Letting ourselves be found...

  All which I took from thee I did but take,

Not for thy harms,

But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms. 

All which thy child's mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home: 

 'Rise, clasp My hand, and come!'

- Excerpt from The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson 

"As we are searching for God, the good news is that God is searching for us.  Better yet, He has found us.  The great question is not whether we have found God but whether we have found ourselves being found by God.  God is not lost.  We were, or, as the case may be, we are. ... 

Here is what St. Paul says: “It is full time now for you to wake from sleep.”  He is telling us to wake up the gift already given.  This season of the Church’s calendar is called Advent, which means “coming”.  Christ came, Christ comes, Christ will come again.  There is no time–past, present, or future–in which Jesus the Christ is not God with us.  He was with you yesterday, is with you today, and will be with you tomorrow. 

So we are invited to give up our searching and let ourselves be found by the One who wants to be with us, and to have us with Him, forever." 

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, God With Us

Our existence,our goal...

"Our entire existence, our whole being must shout the Gospel 
from the rooftops. Our entire person must breathe Jesus, all our actions. 

 Our whole life must cry out that we belong to Jesus, reflect a Gospel way of living. Our whole being must be a living proclamation, a reflection of Jesus." - Bl Charles de Foucauld

"The goal of every human life should be

the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament."

Bl. Charles de Foucauld

Priest, Martyr ~ 1858-1916
nee France ~ Missionary in the Sahara of Algeria

Inspiration and writings led to the founding

of the Little Brothers of Jesus congregation

Feast Day – December 1

 

Charles returned to the Faith, after living an immoral life.  Regarding his conversion, Charles said,

"The moment I realized that God existed, I knew I could not do otherwise than to live for Him alone.  …My religious vocation dates from the same moment as my faith:  God is so great.  There is such a difference between God and everything that is not."

Prayer of Bl Charles de Foucauld: both prayed and lived...

Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will. Whatever You do I thank You. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, as in all Your creatures, I ask no more than this, my Lord. Into Your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to You, O Lord, with all the love of my heart, for I love You, my God, and so need to give myself - to surrender myself into Your hands, without reserve and with total confidence, for You are my Father.

Click here: Charles de Foucauld - YouTube (4:40 mins)

Click here: Fr Michael Shields - Follower of Bl Charles de Foucauld in Siberia - YouTube  (8:40 mins)

Click here: Quotes by Charles de Foucauld | Jesus Caritas

Bl Charles de Foucauld, pray for us!

At once...they followed...

   "Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

At once they (Simon Peter and Andrew) left their nets

and followed Him.  ~ Matt 4: 19 (Today's Gospel)

 

Jesus Calling Peter and Andrew, Basilica S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy

Following Our Lord's example... Invite someone... 
to Mass or Adoration this Advent Season.

Today's Liturgy: Preface II of the Apostles - Eucharistic Prayers

For You have built Your Church

to stand firm on apostolic foundations,

to be a lasting sign of Your holiness on earth

and offer all humanity Your heavenly teaching.

Therefore, now and for ages unending,

with all the host of Angels,

we sing to You with all our hearts, 
crying out as we acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy ...

St Andrew

Apostle, Priest, Martyr

Younger brother of St Peter

Patron:  Greece, Russia, Scotland, fishermen

 Name "Andrew" (Greek: manly, brave)

Feast day  - November 30

St. Andrew the Apostle - YouTube  (2:40 mins)

Click here: Animated story of St Andrew - YouTube (1:45 mins)

St Andrew, pray for us!

 

Christmas Anticipation Prayer

Beginning on St. Andrew's Feast Day, November 30, the following prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas. This is a beautifully meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real focus of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming. 

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother.  Amen.

Awesome the altar...

"Awesome is the altar on which the divine victim is immolated! 

From paradise there went forth a spring whose visible waters

spread out on every side.  From this Table, it is a spring

of spiritual waters that gushes forth." - St John Chrysostom

...so everything will live where the river flows. - Ezekiel 47:9

"Everything

flows from the altar -

everything!" 

 Bishop Paul V Dudley

Ordained to Holy Priesthood: June 1951
Ordained as Bishop: January 1977
11-29-1926 ~ 11-20-2006

Remembering the good Bishop on the anniversary of his birth

"The Body of Christ (Eucharist) will unite the

Body of Christ (Believers)"~ Bishop Paul V Dudley

Requiescit in pace

Approaching Him: plainly, simply...

 ...and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, 

and hold fast to Him.  For the LORD is your life... - Deut 30:20

The Listening Woman - Godfried Shalcken

"Whenever I go to the chapel, 

put myself in the presence of our good Lord, and I say to Him, 

Lord, I am here.  Tell me what you would have me to do’ ...

... And then, I tell God 

everything that is in my heart.  

I tell Him about my pains and my joys, and then I listen.  

If you listen, God will also speak to you, for with the good Lord, 

you have to both speak and listen. God always speaks to you 
when you approach Him plainly and simply."  

St Catherine Labouré

France~ 1806 -1876

Daughters of Charity nun (Nursing order)

Marian Visionary

Incorrupt body 
(Motherhouse of Dgtrs of Charity: 
140 Rue du Bac, Paris)

Feast Day - November 28

In her second apparition, on November 27, 1830, Our Lady revealed her desire for the Miraculous Medal.  Over the course of the apparitions, which always occurred near the Blessed Sacrament, Our Mother gave St Catherine this message, as if giving a remedy, for the world:  “Come to the foot of the altar.  Here graces will be showered on all, great and little, who ask for them.  Graces will especially be showered upon those who ask for them.”

Click here: St. Catherine Labouré - YouTube (2 mins)

More about St Catherine and the Miraculous Medal -

and to obtain a free medal (USA and Canada only )

http://www.cammonline.org/index.php?/medal/free-miraculous-medal