tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83489182225431978382012-01-28T05:17:45.403-05:00Little Portion HermitageLittle Portion Hermitage is a place of Christ-centered solitude, sacred silence, and intercessory prayer. Established for the glory of God and inspired by the example of St. Francis of Assisi, the hermitage is faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ found in their fullness among Churches in full communion with the See of Peter. The hermit residing at Little Portion is a person in Consecrated Life under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the Diocese of Portland, ME, in accordance with Canon 603.Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.comBlogger2171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-8956111905126071752012-01-28T05:17:00.000-05:002012-01-28T05:17:45.410-05:00
Solitude, nothingness, and silence are ways of being: being alone, being nothing, being silent. They capture elements of existence, not activity; of being, not doing, and point to ways of becoming more human, more whole. It is a great paradox. What seems to limit our self-expression brings us to a deeper expression of self. What appears to confine prepares us for new freedom. What appears like Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-52180019136306949002012-01-26T06:38:00.002-05:002012-01-26T06:38:47.182-05:00
"One of the obstacles to evangelization
is, in fact, the crisis of faith, not only in the Western world but among a
large part of humankind, which nonetheless hungers and thirsts for God, and
which must be invited and led to the bread of life and the living water. ... We
must renew our enthusiasm to communicate the faith, so as to promote new
evangelization in communities and countries of Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-54447602901229153882012-01-25T05:02:00.000-05:002012-01-25T05:05:29.923-05:00If God speaks to us even in
silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God
and about God. “We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which
introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the
redeeming Word, is born” (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the
International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-57347826676466672542012-01-24T14:24:00.000-05:002012-01-24T14:24:09.305-05:00
Pope Benedict XVI on the need for social engagement by Catholic laity:
“Here once
more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity
endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with
the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the
Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining
Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-57031647850802698292012-01-23T04:43:00.001-05:002012-01-23T04:43:46.689-05:00
Prayer
for the Unborn
Lord
Jesus,
You
who faithfully visit and fulfill with your Presence
the
Church and the history of men;
You
who in the miraculous Sacrament of your Body and Blood
render
us participants in divine Life
and
allow us a foretaste of the joy of eternal Life;
We
adore and bless you.
Prostrated
before You, source and lover of Life,
truly
present and alive among us, Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-82285208057685948762012-01-22T05:25:00.000-05:002012-01-22T05:25:43.627-05:00"At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature's God. Today Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-70886481597461204782012-01-21T09:23:00.000-05:002012-01-21T09:23:05.580-05:00“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” ~Samuel ChadwickFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-5655307318854570142012-01-20T08:43:00.000-05:002012-01-20T08:43:01.742-05:00People who change their way of life and begin to think about spiritual progress also begin to suffer from the tongues of detractors. Whoever has not yet suffered this trial has not yet made progress, and whoever is not ready to suffer it does not even endeavor to progress. ~St. AugustineFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-24038641401417842972012-01-17T05:57:00.000-05:002012-01-17T05:57:12.347-05:00"Justice is not a mere human convention. When, in the name of supposed justice, the criteria of utility, profit and material possession come to dominate, the value and dignity of human beings can be trampled underfoot. Justice is a virtue which guides the human will, prompting us to give others what is due to them by reason of their existence and their actions. Likewise, peace is not the mere Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-43240328980764643082012-01-16T11:04:00.002-05:002012-01-16T11:04:54.615-05:00Stop telling God how big your storm is and start telling your storm how big your God is.Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-49418409052005289602012-01-14T07:43:00.000-05:002012-01-14T07:43:07.379-05:00"In participating in the Eucharist we experience in an extraordinary way the prayer that Jesus offered, and continually offers, for each one of us in order that evil -- which we all encounter in life -- may not have the power to overcome us, and so that the transforming power of Christ's death and resurrection may act in us." ~Pope Benedict XVI, January 11, 2012Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-85288406364758270212012-01-04T05:15:00.002-05:002012-01-04T05:15:26.000-05:00I have never heard anything about the resolutions of the apostles, but a great deal about their acts. ~ Horace MannFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-75218092297611402062012-01-03T05:19:00.000-05:002012-01-03T05:19:59.415-05:00Love's secret is always to be doing things for God, and not to mind because they are such little ones. ~ Fredrick W. FaberFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-88511135536891173082011-11-27T04:37:00.000-05:002011-11-27T04:37:59.852-05:00Peace and blessings this holy Advent season. May this holy season of silence, solitude, and simplicity prepare you for the coming of Christ. Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-36974681709439772692011-11-26T07:47:00.002-05:002011-11-26T07:47:44.881-05:00If we set out along the road that leads to God, and to the loving union of our will with the will of God, we cannot get far without meeting a dragon. ~Fr. Gerald Vann, OPFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-55136406116321311692011-11-23T12:40:00.000-05:002011-11-23T12:40:15.803-05:00At Heaven’s gate our entrance ticket, according to Scripture and Church dogma, is not our good works or our sincerity, but our faith, which glues us to Jesus. He saves us; we do not save ourselves. But I find, incredibly, that 9 out of 10 Catholics do not know this, the absolutely central, core, essential dogma of Christianity. Protestants are right: most Catholics do in fact believe a whole Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-45479138168384732482011-11-18T05:36:00.000-05:002011-11-18T05:36:07.395-05:00“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste (or foretaste) of which alone can what Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-9895544605439580192011-11-15T04:22:00.002-05:002011-11-15T04:22:51.330-05:00I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other and that the taller we grow in Christian character the more easily we could reach them. I now find that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower. ~F. B. MeyerFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-86536347654296777972011-11-14T05:27:00.002-05:002011-11-14T05:27:40.228-05:00Too many people who claim to be Christian simply don’t know Jesus Christ. They don’t really believe in the Gospels. They feel embarrassed by their religion and vaguely out of step with the times. They may keep their religion for comfort value. Or they may adjust it to fit their doubts. But it doesn’t reshape their lives because it isn’t real. And because it isn’t real, it has no transforming Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-30364552162362883532011-11-12T06:33:00.000-05:002011-11-12T06:33:47.700-05:00I want to invite you to "dare to love." Do not desire anything less for your life than love that is strong and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred and death forever through love. ~Pope Benedict XVIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-11058796920378959572011-11-10T06:26:00.000-05:002011-11-10T06:26:48.827-05:00We do not have a personal Gospel and a social Gospel. There is one Gospel, and one Gospel only, and that Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ; this indivisible message from God has its individual application and its social application. It has the power to redeem the individual and also the power to redeem social order. ~Jesse BaderFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-13025131855292024532011-11-09T09:14:00.000-05:002011-11-09T09:14:21.827-05:00Your theology is what you are when the talking stops and the action starts. ~Colin MorrisFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-8409595162623605612011-11-08T05:07:00.000-05:002011-11-08T05:07:57.931-05:00Christians should never let adversity get them down except on their knees. ~ John Vance CheneyFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-59180952229678582692011-11-04T05:14:00.000-04:002011-11-04T05:14:10.920-04:00Teach me dear Lord frequently and attentively to consider this truth: that if I gain the whole world and lose thee, in the end I have lost everything: whereas if I lose the whole world and gain thee, in the end I have lost nothing. ~ Bl. John Henry Cardinal NewmanFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-53293211769164777022011-11-03T04:03:00.000-04:002011-11-03T04:03:10.701-04:00In order to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm. ~ Anonymous Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-52765621494875197782011-11-02T05:54:00.000-04:002011-11-02T05:54:10.643-04:00The best form of contemplative prayer is adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. As we behold the face of Christ in his sacramental presence, we behold the source of light, healing and peace. Through silent contemplation, we enter into the wordless realm.
