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#spiritual direction
apenitentialprayer · 2 months
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Fasting can so easily be done with the spirit of pride. And if we think that observing Jesus' command —"do not let your left hand know what your right is doing (Mt 6:3 [cf. 6:16-18])— means never telling anyone anything about our fasting we are mistaken. For the most dangerous audience for spiritual pride is ourselves. For this reason, sharing our Lenten program with someone who knows us well (like a spouse, a close friend or relative, a spiritual advisor), and letting them express their honest opinion about it, and thus being ready to reconsider it — this is a sign of a healthy Lenten fast, or a practice designed to take us out of ourselves, to relativize our wills, and so expand our hearts to embrace the fully cosmic plan of God revealed at Easter. We might grow in some virtue (or at least lose some weight) by giving up sweets for Lent. But, then again, we'll likely grow in many virtues we really need if we submit our program to the judgment of another, and humbly ready ourselves to hear something like, "Oh, that's nice, but perhaps what you might really want to work on this Lent is something like…"
- Fr. John Bayer, O. Cist (Fasting in the Rule of St. Benedict During Lent). Bolded emphases added.
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fratresdei · 8 days
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To My Body
Holy ash, animate dust
Stunted conductor, moonstruck cache
I smell the winter in your nose,
carry you from my bed,
scan the grass with your feet.
With your mouth I taste filth.
Your nerves keep me safe
            and keep me awake.
You are channel 
and dam.
You show me cliffs
and hang me from them.
The conception 
that splits.
The growth 
and growths.
You warm
          and burn.
You sprint, sway, float
break, infect, sprain.
You play, write, know,
block, stop, detain.
Another day.
Senses seen.
More skin to shed;
body to be.
By Rachel Parsons, Fratres Dei Spiritual Direction
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"If you remember nothing else, always remember this one great secret of spiritual practice: we don't have to feel any particular way. We don't have to have special experiences, nor do we have to be any particular way. With whatever arises, whether it's pleasing or not, try to remember that all we can do is experience and work with whatever our life is right now. No matter what life is and no matter how we feel about it, all that matters in practice is whether we can honestly acknowledge what is going on, and then stay present with the physical experience of that moment."
- Ezra Bayda Zen Heart
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minotaurmerkaba · 9 days
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jmlongworth78 · 19 days
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angria · 1 year
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For being in a large city, it's such a small world. I've lived here long enough that I'm starting to know people who know people, etc. where there are all these connections.
I was talking with someone at St. P's and found out she is doing her chaplaincy field placement at the hospital I usually go to for inpatient and partial. I asked if she knew A, the chaplain there. Last time I was inpatient, my social worker asked A to meet with me and it was such a pivotal experience. I still carry with me what she said over a year later (literally was just talking about it to people two days ago). Turns out, the person is working under A's supervision. I asked to pass along how much meeting with her meant to me (not like she would remember me).
So that was a cool thing that happened today. (also the fact that me, the former raging atheist, spent 7 hours at church today and enjoyed it. Like what.)
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angeltreasure · 1 year
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Posting so I can read later.
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spiritualdirections · 2 years
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St. Alphonsus Liguori’s 50 Maxims on how to be a saint
St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote a list of 50 “Maxims for the Direction of a Soul that Desires to Obtain Perfection in the Love of Jesus Christ”.
Here’s a selection of the 20 that I think are most foundational to the spiritual life (perhaps #34 most of all):
1. To desire ardently to increase in the love of Jesus Christ. 2. Often to make acts of love towards Jesus Christ. Immediately on waking, and before going to sleep, to make an act of love, seeking always to unite your own will to the will of Jesus Christ.
6. Often to visit the Most Holy Sacrament. 7. Every morning to receive from the hands of Jesus Christ himself your own cross.
9. Often to speak of the love of Jesus Christ. 10. To accept contradictions for the sake of Jesus Christ.
12. To do that which is most pleasing to Jesus Christ, and not to refuse him anything that is agreeable to him.
15. To drive from your heart every affection that does not belong to Jesus Christ. 16. Always to have recourse to the most holy Mary, that she may obtain for us the love of Jesus Christ.
20 To be always determined to die rather than commit a willful venial sin. 21. To suffer crosses patiently, saying, “Thus it pleases Jesus Christ.” 22. To renounce your own pleasures for the love of Jesus Christ. 23. To pray as much as possible.
26. To persevere in good works in the time of aridity. 27. Not to do nor yet to leave undone anything through human respect.
29. To love solitude, to be able to converse alone with Jesus Christ.
34. After committing a fault, not to be discouraged, but to repent and resolve to amend.
36. To speak well of all, and to excuse the intention when you cannot defend the action.
50. Always to renew your determination of becoming a saint, saying, “My Jesus, I desire to be all Yours, and You must be all mine.”
