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Rise and Follow

3/29/2015

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I WOKE UP FROM A NAP WITH THIS IMAGE OF HUMILITY: WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE IF I HOBBLED INTO EACH MOMENT LEANING ON THE ARM OF MY JESUS, LETTING HIM BRING ME INTO EACH MOMENT?

JESUS SEEMED TO SAY, IF YOU ARE REALLY WEAK AND HUMBLE YOU WOULD LET ME LEAD YOU THIS WAY.

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Here is more from God Alone  - there is an explanation of these thoughts in my heart given in 2008 on December 18th of this blog.
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June 11, 2008 3 AM
Breaking Through
Holy Spirit:
You observe around you graveyards of the dreams of others. You can choose between ridicule and grief. You can train a critical eye on defects to score points or you can weep for those whose plans have crashed under the weight of their defects. Which path is right? The critic’s path is justified. Didn’t Jesus scathingly condemn the evils choking his country? This He did to make room for a new way that was harder but better.

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He also wept for those trapping themselves and manipulating others in power strategies. He wanted to gather the great and the weak under His wings to rescue them. The break-through is both deeper and higher than the bleak alternatives between which you think you have to chose (in your daily decisions). Do the beatitudes look like a plan for success in the world? The break-through is in the heart. Ask Us moment by moment to give you the love to see through all exterior evils into the disillusioned hearts of others. Is that not how We used Our followers to win your heart? “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” (Matthew 6:12) 

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June 12, 2008
Waiting to See
Holy Spirit:
You want to pre-judge situations to flee from the pain of disappointment. But, in this way, you cut off what is not full grown, or, as Jesus said, you ‘pull out the wheat with the chaff.” We would like you to be willing to wait more to see what We have planted in souls that might need something from you. Every possibility is doomed if success is measured by a perfect score in reaching only one person’s goals. Do children drop out of team sports unless they are the star players? Not if they love the game. So, do what you love and bring along as many as respond for as long as they wish. Have gratitude for what comes that is good, but less measurement during the process. See how tense it makes you when you measure each activity every day? Trust in Us that We will draw you in and lead you out of the situations that come along. Loosen your grip. We have given you models such as St. Paul and St. Teresa of Avila who went many places and tried many things. ‘Let nothing disturb you, let nothing….”

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June 14, 2008
The Promised Land
Holy Spirit:
The promised land is a prophecy, a dream, a rest stop, a foretaste, and finally your eternal home.  All of  it is Our gift and you open the gift and enjoy it when you are willing to dwell in the land. To dwell is to enjoy the milk and honey in company with other pilgrims. How can you enjoy the promised land if you are more like a looter rushing through the land, dragging on your back more than you can carry?
n the Eucharist, Mother Church gives you the bread from heaven, a miniature form for the Eternal who entered time. In Confession, the priest, your travel agent, so to speak, rids you of the excess baggage you took on in fear and greed. In each moment, through the lesser gifts of life on earth, We want to expand your hearts. Please notice. 
“That your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)

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June 14, 2008
Islands of Peace
Holy Spirit:
In war, unconditional surrender leads to a time of peace. In a similar way,
when many of you have been struggling within yourselves you can give up all your ways of trying to win and then We can enter and bring a time of peace. Remember how often Jesus says, “Be not afraid,” and “Peace be with you.” It is not that We want to see you humiliated in your battles with yourselves and others. It is that there is no real winning on the human fields of battle you create, despite the beauty of your flags. We want to bury the dead and something new and unexpected rises from the ashes. The resurrection of Jesus: what is important is that it happened, not your analysis of how. So, too, in those little resurrections of hope after bitter tears. What is important is that you are there on a small island of peace. Take it in. 
“Peace be with you.” (John 20:19)

