Meditations from Celine
May 15, 2005 Pentecost Sunday
Greetings to All!!
So pleased and happy to have had the opportunity of sharing that,
fantastic retreat with you all, and having the privilege and pleasure,
listening to our Spiritual Director Fr, Richard as he addressed us
as, The INCARNATION, because we are of the secular third order. A
small word, but having profound meaning to what our life style represents.
I, promise, my dear third order members, that in one of our on coming,
meetings, we will be talking more about this great Title-----------
This is the month of May and certainly, we would be remiss not, to make mention
of Our Heavenly Mother, Mary in this month that is dedicated to Her.
Let us go, for a moment, to the foot of the cross on Calvary, Christ was hanging
for three long hours in the most agonizing pain and, unspeakable shame - But
before He said those memorable Words "IT IS , CONSUMMATED" He turns
to His Mother and to John addressing them as -, WOMAN -SON-- Why did Jesus
not use the term Mother and John?------- Think of this. -------- Was it because
Christ’s Life is about to consumated in order to save our souls, and,
in His infinite Wisdom, was, aware of our need..... Someone to intercede for
us, some, one to teach and guide us along the way and pick us up as we stumble
and fall in this valley of tears ! ! ! Yes most definitely, Christ in His great
wisdom selected His heavenly Mother to be our powerful Mediatrix--, an all
loving, gentle, caring and compassionate intecessor! ! !
Our Mother Mary has been looking after us ever since, and, urging us to pray
and pray, through those many apparitions and, revelations. And what form of
prayer did She give us? Yes, the rosary, , the special weapon to defeat the
evil spirits and help save the, many, many souls that are lost.
What a beautiful way to unite ourselves to the hearts of, Jesus and Mary by
meditating on their lives, here on earth, as we, repeatedly call out their
names in praise, honor . forgiveness, petition, and thanksgiving
The Franciscan crown is our special treasure due to a, devoted servant of Mary
who loved to bring flowers to crown Mary and, confided in her that, he would
not enter the Franciscan noviciate because he would not be able to, bring her
fresh flowers Her. It was when he was praying in the chapel that Mary appeared
counseled him to follow his vocation and revealed to him the seven joys of
her life. She then instructed him to pray a rosary of those seven joys and
assured him that each time he prayed that rosary he would be weaving a beautiful
and precious crown for her that would last into eternity.
I have a special thought --- Mary is our Heavenly, Mother so why not give Her
a precious gift for Mother's day? --- How?----- Select one of your special
prayerful day and offer to God, in, honor of Our Mother, all the events of
that day --your sufferings, your, joys, your hopes, your petitions, your gratitude
for all the blessings received, and unite them with the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, Communion with Jesus, and without fail, pray the Franciscan Crown------
This will be the most, precious spiritual Gift ----Our Heavenly Mother will
cherish it
Pax et Bonum -- Live in peace, in the hearts of Jesus and Mary
forever.
.
Palm Sunday, 2005
As we celebrate and commemorate the Triumphant entrance of Jesus
into Jerusalem and received reverently with great shouts
of joy and victory as He made His returned to their city, however
it
was the beginning of the most crucial, agonizing journey
on the way
to Calvary.------------------THE PASSION.
In one of our Lords talks to the crowd He said, " He who follows
me shall have the Gift of Life". What a delightful invitation;---
and so let us take time out and follow Him, during this Holy Week,
on the way to Calvary" La Via Dolorosa" - The sorrowful
road- and offer ourselves(as best we can) in reparation for
the sins of the whole world.
With the Cross on His Shoulder, He began His Journey. His
body was weak and exhausted with pain and He fell. Not once
but three
times
and almost unable to rise and continue. --------then followed
the most shameful and demeaning, stripping of His Garments---and
at the mercy of those cruel soldiers, He was nailed to the
Cross
by stretching His arms and body from all sides, causing His
limbs to
dislocate--unspeakable pain------------------------(meditate
a while)
During this agonizing trail, some comfort was offered to
Him but the most dramatic time of all. was the suffering
of His Dear
Mother when only eye contact was possible. Nevertheless
the exchange
between them was of compassion, affection, strength, understanding
and most of all, LOVE.
Oh yes, there was Veronica, who boldly made
her
way through
the crowd and by passing the soldiers, wiped the Sacred Face
and eyes of Our Divine Savior which were saturated the blood
that dripped
down from the crown of thorns. Jesus, Who is never outdone
with love, left the impression of His Face on that special
cloth.--
And again
the suffering Lord demonstrates His Love by comforting the
weeping woman along the way.
