spirituality

Blessing That Vincent Offered to Louise as He Sent Her Forth on Her First Mission to the Confraternities of Charity

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By St. Vincent de Paul

“Go forth, then. Go forth in the name of the Lord. We pray the Divine Goodness to accompany you, to be your consolation on the way, your shelter against the heat of the sun, your protection from the rain and cold, your soft couch in weariness, your strength in labor, and that in the end, it may bring you back in perfect health, laden with good deeds and precious remembrances.”

And may we send you forth in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac! Go lead with love!

Daughters of Charity Daily Routine: Sustaining the Journey

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If you go back and look at the schedule of the Daughters of Charity—the community founded by Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul—you will see they were very intentional about their time. Their day started at 4:00 AM and was scheduled to the minute until 8:15 PM, when they prepared for bed.

Something striking—aside from their ability to function at a seemingly superhuman capacity—was that their schedule included designated times for recreation and learning how to read. Even in the midst of curing the ills and woes of the day and tending to a broken society, they prioritized time every day for leisure, respite, and personal development.

Louise understood that these daily routines, which created space to care for the whole person, were essential for sustaining the community’s long-term effectiveness as agents of change.

Reflection Questions:

  • What holistic care practices do you integrate into your daily routines?
  • How are you creating spaces in your life for recreation and restoration?
  • How do you hold yourself accountable to practicing daily habits?

Discourse on the Psalms 

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By Saint Augustine 

“The desire of one’s heart constitutes one’s prayer. There is a hidden anguish which is inaudible to us… If your desire lies open to the one who is your God and who sees your secret, God will answer you. For the desire of your heart is itself your prayer. And if the desire is constant, so is your prayer.

The Apostle Paul had purpose in saying: ‘Pray without ceasing.’ Are we then ceaselessly to bend our knees, to lie prostrate, or to lift up our hands? Even if we admit that we pray in this fashion, I do not believe that we can do so all the time.

Yet there is another, interior kind of prayer without ceasing, namely, the desire of the heart.

Whatever else you may be doing, if you but fix your desire on God’s Sabbath rest, your prayer will be ceaseless. Therefore, if you wish to pray without ceasing, do not cease to desire. The constancy of your desire will itself be the ceaseless voice of your prayer… If your love is without ceasing, you are crying out always; if you always cry out, you are always desiring; and if you desire, you are calling to mind your eternal rest in the Lord… If the desire is there, then the groaning is there as well. Even if people fail to hear it, it never ceases to sound in the hearing of God.”

Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa (died 430 AD).

Praise is the Harvest of Love

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By Abraham Joshua Heschel

“The secret of spiritual living is the power to praise. Praise is the harvest of love. Praise precedes faith. First we sing, then we believe.

The fundamental issue is not faith but sensitivity and praise, being ready for faith. To be overtaken with the awe of God is not to entertain a feeling, but to share in a spirit that permeates all being… We praise with the pebbles on the road which are like petrified amazement, with all the flowers and trees which look as if hypnotized in silent devotion.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century.

The Summer Day

arampone Prayers and Meditations ,

By Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention,
how to fall down into the grass,
how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed,
how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver was an American poet.

Prayer for Radical Amazement  

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By Abraham Joshua Heschel

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.
Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.
To be spiritual is to be amazed.

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century.

Prayer and Action

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By Rabbi David Saperstein

“In the Jewish tradition, the separation between prayer and action is slight. We’re mindful of the admonition in Isaiah where God says, ‘I don’t want your fast and your sacrifice. I want you to deal your bread to the hungry, tear apart the chains of the oppressed.’

And Leviticus 19 tells us that to be holy in the way God is holy means to set aside a corner of our fields for the poor and homeless, to pay the laborer a timely and fair wage, and to remove stumbling blocks. These are religious activities just as much as prayer is. They are all woven together.

After participating in the civil rights march in Selma, Alabama, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of this century’s great religious figures and a close colleague of Martin Luther King, said, ‘It felt like my feet were praying.’ Prayer is not just the communication we have with God; it is also the work we do to make God’s values real to the world. I think God listens to both kinds of prayer with equal joy.”

Rabbi David Saperstein is an American rabbi, lawyer, and Jewish community leader.

Through the Silence of Nature  

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By Hazrat Inayat Khan

Through the silence of nature, I attain Thy divine peace.
O sublime nature, in thy stillness let my heart rest.
Thou art patiently awaiting the moment to
manifest through the silence of sublime nature.

O nature sublime, speak to me through silence,
for I am awaiting in silence like you the call of God.
O nature sublime, through thy silence I hear Thy cry.
My heart is tuned to the quietness,
that the stillness of nature inspires.

Hazrat Inayat Khan was an Indian musician, poet, philosopher, and teacher of Sufism.