In a way beyond our explanation, we experience the powerful presence of Christ at the very deepest level of our existence; and as our roots receiveFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-57713311236155068032011-10-31T04:54:00.000-04:002011-10-31T04:54:27.318-04:00Happy people seldom think of happiness. They are too busy losing their lives in the meaningful sacrifices of service. ~David AugsburgerFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-84072033868065900742011-10-30T05:57:00.002-04:002011-10-30T05:57:44.228-04:00It is possible to be so active in the service of Christ as to forget to love him. ~ P. T. ForsythFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-51526751291894539782011-10-29T08:01:00.000-04:002011-10-29T08:01:36.729-04:00Today's Christians are too often like deep-sea divers encased in suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely forth to pull plugs out of bathtubs. ~ Peter MarshallFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-5047844857565723682011-10-28T19:13:00.000-04:002011-10-28T19:13:11.888-04:00To live by the law of Christ and accept him in our hearts is to turn a giant floodlight of hope into our valleys of trouble. ~ Charles R. HembreeFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-59704458976592023992011-10-27T14:58:00.000-04:002011-10-27T14:58:24.242-04:00Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. ~ Cherie Carter-ScottFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-21945993619354094522011-10-26T09:23:00.000-04:002011-10-26T09:23:17.082-04:00We often experience our time as empty. We hope that tomorrow, next week, next month or next year the real things will happen. But sometimes we experience the fullness of time. That is when it seems that time stands still, that past, present, and future become one; that everything is present where we are; and that God, we, and all that is have come together in total unity. This is the experience Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-83480851690422629372011-10-25T09:15:00.002-04:002011-10-25T09:15:50.509-04:00Thanksgiving
I keep thinking about how and why and with what handspeople touch each other’s lives,the violence of bone and blood and muscleit takes to make a reaching.How much of a gift it isthat any two persons’ straight lines toward doomintersect,become for a timea charmed circle.Amazing the patterns people makeby crossing each other’s pathslike black cats on this dark-night planet, amazingto Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-80966600836718731272011-10-24T05:29:00.000-04:002011-10-24T05:29:23.021-04:00“What we would like to do is change the world--make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor, of the destitute--the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words--we can, to a certain extent, change the world; we can work Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-64026827605474851912011-10-23T05:20:00.000-04:002011-10-23T05:20:50.276-04:00
"The Blessing of Autumn"
As autumn flames across park and field
as smoke curls from ditch and garden,
as birds sing their farewell song,
as frost begins to touch the ground
and our hearts are warmed
by the scent, sound and touch of it;
now is the time to throw away
the heavy stones of anger, regret and fear,
which harden our hearts.
Now is the time to gather stories of praise
to build a cairn
Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-390589583482990142011-10-22T04:41:00.000-04:002011-10-22T04:41:20.723-04:00Forgiveness brings freedom - freedom from being controlled by the past, freedom from the emotional ties to the offender, freedom from the continual inner conflicts of bitterness and hate, freedom to become whole and enjoy the fullness of life. ~Jeanette VoughtFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-8332127776855151422011-10-21T08:19:00.000-04:002011-10-21T08:19:14.275-04:00Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. ~ Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-57837810528031534142011-10-20T06:35:00.000-04:002011-10-20T06:35:09.639-04:00Only through believing, then, does faith grow and become stronger; there is no other possibility for possessing certitude with regard to one’s life apart from self-abandonment, in a continuous crescendo, into the hands of a love that seems to grow constantly because it has its origin in God. ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter, Porta FideiFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-64250284910791355542011-10-17T04:20:00.002-04:002011-10-17T04:20:39.449-04:00The New Testament does not say, "You shall know the rules, and by them you shall be bound," but, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." ~ John BaillieFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-54991502924845531962011-10-15T05:39:00.002-04:002011-10-15T05:39:53.389-04:00A Four-fold Blessing
