Pope Francis says that holiness doesn't mean doing extraordinary things, but doing ordinary things with love and faith."
He adds, "Having faith does not mean having no difficulties, but having the strength to face them, knowing we are not alone."
Disclaimer
In accord with the Social Media Policy of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (May 2010): The views expressed in this personal blog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Archdiocese.
About Father Norm
- Fr Norm
- Cincinnati, OH, United States
- A priest ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1970. After ten years of high school teaching, a few years as an associate pastor, and twenty-six years as a pastor, I retired from parish administration to write, preach parish missions across the country, and teach catechetical courses and conferences.
Weekend Masses
Saturday, Jan 13, 5:00 pm, St Gabriel, Glendale
Sunday, Jan 21, 11:00 am, St John, West Chester
Saturday, Jan 27, 5:00 pm, St Michael, Sharonville
Saturday, Feb 3, 5:00 pm, St Gabriel, Glendale
Sunday, Feb 4, 10:00 am, St Gabriel, Glendale
Saturday, Feb 10, 5:00 pm, St Michael, Sharonville
Sunday, Feb 11, 11:00 am, St John, West Chester
Sunday, Feb 18, 11:30 am, St Michael, Sharonville
Sunday, Feb 25, 8:00 am, St Gabriel, Glendale
(also available at www.abidehere. org)
Talks, Classes, Retreats
Pope Francis Said
Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the "peripheries" in need of the light of the Gospel.
(Evangelii Gaudium, Gospel Joy, #20)
Dorothy Day/Peter Maurin
"One time I was traveling and far from home and lonely, and I woke in the night almost on the verge of weeping with a sense of futility, of being unloved and unwanted. And suddenly the thought came to me of my importance as a daughter of God, daughter of a king, and I felt a sureness in God's love and at the same time a conviction that one of the greatest injustices, if one can put it that way, which one can do to God is to distrust his love, not realize his love. "God so loved me that he gave his only begotten son. 'If a mother will forget her children, never will I forget thee.' Such tenderness. And with such complete ingratitude we forget the father and his love!"
The Battlefield at Gettysburg
For me the battlefield at Gettysburg is holy ground. After the war, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who served as colonel of the 20th Maine regiment during the battle, returned to that field and experienced all around him a mighty presence. Chamberlain was convinced that "on great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger --to consecrate ground as the vision place of souls."
He was sure that "reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream. And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."
I count myself among those reverent men. I ponder and I dream. And sometimes I am overcome by the shadow of a mighty presence. For this reason, I think of a visit to Gettysburg as a pilgrimage, and I prefer to call that deathless field "the Holy Land."
Let us pray.
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 I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will 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. Amen.
(Thomas Merton)
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