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June 15, 2008
The Prize
Holy Spirit:
What do you really want, my children? More? More life, more joy, more love, more success?
Your whole being is created to want more. You are not like rocks in the sun. You are always in motion toward some prized reward – short and long term wishes and goals. It is a sort of race. It tires you out always running toward prizes but to sit still also tires you out. You can experience this as a rhythm of work and Sabbath, running to rest; resting to run again. What do We really want for our children? More life, more joy, more love, 
more of the right kind of success. (Note from Ronda: I thought this meant how success is being a good sport sometimes vs. winning a game.) Jesus told you before He left this earth that He would send Me to guide you. The guide book is the Bible and the teachings of our Church. Also, Me speaking in each of your hearts. The light shines through. We look for docile eager students who we can teach to run toward the good and also to rest in it. We have chosen you; do you want to pledge yourself to Us? “I have finished the race.” (2 Timothy 4:7)

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Lenten Etudes

3/21/2015

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Maybe you haven’t come across this, but I have.  Sometimes when I have acquaintances or friends who are evangelical non-Catholic Christians, they are surprised at how, according to them, even serious Catholics rarely talk about the Lord or their Christian experiences but use social times almost exclusively to talking about politics, griping about their work situations, or gossiping!

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 In my own case, I tend to become argumentative in social situations because I am always analyzing everything people say or sometimes teasing in a way that while certainly not being sinful can have an edge that isn’t exactly the right tone either. Certainly it is not edifying, as St. Paul urges us to exhibit.  I gave up argumentativeness for Lent and now I am giving up the wrong kind of teasing.  Soon I will appear to be a nun with a vow of silence!  Seriously, I am praying to see how to be playful instead of teasing. My godfather, Professor Schwarz, was like this. He was always punning in playful ways.  If you can spare a prayer, pray for me on this.

A Jewish lawyer picked me out of a list of Catholics someone gave him because he wanted to do Inter-Faith Dialogue.   I was surprised because usually Jews don’t want to meet those of Jewish background who became Catholic, just as we would not like to meet a Pastor of a non-Catholic Protestant Church who used to be a Catholic priest!  We have had a rocky go even though lawyer is super-loving and has become a friend because reform Jews are usually pro-Choice. He invited me to a reform Jewish Shabbat service and dinner in exchange for which he will come to Holy Thursday. I prayed not to get upset with anyone or bring up Pro-Life, or anything controversial. He prayed I would not feel threatened. It was a wonderful evening and because I joined the woman rabbi when some danced to Israeli music she said she would like to join our inter-faith conversational group!  What an illustration of God saving me from the “pit” of my argumentativeness and their sometimes closed-mindedness to Jews who become Catholics! 
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Thinking about spiritual friendship, this prayer-poem came to me. It seemed to me to be universalizable, actually:

 

How high can a priest lift up with trembling awe
that host You have made into Yourself?
How high can I lift the soul of my friend
That the bond may be of You?
That what is sown on earth
May flower in heaven.
Only the Christ can  make
 from the passing the sublime.


I teach Vietnamese Sisters here in the US to learn English and then get degrees in English so they can teach in Vietnam someday if the political restrictions lift, or in the meantime teach in their convents which sometimes have therein 500 Sisters!!!!! All in habits, which they can only wear indoors. One of these Sisters was telling me about her childhood. In her family and most of the families in her village, they children had to awaken at 4 AM to get ready to go to 5 AM Mass. The grandmother lit an oil lamp the night before so they could find their way to the Church. They were taught that the angels were at Mass with them. After Mass they could play with their friends before going to the public school at 7:30 AM.
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Vietnamese Martyrs
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Clean Up