May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-54318102297561824922011-10-13T05:47:00.000-04:002011-10-13T05:47:59.161-04:00We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. The one who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude. ~ Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-32089527080197430872011-10-12T08:08:00.001-04:002011-10-12T08:09:13.923-04:00We sat in her autumn garden and talked, Martine and I. I'd dropped by her studio on the way back from Ottawa, hoping to find her in -- her studio is open "by chance or by appointment", so it was a bit dodgy. But there she was, getting ready for the weekend art tour. She works in all sort of media -- glass, pottery, watercolours, oils. I love visiting, seeing what she's putting together from her Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-8486700799300830052011-10-11T05:52:00.000-04:002011-10-11T05:52:31.010-04:00To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to God's love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trustingFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-69989053582465366272011-10-10T04:26:00.000-04:002011-10-10T04:26:46.243-04:00Are the great visions of the ultimate peace among all people and the ultimate harmony of all creation just utopian fairy tales? No, they are not! They correspond to the deepest longings of the human heart and point to the truth waiting to be revealed beyond all lies and deceptions. These visions nurture our souls and strengthen our hearts. They offer us hope when we are close to despair, courage Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-88138629711634251982011-10-08T04:55:00.002-04:002011-10-08T04:55:23.808-04:00An act of love that fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that succeeds, for love is measured by its own fullness, not by its reception. ~ Harold LoukesFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-16602985285679629312011-10-07T06:17:00.000-04:002011-10-07T06:17:22.845-04:00"The encounter with Christ, constantly intensified and deepened in the Eucharist, issues in the Church and in every Christian an urgent summons to testimony and evangelization." ~Bl. John Paul IIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-31575458474300220402011-10-06T07:36:00.000-04:002011-10-06T07:36:02.838-04:00Living a spiritual life makes our little, fearful hearts as wide as the universe, because the Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us embraces the whole of creation. Jesus is the Word, through whom the universe has been created. As Paul says: "In him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible - all things were created through him and for him - in him Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-60194530749882797242011-10-04T05:22:00.000-04:002011-10-04T05:22:14.426-04:00Happy Feast of St. Francis! "I have done what was mine to do. May Christ show you what is yours to do." ~St. Francis of AssisiFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-67560907854649816782011-10-03T05:52:00.000-04:002011-10-03T05:52:33.127-04:00O incomparable Giver of life, cut reason loose at last!
Let it wander grey-eyed from vanity to vanity.
Shatter open my skull, pour in it the wine of madness!
Let me be mad, as You; mad with You, with us.
Beyond the sanity of fools is a burning desert
Where Your sun is whirling in every atom:
Beloved, drag me there, let me roast in Perfection! ~RumiFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-2754369867345269312011-10-02T06:05:00.000-04:002011-10-02T06:05:06.394-04:00
Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention.
We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-10085438604224395152011-10-01T05:01:00.000-04:002011-10-01T05:01:12.439-04:00If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. ~ St. Augustine of HippoFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-28230528899750745302011-09-30T06:27:00.000-04:002011-09-30T06:27:16.887-04:00All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful. ~Flannery O’ConnorFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-39730608684837096642011-09-29T05:44:00.000-04:002011-09-29T05:44:25.855-04:00“Our educational establishment these days, while so tolerant of and even insistent upon diversity in all other aspects of life seems bent on eliminating diversity of moral judgment — particularly moral judgment based on religious views.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Antonin ScaliaFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-18715806231562368862011-09-28T05:38:00.002-04:002011-09-28T05:38:41.134-04:00Nothing is hidden from the Lord Jesus, but even our secrets are close to him. Let us then do everything in the knowledge that he is dwelling within us, so that we may be his temples and he may be God within us. ~St. Ignatius of AntiochFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-35698057959978880922011-09-27T04:28:00.002-04:002011-09-27T04:28:58.817-04:00“When I first found out I had cancer, I didn't know what to pray for. I didn't know if I should pray for healing or life or death. Then I found peace in praying for what my folks call, 'God's perfect will.' As it evolved, my prayer has become, 'Lord, let me live until I die.' By that I mean I want to live, love, and serve fully until death comes. If that prayer is answered, how long really Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-35404568299008410282011-09-26T04:30:00.000-04:002011-09-26T04:30:14.346-04:00Dear Friends, Christ is not so much interested in how often in your lives you stumble and fall, as in how often you pick yourselves up again. He does not demand glittering