Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Pray! Pray! Pray!

This past weekend, as most of you know, was the 38th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. How our hearts hurt as we think of each little child that should have lived . . . . They would've been our friends, relatives, Sisters, classmates, students, and so much more. The atrocity happening in the U.S. is heart-breaking enough (3,000-5,000 abortions a day). We learned yesterday that in China there are 35,000 abortions a day. Dear God, help us! Imagine the wounds involved in the survivors of this holocaust. We are actually all wounded from this terrible experience.

Pray, pray, pray! Pray that, with God's grace, we (all of us) can ourselves live the Culture of Life! In this contraceptive-mentality world, let us beg for the grace from God to be the opposite -- to live true love . . . to truly live a life of self-sacrificing love and truth.

God bless you all! We join with you in prayer. God is in control -- we just keep saying yes to His promptings and His Plans, always trusting that He can bring good out of every situation! :>

Jesus, we Trust in You!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

More FOCUS Quotes

One of us went to a Theology of the Body talk. Dr. Sri gave a great presentation. He talked over the main points found in his book, "Men, Women, and the Mystery of Love" based on Love and Responsibility and TOB....

Here's a few quotes:

Mother Teresa said, "Unless a life is lived for others, it is not worth living."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "Love is to will the good of the other." (unpack that one in your prayers for a while)

"Love is manifested through sacrifice." Self-giving love is the ability to give up my autonomy to serve the other.

"Freedom exists for the sake of love."

"What we do in our bodies expresses who we are."

"Christ lives through me!" We are weak.... (he was talking about loving his wife, but we can think about this with loving anyone around us that is counting on or needing our love) -- "She needs Christ's love radiating through me." We need to frequent the Sacraments to have the grace and ability to allow Christ to shine through us. Wow.

Curtis Martin said a lot of awesome things, but to continue the above thought, he talked about how we are supposed to be a living monstrance -- showing Jesus Christ to the world.

Lord, help us to be this living monstrance. Help us, with your tremendous and powerful grace and love, to shine your light before men so that you may be glorified. Amen.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

"God Likes You!

We're here in Denver, CO at the FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) Conference. Here's a couple of quotes that struck us:

"God not only loves me, He likes me!" (from John Leyendecker's talk about his conversion) This is true for all of us! He LIKES us!

"God called you into being with His word...." (from Jonathan Reyes' talk)

Wow. That's how we know God likes us! He chose to create us and made us exactly how He wanted us to be! Wow.

Jonathan continued, "God does not treat us like a child. A child is told what to do and is expected to obey. God treats us like adults. Because of our dignity, He gives us the freedom and ability to 'think' with Him!"

Awesome! So many people that we know that are "discerning" Religious Life or the priesthood are waiting for God to drop a scroll from the sky to tell them what to do. God does not work this way with us. He did not create us to be robots who wait for every command and then obey.

Jonathan also said (these are not direct quotes), "Commit yourself to know the mind of the Master. Commit yourself to know how He thinks -- and think with Him when making your decisions. Study the Scriptures, receive the Sacraments, pray!"

More to come....

Pray for those attending this conference -- may the Holy Spirit overwhelm them with His Love!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New Video -- "Love is Our Home"

Someday we hope to have a professional video made. Until then, you'll have to enjoy our homemade ones!

The first time we put this song to the pictures, there were tears in our eyes. Especially when the Sisters in Argentina or in the Motherhouse came up to the words, "...even though we're far apart, our hearts can beat as one..." This song is perfect to help communicate what we're doing . . . what we're living. It's close anyway. One has to experience it in person to know it in a deeper way.

Another part that is so awesome is the parts of the song that say, "...where love is, we come together there..." Wow! The CHAPEL! Adoration! That's where love is, and that's where we can come together -- in our house, but also with everyone in our Community and all of our friends, benefactors, relatives, and those we serve! It's so awesome! God is so good!

God bless you all! Hope you enjoy this video!

(for those of you reading this on Facebook, sorry it's a repeat video posting -- this is a feed from our blog)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Texas Party!



Our Superior General (far right with Texas flag) from Vienna left today after two weeks with us! She visited the schools and "missions", she visited with each Sister, and we talked about all kinds of things. She even got to go to a basketball game.
Our prayers are with you! Auf Wiedersehen! (they don't usually say "good-bye" in Austria -- they say this, which means, "until we meet again")
This weekend we go to Denver for the FOCUS Conference! We're very excited about that.
God bless you all! United in prayer and love....