ST.
VINCENT DE PAUL
Haggai, Chapter 2, verse 5
This is the commitment I made to you when
you came out of Egypt. My spirit remains in your midst; do not fear!
The
prophet here is assuring the people of God’s presence. During the time of exile
under the reign of Darius people needed to be reminded of God’s presence. How
blessed we are that as Catholics and Non-Catholics we have God in our very
presence in the Sanctuary of the Blessed Sacrament. Each time we visit our soul
is filled with grace; it is like a river that flows to the sea and with each
visit our soul receives a small stream of love and kindness so that it grows
fuller and stronger on the way.
Jesus
awaits us in there; let us not refuse to meet Him in adoration, contemplating
Him in full faith; opening ourselves to making amends for the offenses and
crimes we and the world has committed. Let our adoration never cease.[1]
Ultimately, discernment leads to the
wellspring of undying life: to know the Father, the only true God, and the one
whom he has sent, Jesus Christ. It requires no special abilities, nor is it
only for the more intelligent or better educated. The Father readily reveals
himself to the lowly. The Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work,
through others and at every moment. Yet we simply cannot do without the silence
of prolonged prayer, which enables us better to perceive God’s language, to
interpret the real meaning of the inspirations we believe we have received, to
calm our anxieties and to see the whole of our existence afresh in his own
light. In this way, we allow the birth of a new synthesis that springs from a
life inspired by the Spirit. Nonetheless, it is possible that, even in
prayer itself, we could refuse to let ourselves be confronted by the freedom of
the Spirit, who acts as he wills. We must remember that prayerful discernment
must be born of a readiness to listen: to the Lord and to others, and to
reality itself, which always challenges us in new ways. Only if we are prepared
to listen, do we have the freedom to set aside our own partial or insufficient
ideas, our usual habits and ways of seeing things. In this way, we become truly
open to accepting a call that can shatter our security, but lead us to a better
life. It is not enough that everything be calm and peaceful. God may be
offering us something more, but in our comfortable inadvertence, we do not
recognize it. Naturally, this attitude of listening entails obedience to the
Gospel as the ultimate standard, but also to the Magisterium that guards it, as
we seek to find in the treasury of the Church whatever is most fruitful for the
“today” of salvation. It is not a matter of applying rules or repeating what
was done in the past, since the same solutions are not valid in all
circumstances and what was useful in one context may not prove so in another.
The discernment of spirits liberates us from rigidity, which has no place
before the perennial “today” of the risen Lord. The Spirit alone can penetrate
what is obscure and hidden in every situation, and grasp its every nuance, so
that the newness of the Gospel can emerge in another light.
Having lived and worked in Belgium
it is interesting to note the little “d” from “de Paul” normally denotes that
Vincent was of a royal blood line.
Things to Do:[5]
- Find out more
about the Vincent de Paul Society near you, see if you can
participate.
- Find out more
about the two orders founded by St. Vincent.
- Other people
to find out more about: St. Louise de Marillac, Bl. Frederic Ozanam and St.
Francis de Sales.
- Learn what
France was like during St. Vincent's life. At that war-torn time, the
lives of peasants were far removed from those of the nobility.
- Make a banner
or poster with St. Vincent's motto to remind us of God's presence.
Remembering
that, "God sees you"
Recognizing that God, the Father created man on Friday the 6th day
I propose in this blog to have an entry that shares on how to recreate and
renew yourself in strength; mind, soul and heart.
Is interval training more effective than steady-state cardio
training for fat loss?
·
Exercise combined with diet modifications has been shown to
be more effective than either alone for promoting weight loss.
·
Establishing exercise habits during the weight loss phase can help
prevent weight regain and yo-yo dieting down the road. One of the most
common excuses for lack of exercise is a lack of time.
·
These results show that the type of cardio performed for fat loss
(intervals vs. steady-state) probably doesn’t matter as much as the number of
calories burned in the exercise session. Moreover, the overall amount of fat
loss is small.
·
Focus should be placed on how the exercise session impacts other
areas of life, such as appetite, food intake, and leisure-time physical
activity.
·
Focus should also be placed on whether you can see yourself
sticking with your chosen exercise modality for the long-term.
·
Exercise may not be all that for fat loss, but it certainly
impacts fitness and health improvement. As such, all forms of exercise should
be encouraged despite their relatively minimal contribution to fat loss.
·
Strength training is especially important for developing lean body
mass.
·
High-intensity training such as interval endurance training
appears to be more effective at reducing inflammation and increasing insulin
sensitivity than lower-intensity training such as steady-state cardio.
Evidence has shown that exercise has additional benefits on health
that warrant its inclusion in daily life, such as reducing inflammation and
increasing insulin sensitivity. Moreover, high-intensity exercise appears to be
more effective than lower intensity exercise at inducing these beneficial
changes, which might be one reason to prefer interval training over
steady-state even if fat loss would be similar. Ultimately, though,
adherence is key. Thus, enjoyment and personal preferences when it comes to
exercise are what’s most important.
“Are
any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them
pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of
faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has
committed sins will be forgiven.”-James 5:14-15
Daily Devotions
No comments:
Post a Comment