November ushers in chilly winds, cloud-filled skies and a golden glow over fields as the sun sets a little earlier each day.
The time change on the first Sunday gives us one more hour of sleep.
Hot cider, wood crackling in the fire place, multi-colored leaves falling from once-full trees.
Fresh air, layers of thicker clothing, quilts on beds, oatmeal, steamy soups and so much more.
It’s a transition month, a month to clean corners of the house made dusty from summer breezes and focus on indoor activities that replace gardening projects.
It’s a great month to relax a bit and prepare for all the wonders that are jammed into the following month.
November 1 - All Saints Day.
We who know we are redeemed by the blood of Christ are acknowledged as saints but there are others who have left such a deep mark in the lives of Christians that their story motivates us to say ‘yes’ to God even if this decision challenges our walk in Christ Jesus.
St. Ignatius of Loyola - 1491-1556 - Soldier, visionary, strong will, instilled confidence in others. He was a Spanish soldier until 30 yrs old and believed ‘rational’ rules over ‘irrational.’
His right leg was injured in battle so during convalescence he read, “Life of Christ” and “Life of Saints.”
Ignatius discovered in Christ, the King he’d always wanted to serve.
Ignatius thought, “Francis did this so I must do it. Dominic did this so I must do it.”
He was converted as a soldier in Christ but had never studied Scripture.
Although he was taught by God with great clarity he needed a credential.
He spent 20 years with boys half his age as he learned and grew in his faith and took 7 years to get a Master in Theology.
Ignatius created “Spiritual Exercises," a 30 day silent retreat.
Jesuite peers revered Ignatius so at 50 years of age he founded the Jesuite Order.
11-7 “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones—bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas.
11-2 All Souls Day.
"The deeds you do may be the only sermon some people will hear today.” St. Francis of Assisi
11-3 “I will glory not because I am righteous, but because I am redeemed; I will glory not because I am free from sins, but because my sins are forgiven me.
I will not glory because I have done good nor because someone has done good to me, but because Christ is my advocate with the Father and because the blood of Christ has been shed for me.” Ambrose
11-3 “I will glory not because I am righteous, but because I am redeemed; I will glory not because I am free from sins, but because my sins are forgiven me.
I will not glory because I have done good nor because someone has done good to me, but because Christ is my advocate with the Father and because the blood of Christ has been shed for me.” Ambrose
[Set clock forward one hour]
11-4 “When you write anything--a column, an essay--if you have the structure right, everything is easy. You get the structure wrong, you'll never get it right. You’ll spend hours whacking your way through the weeds with a
machete and you won't be able to escape the marsh.” Charles Krauthammer
[His words remind me of our own soul-structure. When our soul is right with God, life seems far less about whacking our way through the weeds.]
11-5 For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe — that unless I believe, I should not understand. Anselm
11-6 Quotes from Winston Churchill... VOTE today
“If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart; if
you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; it’s inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
“There is nothing government can give you that it has not taken from you in the first place.”
”The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”
Psalm 46:10-11
11-8 “In the old days, when there was less education and discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideas about God. But it is not so now.
Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God.
It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones—bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas.
For a great many of the ideas about God which are trotted out as novelties today are simply the ones which real Theologians tried centuries ago and rejected.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
11-9 “Where there is no obedience there is no virtue, where there is no virtue there is no good, where there is no good there is no love, where there is no love, there is no God, and where there is no God there is no Paradise.” Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
11-12 “To convert somebody, go and take them by the hand and guide them.” Thomas Aquinas
11-10 The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest. Thomas Moore
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
That mark our place, and in the sky,
11-11 Veterans Day - 100 years since end of WW I
IN FLANDERS FIELDS by John McCrae, 1872-1918
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
In Flanders fields.
11-13 “A sculptor who wishes to carve a figure out of a block uses his chisel, first cutting away great chunks of marble, then smaller pieces, until he finally reaches a point where only a brush of the hand is needed to reveal the figure.
In the same way, the soul has to undergo tremendous mortifications at first, and then more refined detachments, until finally its Divine image is revealed.
Because mortification is recognized as a practice of death, there is fittingly inscribed on the tomb of Duns Scotus, “Bis Mortus; Semel Sepultus” (twice died, but buried only once).
When we die to something, something comes alive within us. If we die to self, charity comes alive; if we die to pride, service comes alive; if we die to lust, reverence for personality comes alive; if we die to anger, love comes alive.” Fulton J. Sheen, Peace of the Soul.
11-14 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God,
believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3
I asked for Wisdom , God gave me problems to solve
11-15 ATTITUDE:the difference between an ordeal and an adventure
I asked for strength, God gave me difficulties.
I asked for Wisdom , God gave me problems to solve
I asked for prosperity, God gave me a brain and brawn to work.
I asked for love, God gave me troubled people to help.
I asked for favors, God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted, I received everything I needed.
I received nothing I wanted, I received everything I needed.
11-16 “We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves.” Thomas Aquinas
11-17 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15
11-18 “Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction.” John of the Cross
11-19 “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and
laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” Hebrews 4:12-13
11-20 “A word or a smile is often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul." Therese of Lisieux
[I remember the life of my brother today]
11-21 “Just as in one man there is one soul and one body, yet many members; even so the catholic (universal) church is one body, having many members. The soul that quickens this body is the Holy Spirit; and therefore in the Creed after confessing our belief in the Holy Spirit, we are bid to believe in one holy catholic church.” Thomas Aquinas
11-22 “It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and single victories over the enemy, who is of our own household.
It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas with unusual health.
He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immigration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth and has crowned the labor of our workingmen in every department of industry with abundant rewards.
Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe.
And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of October, A.D. 1864, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth year.”
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
11-23 “And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.” 1 John 5:14-15
11-24 “God does not fit in an occupied heart.”
“Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.” John of the Cross
11-25 "O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me.” Edith Stein (Benedicta of the Cross)
11-26 Prayer is an audience with God . . . God is there, surrounding us and penetrating us; but we were not, perhaps, thinking of this. We must, therefore, withdraw our powers from the things of earth, gather them together, and fix them upon God; thus it is we place ourselves in His presence.
. . . . Prayer is more the work of the heart than of the head; it should, therefore, be simple, affective, and sincere. Let not the mind, then, weary itself in seeking for beautiful thoughts and sonorous phrases; we meditate not to prepare a finished sermon, nor to address God with fine rhetoric, but to nourish our soul with reflections which may enlighten and move us, and excite holy and generous resolutions; we make these reflections for ourselves alone. Let them, then, be simple as well as pious. Dom Vitalis Lehodey, (1857-1948) The Ways of Mental Prayer
11-27 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4-5
11-28 Quotes from Winston Churchill
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
“Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed then it must be accepted.”
11-29 "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” Augustine
11-29 "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” Augustine
11-30 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7
I sigh as we reach the end of the month and the end of walking with Jesus through the fields of his life.
Yet, as we turn the page, we begin anew . . . refreshed . . . with an eye on new beginnings . . . new birth . . . the Advent . . . the coming of new life . . . in Christ, Jesus.
Ahhhhhh
JOY!
I sigh as we reach the end of the month and the end of walking with Jesus through the fields of his life.
Yet, as we turn the page, we begin anew . . . refreshed . . . with an eye on new beginnings . . . new birth . . . the Advent . . . the coming of new life . . . in Christ, Jesus.
Ahhhhhh
JOY!
