Month: August 2009

Desire to be thoroughly what you are

“Don’t long to be other than what you are, but desire to be thoroughly what you are.” (St. Francis de Sales)

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Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

For years I struggled with feeling that I just wasn’t good enough, that who I was wasn’t very likable.  I wasn’t content with just being “me” with the personality and temperament God gave me.  I have often gone back to these three quotes:

Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.  (St. Therese)

Don’t long to be other than what you are, but desire to be thoroughly what you are.  (St. Francis de Sales)

Most people don’t achieve holiness because they’re fighting who they’re meant to be.  (attr. to Thomas Merton)

(emphasis added)

God made you to be you.  Don’t rob Him of the treasure that you are.  Be fully who He made you to be.

The Garments of God

“The Garments of God”, a poem by Jessica Powers.

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Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

The poem I have to share with you this Sunday is another by Jessica Powers:

The Garments of God

God sits on a chair of darkness in my soul.
He is God alone, supreme in His majesty.
I sit at His feet, a child in the dark beside Him;
my joy is aware of His glance and my sorrow is tempted
to nest on the thought that His face is turned from me.
He is clothed in the robes of His mercy, voluminous garments–
not velvet or silk and affable to the touch,
but fabric strong for a frantic hand to clutch,
and I hold to it fast with the fingers of my will.
Here is my cry of faith, my deep avowal
to the Divinity that I am but dust.
Here is the loud profession of my trust.
I need not go abroad
to the hills of speech or the hinterlands of music
for a crier to walk in my soul where all is still.
I have this potent prayer through good or ill:
here in the dark I clutch the garments of God.

Ancient prayer to Mary

Ancient Egyptian prayer to Mary.

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Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

On this, our Lady’s day, I thought I would share an ancient prayer to Mary, found on papyrus in Egypt.  (Theotokos means God-bearer.)

Under your
compassion
we take refuge,
Theotokos; do not
overlook our prayers
in the midst of tribulation,
but deliver us
from danger,
O only pure,
only blessed one.