Some thoughts ...

I saw this on one of the social apps I'm using ... a memory of something I saw and experienced, posted exactly 2 years ago. Many things have happened in between the picture (2015), my post (2016) and now (2018) ([!] like duh right!), but there are also things that haven't changed... like MOUNTAINS :D, Deo gratias et Mariae! 

Somewhere on the Great Saint Bernard Pass, oh... the mountain air

Anyway, just a compilation of my rest time reading: somehow as I sat to rest and read, the stuff that popped out, are links and that picture above, I want to keep in my long term memory: filed and retrieved when necessary, hence a note on this blog. 

part of something I'm interested in: my work in school

https://www.jefferson.edu/university/news/2017/03/23/spiritual-retreats-change-feel-good-chemical-systems.html

"The study, funded by the Fetzer Institute, included 14 Christian participants ranging in age from 24 to 76. They attended an Ignatian retreat based on the spiritual exercises developed by St. Ignatius Loyola who founded the Jesuits. Following a morning mass, participants spent most of the day in silent contemplation, prayer and reflection and attended a daily meeting with a spiritual director for guidance and insights. After returning, study subjects also completed a number of surveys which showed marked improvements in their perceived physical health, tension and fatigue. They also reported increased feelings of self-transcendence which correlated to the change in dopamine binding. [I want to read the actual paper but I am trying to get access ...]

“In some ways, our study raises more questions than it answers,” said Dr. Newberg. “Our team is curious about which aspects of the retreat caused the changes in the neurotransmitter systems and if different retreats would produce different results. Hopefully, future studies can answer these questions.”

Article Citation: Newberg, A., et al. “Effect of a 1-week Spiritual Retreat on Dopamine and Serotonin Transporter Binding: A Preliminary Study.” Religion, Brain & Behavior. 2017."

https://www.catholicfamilynews.org/blog/2018/3/27/in-the-shoes-of-one-who-tried-their-vocation-and-left

"Those who had to leave the convent or seminary can likewise make this their prayer. Notice Zélie did not put down the religious state, which some people may be tempted to do after leaving, but she still held it in high regard even though it was not her calling. Notice also how she makes it very clear that she wishes to accomplish His holy Will, not her will which was likely to be a nun, but His. That needs to be our focus. Following a way we perceive is more perfect is not going to sanctify us if it is not God’s Will for us."

Ferial Day in Advent

A little post before the next post you will see, which will only be in a few days time.

It's the time of the year for a vacation and this blog will also take a little vacation to rest, revamp and revitalise. =D (most likely by this friday)

and a little bit of interesting news from this my dearest family, please do

priez pour vous! merci beaucoup =D

Today, Fr. C enthroned our whole family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus! and also to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! The King of Kings and the Queen of Queens! enthroned in our house! mighty unbelievable at first, but true, very much so! =D

Thank you Fr.! and also of course the dearest heavenly beings who made this possible!, yay, we have all been waiting for this!!! =D Deo gratias et Mariae! I have been marvelling at the way God helps and answers all our prayers in some way or another and by the way He does everything and anything. It's the way He does all the things that amaze me and it sure never fails to live me up. He is God! Even though there are trials and temptations and every other obstacle that somehow irritates you and temporarily stops you, albeit only for a short while, Deo volente, everything will turn out alright and fine.

After all, the words of this Saint, Dear Saint Pio =), are very true. Meditate on it for a while and you will soon see how true it is. Dearest Jesus works in all marvellous ways that somehow we humans have a hard time deciphering, but in the end when His will prevails, you will know it and you will see how beautiful the way the hands of God work through the Most Holy Ghost and the Angels and the Saints and of course the Queen of all Queens, Dearest Mother Mary, our Mother.

The life of a Christian is nothing but a constant struggle against itself, and its beauty does not become manifest except at the price of suffering. - Saint Padre Pio

And my daddy, uncle clement and kenneth and the rest of the men came back from their retreat, nicely, safely and soundly, with halos all over their heads =D. Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer was good they say, and so was Fr. Couture. I can't wait for the next ladies' retreat or any retreat. but I'm also glad that now, finally, a little break from the horrendous studies (just joking). Daddy gave me this today and the next picture, though a little scary, is sincerely very beautiful in all respects.

As what St. Augustine says, "Let us love the Bridegroom, and the more he is presented to us veiled under deformity, the more precious and sweet is he made to the bride."

Adding on, St. Alphonsus de Ligouri adds, "the more I see Thee so disfigured, Oh my Lord, the more beautiful and lovely dost Thou appear to me. And what are these disfigurements that I behold but signs of the tenderness of that love which Thou dost bear towards me? I love Thee, my Jesus, thus wounded and torn to pieces for me; would that I could see myself too torn to pieces for Thee, like so many martyrs whose portion this has been! But if I cannot offer Thee wounds and blood, I offer Thee at least all the pains which it will be my lot to suffer. I offer Thee my heart; with this I desire to love Thee more tenderly even than I am able. And who is there that my soul should love more tenderly than a God who has endured scourging and been drained of his blood for me? I love Thee, O God of Love! I love Thee, O infinite goodness! I love Thee, O my love, my All! I love Thee, and I would never cease to say, both in this life and in the other, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee!"

