On Valentine's Day- a Love Poem to Jesus by St. Therese

 

    

MY HEAVEN ON EARTH

To bear my exile now, within this world of tears,

The holy tender glance of Christ, my Lord, I need.

That glance, surcharged with love, consoles me through the years;

His loveliness displays foretaste of heaven indeed.

On me my Jesus smiles, when toward Him I aspire,

The trial of my faith then weighs no more on me.

That love glance of my God, that smile of holy fire,

Oh, this is heaven for me!

'Tis heaven to have the power, great grace from Christ to win

For Holy Mother Church, for all my Sisters dear,

For every soul on earth that He may enter in,

Enflame our sinful hearts, and grant us joy and cheer.

All things my love can gain when, heart to heart, I pray,

Alone with Jesus Christ in speechless ecstasy.

Beside His altar blest with Him I gladly stay,

Oh, this is heaven for me!

My heaven within the Host safe hid and peaceful, lies,

Where Jesus Christ abides, divinest, fairest Fair.

From that great fount of love doth endless life arise;

There, day and night, my Lord doth hearken to my prayer.

When, in Thy perfect love (O moment blest and bright!)

Thou comest, Spouse most pure, me to transform in Thee,

That union of our hearts, that rapture of delight,

Oh, this is heaven for me!

My heaven it is to feel in me some likeness blest

To Him Who made me and my soul hath recon­ciled;

My heaven it is always beneath His eye to rest.

To call Him Father dear, and be His loving child.

Safe shielded in His arms, no storm my soul can fear;

Complete abandonment my only law shall be.

To sleep upon His Heart, with His blest Face so near,

Oh, this is heaven for me!

My heaven is God alone, the Trinity Divine,

Who dwells within my heart, the Prisoner of my love.

There, contemplating Thee, I tell Thee Thou art mine;

Thee will I love and serve until we meet above.

My heaven it is to smile on Thee whom I adore,

E'en when, to try my faith, from me Thou hidest Thee;

Calmly on Thee to smile, until Thou smil'st once more,

Oh, this is heaven to me!

Archbishop Aquila’s golden rule of dating

Archbishop Samuel Aquila, of the Archdiocese of Denver, offers this dating advice:

Boys:  "Have enough respect for girls to call them, not text them, to ask them out."

Girls:  You "have the right for someone to call you and speak to you."

And: "It’s important that boyfriends and girlfriends not simply be dropped by a text message or on Facebook, letting everyone else know that they are dropped."

He speaks of the importance of the "encounter with the other person." Could it be that not encountering the real person (their voice, their eyes) when communicating-- can lead to not really recognizing the person in decisions about physical involvement and purity?  Or being recognized by them?

From Archbishop Aquila’s golden rule of dating

The Room

Based on a dream by Joshua Harris. This is an interesting video and meditation. 

WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THE CARDS IN YOUR "ROOM" ?

The Resurrection of the Body

Yesterday in our discussion we covered the Church's teachings on the resurrection of the body. Here is some of what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says on the subject. 


ARTICLE 11
"I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY"
988 The Christian Creed - the profession of our faith in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in God's creative, saving, and sanctifying action - culminates in the proclamation of the resurrection of the dead on the last day and in life everlasting.
989 We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on the last day.⁵³⁴ Our resurrection, like his own, will be the work of the Most Holy Trinity:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.⁵³⁵

990 The term "flesh" refers to man in his state of weakness and mortality.⁵³⁶ The "resurrection of the flesh" (the literal formulation of the Apostles' Creed) means not only that the immortal soul will live on after death, but that even our "mortal body" will come to life again.⁵³⁷
991 Belief in the resurrection of the dead has been an essential element of the Christian faith from its beginnings. "The confidence of Christians is the resurrection of the dead; believing this we live."⁵³⁸

How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. . . . But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.⁵³⁹

^{To read more visit the Vatican website.}