Will you offer some form of comfort -----------------(meditate)
Only God can endure all this suffering! Why? He had a goal!
! !
HIS GOAL WAS TO RANSOM HIS CHILDREN, HIS LOVED ONES ANED
HIS PRECIOUS CREATURES
Yes, You and I. Through His death He destroyed our eternal
death and by rising He restored our Heavenly Life.
Resurrection is the day the Lord has made, so let us rejoice
and be glad therein.
Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!! A
Blessed Easter to all!
February 20, 2005
2nd Sunday in Lent
Pax et Bonum
How good it is to be with you , once again especially during this
Season of Lent.
Not too long ago, at Christmas time, if you recall, our topic and theme was
on Love. And now that we are in the season of Lent , I feel the theme for meditation
should, likewise be of Love, but more profoundly, since we are contemplating
the Greatest Act of Love, ever known. Yes the Love of our God, through His
Son Jesus, Who suffered the severe Passion and death on the Cross.
Because of this great Love shown to us, we attempt to offer these 40 days with
sincere devotion in prayers, Mass attendance, recitation of the rosary, along
with many other devotional prayers as well as abstinence, fasting and doing
good deeds for our neighbor.
But as humans, have you experienced, due to the rigid schedule, some how you
have slowed down a bit in your attempt to follow up with what you have promised
? I sure did experience this, sad to say.
I would go so far as making a list of do's and don’ts but never follow
it through all the way. It was on first Friday that I had much remorse for
my failure. Just to think of Our Savior in the garden of Gethsemani as He visioned
the whole passion before Him while sweating blood, He accepts this suffering
with these words, "Not My Will but Thine be done"
It was at that point that I decided to never plan ahead but simply take my
Lenten season a day at a time and make each day more devout than the day before,
I did this by offering the Mass, Communion, Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours on
that day and what ever sorrow, suffering or disappointments that would occur
and make it the best in my power to become more and more pleasing to My GOD---
Then Every Day was a blessing ---
Of course, it goes without saying, that we keep up with our fast and abstinence
and have good thoughts of our family, neighbor as well as those who do us harm
. Amen
And now a brief thought about Our Dear Seraphic Father St. Francis. He would
choose to keep the 40 days of Lent on an Island, alone, with nothing to eat
but a few morsels of bread.---- What an inspiration to us Franciscans. God
be with us all as we journey through Lent to Easter.
Your sister in St. Francis,
Celine
December 19, 2004
Note: During the October and November Meetings, Celine provided
us with meditations based upon the Theological Virtues of Faith and
Hope and how important they were to St. Francis. Today, Celine shares
the third, Love.
A Blessed Christmas to All!
I will only take a few minutes of your time to finalize the meditations
on the Theological Virtues and then you can enjoy one another in
the celebration the Birth of Christ and together enjoy all that delicious
food which has been prepared with Love.
Yes, with Love - the third and last Theological
Virtue - that was gifted to us by Our Heavenly Father . What
a perfect time to celebrate and contemplate
on the joy of Christmas-- a perfect Manifestation of God's Love for us because
He sent His only begotten Son on earth to be born in a manger,for our salvation.
HOW GREAT THOU ART !
Our dear Father, St. Francis, totally recognized this great Love of God and
profoundly wished so much to share it, with his family that he created
a living manger. A manger, that to this day has become a legendary practice
of FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE (charity )to all - Christmas should be our model
of living every day to spread LOVE and care.
Here's a little verse for you to enjoy:
Keep the Christmas spirit of Faith -
the gladness of Hope-
and the heart of
Love +
And together let us pray St Francis Peace Prayer with the focus on those
three beautiful virtue of Faith, Hope and Charity:
Lord ,make me an instrument of Your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow LOVE
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, FAITH
Where there is despair, HOPE
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness ,joy
O Divine Master, grant that I may not ,so much ,seek to be consoled as
to console.To be understood as to understand.
To be loved as to LOVE. For it is in giving
that we receive. It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned and it is in
dying that we are born to Eternal Life
God Love You All,
Celine, SFO
NOVEMBER 21, 2004
My dear, dear companions, Hi!
What a pleasure, once again, to be able to fill our hearts and mind with special
thoughts on a virtue that I hold dear in my heart since it did have a great impact
on my life, personally. A gift that God has instilled in us at the time we reach
the age of reasoning.