3/9/2015

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Yesterday, in a lull in the snow storms here in Connecticut, I spent a lot of time cleaning out my little one room "cell" here at Holy Apostles College and Seminary where I live and teach.  I woke up, today, with this thought that seems like a little parable:
Just as we move the furniture into the middle of the room to see and clean out the ingrained dirt that lay hidden, so the Holy Spirit "invented" Lent as a way to see in His light the hidden sins in our souls, and to let our priests sweep out the dirt in confession so there can be more room for the light of the world in our souls to radiate out.
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“Humor is oil for the engine of success, for the friction of stress, and for the wear and tear of ego!”  Saying of Bob Sizemore, a Professor and Counselor.
A beautiful booklet has been made of all the thoughts I allegedly received from the Holy Spirit that you have been getting snippets of for a while on this blog. They are now available in an easy to meditate on booklet under the title of God Alone! Solo Dios Basta - Thoughts Received by Ronda Chervin. This booklet is not published, just printed.  If you are interested you can send a check for $10 to cover costs to Dr. Ronda Chervin, 33 Prospect Hill Road, Cromwell, CT. 06416. 
Of course, someday our wonderful graphic designer, Jim Ridley, web-master of this web may publish it with his graphics included, but this one is nice even without pictures.  
Here are some more snippets from those writings:

June 5, 2008
Spiritual Warfare
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Holy Spirit:

You cannot help wishing for rest from the combat and you are startled to have to go back to the battlefield when you thought that victory was won. Only in heaven will that battle be over. On earth, how can you win at all if your guard is down? If you don’t call for reinforcements? That doesn’t mean that you need to be tense. More that you must be aware. The sign that the enemy is near is that sense of disequilibrium; unexpected hostile winds; change of moods in those usually friendly. But your weapon is not the sword, or the shield; but sacraments and prayer; unexpected love piercing through another’s defenses as We pierce through yours. All these weapons we give you for free, for We are an army of liberation from your fear and theirs.“You know not the day nor the hour.”( Revelation: 3:3)

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St. Therese of Lisieux as St. Joan of Arc
I have been impressed by how often in Scripture and in the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours there are references to being guided in life by God. Before receiving this steady stream of locutions I would have been inclined to think that these words about being guided meant the guidance already given in Revelation in scripture and tradition, but now I am thinking they could also be alerting us to the possibility of the kinds of “words in the heart” I have been receiving.
Here are some of these passages for you to ponder if you have similar messages or if you want to pray something like: “Holy Spirit, I am reading these messages Ronda thinks are from you. If it would help to make me more holy, that is, more full of love of God and neighbor, to receive closer guidance through messages, please open me to receiving them.”
From the Psalms:
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Psalm 43
ring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.
Psalm Prayer, Tuesday, Morning Prayer, Week II: 
Almighty Father, source of everlasting light, send forth your truth into our hearts and pour over us the brightness of your light.

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Psalm 49:
y lips will speak words of wisdom, my heart is full of insight. I will turn my mind to a parable…
Psalm Prayer for Psalm 49 Tuesday Evening Prayer Week II: 
                    Make our mouths speak your wisdom, Lord Jesus…

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Psalm 86: 
urn your ear, O Lord, and give answer for I am poor and needy…Show
 me, Lord, your way so that I may walk in your truth.



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Psalm Prayer for Psalm 142 Sunday Evening Prayer II, Week 4 
ord God, you are the eternal light which illumines the hearts of good people.

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Isaiah 2:2-5…
ome let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths. For from Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.


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2 Peter 1:19-21 
en impelled by the Holy Spirit have spoken under God’s influence.


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Hymn Tuesday Week II Evening prayer: Day is Done includes the words
ou are with us ever lending new strength to sight.

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Hymn Friday, Morning Prayer Week II
peak to the soul of all the human race…Defeat out Babel with your Pentecost.

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Antiphon Saturday Morning Prayer, Week II 
et us listen to the voice of God…
Saturday Morning Prayer Week II Canticle Antiphon:
Lord, guide our feet into the way of peace.

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Hymn Friday Week III Morning Prayer: 
s we worship grant us vision, till your love’s revealing light, till the height and depth and  greatness, dawns upon our human sight…stirring us to faithful service, your abundant life  to share.


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Common of Holy Men, Morning Prayer Responsory:
n the depth of his heart, the law of God is his guide…


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Prayer, Office of Readings, Saturday, Tenth Week in Ordinary Time: 
od of wisdom and love, source of all good, send your Spirit to teach us our truth and guide our  actions…


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St. Augustine from Office of Readings June 26:
f I lack either the time or ability to study the implications of so profound a mystery, he who speaks within you even when I am not here will teach you better.

