Note to God

Wise words by Jean Chautard to really prepare and immerse oneself in the mass 1. DIGNE. A respectful position and bearing, the precise pronunciation of the words, slowing down over the more important parts. It means giving dignity to the liturgy. Careful observance of the rubrics. My tone of voice, the way in which I make signs of the Cross, genuflections, etc.; my body itself: all will go to show not only that I know Whom I am addressing, and what I am saying, but also that my heart is in what I am doing. What an APOSTOLATE I can sometimes exercise.  - my state of mind and by the dignity of my bearing when I carry out my duties in my capacity as member of the guard of honor of the King of Kings and of the God of all Majesty 2. ATTENTE. My mind will be eager to go foraging through the sacred words and rites in order to get everything that will nourish my heart. Sometimes my attention will consider the literal sense of the texts, whether I follow every phase or whether, wh...

St Francis de Sales, doctor of the church, said: “Haste kills all devotion.” O my Divine Mediator! Fill my heart with detestation for all haste in those things where I stand in Your place, or act in the name of the Church! Fill me with the conviction that haste paralyzes that great Sacramental, the Liturgy, and makes impossible that spirit of prayer without which, no matter how zealous a priest I may appear to be on the outside, I would be lukewarm, or perhaps worse, in Your estimation. Burn into my inmost heart those words so full of terror: “Cursed be he that doth the work of God deceitfully

The crucifix in Thailand - the battered Jesus who wants to hug you but was nailed on the Cross - he face in deep grimace, but his body arching as though lunging to you but was prevented from those nails at his holy hands which was so skeletally stretched. 

Breaking with the notion that associates man's happiness with exterior goods, the Gospel teaches us to create our own happiness. We can lose all the goods we have acquired; they do not belong to us, they are not part of us. On the other hand, a man's knowledge, his professional skill, his moral worth, his creative powers, and even more so his human dignity and status as a son of God are part of him: no one can take them away from him. These interior personal qualities constitute his true wealth. It is not what he has, what he possesses, that makes a man rich, but what he is and what he does, what he makes of himself, what he does for others.

If you don't start living in what you believe, you will believe what you live. 

We are never alone. The living Christ is at our side and always accompanies us. He is truly present, close to us in a powerful and intimate way. Our Lord, united to the Father in the Spirit, is nearer to us than our innermost being: intimior intimo meo, as Saint Augustine ardently exclaimed, based on his own experience

In the parable of the sower, the seeds fell in many places. Those on rocky ground sprang up straight away, but because it had little soil, and as soon as the sun comes up, it was scorched, and not having any roots with them, withered away.  Those in Opus Dei are plants growing in deep soil, allowing roots to sink in deeply into the earth, rooted with all the members, with the richness of formation and spiritual fraternity, watched over by S. Josemaria and our Lady, drawing strength from our Lord.

Do not let us complain that there are too many scholars; our unhappiness springs from the fact that there are not enough saints, that conscience has not progressed at the same speed as science. 

Paradox of happiness Those who look for happiness is to condemn oneself to never finding it. Men who only seek to be happy never succeed to satisfy all his desires, for these desires can change unceasingly. Suddenly the joys can escape them. Think about wealth. Feeble friendships. Man is not made not to look for happiness. Man ought to seek to be just. It is one who seek to be virtuous, obedient, fulfil the their duties that says they are happy. Happiness is a consequence, not an end. The end is God.

The parable of prayer of pharisee and the tax collector Pharisee prayed correctly initially.. thank you God.... but he does not know himself That I am not like this other guy.... But Who am I? He was self righteous after. Characteristics of self righteousness: 1. They wallow in self-pity 2. The refuse correction  3. Holier than thou 4. Judgey 

In life, we cannot quit. If we quit, we lose. So we pray to get strength. 

Lord, I'm sorry for neglecting what I need to do... and for taking lightly the consequences of my lack... I have slacken in my desire to form others, neglected my cooperators, making it easier for the devil to harm them.. I need to be more responsible, live more seriously as a Christian, a son of Opus Dei, taking care of my family, of my work seriously. Not succumbing to the entertainments which make me loosen myself up. Give me grace, Lord. That I may continue to form those around me, but myself being formed first. 

Apostolic fruit cannot be lasting when a Christian falls prey to activism, which is the tendency to be ‘doing things’, to rush around, without the support of a deep prayer life. In the end, the furious activity turns out to be sterile and ineffective, and is often the sign of a lack of rectitude of intention. It is a purely human activity without any supernatural perspective. It is perhaps the consequence of ambition, of a desire to attract attention, which can infect everything we do, even the most sublime of undertakings.. So there is good reason for stressing the danger of activism - of multiplying deeds which, though good in themselves, have no interior life to support them. Saint Bernard, and many authors after him, called such works accursed occupations. But the lack of real fruit in our apostolate can arise also from passivity, from the absence of deeds of love. And if activism is bad and sterile, passivity is deadly, for it can lead us to think that we love God because we perfo...

Productivity is important. But in a world where burnout is running rampant, we also need strategies for eliminating volume instead of simply accommodating it. There are three things you can do to escape the trap. 1. Reduce the Volume of Tasks To-dos represent an agreement: “I’ll handle the budget update for next week’s meeting,” “I’ll pick up something for dinner on the way home,” or “I’ll send you the updated PowerPoint deck later tonight.” As soon as an agreement is in place, it begins to create the pressure to deliver. If we have to break or renegotiate the agreement, we add the additional stress of a challenging conversation and the guilt of letting someone down. To reduce the pressure from task volume, hold the line upfront so you aren’t forced to renegotiate later. How you hold the line depends on whether your pile of to-dos tends to grow from tasks you are assigned or from tasks that you choose to take on. For tasks that are assigned to you, think in terms of priorities not time...

To be human is to be hungry,  to be needy

Jesus hides himself in the eucharist, it is to tell us that earth is not heaven.  If Jesus is on earth , we might think that earth is heaven

The gift of Fortitude doesn’t remove the weakness of human nature, the fear of danger, pain or weariness. A person who is strong can still experience fear, but can overcome it thanks to love. Precisely because of love, a Christian is able to face greater risks, even though one may feel repugnance not only at the beginning, but also for as long as the trial lasts or the desired-for object is still being sought. Fortitude does not always eliminate the deficiencies inherent in all created beings.

The gift of Fortitude doesn’t remove the weakness of human nature, the fear of danger, pain or weariness. A person who is strong can still experience fear, but can overcome it thanks to love. Precisely because of love, a Christian is able to face greater risks, even though one may feel repugnance not only at the beginning, but also for as long as the trial lasts or the desired-for object is still being sought. Fortitude does not always eliminate the deficiencies inherent in all created beings.

Christians read Holy Scripture with love and veneration, because it is as it were a letter which our Heavenly Father sends us: in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets his children with great love and speaks with them (Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, 21).

everything we have is on loan, we should use it for the purpose for which we have intended it: that is, for the glory of God and for the good of those close to us.