No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.
For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.
Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away."

Commentary of the day

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
No Greater Love

"Take care, then, how you hear"

Listen in silence. It is ecause your heart is brimful of a thousand things that you are unable to hear God's voice in it. But as soon as you set about listening to God's voice in a peaceful heart, it becomes full of God. This takes many sacrifices. If we think we want to pray then we have to prepare ourselves for it. Without delay. I am only referring to the first steps towards praying but unless we carry them out with determination we shall never reach the final step, the presence of God. That is why our training has to be perfect from the start: we begin listening for God's voice in our heart and, in the heart's silence, God begins to speak. Then, out of the fullness of the heart there rises up what the mouth must say. That is where the connection lies. In the silence of the heart God speaks while you have only to listen. Then, once your heart has reached its plenitude because it finds itself filled with God, filled with love, filled with compassion, filled with faith, it falls to your mouth to speak. Bear in mind that, before speaking, you need to listen and only then, from the depths of a receptive heart, can you speak and be heard by God.

Three wonderful quotes to feed and affirm the spiritual life.

Here is a wonderful quote for the Examen:

 

Our Lord does not want to put up with our having any spiritual boredom. Consequently, he visits us, sometimes by himself, sometimes by the sacred scriptures, sometimes through our sermons in which we express aloud something about him, sometimes even by the sweetness of good things which happen to us through him, sometimes by what happens to us through his followers. These are our dishes with which he feeds our soul so that we neither suffer hunger nor in eating have to put up with boredom. Aelred of Rievaulx

 

We are led to God by desire, drawn as if pulled by a rope. St. Gregory of Nyssa

 

 

Here is one for study – contemplative/discursive method

 

Be constant in both prayer and reading. First speak with God: then let God speak with you. Let God instruct you, let God direct you. St. Cyprian of Carthage

 

 

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USA NATIONAL PRO SANCTITY CENTER
11002 N. 204th St. Elkhorn, NE 68022
psm@prosanctity.org or 402-289-2670

www.prosanctity.org

BLOG: http://prosanctity.blogspot.com/

 

As I begin again my work, I remember these words...

"In these first days of the year (2008), we are invited to give attentive consideration to the importance of Mary's presence in the life of the Church and in our own lives. Let us entrust ourselves to Her that she may guide our steps in this new period of time the Lord has given us to live, and help us to be true friends of her Son and courageous architects of His Kingdom in the world, a Kingdom of light and truth".

 Pope Benedict XVI

 

As I begin again, I ask Mary to assist me as I prepare to present her life. I ask her Son, who loves her so, to show me how to present her to the whole world. I entrust the work entrusted to me, to Mary, may she take my little bit to her son who will work His miracle of abundance, sometthing out of nothing, more out of less for the salvation and sanctification of all. Amen.

 

Sometimes it seems I am always starting over again. I just began reading Fr. Jelly’s book, Madonna, to refresh my sense of outline of the basics in Mariology! As my Founder said and I pray every morning: “Never tire of starting over again!”

 

Radio Course - another way to keep up the research

"In these first days of the year (2008), we are invited to give attentive consideration to the importance of Mary's presence in the life of the Church and in our own lives. Let us entrust ourselves to Her that she may guide our steps in this new period of time the Lord has given us to live, and help us to be true friends of her Son and courageous architects of His Kingdom in the world, a Kingdom of light and truth".
Pope Benedict XVI


Mary and the Saints 101
6 ½ hour shows April 28, 2008 – May 31, 2008

This mini-course will explore “Mary as mother and teacher of the spiritual life” and likewise studies the various expressions of Mary’s place in the universal call to holiness, e.g., the “Marian thread” in the lives of the Saints, with a special emphasis on the new Saints and Blesseds of Pope John Paul II.

