Minute Meditations - Breaking the Cycle

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Breaking the Cycle

You can break the cycle of prejudice by renouncing the lies or fears that bred it in the first place and giving them no more room in your life. All God needs is a docile (teachable) spirit on your part.

— from To Be Like Jesus

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Minute Meditation for 1/5/2013

Minute Meditation for 1/7/2013

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Matt Talbot: Matt can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism.
<p>Matt was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he was almost 30—Matt was an active alcoholic. </p><p>One day he decided to take "the pledge" for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt’s first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking. </p><p>Most of his life Matt worked as a builder’s laborer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions. </p><p>After 1923 his health failed, and Matt was forced to quit work. He died on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later Pope Paul VI gave him the title venerable.</p>

We are called to share in the infinite life and love of God. We are called by God to a relationship that is destined to transform us into his likeness, to “divinize” us. This is going to take some stretching, to say the least.

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	The Blessing Cup
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	God's Gifts for Women
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	A Mary Christmas
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CATHOLIC GREETINGS

	Epiphany - Magi
	Send an e-card today to celebrate the three ‘kings’ or ‘wise men.’

	St. John Neumann
	Born in Czechoslovakia, this 19^th-century bishop advanced the cause of parochial schools in his adopted country.

	St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
	This young widow, the first American-born saint, helped to establish Catholic education in the U.S.

	World Day of Peace
	As the new year begins we again pray for peace in our world.

	St. Basil the Great
	The principles promoted by this renowned bishop and Doctor of the Church continue to influence Eastern monasticism.

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