Vita Dulce

  Feast of St. Andrew - November 30th The painting from El Greco above and the First Reading for the Feast of St. Andrew pasted below a re appropriate for reflection on the life of this saint. 'Blessed are the feet of those who bring the good news!' In the painting Andrew appear depicted with his feet moving forward towing with him the special cross of his matryrdom (the 'X' shaped cross). He has 'picked up his cross' and followed the Lord. His bare feet l eaving an imprint in the mud beneath them, plods forward to deliver the Good News that has been handed on to him. After being called from his spot as a fisherman along the Sea of Galilee, he followed the Lord for his three years of ministry and then after Pentecost was led by the Spirit t o carry the Gospel around the shores of the Black Sea and into what is now Greece and Turkey. But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And ho...

Jean Pierre de Caussade  “Sacrament of the Present Moment”  (Key Excerpts) Just as it is fire and not the phi­los­o­phy or sci­ence of that ele­ment and its effects that heats, so it is God’s order and his will which sanc­ti­fy and not curi­ous spec­u­la­tions about its ori­gin or purpose. What he ordains for us each moment is what is most holy, best, and most divine for us.  The mys­te­ri­ous growth of Jesus Christ in our heart is the accom­plish­ment of God’s pur­pose, the fruit of his grace and divine will. This fruit, as has been point­ed out, forms, grows, and ripens in the suc­ces­sion of our duties to the present which are con­tin­u­al­ly being replen­ished by God, so that obey­ing them is always the best we can do. We must offer no resis­tance and blind­ly aban­don our­selves to his divine will in per­fect trust. It is the will of God that gives every­thing, what­ev­er it may be, the pow­er to form Jesus Christ in the cen­ter of our being Souls must look upon ever...

A centurion approached him and appealed to him, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." Jesus said to him, "I will come and cure him."                                                                      - Matthew 8:6-7 The voice of each of the characters leaves something for deeper reflection.   The centurion's request is filled with compassion.  Although this is not family, he still identifies deeply that he is 'suffering dreadfully.'   Even though he is not a Jew, he approaches this Jewish healer, who he believes may provide relief to his friend. Jesus, meeting a Roman soldier, does not hold back.  He does not ask questions, does not feel out the situation, he responds without hesitation:  "I will come and cure him." T...

Today at CDH, new teaches and staff of the Lasallian schools within the archdiocese, gathered for a formation event. A part of the day occurred in the chapel and a reflection was given by Lou Ann Tighe on Blessed Brother Jim Miller, a Christian Brother from Wisconsin, who served at CDH during some of his years of ministry (he was actually the person who started their boy's soccer program). The story was told of Brother Jim serving in the mission school for boys in Guatemala during the time of their conflicts.  Almost any young men was fair game to be taken from his family to serve in the military, but those who were enrolled in school at the time, were not allowed to be conscripted.   Unfortunately, one of the boys from the school disappeared, and it was discovered he had been taken to serve as a soldier in a nearby camp.  Brother Jim and leaders of the school appealed and worked to have the student returned. While their efforts were successful, the brothers in the c...

  "You have lost the love                    you had at first.  Realize how far                    you have fallen. Repent and do the works                    you did at first."                              -Revelation 2:4-5 As we move to the end of the liturgical year, the Church has us ponder the last things and uses readings from the Book of Revelation. Today's first reading calls us to be shaken out of complacency and return to a greater sense of zeal and love.   Time sometimes wears us down gradually without us noticing.   You have lost the love you had at first  is a phrase that can shake us back to commitment in both work and relationship.   Are we still putting in the time and effort to do...

 " Sing a New Song     to the Lord, His praise to the ends     of the Earth."                    -Isaiah 42:10 Over the past year,  the scripture readings that refer to a 'new song' have struck a chord with me.  There is something exciting within those words in that they seem to be saying that each of us has an opportunity, no matter the age or circumstance to start a 'new song' each day. That phrase, to me, calls us to not fall into such consistent patterns of existence that we end in boredom or malaise.  God desires us to be attentive to the people, places, and things that surround us and to realize we have the ability to respond to them in new and unique ways; he does not want us to wake each day and just walk past them. It is like Jean Pierre de Caussade's idea of the  sacrament of the present moment: each day we awake to encounter the world anew and to see how God is present and spea...

Awareness arises sometimes  a pang from the depths stuck in hidden places when it is fall and the final leaves are crisp, burnt, and clinging and you realize  that like them it's time for you too to let go of past seasons and to float gently to the ground where you may  slowly deteriorate over winter and arise in the spring as something new.                              -MAK 11/04/22