Week of April 27, 2008 - CLASS ONE – Annunciation - Mary’s Place in Scripture - St. Louis Mary de Monfort – Pier Giorgo Frassatti

Week of May 4. 2008 - CLASS TWO – St. Paul and Mary (Gal 2:4) – Mary’s Place in the History of the Church – St. Gianna Beretta Mola, Blessed Maria and Luigi Quatrocchi

Week of May 11, 2008 - CLASS THREE - Pentecost – Mary’s Role and Place in the Church - Our Lady of Fatima – St. Jacinta, St. Bernadette, St. Juan Diego

Week of May 18, 2008 - CLASS FOUR – Mark 3:31-35 Mary in the Mystery of the Trinity – The Dogmas – St. Francis of Assisi, Blessed Maria Gabriella of Unity,

Week of May 25, 2008 CLASS FIVE – John 19:25 – Role and place of Mary in the Church: Spiritual Motherhood and Mediation – Devotion to Mary – Blessed Mother Teresa, Edith Stein, Maximillian Kolbe, Kateri Tekawitha

(Saturday, May 31st) Week of June 1, 2008 CLASS SIX – Visitation – Mary and the Mission of the Church – St. Francis deSales, Louis and Zeli Martin, Blessed Frederick Ozanman


GOALS:

-TO TAKE MARY AS MOTHER AND TEACHER OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE AND WITH HER AND LIKE HER, IN THE LIGHT OF THE INCARNATION AND OF EASTER TO BE FIRMLY ON THE PATH TOWARDS GOD THROUGH CHRIST IN THE SPIRIT.

-THE COURSE INVITES US TO GROW INTO BECOMING LIVING EXPRESSIONS OF THE RADICAL MESSAGE OF THE GOOD NEWS, ESPECIALLY THE COMMANDMENT OF LOVE (JN. 15:12).

-WITH MARY AS OUR MOTHER AND TEACHER, WE ARE CALLED TO BE SAINTS IN THE MAKING FOR THE GLORY OF GOD - NOTHING LESS WILL DO!

Each ½ hour will cover briefly:
1. Daily Scripture pertinent to Marian Spirituality
2. Brief points for understanding Mary and her role in the Church and in our lives today.
3. Saints or Blesseds of the day – Brief point on their Mariology and/or the Marian thread in their lives.
4. Prayer

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Thought for the day ... G. GiaquintaThere can only be a universal call to holiness in as much as there is an individual call – a call of each person to holiness (Servant of God, Bishop Giaquinta).

USA NATIONAL PRO SANCTITY CENTER11002 N. 204th St. Elkhorn, NE 68022psm@prosanctity.org or 402-289-2670
www.prosanctity.org
BLOG: http://prosanctity.blogspot.com

Summary of January Work #1

Summary of January Work #1The work has been slow during the month of January due to traveling, but I was able to review some articles and give some presentations:

I. Currently Reading the Doctoral Thesis of Fr. BonacciI wrote a month ago: Sunday, December 30, 2007 Looking at the Marian Presence in the life and works of the Saints I will read this article to see the method and style that Bonacci used to study the "marian presnece in the life and works of St. Ignatius. It will perhaps give me ideas for establishing my own method.

Bonacci, Louis A. The Marian Presence in the life and works of Saint Ignatius Loyola: from private revelation to spiritual exercises--the cloth of Loyola's allegiance. Dayton, Ohio, University of Dayton, International Marian Research Institute, Rome, Pontifical Theological Faculty "Marianum", 2002.

A. He gives an analysis of the Marian Presence in the Ignatian Sources. I find this very helpful and have noted his process. Any help in this area, "analysis of sources" is needed. I have no experience in doing this and could use further assistance and resources to review.

B. The Historical research of the Marian Presence during the time of Ignatious is also a good resource. Since I am doing general overview of six saints, I will not be doing such a through review, but again the method is good for me to know and I desire to see how others have managed this piece.

C. In his review of Early Research on the Marian Presence in Ignatian Tradition, I found his conclusions helpful and provided a quick overview of the research. This is very good and I will need to do something similar and simple! I will be dealing with primarily "modern" saints but still there is "pious hyperbole" and it has to be dealt with to understand the real presence and influence of Mary in the life of the saints.

D. Chapter five dealt with the more recent research on the Marian Presence. I would like to have more examples of the Intra-texual approach and int interdisciplinary approach.

E. I found chapter five complicated and need to read it again to understand his conclusions.

F. Finally, in the opening statement of his conclusions he writes:"The analysis of the Marian presence in the Ignatian Sources confirmed the Medieval aspects of Ignatian spirituality embedded in the life and writings of St. Ignatious Loyola. At Loyola and Arevalo, the atmosphere was in tune with Spanish affection for devotion to Mary and was manifest in terms of artifacts and attitudes passed on to Inigo and eventually in the life and works of Ignatius. " pg 291 He continues on and gives what seems to me a pretty clear and relatively simple summary of the Marian presence in the life and works of St. Ignatious of Loyola.

