Connected Insights

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A Jesus who agrees with everyone and everything, a Jesus without his holy anger, without the hardness of truth and genuine love, is not the real Jesus as he is depicted in the Scriptures, but a pitiable caricature.

- Pope Benedict XVI

More here:
https://catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/forgiveness-as-the-restoration-of-truth.html

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250434258/thethirdcoming/

The Third Coming A groundbreaking reframing of post-war America through the lens of conservative Catholicism, and the medieval Catholic moral philosophy that has transformed ...

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What if the biggest obstacle to discerning God’s will isn’t a lack of clarity…but your need for certainty?

Most of us think peace comes after we’ve figured everything out. We want the five-year plan, the perfect next step, the certainty that we’re making the “right” decision before we move forward.

But that’s rarely how God works.

In this week’s episode of the Being Human podcast, I sit down with college senior Sandy Napolitano to explore the anxiety of life after graduation, why uncertainty feels so threatening, and how discernment begins when we stop trying to control the future. We also talk about integration, vocation, and why the deepest transformations in our lives often happen when we trust God before we have all the answers.

Because the goal of discernment isn’t finding a perfectly mapped-out future. It’s becoming the kind of person who can follow God into the unknown.
👉 Episode 294 is now live. Listen here: https://catholicpsy.ch/294

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Novena to Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Sixth Day:
True Love Is Surrender
“‘I thirst’ has no meaning unless through total surrender I give all to Jesus.”

“Today I will do whatever Jesus wants. And you will see that oneness. That surrender to God, to use you without consulting you. That accepting is a great sign of union with God. Holiness is that total surrender to God. Totus tuus. Completely yours. Totus tuus. Completely surrendered. Very clear! Complete. That accepting whatever He gives. That giving whatever He takes. You need much love to be able to see the hand of God.”

“I only want to do what God wants. Let us have the courage to do what God wants, even if it is difficult.”

Thought for the day
"Allow God to use you without consulting you."

Ask for the grace to surrender your whole life to God.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Saint Teresa of Calcutta, you allowed the thirsting love of Jesus on the Cross to become a living flame within you, and so became the light of His love to all. Obtain from the Heart of Jesus... (here make your request).

Teach me to allow Jesus to pe*****te and possess my whole being so completely that my life,too, may radiate His light and love to others. Amen.

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As an educator, Myles Werntz believes in “the good of education for everyone and that public schools should be amply funded and resourced.

He believes in “contributing to the common good even when it doesn’t directly benefit me.”

But when faced with the option to register his child for COVID-19 kindergarten or educate him from home, he had to ask himself:

Is participating in common rites like public education the only way for a Christian to contribute to the good of society, or is it possible to homeschool for the common good?

From the CT archive: https://chrst.today/4xw8qSR

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Feast of John the Baptist

Reflection

John the Baptist was a prophet who opened the way to Jesus. “He disturbed the comfortable and comforted the disturbed”. We may not be prophets, but we are still called to testify to the Christ. As Christians, all of us have the prophetic call to listen to the word of God and to put all of our heart, soul, imagination, and intelligence into understanding what that word means for our time. To be faithful to the call of God, we need courage and discipline. John is great today not just because God called him to a special vocation but because he walked courageously in the path that led to his goal.

Prayer

I will listen to what God is saying, who is speaking peace to us who turn our hearts to God

Psalm 85

Action

Who do you see as prophets in our time? What inspiration can you draw from their lives?

Suggested Reading

Among those born of women no one is greater than John.
Luke 7:28

Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Proverbs 29:18

We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long.
Psalm 74:9

It is usually easy to recognize the prophetic voice when it is authentic. It has the freshness and freedom of the Gospel: open, and favoring the disenfranchised. The prophetic voice dares the truth. We can often hear in it a questioning of established power, and an uncovering of human pain and unmet need. It challenges structures that exclude some and benefit others. The prophetic voice urges action and a choice for change.
Sister Pat Farrell

When we ponder whether a thought, word, or action is of God and for God, we can be confident of its origin and outcome when it reflects the Spirit’s gifts and bears the Spirit’s fruits…. May we lean, together, into God’s Abundant Love as we remain faithful to the Gospel call of Jesus for the life of the world.
Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ

A true prophet has to learn humility, realize it is God’s message, God’s glory to be served. He is merely an instrument…. The prophet is the inspired outsider, not part of the power structure, defies stereotypes, not who you think it should be, not what you were expecting.
Thomas Michael, SJ

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
James Allen

The ultimate function of prophecy is not to tell the future, but to make it.
Joel A. Barker

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The legacy of St Joseph Calasanz and St John Henry Newman asks a question that still matters: are we simply teaching children — or forming them?

👉 Read more: https://ewtn.co.uk/article-gb-catholic-education-in-great-britain-legacies-of-st-joseph-calasanz-and-st-john-henry-newman/

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Throughout history and in our society today, marginalized communities are routinely used as poker chips for the powerful to secure their ends. The powerful keep us distracted by pointing out the moral (and increasingly fabricated) sins of individuals, stoking fear of one another—while broader social sin, massive in scale, is perpetuated unchecked. Indeed, it is often labeled as “success."

The link is in the comments.