Some other reflections on the nature of these locutions:
When we read in Scripture in Acts about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of which teaching is one, we may assume this means only teachings arrived at in the usual way by analysis of Scripture and Tradition, but the context could also suggest that these teachings could have been more infused knowledge. A Methodist Scripture scholar in my Christian Writing Group, Dr. Pat Looper, pointed out that her research shows that each of the prophets inthe Old Testament is relating what God wants us to hear but in their own individual voice.




Here is a delightful collection of stories by Dr. Looper
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June 6, 2008 6 AM
Receptivity

(Note from Ronda: some of this is directed to me, personally, but the message fits many others, so I am including it.)

Holy Spirit:

There is so much We wish to show you each moment. Right now you hear the birds chirping outside the window and each picture on your wall glows with the meanings theyhave conveyed to you – some for 45 years. Don’t you see that these unexpected post-60th birthday years are expanding your tight little soul? We understand how hard it is to release into a more contemplative way of life for those who have been so active. So we offer you less and more busy times; we let you see the contrast, each mode with its pluses and minuses. The goal, always, that all may be received and given in peace and love. Look forward each day with joy and hope to the Mass and your quiet prayer time, for this is where you, in a focused way, let Us “melt and mold you, then fill you and use you,” as your song goes. It is your receiving time. Humbly offer to Us those snarled up moments where you don’t see your way forward. Wool is still useful after it is unravelled of knots. Bring those knots to Us in trust.
“For those who love God all things work for the good.” (Romans 8;28)

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June 7, 2008
Surrender

Holy Spirit:

Everything. Yes, surrender everything to Us, because We are your real future. Do you see how your cats, even though they want to go out the door to a wider world, wait cautiously just outside the open door to check things out. Much more so do you look upward to heaven but then cringe backward shading your eyes from the sun. Surrender seems supine, but is really a courageous leap into the better but less known. You could practice surrendering each day, not just as a set prayer you could do making the motions of surrender but not the act of surrender. Instead make a real act of surrender many times a day. Ask your angel to help you. Think of it as a dancer’s leap. You stay in the air longer and longer and one day you don’t come down. That is the end and the beginning.

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June 9, 2008
Surviving

Holy Spirit:

You are torn between the instinct of survival and the desire to leave this world. As Mary Magdalene clung to the feet of Jesus after the resurrection and He said “Do not touch me,” she would have wanted to be raised in the Ascension clinging to His feet. But Peter tried to flee from martyrdom and Jesus had to ask Him “Quo vadis?” When it is time for you to leave the earth We will do it in you. Until then We let the survival instinct push you through the obstacles in life that otherwise might daunt you. Each morning is a sort of resurrection from the nightly death of your powers. Part of surrender is accepting this rhythm in your body/soul humanness. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” That prayer of Mary is so perfect. See how she is clinging onto the Angel of the Annunciation, to Me, the Holy Spirit, who will conceive in her, and by pledging the future in her surrender, clinging to the Jesus, conceived in her, who she will serve. So must you in the morning self-offering bind heaven and earth by choosing to survive not for earthly goals only, but surviving to do God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Are you seeing how the themes of each of these messages are joined? And, yes, as you suspect, they are linked to themes in each day’s liturgical readings.
Courage!


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    Author

    Ronda Chervin received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Fordham University and an MA in Religious Studies from Notre Dame Apostolic Institute. She is a dedicated widow, mother, and grandmother.
    Ronda converted to the Catholic Faith from a Jewish, though atheistic, background and has been a Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Loyola Marymount University, the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is an international speaker and author of some fifty books about Catholic thought, practice and spirituality. One of her latest is LAST CALL, published by Goodbooks Media.
    Dr. Ronda is currently retired and living in Corpus Christi, Texas after her years of teaching philosophy at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.
    You can contact her via e-mail by clicking here or by emailing [email protected] directly.

    Visit her websites:
    here and here.

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