St. Therese's Spiritual Library

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...Therese drew profit from her reading and the Carmelite instruction she received ruing her religious life. She did not indulge in that sort of spiritual gluttony that makes some 'pious' persons devour a great quantity of sweetly devotional books. Her spiritual reading list can be reduced to:

1. Holy Scripture
2. The Imitation of Christ
3. Father Surin's Foundations of the Spiritual Life Note: The one I found online has been adapted for use in the Anglican Church.
4. Father Arminjon's The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life
5. The Works of St. Teresa of Jesus
6. The Works of St. John of the Cross


From the Complete Spiritual Doctrine of St. Therese of Lisieux by Rev. Francois Jamart. O.C.D., Alba House

Your Concern Was Deeply Appreciated

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As you know by now, the Hawaiian islands were threatened by a tsunami caused by the huge earthquake in Japan. Thank God...and I can't say this enough...Thank God, He spared Hawaii once again.

My family and I were deeply touched by all the messages of concern and prayers we received from so many people. Not only did we receive calls, emails and text messages from our family and friends on the Mainland but we also received messages through Twitter and Facebook. I received emails from friends who read my blog. I had friends send out prayer request for us. Wow! to say I am touched is not even close to sharing how I feel.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart...thank you very, very much for caring!!

I was able to get noon Mass. I had to give thanks to God, pray for Japan but I also wanted to pray for each and every one of you.

The Cross that Most Resembles the Cross of Christ

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"...there is one cross more nearly resembling the cross of Christ than any other, and that is, lovingly and patiently to submit to unjust punishment, rebuffs, or accusations..."

- from the introduction of The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Anna Catherine Emmerich

Living Simply This Lent

Mary Jane shared a really good article just in time for our Lenten journey.

Living Simply During Lent

I'm skipping to #5:

Fifth, embrace silence. Kreeft calls silence "the unknown power source…the great untapped resource." He says that silence is more, not less than noise. Cultivate inner silence by eliminating outer noise. Turn off the television. Skip the radio in the car. Listen more. Talk less. God speaks to us all the time, but often with the cacophonic sounds intruding into our lives we just don't hear Him.

Graces of Lent

How often I have discovered that the good reason I have given, even to myself, for what I do, is not the real reason that I am doing it for. What Jesus describes for us in the Gospel exposes just this split within our hearts. The good reason for which the hypocrite does what he does is so that God will be pleased with his faithfulness and charity. The real reason is so that people will think him to be faithful and charitable. The problem is that we only have on heart, and in the end it can be attached only to one thing, either the good reason, God, or the real reason, people's approval. Once we have attached ourselves, we already have our reward.

Sanctity happens when our good reason and our real reason are the same reason. It happens when the split is eliminated and we have embraced our truest longings as the reason for our lives. Jesus tells us to pray and give where others cannot see us praying and giving so that we not lose track of the entreaty coming from our heart, and thus lose track also of the answer, Jesus himself.

The more our sacrifices are secret, the more there must emerge our secret heartfelt reason for them.

And our Father who sees in secret will repay you.

Father Vincent Nagle, F.S.C.,B. - Special assistant to the Patriarch of Jerusalem and administrator at St. Justin's Parish Church in Nablus, Palestine.

-March 2011 Issue of Magnificat.

Don’t rub off your ashes, urges bishop

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Catholics should try not to rub their ashes off after Ash Wednesday Mass, an English bishop has said.

Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton, who heads the department of evangelisation and catechesis, urged Catholics across Britain to wear “the outward sign of our inward sorrow for our sins and for our commitment to Jesus as Our Lord and Saviour”.

He said: “The wearing of the ashes provides us with a wonderful opportunity to share with people how important our faith is to us and to point them to the cross of Christ. I invite you where possible to attend a morning or lunchtime Mass.

You can read the rest of Anna Arco's article here