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Art Reflections

We are launching a new section where, together with our young adults, we will post selections of poetry, music and art.  We hope to do this a couple of times a month.  Dostoevsky said, "the world will be saved by beauty" so this section hopes to enrich us through beautiful and thoughtful selections.

archives of submissions here.

Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris – "O Magnum Mysterium" ARRANGED BY Morten Lauridsen. sOURCE:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiRecu694yA​
suggested by dANIEL m., parishioner and yam member.

"HONEYMOON FLIGHT" | "iF YOU WERE BORN TODAY"
​SEAMUS HEANEY

​Below, the patchwork earth, dark hems of hedge
The long grey tapes of road that bind and loose
Villages and fields in casual marriage:
We bank above the small lough and farmhouse
 
And the sure green world goes topsy-turvy
As we climb out of our familiar landscape.
The engine noises change. You look at me.
The coastline slips away beneath the wing-tip.
 
And launched right off the earth by force of fire,
We hang, miraculous, above the water,
Dependent on the invisible air
To keep us airborne and bring us farther.
 
Ahead of us the sky’s a geyser now.
A calm voice talks of cloud but we feel lost.
Air pockets jolt our fears and down we go.
Travellers, at this point, can only trust.

SOURCE LINK. SUGGESTED BY FATHER JAY, NOV 2020.
​NOTES:
This is an early poem by Seamus Heaney, a nobel prize winning poet from Northern Ireland.
"Lough" is the gaelic language word for Lake. This metaphor of leaving the familiar and moving into a “new normal” and the message “travellers at this point can only trust” seems apt for our moment.

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The Basic Elements of an Act of Spiritual Communion
1.  Make an act of faith. The key here is to express to the Lord your faith in his merciful love and his real presence in the Eucharist.
2.  Make an act of love. O Lord God, I love you above all things... Express your desire to  receive him. Invite Jesus to come into your heart spiritually.

No particular prayer or formula is required, though there are acts of spiritual communion in Catholic prayer books to help focus a proper intention. Below is a traditional prayer of spiritual communion attributed to St. Alphonsus Liguori:

  MY JESUS,
  I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE PRESENT IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.
  I LOVE YOU ABOVE ALL THINGS AND I DESIRE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART.
  SINCE I CANNOT NOW RECEIVE YOU SACRAMENTALLY, I ASK YOU TO COME SPIRITUALLY INTO MY HEART.
  I EMBRACE YOU AS IF YOU WERE ALREADY IN MY HEART AND UNITE MYSELF TO YOU COMPLETELY.
  PLEASE DO NOT LET ME EVER BE SEPARATED FROM YOU.
  AMEN.

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Prayer is the heart of our personal relationship with god, and the more we pray and the better we pray, the more we are drawn into the mystery of god's plan for our lives.  prayer fills us with a sense of responsibility for the mission of jesus - to share in his care for the salvation and healing of our brothers and sisters. 

Online prayer resources
(click on the name to access the link for the various prayer and spirituality resources)

.  magnificat  .
​

a monthly spiritual publication, designed to encourage liturgical and personal prayer, with daily mass readings, spiritual reflections, essays on the saints' lives and selections from the church's liturgy of the hours.

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discerning hearts

more than 3,000 podcasts for download from some of the top spiritual teachers today.

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E-CATHOLIC LIBRARY

an online collection of great works on prayer, scripture, the saints, and spirituality.

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SCRIPTURE ROSARY

FROM THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, HELPS DEEPEN OUR REFLECTION ON THE MYSTERIES OF OUR LORD'S LIFE.

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WORD  ON  FIRE

a WEALTH OF RESOURCES FOR PARISHES AND INDIVIDUALS, INCLUDING A DAILY BLOG ON FAITH AND CULTURE AND WRITINGS BY BISHOP ROBERT BARRON OF THE SANTA BARBARA PASTORAL REGION.

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GIVE US THIS DAY (GUTD)

a DIGITAL FILE OF THEIR PERIODICAL, WHICH INCLUDES DAILY MASS TEXTS.  FROM GUTD.NET, SELECT "DIGITAL" IN THE UPPER RIGHT OF THE SCREEN.

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