achievements, but He wants His light to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because He is good and He wants to make you His friends. Yes, you are the light of the world because Jesus is yourFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-782745836852901632011-09-25T15:46:00.000-04:002011-09-25T15:46:16.927-04:00Dear Young People: Christ, risen from the dead, shines in this world and he does so most brightly in those places where, in human terms, everything is somber and hopeless. He has conquered death -- he is alive -- and faith in him, like a small light, cuts through all that is dark and threatening. ~Pope Benedict XVIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-49929042590781728032011-09-23T04:35:00.000-04:002011-09-23T04:35:46.755-04:00The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain. ~St. Padre PioFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-72644222324515689292011-09-21T19:43:00.002-04:002011-09-21T19:43:50.787-04:00When the Church ceases to be evangelical, she ceases to be the Church.Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-32343790696320545822011-09-20T04:05:00.000-04:002011-09-20T04:05:20.964-04:00In particular, the Catholic Church is the friend of the poor. Like Christ, she welcomes without exception all who approach her to hear the divine message of peace, hope and salvation. Moreover, in obedience to the Lord, she continues to do so without regard for "tribe and tongue and people and nation" (cf. Rev 5:9), for in Christ, we "are one body" (cf. Rom 12:5). ~Pope Benedict XVIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-6761636571776626792011-09-19T06:14:00.000-04:002011-09-19T06:14:11.799-04:00"Christ's entire mission is summed up in this: to baptize us in the Holy Spirit, to free us from slavery of death and 'to open heaven to us', that is, access to the true and full life that will be a 'plunging ever anew into the vastness of being, in which we are simply overwhelmed with joy'." ~Pope Benedict XVIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-38625531163424151982011-09-18T06:36:00.000-04:002011-09-18T06:36:27.839-04:00The ministry of evangelization...begins with an encounter with one Person, the Person of Jesus, and effects a change within us, a conversion of heart, which touches every area of our lives. Life with Christ brings joy, peace, and fulfillment. It brings healing, forgiveness, and truth. But it also oftentimes means a change in perspective and direction, a breaking away from what is comfortable or Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-58349976540160239842011-09-17T06:30:00.000-04:002011-09-17T06:30:20.614-04:00Through baptism we become part of a family much larger than our biological family. It is a family of people "set apart" by God to be light in the darkness. These set-apart people are called saints. Although we tend to think about saints as holy and pious, and picture them with halos above their heads and ecstatic gazes, true saints are much more accessible. They are men and women like us, who Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-72526490054766971362011-09-16T05:05:00.002-04:002011-09-16T05:05:32.640-04:00“To put the Eucharist at the center of Christian life means to put Jesus at the heart of everything. In the Eucharist we are called to enter into Trinitarian love. By making the Holy Mass the center of our interior life, we are united to Jesus and, in him, to the whole Church, to all [people].”~Bishop Javier EchevarríaFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-23870332854893847132011-09-15T06:22:00.000-04:002011-09-15T06:22:25.409-04:00"Death and life have met in an inseparable mystery, and life has triumphed. The God of salvation has shown himself to be the uncontested Lord, whom all the ends of the earth will celebrate, and before whom all the families of peoples will bow down in worship. It is the victory of faith, which is able to transform death into a gift of life -- the abyss of suffering into a source of hope." ~Pope Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-60860997231460487142011-09-13T04:19:00.000-04:002011-09-13T04:19:18.499-04:00"Nourishing Our Own Inner Monasteries"
Let silence be placed around us
like a mantle.
Let us enter into it,
as through a small secret door;
stooping,
to emerge into,
an acre of peace,
where stillness reigns
and God is ever present.
(silence)
Then comes the voice of God
in the startled cry
of a refugee child,
waking
in unfamiliar surroundings
Then comes the voice of God,
in the mother,
fleeing Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-25207568714632870902011-09-12T04:23:00.000-04:002011-09-12T04:23:39.936-04:00"...we can’t claim to love God and be a “good Catholic,” but then ignore what it means to be Catholic in our business dealings, our social policies and in our political choices. Christian faith is always personal but never private. It either guides our behavior all the time, both in public and in private, or it’s phony. And if it’s phony, we should stop trying to fool ourselves. We need to be Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-81650112919092507862011-09-11T05:36:00.000-04:002011-09-11T05:36:51.579-04:00Prayer @ Ground ZeroO God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.
