Friday, September 27, 2019

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]

Speak Lord; your servant is listening[2]

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.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted”[3]

The world tells us exactly the opposite: entertainment, pleasure, diversion and escape make for the good life. The worldly person ignores problems of sickness or sorrow in the family or all around him; he averts his gaze. The world has no desire to mourn; it would rather disregard painful situations, cover them up or hide them. Much energy is expended on fleeing from situations of suffering in the belief that reality can be concealed. But the cross can never be absent. A person who sees things as they truly are and sympathizes with pain and sorrow is capable of touching life’s depths and finding authentic happiness. He or she is consoled, not by the world but by Jesus. Such persons are unafraid to share in the suffering of others; they do not flee from painful situations. They discover the meaning of life by coming to the aid of those who suffer, understanding their anguish and bringing relief. They sense that the other is flesh of our flesh, and are not afraid to draw near, even to touch their wounds. They feel compassion for others in such a way that all distance vanishes. In this way they can embrace Saint Paul’s exhortation: “Weep with those who weep” Knowing how to mourn with others: that is holiness.

Feast of St. Vincent de Paul[4]

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.

St. Vincent de Paul was a great apostle of charity and brought a great revival of the priesthood in the 17th century. He was born near Dax in the Landes (France) in 1581. As a young priest he was captured by Moorish pirates who carried him to Africa. He was sold into slavery but freed in 1607 when he converted his owner. Having returned to France, he became successively a parish priest and chaplain to the galley-slaves. He founded a religious Congregation under the title of Priests of the Mission or Lazarists (now known as Vincentians), and he bound them by a special way to undertake the apostolic work of charity; he sent them to preach missions, especially to the ignorant peasants of that time, and to establish seminaries. In order to help poor girls, invalids, and the insane, sick and unemployed, he and St. Louise de Marillac founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, now better known as the Sisters of St. Vincent. St. Vincent worked tirelessly to help those in need: the impoverished, the sick, the enslaved, the abandoned, the ignored. He died in 1660 at St. Lazarus's house, Paris. His motto: "Let us love God; but at the price of our hands and sweat of our face."

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"

Fitness Friday-Cardio[6]

Recognizing that God, the Father created man on Friday the 6^th 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.

35 Promises of God[7] cont.

“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

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

· Make reparations to the Holy Face

· Battle for the Soul of America-Day 44

· Operation Purity