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My dear Sisters, in this third week of Advent following upon Gaudete Sunday, we find a deep call, a profound call, to the understanding of penance. I think the Church is trying to teach us that real penance is always characterized by joy, that joy is a property of penance. When we look at penitence, we could perhaps list many properties, many characteristics and effects of penance; and we can all develop this in prayer. For today, I would like to linger a bit on three outstanding characteristics and effects of penance, three which I would venture to say are the most prominent. They are both property and effect; they are both descriptive of what is there and are a function of what is there. These three are: purpose, alertness, and joy.

Now, when we really become aware of how much we need to do penance, of how much we have sinned and are at fault, we could question (if we look at it in a superficial way) how we could be joyful. Would we not grow sadder and sadder? But, no, this is not true. And so let us look at that first property and effect: purpose. Real penance is always purposeful. And this characteristic is also an effect; that is, the more we truly realize our state as penitents, the more purpose we have to amend. We know that, in the Sacrament of Penance, we cannot be absolved from our sins if we do not have a firm purpose of amendment. Contrition is not real—it is not only incomplete, but it is not real—if there is no true purpose of amendment. This does not mean that we may not fall again, but it does mean that I am full of purpose, that I am not going to go on like this, that I am not going to keep doing this. That is what characterizes real penance. A weak wailing about my faults, with no evident purpose to do anything about them, has nothing to do with penance. It has a lot to do with cowardice, it has a lot to do with pride, and it is an expression of lack of purposefulness.

But real penance is a driving force. We see this dramatically in our Father Saint Francis. He wept because “Love is not loved.” He just could not get over this, and he was so driven by this, that Love was not loved enough by him. He went on with such purpose that in the sacred stigmata, love finally broke out all over him.

Francis P.C.C., Mother Mary. Come, Lord Jesus (pp. 135-136). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Cluny Media whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

The post CLJ6 – Joyful Penitence – Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

My dear Sisters, in the second week of Advent we have so rich a liturgy encompassing the great solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and rounding its weekly cycle off with the tender feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is enough to make one feel drunk with new wine just to think about all that is opening out before us in this week. We want to linger especially today on that great solemnity of our Immaculate Mother. It could be that this great solemnity which is meant to bring us so close to our Mother could really separate us from her if we did not enter profoundly into its meaning. She was immaculate; she was born without sin, and she lived without sin; and death could not hold her in the tomb because she was without sin and therefore the penalty of death had nothing to do with her.

And so, we could think, what does this have to do with me? I, who have a whole life of accumulation of sin and dreary faults committed again and again. What do we mean—in that prayer of the Church—that we should come with clean hearts to God? How can we ever come with a clean heart to God? Is this not something reserved to our Immaculate Mother? We just seem to get dirtier and dirtier all the time. How can this be a real prayer, a sincere prayer? It seems that no sooner have we got a little bit clean than we are soiled again; and Scripture itself could seem very depressing when it says the just man, the man in perfect holiness, falls seven times a day. We could sit back and say, “Oh, dear!”—and then we want to pray to come to God with a clean heart?

None of us would stand up and say, “Well, I None of us would stand up and say, “Well, I None of us would stand up and say, “Well, I am the just woman.” But even then I would fall seven times a day!

Francis P.C.C., Mother Mary. Come, Lord Jesus (p. 77-78). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Cluny Media whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

The post CLJ5 – A Cleaned Heart – Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

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“My dear Sisters, today in the Gospel our Lord praises the faith of those who lowered the paralytic through the roof so that Jesus could heal him. Let us continue to reflect on the theme we had in the Sunday readings of giving evidence that we wish to reform our lives, and let us examine the evidence of our own willingness to be healed, which pertains to faith, hope, and charity. To reform literally means, not to make a new form, but to go back to the original form. The Cistercian abbot Dom Gabriel Sortais, O.C.S.O., said, “Our Lady was exactly as God dreamed her.”

She never had to be reshaped; the form never had to be reintegrated. Unfortunately, we often need to be reshaped and reformed. Yet that, too, is beautiful: that we are formed again, not in a different way, but back to that dream (a lovely expression) that God has of each one of us, that dream-form in the mind and the heart of God of what he intends each of us to be. This is what we mean by reform. Faith, we are told in Scripture, is the substance of things unseen. It is easy to say, “I believe in God.”

But to say that “I believe that God is in control” can be very hard—to really give him the evidence of the heart, of the soul bowed down before him, sometimes in confusion at what he seems to be doing (and not doing) and sometimes in real anguish—and to believe. This is the evidence he is asking of us. We tend to think of faith as a lovely thing. Faith is not just a matter of speaking, but it is a matter of believing when it is difficult to believe.”

