All for God!

In the Noise and Clatter of My Kitchen

'The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees'

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection

If You Knew He Worked Through Your Hands...

'How to find Christmas peace in a world of unrest? You cannot find peace on the outside but you can find peace on the inside, by letting God do to your soul what Mary let Him do to her body; namely, let Christ be formed in you.... 

'As He was physically formed in her, so He wills to be spiritually formed in you. If you knew He was seeing through your eyes, you would see in every fellowman a child of God. If you knew that He worked through your hands, they would bless all the day through.'

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen










Painting Gerhard Wilhelm von Reutern, 1843

Be Not Afraid

Painting: Childe Hassam, The Fourth of July, 1916, in US public domain due to age

A Constant Conversation

'I would like us, in our meditation today, to make up our minds

 once and for all that we need to aspire to become 

contemplative souls, in the street, 

in the midst of our work, 

by maintaining a constant conversation with our God 

and not breaking it off at any time of the day.'

St. Josemaria Escriva

Even in Ordinary Tasks

Painting: Winslow Homer, For to be a Farmer's Boy

So Your Whole Day Will Turn into Worship

'Keep struggling so that the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar 

really becomes the center and root of your interior life, 

and so your whole day will turn into an act of worship - 

an extension of the Mass you have attended 

and a preparation for the next. 

This will then overflow in aspirations, 

visits to the Blessed Sacrament, 

and the offering up of 
your professional work 

and your family life.'

St. Josemaria Escriva

Making the Connection

Any Honest Task, Well Done

'No amount of piety in leisure hours can compensate for slipshod labor on the job. But any honest task, well done, can be turned into a prayer.' 

Fulton J. Sheen

Till in the Midst of Crowds

"Dear loving God, remind me to turn inward to You hundreds of times today,
and speak lovingly to You.
Let Your Holy Spirit take complete possession of me until,
in the midst of crowds or in the stress of work...
I live alone with You, my loving God,
my inseparable Guide, my Guest divine.
Live Your own life within me,
and think, speak and act through me,
so that St. Paul's words may be true of me:
'I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me.' (Galatians 2:20) "

(from Listening to the Indwelling Presence,  compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, 1940, pp. 182-183)

Ever in the Chapel of Their Hearts

They who love Christ "endeavour to live always in union with Him Who is ever in the Chapel of their hearts. For the love of Jesus, they turn their thoughts away from the things of this world that they might dwell in Him alone. They practise complete renunciation for His sake in order to do His will. They labour to correct their defects and to reform their character that it may resemble His and be pleasing unto Him....Many of these friends of God never did very wonderful things during their years on earth, but they loved much and did ordinary things with extraordinary love...

"St. Rita was a cook; St Benedict Joseph Labre, a beggar; St, John Berchmans, a Jesuit Novice; St. Therese of Lisieux, a little hidden Carmelite, and an endless list of others who did no more than the ordinary actions that go to make up the warp and woof of our daily lives; yet they scaled the heights of sanctity by the ladder of loving prayer-aspirations. This, then, is the life of prayer - a life which IS prayer, because it is a life of increasing advertence, adhesion and surrender to God."

(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 44-45)

A Simple Way

"I shall put life and energy into my work by infusing therein a true supernatural spirit. I shall never lose sight of the fact that labour is a penance and that, accepted and offered to God as such, it becomes a wonderful means of atonement for my sins. Prayer will go hand-in-hand with my work, whatever its nature may be. Before each separate duty, I shall beg God's blessing. From time to time during its progress, I shall lift my heart to God... This will not impede my work, rather it will add to its efficiency, for the more I bring God into my work, the better will it be accomplished... Yes, it is true, that if we offer all the common, ordinary things of life in love, to give pleasure to Jesus, we shall attain to sainthood. For God does not look so much at the greatness of our acts as at the love with which we do them. It is a simple way." (The Living Pyx of Jesus, Pelligrini, 1941, pp. 263-266)

Your Heart To God

Your Mortification

Sanctity In All States

Memo

The Secret Behind Ironing

From a letter from our friend Rose:

'Ironing is the chore that always makes me feel closest to God. When I've done prayerful writing lately, it has been as a result of my reflections while I was ironing in front of my big windows, looking out over the fields behind our house.

My mother loved to iron. There were five of us little girls, all in a row, and my mother took great delight in ironing our little dresses with all the frills and lace and trim.

It wasn't until I had my own family that I discovered the secret behind ironing. It's a chore that must be done, yet it frees the mind to tend to things of the heart and soul while the hands keep busy.

I wonder if this is why my mother always seemed to smile while she ironed.....'


'We must try to converse with God in little ways while we do our work.' (Brother Lawrence) 

Painting: Edgar Degas

Living in the Presence of God

'There is a certain way of living in the presence of God, through which, if the soul so desires, it can remain always in prayer and continually aflame with love of God. It is realized by carrying out one's duties with the thought of doing God's will, and taking delight in that.'   

St. Alphonsus Rodriguiz

Painting: Pieter Janssens Elinga

In Their Monotony

               'The most commonplace actions, the most ordinary events of daily life -
               such as taking food, attending to our business or work,
               fulfilling our social duties,
               taking rest or recreation;
               all those actions that occur every day and literally weave,
               in their monotony and successive routine,
               the thread of our entire life,
               can be transformed by grace and love
               into actions very pleasing to God and rich in merit.'

               Abbot Marmion

                    Painting:  Edmund Tarbell, Girl Mending, 1910

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During Our Working Day

"Some may think that a life of divine union is only for saints, that a life of intimacy in which the soul constantly turns to God, as to a loving and beloved guest, is not for the ordinary faithful.  This view is incorrect.

"Intimacy with God is not for the saints only, it is for all of us. God dwells in each soul which is in the state of grace and calls each of us to be united to Him in intimate friendship....

"'If anyone loves Me,' says Christ,  'he will keep My word, and My Father will love him and We will come to him and will make Our abode with him....'

"We are all called therefore to this life of intimacy, to this communing with the Most High.

"We commune thus with God by the acts of our mind and heart by bringing the majesty of God and His Goodness before our mind and by turning our heart to Him in gratitude and confidence, in offering ourselves to Him to be His without reserve, in uniting our will to His Divine Will.

"This we do especially during the time of prayer, but since God always dwells in us, we should turn ourselves to Him as frequently as possible during our working day."

(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 63-65

Painting:  Winslow Homer, Farmer with a Pitchfork

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