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Here are this week’s must-reads:
+ “Grief, then gratitude. The longer I live and the more pain I encounter, I’m further convinced that this is the healthy cycle of suffering: grief then gratitude. Mourn the life you thought you’d have, then give thanks for the one right in front of you. Because if we’re honest, most of us have some deep-down assumptions about what our lives should look like. For me, that assumption didn’t include a massive stroke or disabilities. And for my friend Sho, his perfect life plan didn’t involve raising sons with autism. Sho is living out his good/hard story in that grief-and-gratitude rhythm, and he was kind enough to tell me all about how he got to that place. Today, Sho is receiving his family—and his life—as an “abstract masterpiece of what the Master did.” — Hope Heals, listen/read here
+ “If Jesus is Hope, Mary is the Mother of Hope. If Jesus is Peace, Mary is the Mother of Peace…” — St. John Paul II
+ About what we see today and hope for tomorrow: I’ve read some beautiful reflections about how these leaves always held this beautiful color… but it wasn’t time for us to see it just yet. There’s a season for it — just this sweet, short season. // Things like this stand as a reminder to me that there may be more to come — more beauty, more blooming, more answered prayers than we can see today. And maybe it’s right here already, somehow present but veiled in a sense.
+ “Beauty, while it instructs our minds, simultaneously prepares our souls, moving them either toward or away from God.” — Emily Malloy
Here’s what’s featured in my newsletter, The Collection, this week… A handful of pieces to help you create a prayer space at home for All Saints Day & All Souls Day. If you sign up, you’ll get instant access to all 5 October Collections 🙂 They’re only available until Thursday! Sign up before then if you liked anything you saw this month 🙂
Here’s a quick reminder of those 5 newsletters
you’ll get access to if you sign up before Thurs:
One // Two // Three // Four // Five
Sign up for The Collection here.
Scroll down for all the Fashion Finds from this week.
+ I’ve read before that God delights in working in situations we deem hopeless. Just in the Gospel reading on Sunday — Bartimaeus sought the Lord in what looked like an impossible situation. While Jesus is on *the way* to Jerusalem — on the way to give us the ultimate healing — he stops and addresses the plea from someone who believes, who hurts and who hopes. May St. Jude intercede for all of our situations that seem hopeless today. — read here
+ “The God of miracles has come and He can work a miracle here and now. Bartimaeus shows us that the way to true sight and freedom is to keep desiring, to keep hoping, and to keep crying out to God.” — Every Sacred Sunday
+ “Grace always comes first. It’s always God’s action with which we cooperate.” — Bishop Barron
+ Bl. Chiara Luce Badano: “It’s for you, Jesus. If you want it, I want it too.”
+ “How will we face our suffering? And how will we face the suffering of others? What will we offer our suffering for? And what will motivate us to enter into the sufferings of others? Who can we lean on in all of it? We have a Saviour in whose life we find the answers to all these questions.
So… If today you are weary and heavy laden today – rejoice. Not for your sufferings. But for the opportunity to lean on Jesus; to unite yourself to Jesus and learn his heart more deeply through your own experience; to have a particular sacrifice to unite to his Cross for him to make redemptive; to have an entry point into unity with those who are suffering, to minister to those suffering… and receiving comfort and support from those suffering too. It may seem counterintuitive- but if we let Christ into our suffering, suffering that inevitably comes in this life, he WILL transform it. The ground you water with your tears today WILL come into bloom.” — Sr. Orianne
+ “Catherine’s sufferings were tremendous. But she did not despair. She prayed. She hoped. She trusted. And she accepted when her prayers seemed to go unanswered. “I am to make a nine-day novena in honor of our dear Lord’s sufferings,” she wrote to a friend. “It rests in his hands, dear. Pray for me, won’t you?” “It rests in his hands.” That is the enduring message of Catherine’s story.” — read here
+ “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ.” — St. John Paul II
+ “We can sometimes fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others—whether we have one child, ten, or none at all… It’s easy to compare, but holiness isn’t found in the number of kids you have. It’s found in how deeply you love God and live out the calling He has for your family… God’s plan for each family is unique. We’re not meant to copy Sts. Louis & Zelie Martin—we’re meant to be inspired by them and to live out our unique path to sainthood.” — Bridget Busacker
More finds featured in this week’s Collection.
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