Francis P.C.C., Mother Mary. Come, Lord Jesus (pp. 86-87). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Cluny Media whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

The post CLJ4 – Faith, Hope, Love – Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

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THE CHURCH is saying to us again and again, “Now is the acceptable time” (2 Cor 6:2). This Advent will never come again. Perhaps God will bless us with other Advents, although, with the condition the world is in right now, one could have large question marks about that. But even if he does, this one will never come again.

We recall the classic words of the poet: “The tender grace of a day that is gone will never come back to me.” The graces of this day will never come again. The opportunities for being loving and humble and generous and self-forgetful in this day will never come again. That is a large thought, and we should fill our minds with large thoughts in this season.

In the liturgy of this Sunday, the Church is saying, “You have to do something.” And she is saying, “I want to see something.” As I was reflecting in prayer on these three readings which our wise Mother the Church puts before us, our dear Lord showed me that, in a sense, we need to “read” them backward—that the conclusion, the very strong point, is in the Gospel: we begin there and then go back and see how these fruits appear.

Francis P.C.C., Mother Mary. Come, Lord Jesus (p. 65). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Cluny Media whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

The post CLJ3 – Giving Evidence – Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

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“In today’s Gospel we have our dear Lord’s shivering words about the house built on sand, which looked so good, standing there. Everything was going along all right. But then some winds came, and then some rain came. And that good-looking house fell because it was built on sand. Jesus says in those terrible words, which always cause a shiver to go down the spine, “The rains came and the winds came, and that house fell. And, oh, what a fall it had!” We have falls in our lives, in our spiritual lives, and sometimes they are very bad. The trouble is that we had built something on sand.

And then, of course, our dear Lord talks about the other house: it also looked good. It was good, because it was built on a rock. He says that the winds came and they beat against that house. If these were sentient houses, we couldn’t claim that this house didn’t feel the wind, and the other one did. No, it felt the winds. The winds and rain beat upon this house, too. And it also suffered; it also had to endure the impact of the untoward. But this house stood firm because it was built upon a rock.”

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Cluny Media whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

The post CLJ2 – The Epicenter – Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

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“Jesus took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves. . . . All ate and were satisfied (Mt 15:36, 37).”

“We all know in daily experience in this blessed Advent season that there are such rich viands spread out before us in the liturgy that one hardly knows where to linger. One thinks, “This must be the theme of my prayer today”, and then the next responsory comes, and then this reading comes, and then this lesson comes. In a beautiful, provocative homily by Saint Bernard at Matins we read a wonderful phrase: “Feed on goodness.” We should, spiritually, watch what we are eating. Now, each of us has full command over what our thoughts feed upon. There is a great thrust in our times about right nutrition. There is finally a reaction against the eating of junk foods, which not only provide no nourishment but do great harm to the physical system. Reputable doctors are saying that we are what we eat. Sometimes people deliberately feed themselves on wrong foods, junk foods, which taste good at the moment, please the palate at the moment—but give no nourishment for the body’s growth and sustenance, and little by little work destructive havoc on the body. We can do this spiritually as well. “Feed on goodness.” How can we live a spiritual life, how can we be the force that we are called to be in the Church of God, beginning with the local church of our community, if our diet is very destructive, if, instead of feeding on goodness we feed on self? Do we sometimes feed our thoughts on impatience, feed them on self-pity? Do we feed on irritability? Do we feed on grudging giving? Do we feed on selfishness, instead of feeding on goodness? Saint Bernard says, “Remember to eat your bread, or your heart will wither.” We must remember to eat our bread, to feed on goodness, or our spiritual life will wither. It really will.”

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Cluny Media whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

The post CLJ1 – Right Nutrition – Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

“When we examine the Church’s liturgy, the idea of blossoming beauty is very evident everywhere in this season of penance. It neither begins nor ends with anything severe, even though we are told to set ourselves to work, which will inevitably involve suffering and pain since we are so disjointed. We are so unbeautiful sometimes. The Lenten liturgy is one of hope and of restoration that speaks of a great blossoming that is to come, that is to be accomplished during these days. Holy Church tells us that it is not in vain that we keep vigil, and that a crown is promised to those who watch. She tells us that our penance is not without purpose.

We might stop to reflect there for just a minute. In our time the Church has lifted so much of what was mandatory in penitential practices, thereby placing great trust in us. She has not changed anything about her concept of penance or understanding of the need for penance, she has merely removed penalties. She has tried to show us a greater trust. If the Church is aware that penance had been done for the wrong reason, she is now asking us to do it for the right reason, without penalty.”

Mother Mary Francis. A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season . Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Mother Mary Francis, abbess of a Poor Clare Monastery for over forty years, left an enduring legacy in her writings and in the conferences she gave to her spiritual daughters. In this work she presents beautiful meditations on the liturgical season of Lent, revealing the treasures of the liturgy to Christians in all walks of life. Her insight into Holy Scripture and her poet’s heart engendered reflections that illuminate the daily Mass readings in a fresh and attractive way.