We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here—
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel,
along with all the Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-12922601178179615302011-09-10T06:22:00.002-04:002011-09-10T06:22:26.080-04:00God is with us in the reality of life, not the fantasy! It is embrace, not escape, that we seek! ~Pope Benedict XVIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-79023075184035898132011-09-09T05:00:00.002-04:002011-09-09T05:00:43.042-04:00I do not understand how it is possible not to trust in God, who can do all things. With God, everything; without God, nothing. ~St. Faustina KowalskaFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-32793696872464639912011-09-08T06:54:00.000-04:002011-09-08T06:54:08.494-04:00"There can be no authentic Christianity, no life-giving Christianity, no Christianity worth living and dying for without a daily taking up of the Cross and a following in the Golgotha-bound footsteps of the one who lived and died for us. This taking up of the Cross does not produce maudlin or miserable religion but offers abundant life to those with generosity of spirit, imagination, and daring (Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-67769206588242328932011-09-06T06:24:00.000-04:002011-09-06T06:24:20.835-04:00Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard.~Bl. Mother Teresa of CalcuttaFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-50741133642522608642011-09-05T06:39:00.000-04:002011-09-05T06:39:06.219-04:00
The Glory of God is always found in movements of love, in communication of life, never in static routine, cramped piety, thoughtless repetition of official acts, conventional observance, external religious acts that could easily become the letter that kills, the continuing tyranny of the old, sinful self. The Spirit, by contrast, is wind, fire, light, water, Glory: the unexpected, the Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-41257858810085146962011-09-03T06:46:00.000-04:002011-09-03T06:46:48.188-04:00
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about [Jesus]: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic---on a level with the man whoFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-39228628962317255352011-09-02T06:27:00.000-04:002011-09-02T06:27:10.387-04:00
Beware of no one more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. ~Charles SpurgeonFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-67460015316256444222011-09-01T05:37:00.000-04:002011-09-01T05:37:24.630-04:00
"Living in Gods grace demands that we allow ourselves neither to get trapped in the past by sins nor suffocated by the future in our desire to control. We need to be reunited with God every moment of the day in prayer." ~Mark HartFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-80924972291027774762011-08-31T01:45:00.000-04:002011-08-31T01:45:15.897-04:00To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.~St Thomas AquinasFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-668965954571466642011-08-30T19:03:00.000-04:002011-08-30T19:03:24.185-04:00How kind is our sacramental Jesus! When you visit him, he forgets your sins and speaks only of his joy, his tenderness, and his love. By the reception he gives to you, one would think he has need of you to make him happy. ~ St. Peter Julian EymardFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-49786560713501709912011-08-29T08:11:00.000-04:002011-08-29T08:11:08.207-04:00"We will know God to the extent that we are set free from ourselves." ~Benedict XVIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-28765315076545268442011-08-28T06:41:00.000-04:002011-08-28T06:41:34.910-04:00
“The exchange with God becomes real for us in prayer: by his Holy Spirit, God comes to dwell within us. By his word and by the sacraments, Christ gives himself to us. In return, we can surrender everything to him.” ~ Brother Alois of Taize'Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-89686009454675787972011-08-27T04:50:00.000-04:002011-08-27T04:50:19.220-04:00Before you had a being, God loved you. Before your father or mother was born, God loved you: yes, even before the creation of the world, God loved you.... God loved you from eternity.~St. Alphonsus LiguoriFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-10156200710367418012011-08-26T06:28:00.000-04:002011-08-26T06:28:01.811-04:00
"Our faith has deepened as we've come to understand that when we suffer, Christ is fully able and willing to enter into even our innermost pain and walk that road with us. Furthermore, in trusting Christ and offering up our suffering to unite with His, we somehow become participants in God's unfathomably merciful plan of salvation. We are not simply recipients of God's grace; we are also invitedFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-75216906827148972222011-08-25T06:49:00.000-04:002011-08-25T06:49:53.804-04:00