It is the Precious Gift of Hope
In reality, we do live , breath and exist on this
earth with great hope and great expectation, but there are times
that life become
very difficult and hard to accept even though you make great strides
to improve things, This is exactly the time when virtue enters in
our lives--we pray --we trust -- we put all our confidence in God
and suddenly we realize how many times God has lifted our spirits
with Faith, Hope and Trust in the many parables and examples He has
given us, during His life time. (Here are several)
Did He not tell us, "Come to Me all you who are burdened-- ask and you
shall receive, knock and it shall be opened-- I will refresh your soul"?
Did He not reward the saddened soldier, in giving life to his daughter mainly
because of the hope and trust he put in Him?
And in today’s Gospel, did Christ not reward heaven to the dying thief,
on Calvary because of his great trust and hope?
Yes my dear friends, in St Francis, allow me to say that our dear founder gave
us that beautiful Peace prayer of faith, hope, and love.
And our dear patron, St Elizabeth, (whose feast we celebrated the other day)
was happily married at the age of 14 had 2 children and expecting the third
when she received the message that her beloved husband died from a plague!
She was heart broken! Did she despair? No, instead she put all her energy into
raising her children in the ideals of St. Francis -- gave hope to the poor
and the hungry- visited the hospitals she founded to give comfort and trust
to the sick and the dying and also became a Franciscan tertiary.
There is so much to be said in praise of that gift of hope however I will be
brief with this great meditation------
Christ appeared to Sr. Faustina and asked her to put all her Trust and Hope
in God's Mercy through the merits of His Pain, Suffering and Death on the cross
and to give the following message to all living Souls, so refresh yourself
by listening and doing what Christ said:
”Immerse yourself in My Passion, even for just a moment, and I will give
you great Mercy and Hope for your Salvation" (exact words of Jesus to Sr.
Faustina)
God love you all and May He keep you in the Palm of His Hand.
Amen
Celine, SFO
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OCTOBER 17th 2004
Hi again to all my brothers and sisters!
After the feast of St. Francis, my heart was set on making a few comments
on one of the Theological Virtues- FAITH. It is the one which gave
me much food for thought.
WHY? We all witnessed the marathon of furious hurricanes, this season--
Right ? What a great test of our Faith. Yes, God has given us this
great gift of faith, nevertheless it is for us to nurture it and make
it grow
stronger and stronger every single day of our lives---
How? Through prayer, love of God, trust in His Divine Power and humbly
asking for His assistance- not only in times of need, but every day.
We should make it a virtuous habit of expressing our sincere desire
to love and to serve Him with our whole hearts- Believe me; He will
be there,
at your side. In all humility. I tell you how I experience His Divine
Assistance, many times, in little insignificant, coincidental events
that occur daily. Ah, but we have a perfect example, of true Faith,
in our dear father, St. Francis.
One day Francis was approached by the people of Gubbio, complaining
of a furious wolf, in town, prowling about and destroying all their
farms
and animal and most of all, killing and devouring humans, as well.
Francis listened, was saddened and he began praying. Calling his brothers
together,
quote "They blessed themselves with the sign of the cross and placed
all their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ who is Master of all creatures.
Protected not with a shield or a helmet but with the armor of True Faith
they bravely marched into the fields" end quote.
When the wolf approached, Francis blessed him and told him to slow
down and to close his cruel mouth and ordered him, In The name of Jesus,
not
to hurt him, his brothers or any other creatures of God, ever again.
Now that is True faith, personified! And the Lord was with him .Amen
Love you all,
Celine SFO
+++++++++++++++++
AUGUST 15th, 2004
A big HI to all!
Yes, I am happy to be able to talk about a special person today, a monk of
our century, a faithful follower of our Seraphic Father Saint Francis and a
Saint we venerate. Yes----St, Pare Pio.
He was born of good parents ( Joseph and Grace) who were peasant farmers in
a small Italian village and from his childhood, it was noted that he was a
special child and that he would, one day, become A GIANT of SANCTITY, as quoted
by one of the distinguished Cardinals of Rome.
As a Franciscan Capuchin priest, he developed such an intense love of God that
his life became a total dedication to prayer and a complete surrender to the
Will of God. A simple, humble priest who loved the church, offered the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass with greatest reverence and spent many hours in the confessional----
and without fail, had the greatest devotion to our Blessed Mother and the recitation
of the Rosary, daily. Because of his great, self sacrificing life, God blessed
him with supernatural gifts of prophecy, bilocation, physical healing powers
and a superb ability to read the minds and hearts of his penitents and thereby
healing their sadden souls with spiritual. divine graces.