These meditations enlighten the reader to see conversion as positive and enriching, and help us to understand that the generous embrace of Lenten penance has a purpose and brings a wondrous reward: deeper union with God. She was a true daughter of Saint Francis of Assisi, who found perfect joy by turning away from self to God.

As a spiritual guide, Mother Mary Francis excels in the art of persuasion, aware that the human heart cannot be forced but only gently led to holiness. She makes this goal attractive and desirable by tirelessly explaining why striving for holiness is the happiest and wisest way to live. This book provides a wealth of material for plundering the riches of the Lenten season and for deepening one’s spiritual life. Her meditations are profound and timeless, not changing from year to year, thus providing a lifetime of Lenten meditations in this one volume.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

The post TOR3 – Beauty and Penance – A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

“It is of great spiritual benefit to avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation often during this holy season, and so let us continue our consideration of this great gift ministered to us through our Holy Church. Just as there is no sacramental absolution without contrition and without the actual confession, so the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not valid unless we are determined to do penance and to amend our lives. To whom do we confess? To Almighty God. But we never sincerely confess to God what we have not first confessed to ourselves. The first confession is confessing to myself in true confrontation that I am guilty, I have sinned, I am at fault. If we do not have that first confession in the truth, that cleansing self-confrontation, we will not rightly confess to God. We cannot tell God anything he does not know, and we cannot rightly express to God what we have not expressed in truth to ourselves. “

Mother Mary Francis. A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season . Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Mother Mary Francis, abbess of a Poor Clare Monastery for over forty years, left an enduring legacy in her writings and in the conferences she gave to her spiritual daughters. In this work she presents beautiful meditations on the liturgical season of Lent, revealing the treasures of the liturgy to Christians in all walks of life. Her insight into Holy Scripture and her poet’s heart engendered reflections that illuminate the daily Mass readings in a fresh and attractive way.

These meditations enlighten the reader to see conversion as positive and enriching, and help us to understand that the generous embrace of Lenten penance has a purpose and brings a wondrous reward: deeper union with God. She was a true daughter of Saint Francis of Assisi, who found perfect joy by turning away from self to God.

As a spiritual guide, Mother Mary Francis excels in the art of persuasion, aware that the human heart cannot be forced but only gently led to holiness. She makes this goal attractive and desirable by tirelessly explaining why striving for holiness is the happiest and wisest way to live. This book provides a wealth of material for plundering the riches of the Lenten season and for deepening one’s spiritual life. Her meditations are profound and timeless, not changing from year to year, thus providing a lifetime of Lenten meditations in this one volume.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

The post TOR2 – Amendment and Penance – A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.

“We have come to the beginning of Lent, and I hope we will not allow ourselves to think of it as “just another Lent”. There is a very deep sense in which there is not another Lent and then another and another after that. This Lent is unlike any other. It is this acceptable time. We do not know if there will be another Lent for us, but we do know God has brought us to this acceptable time, to this prolonged day of salvation. This is the acceptable time, and the Apostle Paul is begging us not to receive the graces of this time in vain (see 2 Cor 6:1). He is also implying that there will be struggle, that this is a great testing ground, and that as we grow in our awareness of our need for redemption and in a very humble attitude toward others, so do we nourish the will to make a sustained effort to do better. By all of these things we enter into the mystery of our communal life in the Church. We are responsible for one another’s holiness. We influence each other all the time, and we should grow in the awareness of this. It simply cannot be denied that we are conditioned and affected by one another. Human beings invariably are. Every Christian has a vocation to holiness. Now as we enter into Lent, I hope we will all be deeply conscious of our involvement in one another’s holiness, of our sharing of penance and of sacrifice, and very especially of our responsibility for one another’s growth in holiness this Lent.”

Mother Mary Francis. A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season . Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Mother Mary Francis, abbess of a Poor Clare Monastery for over forty years, left an enduring legacy in her writings and in the conferences she gave to her spiritual daughters. In this work she presents beautiful meditations on the liturgical season of Lent, revealing the treasures of the liturgy to Christians in all walks of life. Her insight into Holy Scripture and her poet’s heart engendered reflections that illuminate the daily Mass readings in a fresh and attractive way.

These meditations enlighten the reader to see conversion as positive and enriching, and help us to understand that the generous embrace of Lenten penance has a purpose and brings a wondrous reward: deeper union with God. She was a true daughter of Saint Francis of Assisi, who found perfect joy by turning away from self to God.

As a spiritual guide, Mother Mary Francis excels in the art of persuasion, aware that the human heart cannot be forced but only gently led to holiness. She makes this goal attractive and desirable by tirelessly explaining why striving for holiness is the happiest and wisest way to live. This book provides a wealth of material for plundering the riches of the Lenten season and for deepening one’s spiritual life. Her meditations are profound and timeless, not changing from year to year, thus providing a lifetime of Lenten meditations in this one volume.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

The post TOR1 – Ash Wednesday: A Time of Reflowering – A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.