Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

What better way to begin the New Year, then, by counting the blessings of the year gone by: big or little, no matter how insignificant they might have seemed? Every time, we thank God for a blessing, it is the leaven of our lives. Doing this, keeps us whole and aware of the Kingdom of God truly within us. God is always in control, always acting for our greatest good.

A grateful person is a happy person. The key to a constant flow of grace is a constant flow of gratitude. Acts of gratitude will erase darkness from our mind, heart, body and soul, and fill our whole being with light. Gratitude is a source of energy; give thanks in all circumstances, in joy and in pain. Thankfulness is a builder and a healer! It is a lifter and life-giver, a fortifier and comforter! When praise is used, unexpected good happens in every corner of our lives. Look up to Heaven, look above your problems and thank God for His goodness and His Love.

May our life be a Hymn of Praise to God, not in WORDS but by WORKS!

PATTI MELVIN, Director ULRA
Let us pray for one another!

PREFACE

Over the Great Road of Life, the Divine Outcast of the world wanders day and night. Before each heart-door, He begs for admittance. Watch Him as He walks up the lane and taps, with infinite tenderness, on the crimson casements of the throbbing pulses of the world. Before some, He stands and waits; moss-covered are the steps, and moldy is the casement. There is no life within; no response to the loving pleadings of the Outcast. He turns sadly away. Through lordly mansion-gates He passes and, on the marble steps before the heavy oaken door, He stands expectant. Music and song and laughter reach the Outcast’s ear. He knocks, but no one hears. And so, heart-sore and weary, He moves away. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!”

Thus, along the Road of Life, the eager, but thwarted, Outcast makes His way and, with love and fear commingled, taps on the hearts of His chosen ones. If He is graciously received, He will enter and sup with them, and their hearts will be transformed into Living Temples wherein will dwell the Source of Goodness and of Love. Here, He will reveal to each soul, in intimate converse, a deeper and more practical understanding of this truth: “GOD IS THE DIVINE GUEST OF MY SOUL!”

“If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (St. John. XIV: 23)

This, Our Lord’s own promise, leaves us without a doubt that not only His Gift of Grace, but His very Godhead dwells within us.

“Courage, then, O Soul most beautiful, thou knowest now that the Beloved Whom thou desirest, dwelleth within thy breast! Strive, therefore, to be truly hidden with Him and, then, thou shalt embrace Him, and be conscious of His Presence with loving affection!” (Spiritual Canticle)

Would that we could realize this!
How intimately we would live with Our Guest Divine!

“Although I knew,” said St. Teresa of Avila, “that I possessed a soul, yet I did not appreciate its value or remember Who dwelt within it, because I had blinded my own eyes with the vanities of this life. I think, had I understood, then, as I do now – that so great a King resided in the little palace of my soul – I should not have left Him alone so often, but should have stayed with Him sometimes, and not have kept His dwelling place in such disorder.

You might think that, when necessary occupations drag you away from the interior retreat of your heart, you are guilty of a great breach of recollection. You are mistaken! Provided that afterwards you faithfully return to it, the Divine Master will make everything contribute to the benefit of your soul. Open, therefore, the eyes of your soul and you will find Heaven!”

“It is true,” says St. John Chrysostom, “that in Heaven, God gives His care to His Angels and Saints, and to the grand designs of His wisdom and sanctity but, in YOUR home, within the sanctuary of YOUR soul, alone with Him, His providence and love are intent upon what concerns you and you alone, waiting to be loved by you, to induce you to tell Him all your troubles, all your family cares, all about your daily work, and all about your inner life. Speak to Him freely and with love! Let Him hear from you all you know about yourself!

Acknowledge your faults to Him as soon as you have committed them – ‘My God, I have just spoken unwisely,’ or, ‘I have just acted imprudently.’ You must imitate the little child, who after an act of disobedience, instead of running away from his father, goes, as soon as he has committed the fault, and throws himself into his loving arms to implore forgiveness.”

When you act thus towards Jesus, Saint ‘Little Thérèse’ assures us, “the fault, thus thrown with filial confidence into the furnace of love, is immediately consumed forever.” In everything, look at Jesus face to face. Let yourself be borne along by that love which longs to give more and more. Introduce into your life both sacrifice and duty. You will often have to go against yourself, forget your fatigue, and set self aside. No good is ever done without some sort of self-immolation.

The efficacy of love is the foundation of the ‘Little Way of Spiritual Childhood.’ His Holiness, Benedict XV, expressly recognized that Saint ‘Little Thérèse’ had received a definite mission from Heaven. He pointed out, emphatically, that this child of grace came from God to teach her ‘Little Way’ of Spiritual Childhood to all without distinction – to the humble, as well as to the learned who, perhaps, need it even more. Therein lies the ‘secret of sanctity’ for every soul. It is, moreover, the formal opinion of Pope Pius XI that ‘Spiritual Childhood’ is, without giving to anyone the assurance of reaching the heights to which God has led Thérèse, a way which is truly possible, and easy for all.

A few days before she died, Saint ‘Little Thérèse’ said, ‘I want to give my little way to souls. I want to make known to them the simple means that have so perfectly succeeded for me. I want to tell them that there is only one thing to do here below, and that is to cast down before Jesus the flowers of little sacrifices and to win Him by caresses. That is how I have won Him, and that is why I shall be so well received.’