“The true and solid peace of nations consists not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.” ~Pope John XXIIIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-62199606723320720112011-08-24T04:18:00.000-04:002011-08-24T04:18:57.061-04:00The beloved of the love of God came through the fountain of life to nourish us back to life and to help us in our dangerous state. The Word is the deepest and sweetest love preparing us for repentance. ~St. Hildegard of BingenFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-57502123856890058722011-08-23T15:54:00.000-04:002011-08-23T15:54:07.957-04:00Things Worthy of GodWe should ask of God things worthy of God...not unholy gifts, but holy ones; not earthly, but heavenly ones---gifts compatible with virtues. ~St. Peter ChrysologusFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-77161008944880964032011-08-22T04:34:00.000-04:002011-08-22T04:34:18.181-04:00One who wants to overcome vices should fight with the arms of love, not rage. ~St. Peter ChrysologusFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-90157693296053669562011-08-21T06:54:00.000-04:002011-08-21T06:54:47.578-04:00All In The FamilyI am the same family as Christ----what more could I want? ~Bl. Pope John XXIIIFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-64609782223494490352011-08-20T06:25:00.000-04:002011-08-20T06:25:25.634-04:00Sow God's wordSow, sow God's word! Make good on the talents entrusted to you!... Be enterprising in your use of them. ~ St. Catherine of SienaFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-1128229198922343062011-08-19T05:06:00.000-04:002011-08-19T05:06:32.665-04:00Christ gives meaning to the universe
This wisdom and prudence will guide your steps, nothing will make you fear and peace will reign in your hearts. Then you will be blessed and happy and your happiness will influence others. They will wonder what the secret of your life is and they will discover that the rock which underpins the entire building and upon which rests your whole existence in the very person of Christ, your friend, Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-49879305137637105002011-08-18T05:38:00.000-04:002011-08-18T05:38:19.613-04:00CommitmentCommitment is doing what you said you would do after the feeling you said it in has passed.~St. Camillus De LellisFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-7744273232511133402011-08-17T04:49:00.000-04:002011-08-17T04:49:55.729-04:00The Seed of SalvationChrist sowed the seed of salvation in humanity in order that it might grow especially in each individual soul. ~St Teresa Benedicta of the CrossFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-8170207826458759012011-08-16T13:15:00.000-04:002011-08-16T13:15:16.946-04:00Let us be rooted and grounded in charity so that we may comprehend what is the length of eternity, the breadth of liberality, the height of majesty, and the depth of discerning wisdom. ~St. BonaventureFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-14182567769260290182011-08-15T10:48:00.000-04:002011-08-15T10:48:42.334-04:00Feast of the AssumptionBelonging to the communion of saints means being connected with all people transformed by the Spirit of Jesus. This connection is deep and intimate. Those who have lived as brothers and sisters of Jesus continue to live within us, even though they have died, just as Jesus continues to live within us, even though he has died.
We live our lives in memory of Jesus and the saints, and this memory isFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-35186618093024007762011-08-13T10:13:00.000-04:002011-08-13T10:13:38.495-04:00O Word, your wisdom is like that bush you deigned to show to Moses; it burns but it doesn't burn out. ~St. Maria Magadalene De'PazziFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-22342537877483598882011-08-12T05:56:00.000-04:002011-08-12T05:56:07.440-04:00O God, let me see the eternal good that lies in earthly adversity.Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-70333265772298396292011-08-11T14:42:00.000-04:002011-08-11T14:42:22.632-04:00Feast of St. Clare of Assisi
Greetings!
The Lord give you peace.
Yesterday marked 10 years to the day that I made my first profession of vows as a diocesan hermit; today marks 4 years to the day since my profession of final vows.
I am writing to thank you for your support of my vocation as I try to be faithful to Christ in this little adventure in Gospel living to which He has invited me. Please continue to pray for me, a Friar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-82025869991582888362011-08-10T05:16:00.000-04:002011-08-10T05:16:22.919-04:00To Love SolitudeTo love solitude and to seek it does not mean constantly traveling from one geographical possibility to another. A man becomes a solitary at the moment when, no matter what may be his external surroundings, he is suddenly aware of his own inalienable solitude....From that moment, solitude is not potential---it is actual. ~Thomas MertonFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-70133202177672877212011-08-09T03:15:00.000-04:002011-08-09T03:15:49.547-04:00In Greek, the root meaning of repentance is not the confession of a sin but a change of mind. ~TertullianFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-1905663004053240102011-08-08T05:43:00.000-04:002011-08-08T05:43:19.332-04:00Nothing seems tiresome or painful when you are working for a Master who pays well; who rewards even a cup of cold water given for love of him. ~St. Bernadine of SienaFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8348918222543197838.post-57768485207607514882011-08-07T06:43:00.000-04:002011-08-07T06:43:17.570-04:00The power of the Lord's word enters the soul and enlivens the heart and makes us rejoice in the Lord. ~ Dame Julian of NorwichFriar Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954826549198946468noreply@blogger.com0