Easter Blessings 2011!

I will hopefully add some family photos to this post soon. Spiritual renewal is ongoing; and, this time of year we feel the blessing and power of the Resurrection. We pray to be risen, to live and work and see all reality with that supernatural vision that faith in Jesus Christ and His Mission give us. I have ups and downs like everyone, even still, there is one constant thought in my mind -- it is the utter and absolute amazement that Christ would die for us sinners. This is inseparable from the reality that He rose for us too, so that we would have the courage and confidence to accept our adoption as children of God.

For a wonderfully inspiring article that encourages us to see how St. Therese can give such timely spiritual guidance throughout the Easter season, go here.

“Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples” (Matthew 28:8).

"Ascending on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." (Ephesians 4:10)

The Teaching of St. Therese on Purgatory

The link is here.

from all your idols I will cleanse you...

Canticle – Ezekiel 36:24-28
The Lord will renew his people
They will be his own people, and God himself will be with them, their own God (Revelation 21:3).

I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart
and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.

I will put my spirit within you
and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.

You shall live in the land I gave your fathers;
you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

from Morning Prayer (Divineoffice.org)

Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila to keep keeping Lent

“Why O Lord, should I be preoccupied with my fears and lose courage in the face of my weakness? You give me to understand that I must fortify myself in humility, and convince myself that I can do very little alone, and that without your help I am nothing. I shall put all my confidence in your mercy, and shall distrust my own strength, convinced that my weakness is caused by my self-reliance. You teach me not to be astonished at my struggle, for when a soul wishes to give itself over to mortification, it encounters difficulties on all sides. Does it wish to give up its ease? What a hardship! To scorn a point of honor? What a torture! To endure harsh words? Intolerable suffering! In short, it becomes filled with extreme sadness, but as soon as it resolved to die to the world, every anguish is at an end.”

Saint Teresa of Avila

I was over at the Catholic Spiritual Direction blog and found this prayer. Perfect timing!