"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going, I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your Will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust You always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and You will never leave me to face my perils alone."

~Thomas Merton ~

If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire.

"The soul cannot live without love.

She always wants to love something

because love is the stuff she is made of,

and through love I created her."

Dialogue 51.

Heavenly Father, your glory is in your saints.

We praise your glory in the life of the admirable St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church.

Her whole life was a noble sacrifice inspired by an ardent love of Jesus, your unblemished Lamb.

In troubled times she strenuously upheld the rights

of His beloved spouse, The Church.

Father, honour her merits and hear her prayers for each of us, and for our whole parish family dedicated to her.

Help us to pass unscathed through the corruption of this world, and to remain unshakably faithful to the church in word, deed, and example.

Help us always to see in the Vicar of Christ an anchor in the storms of life, and a beacon of light to the harbour of your Love, in this dark night of your times and men's souls.

Grant also to each of us our special petition . . .

(pause to pray for your own intentions).

We ask this through Jesus, your Son, in the bond of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
St. Catherine of Siena, Pray for us!

Even the flowers sing

"The earth it groans in labor pains,

As flowers stretch to heaven above,

Your creatures sing the prophet’s song,

To be a gift of selfless LOVE.

The sun is rising in the east,

And Your spirit is unleashed,

For everything must die to rise again."

- Matt Maher On the Third Day

I have been so enamored by God's creation. It's beautiful how He would always puts things before us for the purpose of leading us to Him. He will never abandon us. The stirring melodies of music, the fields of violets, the cherry blossoms, daffofils, the crashing waves of the ocean--they all exclaim the boundlessness of His love.

" God establishes himself in the interior of this soul in such a way, that when she returns to herself, it is wholly impossible for her to doubt that she has been with God, and God in her." - Saint Teresa of Avila

I read and re read this passage from St Teresa when reading about Mysticism for my Phil of Religion class. How amazing! Praise God!

If anything love, then we shall meet through our prayers. This is the most intimate means of the exchanging of hearts, with hearts both set in the Lord's heart. Where else shall we meet than where Love begins?

We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can -- namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us. - Saint Teresa of Avila

Oh Lord, you are a jealous lover and I am a stubborn woman.

I love you nonetheless. I love you even more. I thank you for being the Living Water that never runs dry, that never fails to fill my thirsty soul with overflowing love.

How can it be that you, the Lord of heaven and earth desire me for your own? This reality first caused my heart to run in frustrated fear. Now I know that you are more than enough for me Jesus. I apologize now because I know I am going to run forward and back in hesitation from my soul's inability to actualize the love you offer me. Know that in my heart of hearts you are the only One for me though I tremble at times.

I've been so frustrated with your jealous heart Lord. I have looked at other beautiful loves, wondering why these were not meant for me. I have seen the look of a deep love that has only grown with time, heard the prayers of a young man whose desire was only to honor me and guard my heart with the utmost purity and have sat next to a young man who desired to love a woman who learned how to love from the heart of Mary, but I know in the deepest recesses of my soul that their longing for love found in my heart is but a fraction of how Your Most Sacred Heart hungers for my own heart. How can it be? How can it be Lord that you want me? The past weeks I have asked, why me, why me Lord? Why does it have to be me? Why can't I enter the most holy and intimate human love between man and woman? Now and still with a slow clearing in my heart I ask, why me? Why would you desire me for your own? How can He who is Love, Truth, Life, Joy, Everything, desire me? This is a profound mystery that I cannot understand. This is something my theological mind cannot grasp. If there is anything in me Lord that is lovable, that is desirable, then it has only come from You. And I see...we must give to God what is God's.

I resign O, Lord. Not in fear, or frustration but in defeat. Your love is too strong for me to fight anymore. Sometimes we need to fight just to see how much the opposing side wants to win. sometimes we need to fight God's will to see just how madly He wants to win our love.
I put up a good fight. Lord, you win.

My hands raise in prayer, holding up the white flag, along with my heart Lord.

Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you:

I am ready for all, I accept all.Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;

I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,

for I love you, Lord,

and so need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands,without reserve,

and with boundless confidence,

for you are my Father.

- Charles de Foucald

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23

The Lord, so gracious and beautiful, has allowed me to see for myself where I am in my prayer life. What I mean by this is that many times we pray and pray, but never really step back and realize who we are and where we are in our prayer life. Just yesterday night, I had this unusual moment where I became very aware of myself. It's like I was given an awareness of my being outside of myself, like I was outside acknowledging another person's life and person-hood. Anyway, I think this is kind of the same way the Lord brought me to see myself in my prayer life.

This morning after Mass, I was trying to gather my thoughts and desires in my prayer life. Where am I going? Where do I want to be?I just had to ask myself, "Where am I in my prayer life?" The Lord spoke to my heart very clearly after a moment of silence. You see, the themes of my personal prayer these past few weeks have followed certain meditations on being a rose at our Lady's feet and being at the manger, beholding the Holy Family. I've prayed for the courage to be a 'Rose' for this world, if not for the convent. May your work coming from my heart, be an answered prayer, just like a rose from Saint Therese. When I shared this with Fr Dave, he told me that Saint Therese would teach the novices to take roses, pull off their beautiful petals and scatter them all over. Talk about spiritual direction!

Today I realized that everyday the Lord draws me ever deeper into His heart and that through this, my heart enters deeper into His. The only thing I seek is to belong completely to the Him. I have found that there is truly a sweet and holy guard over my heart. What does it mean have a guard over your heart? Well, when there is a source of protection over something, it means that the thing it is protecting is quite valuable. It means it is something to be protected. When I say protected, I mean resting in a place where it is safe. Our hearts are so precious. Why be so quick to give them away at first sign of romantic opportunity? Our hearts were made for Him alone! He is the great keeper of our hearts. I know Jesus Himself, our Lady and Saint Joseph guard my heart. I've entrusted myself to Jesus through their hands. Why not ask for the intercession of the two most pure human beings that have ever lived after Jesus?

I've realized that there is this supernatural freedom that comes with a heart so protected by Christ's love and truth. The result of this is a heart so attached to Christ's and not to human romantic chances. A heart that lives within the heart of God cannot just be wooed by a handsome face. It is a heart that runs freely and loves extravagantly! This morning as I was running, I realized that my heart lies so deep within the heart of God and in the heart of His Church. If a man were to pursue my heart, he'd have to seek me through the heart of God and the heart of the Catholic Church, if not reside there already. No matter what the case, my heart sighs for the Lord. Strong is His love for us. He is faithful forever.