But as we all know, the most dramatic privilege of all, was the Stigmata of
our dear Lord and Saviour thereby, a like to our Founder, he became a Co- Redemption
for our sins, and this, he embraced for 50 years. St Padre Pio speaks lovingly
of his, so called, spiritual family that he wishes to embrace us all— however,
he does urge us all to lead a good catholic life and receive the Sacraments,
often, and those who wish to be part to his spiritual family, He quotes, in
all simplicity, "Send Your guardian Angel to me."
And now, my dear friends, I would like to read to you an excerpt from the readings
of the life of St. Padre Pio to further explain the reason for the expression
- SPIRITUAL FAMILY.
When Padre Pio was a little boy, he had a vision in which he saw thousands
and thousands of faces from every country in the world. Many of them were not
as yet born!!! Our Divine Lord then indicated to him, that they were all his
spiritual children. And so from that time on, St Padre Pio felt the responsibility
for the salvation of all those souls and promised himself that he would stay
at the entrance of Heaven and secure these souls of the safe entrance through
the Golden Gates.
And, after all is said and done, my dear Franciscan children, would you like
to join the spiritual family of St. Padre Pio and become one of his children?
I certainly do!!! And so let us pray for this intention.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Dear St Padre Pio,
We lovingly recall the wounds that pierced your hand, feet and side, the blood
you shed, in pain, along with your smile and invisible halo of sweet smelling
flowers that surrounded your presence. As we meditate upon these gifts, we
send our Guardian Angel to ask you to include us in your Spiritual Family .Amen.
In the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Love you all,
Celine SFO
+++++++++++++++++
JULY
18th, 2004
Greetings:
To our dear sisters and brothers in St.
Francis, and of course a BIG congratulations to our new candidates
of whom we
are very proud.
We read and study a great deal on the life of St. Francis that I am
aware of the fact that you (we) have come to love him so and realize
how much
he loved God and had that great desire to follow in His footsteps.
But because I strongly feel that Francis character and personality, developed
from his childhood I decided--why not put a little focus on his childhood
and his youth?
Here are some of my feelings and sentiments: When I first began to read the life of St. Francis, many, many moons
ago, I must admit that I found his early, youthful life, very interesting
and fascinating as well. The charisma that he portrayed as a child was
simply a forecast of his profound Love of God and for all His creation.
A legend tells us that St. Francis was born in a stable---- now that's
a good start to follow in the foot steps of Christ --Right -- However,
we do know he was born into a wealthy family. His father was Pietro (Peter)
who happened to be a successful cloth merchant and his mother Pica was
from noble family, who sincerely was a pious woman with high values in
life and certainly passed these fine qualities to her children.
Now at the time of Francis' birth, his father was on his business trip
and was not around when Francis was baptized and so his mother named
him Giovanni (John). But when his father returned from his trip, he made
the decision that his son should be named Francis for the mere fact his
business thrived in France. We can just imagine what Pica's feelings
were at that point. However this diligent woman raised her children in
the love of God and in every thing that was good and sacred.
I am condensing this story my dear friends because we can go on and on
and never have enough time to tell it all.
Pica did believe in a good education for her children, coming from Nobility,
we could understand that well, however our little Francis did not show
too much enthusiasm and interest in school, never the less he showed
a great joy and happiness in music and did lots of singing and so later
on, in his teen years he was sent to the school of Troubadours and there
he learned thee art of singing and using the musical instruments with
such a great passion that he went out, through the streets of Assisi
and serenaded all, with his delightful voice wit, and pleasant personality---
yes he did --- and even at the risk of disturbing the peace and quiet
of the evening hours. In view of that, he became the favorite of the
town an especially the favorite of his peers, the nobility.
We can see why he became popular ---he had elegance and poise about him
and looked rather handsome and stately in his lavishing fine clothes
but I must add to this that he always concerned himself about the poor
and did share his wealth with them and was very compassionate to the
sick and thee infirm and if you recall reading about his treatment of
the leper.
And now for the climax in his carefree life --I promise to be very brief
but with the hope that you will under stand what I wish so much to share
with you
Francis was not too fond of working in that type of business his father
was involved in and so he decide to become a Noble Soldier and serve
his country---and yes, he did fight in the battle. It was won but he
was taken a prisoner and suffered with severe fever which saddened him
to a great degree. I as see this part of his life, that with the culmination
of events, prison, starvation, illness and his dream and the voices he
heard-------I perceive it as God's intervention and the beginning of
a great conversion and life transformation into sainthood. Amen.
May the Good Lord bless and keep you!
Love you all,
Celine SFO
+++++++++++++++++
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