Just a thought...

Yesterday, a couple of us were on the 210 freeway trying to make it home through the traffic. On the opposite side from a distance we could see the blaring red lights of fire trucks coming our way. An endless line passed us by...fire trucks coming from all over the state...Long Beach, Arcadia, Redding, some even from San Francisco. Who knows how long these men had been on the road and how many more hours they would be awake working to save lives and property. The "brotherhood" of these firemen...reaching out to help each other in time of need, risking their lives doing what has been entrusted to them...made quite an impact on us as we watched them drive by. And it strengthened our own resolve to be faithful to what's been entrusted to us individually and communally...to let the "sisterhood" be a living reflection of the oneness to which we are called. God bless and reward our firemen!

VOCATIONS

Blog #4. Not too bad. :) I have to admit that I am impressing myself. :)

When thinking about what to write - as it occured to me that I should put something new up - the first thing that came to mind was to ask for your help. Or better put, to invite you to share in two intentions which we hold dear to our hearts.

#1, praying for priests (past, present and future) and #2, praying for good holy vocations to the religious life (particularly to our community). If young people could see, experience and have a taste of the beauty of religious life, of the awesomeness of the priesthood, our seminaries and convents would flourish. AND the lovely thing is...it's happening. Slowly but surely. However, you and I know how strong the message of the world can be, so this is where YOU come into the picture. We need to pray for our young people, that if they truly are called to belong to the Lord in this way, they will remain steadfast and faithful to the call.

Please do pray in particular for the young women whom God is calling to our community...for their generous, faithful, love-filled response. We would be grateful and in truth, so would the Church. :) God reward you!!!

In honor of St. Therese of the Child Jesus...

You can always tell when the general consensus likes a particular book as you see it circulating from sister to sister with very little time to gather dust on the shelves. And for the past couple of months or so, the book entitled Everything is Grace, by Father Joseph Schmidt (I don't have the book with me but I think that's how you spell Father's last name) has been making the rounds.

This little blurb (though late) comes in honor of St. Therese's feast day.

Father Joseph writes of St. Therese's spirituality in such a way that it speaks to your heart of the true simplicity of Christian perfection. In the eyes of St. Therese, everything is a grace - in accepting all that the Lord deigns to send her in the day to day ordinariness of life, in accepting and giving to God her weaknesses, faults and struggles, in thanking God for her gifts, strengths and blessings, absolutely EVERYTHING was a grace. It's easy to talk about - but another thing to live and enflesh in our daily lives. What a beautiful companion and friend we have in Therese. She heroically walked the way of trust, confidence, surrender and she teaches and invites us to do the same.

By the way - you can purchase this book in our gift shop at the Sacred Heart Retreat House. 626-289-1353. How's that for subtle advertising! :) I ought to get a commission. :) I hope you're reading this Sister Janelle. :) God bless you!