G. For me, this thesis gave me much insight on the process of seeking the "Marian Presence and Marian Thread" in the life and time of a saint or blessed. I will be focusing primarily on Pope John Paul II himself and on a select bunch from his new blesseds and canonized.

January Summary #2

I read and reviewed:

Mother Teresa: In the Shadow of Our Lady
by Joseph Landford, MC
Our Sunday Visitor
2007
Huntington, Indiana
frjosephmc.book@yahoo.com

Fr. Landford is the author and co-founder of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers
Perhaps this would not be consider a scholarly work but it seems to me it could be used as a primary resource on the presence of Mary in the life and works of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. We recently had Fr. Landford speak on our Morning Show at KVSS Catholic Radio.

I loved this book!!

Fr. Landford writes:
From dawn to dusk, decade to decade, Mother Teresa's life had been spend, in every sense of the word, in the shadow of Our Lady. Our Lady was a core element in Mother Teresa's own self awareness, and day by day that intimacy became transformation.

Our lady helps us, as Mother Teresa found in her vision, to become contemplatives at the foot of the Cross - to discover God's presence and love even in the midst of our trials and dark nights. Nothing was impossible for Mother Teresa while she clung to Our Lady, and as Mother Teresa tells us, "nothing is impossible for all who call Mary mother."

He writes again:
Through thirty years of knowing her, Mother Teresa became for me the one book on Our Lady that I could never put down; one that continues to teach me, to fascinate me, to draw me beyond myself into God. Here are the lights and lessons I have learned from pages of her life."

The "method" of Fr. Landford is one of lectio on the life of Mother Teresa. He reads and re-reads her experience of Mary in light of her life and her works. He quotes her constitutions as well as records conversations that he had with her. He reveals some of the following points:

1. First Chapter: Her vision of 1947 and Mary's place in it from the beginning. "Few have know that the idea and initiative of the whole of it belonged to Our Lady." pg. 19

2. Wrapped in Her Powerful Presence (2nd chapter) outlines Mother's relationship with Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. - He bases much on his personal experience her of Mother and her sharing with him: "Mother Teresa had long since intuited - the deep parallels between Our Lady's role in the mission of Juan Diego and in her own." pg 28

3. From the Beginning, Our Lady (3rd Chapter) Overview of the original rule of MT and the place of Mary from the beginning:
"That the Society may more easily attain its end, let each Sister choose the Immaculate Queen of Haven for her Mother. She must not only love and venerate Her, but fly to Her with child like Confidence in all her joys and sorrows." Excerpt from her Rule pg 39

4. All Her Confidence (4th Chapter) - Mother Teresa asked that Our Lady "lend her her heart" that she might love the Lord and her neighbor in the way Mary did. -- concrete lived reality for Mother Teresa (pg 48). This is how she did what she did (pg. 48). "We give her our heart in consecration, that she might "led us her heart," and prepare our soul for the unimagined gifts of the Spirit" (pg. 49).

5. Living our Lady's Spirit (5th chapter) "If we stand with our Lady, she will give us her spirit of loving trust, total surrender and cheerfulness." (Mother Teresa pg. 51)

6. In Silent Prayer with Mary (6th Chapter) - covers her prayer and the power she gave to the Rosary prayer in her life.

7. Contemplatives in the Heart of the World (7th Chapter)- standing with Mary and pondering as she did are two main characteristics of Mary in her spirituality.

8. Consecration to Mary (8th Chapter) - "She (Mary) as the First Missionary of Charity went in haste to help Jesus sanctify John - so it will be with you and me if we only love her unconditionally and trust her fully. the more we abandon ourselves to her totally and without reserve, the greater will be the number of great saints in our Society - for nothing is impossible for those whose Mother she is. Often during the day, let us raise our heart to her and ask her how she would do this or that or that now if she was in our place - and above all how to love God as she loved him, that we too may love him with her heart." pg 71

The rest of this short book covers biblical foundations of Mother Teresa's Relationship with Mary.
Echoes of Our Lady in the Old Testament and
The story of Juan Diego ...the Nican Mopohua.

What an excellent little book! A cross between a primary reference and a applied meditation for the reader. It teaches much and stays true to the person of Mother Teresa and reveals clearly her relationship with Mary and the influence Mary had on Mother Teresa
Is this a method?? I think so; it certainly is my kind of method.