MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/52BC2E07/Moeau-THANKSGIVING.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" THANKSGIVING

THANKSGIVING

 

I shall not try to describe here, my dear sons a= nd daughters in Jesus Christ, the sentiments of love, gratitude, and confidenc= e in God, of gratitude and devotion toward the Holy See, of respect and fidelity= for our constitutions, to which such a favour should give rise in our souls. Who among us would ever have dared hope for such a reward for the almost insig&= shy;nificant services we have rendered to the church after only twenty-two years of exis= t­ence as members of a religious institute? As for myself, I could not read the telegram an­nouncing this solemn act without exclaim­ing with David: "Oh! How good is the God of Israel, to those who are upright of heart!" In this same church which has just been c= on­secrated, it was only on my knees, at the foot of the tabernacle, and while shedding tears of happiness, that I could read the decree which makes the Congregati= on of Holy Cross an officially recognized body in the church.

 

-Basil Moreau<= span lang=3DEN-GB>

Circular Letter, Notre-Dame de Sainte-= Croix, July 3,1857.

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp;

The Need for Struggle

 

A man found a cocoon of the empe= ror moth and took it home to watch it emerge. One day a small opening appeared,= and for several hours the moth struggled, but couldn't seem to force its body p= ast a certain point.

Deciding something was wrong, the man took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth emerged easily, its body large and swollen, the wings small and shrivelled.

He expected that in a few hours the wings would spread out in their natural beauty, but they did not. Instead of developing into a creature fre= e to fly, the moth spent its life dragging around a swollen body and shrivelled wings.

The constricting cocoon and the struggle necessary to pass through t= he tiny opening are God's way of forcing fluid from the body into the wings. T= he "merciful" snip was, in reality, cruel. Sometimes a struggle is exactly what we need.

&= nbsp;

-         NY mayor from 1933-1945: = Fuerello La Guardia sits occasionally at the city pol= ice court as judge. A poor on an icy cold morning shivering was brought in. cri= me – stealing a loaf of bread. The law makes no exceptions, he said; your fine will be $ 10.00. Then feeling his pocket he pulls out a $10 bill. Take this to pay your fine and loudly he said, I impo= se on all of you present here a fine of 0.50 for living in a town where folks sho= uld steal in order to live. Sergeant, take a hat and collect the fines and give= it to the hapless man.

-         -2 priests talking about = their vocation: One said, “God is in need of me.” And the other replied: The = only place Jesus was in need something was in Lk 19/= 34 – an ass!