See the whole list, and reblog your favorites
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cassianus · 2 years
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New Podcast Up!
What a Magnificent group this evening on the Evergetinos. We truly began to see the wisdom of the fathers and how in reality they were the first depth psychologists. They knew the workings of the mind in the heart so well.
This evening we discussed how it is that one listens to a spiritual elder and what they offer as counsel. How is it that we discern the truth when we find ourselves still struggling with the same sins or sorrow or worry? Is the advice of the elder ineffective or is it because of our own disposition or of our changing dispositions over the course of time.
What we find in the section that we looked at this evening is that the fault often lies within ourselves. The human person is a mystery and we struggle with internal contradictions; we can love and hate our sin at the same time. Therefore, we hear the advice of a spiritual elder in many different ways. Sometimes we only hear partial truths. At other times we do not an act on what the elder told us to do. Or quite simply we have lacked faith in God and the power of His Grace. In their “Science of Sciences” the fathers show us how it is that we are to discern and come to know the workings of our heart as well as the action of God‘s Grace.
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brother-hermes · 2 years
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Would you be willing to share how you came to have a spiritual director?
Our numbers are small. There’s just not that many people that are seeking God within. To find one that can actually teach is even rarer.
So, it helps to actually be seeking guidance. Then, observe. Watch how they move in social settings that require our spiritual senses to be open. Get to know them and see if you’re a good fit for each other.
Finally , the spirit knows. So you’ll know if they’re the right person for you.
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suziegallagher · 15 hours
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Making Bread - reflecting on the prep needed for Spiritusl Accompaniment
gathering the ingredients Getting ready for Spiritual Accompaniment is like looking on the shelves of the pantry for ingredients. Do I have enough? What am I missing? Is everything in date? Taking each issue going on professionally and personally and bringing them into the light of ‘is that the focus for today?’ What does the Lord require me to pay attention to? Spiritual Accompaniment “involves…
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apenitentialprayer · 1 month
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A Catholic Principle of Conscience and Authority
When, then, Mr. Gladstone asks Catholics how they can obey the Queen and yet obey the Pope, since it may happen that the commands of the two authorities may clash, I answer that it is my rule, both to obey the one and obey the other, but that there is no rule in this world without exceptions, and if either the Pope or the Queen demanded of me an "Absolute Obedience," he or she would be transgressing the laws of human society. I give an absolute obedience to neither. Further, if ever this double allegiance pulled me in contrary ways […] then I should decide according to the particular case, which is beyond all rule, and must be decided on its own merits. I should look to see what theologians could do for me, what the Bishops and clergy around me, what my confessor; what friends whom I revered; and if, after all, I could not take their view of the matter, then I must rule myself by my own judgment and my own conscience. [...] Here, of course, it will be objected to me that I am, after all, having recourse to the Protestant doctrine of Private Judgment; not so; it is the Protestant doctrine that Private Judgment is our ordinary guide in religious matters, but I use it, in the case in question, in very extraordinary […] emergencies. [… H]ow else could private Catholics save their souls when there was a Pope and Anti-popes, each severally claiming their allegiance?
- Cardinal John Henry Newman (Certain Difficulties Felt By Anglicans in Catholic Teaching, Volume II, pages 243-245). Italics original, bolded emphases added.
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fratresdei · 9 months
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Spiritual direction provides an opportunity to explore your personal spirituality in an agenda-free, judgement-free space. Now through 7/17, enjoy a free 1st session and 50% off your 2nd. Schedule with the link in the comments and use promo code: JULY50.
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Viktor Frankl, one of the great psychiatrists of the twentieth century, survived the death camps of Nazi Germany. His little book, Man’s Search for Meaning, is one of those life-changing books that everyone should read.
Frankl once told the story of a woman who called him in the middle of the night to calmly inform him she was about to commit suicide. Frankl kept her on the phone and talked her through her depression, giving her reason after reason to carry on living. Finally she promised she would not take her life, and she kept her word.
When they later met, Frankl asked which reason had persuaded her to live?
"None of them,” she told him.
What then influenced her to go on living, he pressed?
Her answer was simple, it was Frankl’s willingness to listen to her in the middle of the night. A world in which there was someone ready to listen to another's pain seemed to her a world in which it was worthwhile to live.
Often, it is not the brilliant argument that makes the difference. Sometimes the small act of listening is the greatest gift we can give.
[Follies Of God]]
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kimeupton · 2 months
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Podcast Day(s) and ramblings
“So much depends not on how awkward destiny is, but rather on how openly it is embraced.” John O’Donohue “But someday the weight of the worldWill give you the strength to go”– from “Robot Boy,” by Linkin Park As mentioned in my last post, I’m fully back in the office. Little did I know that once my wee feeties stepped back toward my desk there would be a great amount of stuff that built up…
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jmlongworth78 · 1 month
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