November 19, 2010
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Something for Meghann and Erin
Our bit of repartee from yesterday came back to me when I was meditating in front of the Blessed Sacrament this afternoon. I have been reading Fulton Sheen's The Priest is Not His Own for several weeks now when I go to holy hour and there is such a richness in that book that I find myself marking passages that need extra contemplation. I fear that it will take the rest of my life to make it through.
One passage in particular made me think of you two so I will share it here with you.
"Our sublime dignity does not consist exclusively in the priestly character given in Holy Orders, but in what this character also demands as its complement, namely, Christ taking the place of our personality. Then we grow in Christ as Mary did. Certainly, Our Blessed Mother was richer spiritually on Christmas Day than on the day of the Annunciation, , richer at Cana than at Bethlehem, richer at Calvary than at Cana and richer in the Upper Room at Pentecost than on Colgotha."
It kept coming to me that each home is a domestic church and that we are all "priests" of the church in a certain sense since we are all called to teach, govern, and to sanctify each other. The more I thought of it the more I thought that these words must hold some truth for all of us. That Christ must take the place of our personality, little by little, day by day, if we are to become transformed and become perfected in him.
As I said before I have not the education that you two have in theology since I never had the opportunity to take any such classes. All of my thoughts and insights come from my reading, prayer, and meditiation in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Bless you both.
Comments (9)
Didn't John the Baptizer say, "He must increase, but I must decrease."? Even at 72, there is so much of me left, and not enough of Him.
I know this post wasn't meant for me. Hope you don't mind that I commented.
"All of my thoughts and insights come from my reading, prayer, and meditiation in front of the Blessed Sacrament."
There is no better classroom than that! Hugs, Ann!
I've been going through a book called How People Change, that talks about this very principle - the lifelong process of growth with Christ at the center. What a wonderful post!
I agree completely with Meghann.
Fulton Sheen is one of my favorite authors and priests. Thank you so much for sharing the quote and your thoughts on it! You help me realize how far I have yet to go to be perfected in Christ.
@ata_grandma - I don't mind at all. Any and all insight is welcome. The only comments that aren't welcome are the ignorant and the crude and I know that you would never resort to those.
I think you are right about John saying that. I know that God expects that effort from us all the days of our lives. Fortunately he realizes that success is understandably out of our power. We are graded by effort and desire not on success.
@whteroses - Thank you for reading what I have to say. Mind that never do I write what I do to remind anyone but myself how far I have to go. Sometimes my writing is only so that I can get my thoughts straight. They very often sound better in writing than they do in my head. (hope you understood that.)
So true. He knows our hearts, and loves us anyway.
@perelandra30 - I understood.
I usually have Tim to bounce my jumbled thoughts off of. I don't think I could write them down as you and still sound intelligible.
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