On June 6th, 2010 the Visitation Order will be 400 years
old.
During the past four centuries, the Visitation Order has spread
throughout the world. Today vocations
to Visitation are most plentiful in the Third World countries.
Please pray for an increase in vocations here in the United States
too especially during this jubilee year. In March we
celebrate the feasts of St. Joseph on the 19th and of the
Annunciation to the Virgin Mary on the 25th, just nine months
before the Nativity of Jesus on December 25th. Here in St. Louis
St. Patrick's feast on March 17th is celebrated with much
jubilation including a parade and green beer. The 28th of
March is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. . Following are some Salesian
thoughts for reflection this month.
Week
of March 1-6:
"It is better to distrust our own strength to endure
than to be too confident. As long as we count on God's
grace to fill in our empty spaces we will be safe." - St. Francis de Sales
"Be brave, train yourself to courage and exactitude in
the observance. Keep a light heart, and above all things
put sadness far from you. God is wholly ours, and we have
no other wish than to be wholly His. How then can we be
solicitous about anything whatsoever?"
- St. Jane de Chantal
Week
of March 7-13:
"To possess a grain of true humility is to
possess a treasure and money that can buy heaven and the heart of
God."
- St. Francis de Sales
"We do not see our Lord, but we
are taught by faith that He is present in all things, by
presence, by essence and by power; moreover that He dwells in our
hearts in a particular way by assistance and by grace. But
alas, O God! We are blind, and because we see Thee not, we
easily lose the remembrance of Thy Divine presence!"
- St. Jane de Chantal
Week
of March 14-20:
"What
remedy for [our blindness] except often to quicken our faith that God
is everywhere present and that nothing happens in the world but by
the ordering of His divine Providence, which governs the whole world
according to His good pleasure."
- St. Jane de Chantal
"The soul which holds itelf ready and open to do God's will on
any occasion can do this even while sweeping the floor."
- St. Francis de Sales
Week
of March 21-27:
"All the day and at each hour, at each moment, if
possible, let us raise our heart to God. Let us keep ourselves
in the disposition to be guided by His Divine goodness."
- St. Jane de Chantal
"We must strive to love everyone equally since Our Lord
did not say, 'Love those who are virtuous,' but said 'Love one
another as I have loved you,' without excluding anyone,
imperfect though they be." - St. Francis de Sales
Week of
March 28-31:
"Let us acquiesce promptly in the effects of His
good pleasure in everything He shall permit to happen to us.
This is the only and true means of being in the disposition to
receive graces God has prepared for us." -St. Jane de Chantal
"Little be little train your will to follow God's
will wherever it may lead."
-St. Francis de Sales
Week
of March 7-13:
Week
of March 14-20:
