“It is…to the oldest that we must look with respect (“honor”!); to them families owe their existence, education, and maintenance, which have often been paid for with hard work and much suffering. They cannot be treated as if they were now useless. Even if they lack the strength to be able to carry out the simplest actions, they have, however, experience of life and the wisdom that the young often lack…” (St. Pope John Paul II, Dec. 31, 1978)
I had a very special relationship with my Grandmother. She attended daily Mass, weekly Confession, and prayed the daily rosary. There was a gentle glow in her countenance and her peace was contagious. When my oldest brother announced his engagement to his now wife of over 30 years, Granny looked at me with a smile and said, “You will never make this announcement, Michael, you are called to be a priest!” These words and her personal holiness had a huge impact on my decision…thanks Granny!!
When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall.” G.K. Chesterton
We are all a little different…the key is to see who God has providentially placed in your lives and do your best to love and respect them!
“We have close to us, an angelic spirit, who never leaves us for an instant, from the cradle to the grave, who guides and protects us, like a friend or a brother.”St. Padre Pio
“Sacred friendship uses plain, sincere language and it praises nothing but virtue and God’s grace, the only foundation on which friendships rests.” St. Francis de Sales
Finally, as one Systems Designer to another….
I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me. –St. Teresa of Avila
Do you pray for growth in that particular virtue that is preventing you from being more Christ-like?
“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”
― C.S. Lewis
“When you gossip about a person it means that you have removed the person from your heart. But be aware, when you remove a man from your heart, Jesus also goes away from your heart with that man.”St. Padre Pio
