The Church as The Mystical Body of Christ

“As an Evangelical I was taught that the different churches were all man-made organizations which were useful, but essentially un-necessary. Suddenly I saw the Church as the mystical body of Christ – a living, dynamic organism empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue the work of the risen Lord in the world. The Church was suddenly a sacrament of Christ. In my brothers and sisters I could find Jesus. In my service to the Church I could find Jesus. In our worship I could find Christ. In obedience to the teaching of the church I could find Jesus. By immersing myself in the Church I was immersing myself into Jesus himself and transcending the limitations of my personal walk with the Lord. But if my church was simply a gathering of people like myself, and Jesus was a reflection of ourselves, then we were only serving ourselves, not him.”

– Dwight Longenecker

Source

Filling The Heart

“And yet, I sensed that I had a heart so big that nothing would be capable of filling it.”

– St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul

The Incessant Call of Grace

“The incessant call of grace caused me much anguish: I tried, however, to stifle it with amusements. Interiorly, I shunned God, turning with all my heart to creatures. However, God’s grace won out in my soul.”

– St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul

How Difficult It Is For Me to Write

“Jesus, You see how difficult it is for me to write, how unable I am to put down clearly what I experience in my soul. O God, can a pen write down that for which many a time there are no words? But You give the order to write, O God; that is enough for me.”

– St. Faustina, Divine Mercy In My Soul

The Present Moment

“When I look into the future,

I am frightened,

But why plunge into the future?

Only the present moment is precious to me,

As the future may never enter my soul at all.”

– St. Faustina, Divine Mercy In My Soul

Smart Computers or Stupid Humans?

“The problem with the Turing Test is that it presents a conundrum of scientific method. We presume that improvement to machines takes place, so there is a starting state in our experiments where the human is considered ‘smarter’, whatever that means, than the computer. We are measuring a change in human ability to discriminate between human and machine behavior. But the human is defined as the most flexible element in the measurement loop at the start, so how do we know we aren’t measuring a state change in the human, rather than the computer? Is there an experimental difference, in this setup, between computers getting ‘smarter’ and humans getting ‘stupider’? I don’t think so.”

– Jaron Lanier, Agent Alien

Source

A Cartoon Version of the World

“An agent’s model of what you are interested in will be a cartoon model, and you will see a cartoon version of the world through the agent’s eyes. It is therefore a self-reinforcing model. This will recreate the lowest-common-denominator approach to content that plagues TV. ‘You’re interested in Balinese ritual, therefore you’re interested in travel, therefore you’re interested in the Infobahn Travel Game Show!’.”

– Jaron Lanier, Agent Alien

Prayer to St. Joseph the Worker

Glorious St. Joseph,

model of all those who are devoted to labour,

obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously,

putting the call of duty above my many sins;

to work with thankfulness and joy,

considering it an honour to employ and develop,

by means of labour,

the gifts received from God;

to work with order,

peace, prudence and patience,

never surrendering to weariness or difficulties;

to work, above all,

with purity of intention,

and with detachment from self,

having always death before my eyes

and the account which I must render of time lost,

of talents wasted,

of good omitted,

of vain complacency in success

so fatal to the work of God.

All for Jesus,

all for Mary,

all after thy example,

O Patriarch Joseph.

Such shall be my motto in life and death.

Amen.

Litany to sanctify work

R: Lord, protect me.

From the temptation to be listless and lazy. R

From the temptation to complain. R

From the temptation to be critical of my boss. R

From the temptation to cheat or to be dishonest with others. R

From the temptation to gossip. R

From the temptation to lateness. R

From the temptation to waste time. R

From the temptation to be judgemental of my co-workers. R

From the temptation to procrastinate. R

From the temptation to be jealous or envious of others. R

From the temptation to be hypercritical. R

From the temptation to engage in idle conversation. R

From the temptation to be quick to take offence. R

From the temptation to shift my work onto others. R

From the temptation to impatience. R

From the temptation to cut corners or to be sloppy. R

From the temptation to give in to weariness. R

R: Lord, please grant it.

For the grace to be a peacemaker. R

For the grace to witness to you by word and example. R

For the grace to be energetic and committed. R

For the grace to be compassionate and forgiving. R

For the grace to offer up all tedium and drudgery. R

For the grace to be attentive to those in need. R

For the grace to be generous in sharing. R

For the grace to be prudent in dealing with others. R

For the grace to be kind. R

For the grace to be understanding. R

For the grace to fulfil my responsibilities well. R

For the grace to be patient and persevering. R

For the grace to put myself in others’ shoes. R

For the grace to be dedicated and undistracted. R

For the grace to be honest and forthright. R

For the grace to be hard-working. R

For the grace to be free of stress. R

For the grace of insight to solve problems. R

For the grace of industriousness. R

For the grace to resolve conflicts and difficulties. R

For the grace to put up with hardships. R

For the grace to esteem the dignity of my co-workers. R

For the grace to be thankful for the chance to work. R

For the grace to spread the good news of the Gospel. R

Source

(Image: Les raboteurs de parquet, Gustave Caillebotte)