Twenty centuries gave come and gone

And today He is still the central figure of the human race.

All the armies that ever marched, All the navies that ever sailed,

All the parliaments that ever sat, All the kings that ever reigned,

Have not effected the life of men on the earth as much

As the life of this one, solitary, single person.

-Adapted from an anonymous source-

-------

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum cor tuum.

In manus tuas domine, commendo spiritum meum.

Deo gratias et Mariae!

-------

Rachel Anne Thérèse =D

The 1st Sunday of Advent

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on us,

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us.

Saint Joseph, Pray for us.

Saint Ignatius receiving the Spiritual Exercises From the Immaculate Virgin Mary

As we embark on this new Catholic year, the whole liturgical year starts today, with the 1st Sunday of Advent, with the whole advent period also known as "the second lent" as we prepare for the greatest gift of our redemption, the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Dearest Jesus, I thought I did like to post something up, to ask for your continual prayers, especially as in the post as stated on the feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria and also for the men's retreat that is now, even as I'm typing here, just beginning for a group of men from the Singapore priory.

My daddy, uncle clement and kenneth are there now, having their retreat together with 5 other men, let us all remember them in our prayers as they embark on their journey, as a few others of us did in June this year (for the ladies - picture in the flickr badge at the sidebar of this blog). A very important time in their Catholic lives, as it sincerely was for the ladies =), the silent retreat according to the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius as given to St Ignatius by our Dearest Blessed Mother in the year 1521-1522 A.D. (as per the picture as above). Let's say a Veni Creator for them.

Angeline and I were just saying how we wished we were the ones going for the retreat!

(as we waved the men away at the ferry terminal, nisey was at her fencing competition)

I haven't blogged much about the retreat we had from 4th to 9th of June 2006, so I will elaborate a little here: My first Ignatian Retreat and also the 1st retreat of my entire life, it was the most beautiful and touching moment of my life, the time of my life when it actually turned around and the event that helped me turn my whole life around. It really helps to center your life, "catholically", and make you think straight, especially in this chaotic times we live in now. (not a case of presentism)

It will help you in making decisions that will change your life, as in a previous post, on how it will help in helping you with your Catholic life and regarding the state of your life, especially for young adults. Please pray for me. =) Everything according to God's will! but one thing I'm sure is that I will be very happy because I will be making Jesus happy if I do His will. =D

=) and I'm only a few days to the end of this semester's exams, I cannot wait, but still, I must run this final lap, with 2 heavy papers on the 6th. Do pray for me, and I will pray for all my blog readers too! and do let us all also pray for the Dear Holy Pope, His Holiness Benedict XVI, to give him the strength for all his decisions, that he must remember that he is the Vicar of Christ, the most powerful man on earth now at this very moment in time, that he will have the strength to do the right things, May the Blessed Virgin Bless Him and Protect Him! =D p/s: do read the latest news from dici.org, the million rosaries bouquet has passed the 1 million mark! (its 2.5 million if I read correctly) Deo gratias et Mariae!

Let us continue to "Storm the Heavens"!

and, here's something really very interesting from this morning's sermon by Fr. Pfeiffer (i think that's how his name is spelt) who is preaching the men's retreat together with Fr. Couture:

(you can find it here =D)

O yes, here's something written by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in his encyclical Mens Nostra recommending the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius:

Now it is recognized that among all the methods of "Spiritual Exercises"
which very laudably adhere to the principles of sound Catholic asceticism one
has ever held the foremost place and adorned by the full and repeated
approbation of the Holy See and honored by the praises of men, distinguished for
spiritual doctrine and sanctity, has borne abundant fruits of holiness during
the space of well nigh four hundred years; we mean the method introduced by St.
Ignatius of Loyola, whom we are pleased to call the chief and peculiar Master of
"Spiritual Exercises" whose "admirable book of "Exercises" ever since it was
solemnly approved, praised, and commended by our predecessor Paul III of happy
memory, already to repeat some words we once used, before our elevation to the
Chair of Peter, already we say "stood forth and conspicuous as a most wise and
universal code of laws for the direction of souls in the way of salvation and
perfection; an unexhausted fountain of most excellent and most solid piety; as a
most keen stimulus, and a well instructed guide showing the way to secure the
amendment of morals and attain the summit of the spiritual life."

And in very deed, the excellence of spiritual doctrine altogether free from the perils and
errors of false mysticism, the admirable facility of adapting the exercises to
any order or state of man, whether they devote themselves to contemplation in
the cloisters, or lead an active life in the affairs of the world, the apt
co-ordination of the various parts, the wonderful and lucid order in the
meditation of truths that seem to follow naturally one from another; and lastly
the spiritual lessons which after casting off the yoke of sin and washing away
the diseases inherent in his morals lead a man through the safe paths of
abnegation and the removal of evil habits up to the supreme heights of prayer
and divine love; without doubt all these are things which sufficiently show the
efficacious nature of the Ignatian method and abundantly commend the Ignatian
meditations.

God Bless All!

Deo gratias et Mariae!

In Christo et Mariae!

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls! =)