A Saint for Those who are Prisoners of their Past....

 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere... Psalm 84:10a

 

St. Josephine spent hours in Eucharistic Adoration and,

when one Sister asked if it tired her, she said,

"Not at all!  I have been having a

wonderful time with Him. 
He has waited so long for me."

...
"Our Lord has always been so good to me ...
If I were to stay on my knees for my entire life,
I still would not be able to 
express my gratitude sufficiently."

 

St Josephine Bakhita

Sudan/Italy ~ 1869-1947

Religious (Canossian Daughters of Charity)

Click here: Canossian Daughters of Charity - Who We Are

Pope Benedict XVI, on 30 November 2007, in the beginning of his 

second encyclical letter Spe Salvi (In Hope We Were Saved), 

relates her entire life story as an outstanding example of the Christian hope.

Feast Day - Feb 8

Toward the end of her life, Mother Bakhita used to smile and say: "I travel slowly, one step at a time, because I am carrying two big suitcases. One of them contains my sins, and in the other, which is much heavier, are the infinite merits of Jesus. When I reach heaven I will open the suitcases and say to God: 'Eternal Father, now you can judge.' And to St. Peter: 'Close the door, because I'm staying.'"

Click here: St. Josephine Bakhita - YouTube
Click here: “A Saint for Those who are Prisoners of their Past” | Vultus Christi

Saint Josephine Bakhita - Bing video

St Josephine Bakhita, pray for us!

A Child's Wish (poem) ...

 

 

A Child's Wish

I wish I were the little key

That locks Love's Captive in,

And lets Him out to go and free

A sinful heart from sin.

 

I wish I were the little bell

that tinkles for the Host

When God comes down each day to dwell

With hearts He loves the most.

 

I wish I were the chalice fair

That holds the Blood of Love,

When every flash lights holy prayer

Upon its way above.

 

I wish I were the little flower

So near the Host's sweet face,

Or like the light that half an hour

Burned on the shrine of grace.

 

I wish I were the altar where

As on His mother's breast

Christ nestles, like a child, fore'er

In Eucharistic rest.

 

But oh, my God, I wish the most

That my poor heart may be

A home all holy for each Host

That comes in love to me.

 

Abram J Ryan

(1839-1886)

 

Painting above: Child in prayer by Roberto Ferruzzi

Fourth Sunday of ADVENT

  

 

Fourth Sunday of ADVENT

 

For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins. - Matthew 1: 20b-21

 

Statue of Mary with Child, Spain

   

 “The modern world’s feverish struggle for unbridled,

often unlicensed, freedom is answered by the bound,

enclosed helplessness and dependence of Christ:

Christ in the womb,

Christ in the Host,

Christ in the tomb."

           

Caryll Houselander 

The Reed of God

 

 

HEEM, Jan Davidsz. de (b. 1606, Utrecht, d. 1684, Antwerpen)
Eucharist in Fruit Wreath 1648
Oil on canvas, 138 x 125,5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna