Silence

"Silence is Golden."

Most everyone is familiar with this phrase. As I was walking through Manhattan on Saturday, I was thinking about how loud everything around me was. It didn't matter where I went: into a cafe, down into the subway, into the Museum of Natural History, or even on the deck of the Staten Island Ferry, I could not get away from the noise to hear myself think. I would often loose my own train of thought because I could hear so many other conversations around me. I heard the familiar phrase, "Silence is Golden". As I began to meditate with it, I realized how true these words are. It is important, not only, to maintain silence in the movie theaters out of respect for the people around you or at night while people are sleeping, but also in our daily lives. We desperately need the silence! There is so much noise around us that we often get distracted from our own day-to-day thoughts and it is crucial to have a place and some quiet time to hear what the Lord is saying to us.

If we cannot hear ourselves think, how can we expect to hear what the Lord is saying to us?

Written by Alycia, Special Events Coordinator for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm

Easter Joy!

As we begin this fourth week of Easter, let us maintain the joy of Christ’s Resurrection in our hearts.  As Pope John Paul II has said, “Do not abandon yourselves to despair.  We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”  We are the Easter people and Hallelujah is our song.  What does this mean for us?

This statement means that we are a people who are defined by Easter. It means we are defined by joy. One of the greatest arguments for Christianity is Christians themselves.  It is their joy through suffering, their love that is defined by sacrifice, their joy because of suffering.  This is what it means to be an Easter people!  It means looking at the cross and seeing pure love and joy. It means looking at the cross and seeing Jesus’ personal love for us and all mankind.  This love is all sacrifice, and it’s all beauty. We cannot look at the cross without the Resurrection because it is not merely the suffering that appears to our naked eye.  Likewise, we cannot look at the Resurrection without the cross.  They are unbreakably united and joined. We must never lose sight of the Resurrection when we experience hurt, suffering, and struggle in our lives.  We can choose, as St. Paul says, to rejoice in our sufferings, and in our flesh fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of the Church. The risen Christ still bears His wounds and the nail marks in His hands and feet.  Being an Easter people does not mean that we are free from woundedness, sorrow, or brokenness, but it means that we are not defined by our suffering, but by a loving God who loves us tenderly not despite, but because of our wounds.  How is our suffering transformed in this way?  How do we live as Easter people in the midst of pain and hurt?  To do this, we must choose to be people of Faith, of Hope, and of Love.

The Mercy of God

"You must believe in mercy to the point of believing that you are joy for Jesus" (I Believe in Love (IBIL), p. 96). 


Yesterday we, the Church, celebrated the beautiful feast of Divine Mercy! It is a feast to celebrate His great joy - the joy at being our Savior! 


St. Faustina, in her Dairy, states, "O my Jesus, Your goodness surpasses all understanding, and no one will exhaust Your mercy. Damnation is for the soul who wants to be damned; but for the one who desires salvation, there is the inexhaustible ocean of the Lord's mercy to draw from. How can a small vessel contain the unfathomable ocean?" (paragraph 631).


The beauty of mercy is that even though we are feeble and weak, the glory of God is manifested in and through us. St. Therese of Lisieux said, "We would like to suffer generously. We would like to never fall - what an illusion!" We will fall and stumble, but the mercy of God is so great that in a moment of humble confidence through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our sins are forgiven! What a gift! The God of Heaven and Earth, out of love, created us, loved us into existence. Regardless of the sins we have committed, when we return like the Prodigal Son, we console the Heart which loves us so much! 


"You must believe in mercy to the point of believing that you are a joy for Jesus!"


Written by Alycia, Special Events Coordinator for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm