Category Archives: Spiritual Reflections

Spiritual Reflections

Jesus our King and Lord

The coming of the kingdom of God, says our Lord and Saviour, does not admit of observation, and there will be no-one to say “Look here! Look there!” For the kingdom of God is within us and in our hearts. And so it is beyond doubt that whoever prays for the coming of the kingdom of God within himself is praying rightly, praying for the kingdom to dawn in him, bear fruit and reach perfection.

For God reigns in every saint, and every saint obeys God’s spiritual laws — God, who dwells in him just as he dwells in any well-ordered city. The Father is present in him and in his soul Christ reigns alongside the Father, as it is said: We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Therefore, as we continue to move forward without ceasing, the kingdom of God within us will reach its perfection in us .. For this reason let us pray without ceasing, our souls filled by a desire made divine by the Word himself.

From a Discourse of Origen

Attitude and Gratitude

Each of these prayers gives us a sense of the attitude we want to cultivate in our hearts following the Mass ..Therefore, it is fitting that we may wish to do so with our Lord through these prayers provided in the missal; however, this same sense of wishing to prolong our intimacy with God is also found in the ancient practice of entering into a little meditation while we are still in the glow of the Eucharistic celebration.

Fr Boniface . WEB

How the Psalms comfort the Heart

The Psalms

There’s no greater book in the Bible than the Psalms to teach you how to pray with the heart. The Psalms are a collection of prayers and songs that have shaped Jewish and Christian traditions for centuries holding profound insights into prayer. These are the prayers that Jesus himself said. They were and still are the pulse of daily prayer for many including the Holy Family.

Praying with the Heart . WEB

Dedication of St Peter and St Paul

Basilicas of St Peter and Paul

This feast combines the standard celebration of the dedication of a church for St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, which were both built by the Emperor Constantine the Great during the 4th century. These sites had already been visited by pilgrims for over a century when the basilicas were built to honor the apostles traditionally believed to have been buried there.

Their significance in the Catholic Church is emphasized in the reference made to them in the obligation on Catholic bishops to make a Quinquennial visit ad limina in which they are required to go “to the tombs of the Apostles” in Rome every five years to report on the status of their dioceses or prelatures.

This requirement was initially set out in 1585 by Pope Sixtus V, who issued the papal bull Romanus Pontifex, which established the norms for these visits.

Happy Founders Day . Boniface Wimmer

Wimmer Statue . St Vincent Abbey Basilica

Man’s adversity is God’s opportunity.

You must renew your faith in Divine Providence, which wisely and miraculously directs and orders everything, even the smallest event, and which brings about our temporal and spiritual well-being.

We cannot do stupid things except when we deviate from obedience to the Rule, since the Rule gives us the surest guarantee for peace and assures the final attainment of our goal and destination. The fact that we sometimes think we would be more at peace and happier if things happened according to our own desires has its origin in the fact that we lack the experience of a life of true freedom, or else those who have had this experience have paid too little attention to it.

Indeed, we know that no Christian is perfect. None of us is without shortcomings… There will always be disappointments, but they will never disturb our peace significantly or for a long time. Disappointments will further our salvation, not endanger it.

Archabbot Boniface Wimmer

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