Next Meeting: September 29!

I hope that everyone has had a peace-filled, grace-filled month! We will meet this month on Thursday, September 29 at 6:30pm in the Fireplace Room of the St. Agnes Parish Center. Our meeting day also happens to be the Feast of the Holy Archangels (or Michaelmas, as it's traditionally and delightfully called). Wherever you are in your own battle with depression, I invite you to invoke the powerful aid of St. Michael:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

We look forward to seeing you and praying with you this Thursday night!

Words of Inspiration from Oscar Romero

From Plough Quarterly:

God is not failing us when we don’t feel his presence. Let’s not say: God doesn’t do what I pray for so much, and therefore I don’t pray anymore. God exists, and he exists even more, the farther you feel from him. God is closer to you when you think he is farther away and doesn’t hear you. When you feel the anguished desire for God to come near because you don’t feel him present, then God is very close to your anguish.

Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love 

Inspiration from Scripture and the Saints

"Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 4:6-7)

"Let nothing disturb you, nothing cause you fear.  All things pass; God is unchanging.  Patience obtains all.  Whoever has God needs nothing else; God alone suffices."  (Teresa of Avila)

"Stop listening to your fears.  God is your guide and your Father, Teacher, and Spouse.  Abandon yourself into the divine bosom of His most holy good pleasure.  Keep up your spiritual exercises and be faithful in prayer."  (St. Paul of the Cross)

"Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall the soul - sin only excepted. . . When our heart is troubled and disturbed within itself, it loses the strength necessary to maintain the virtues that it had acquired.  At the same time, it loses the means to resist the temptations of the enemy, who then uses his utmost efforts to fish, as they say, in troubled waters."  (St. Francis de Sales)

[From: Fr. Joseph Esper, "How the Saints Faced Anxiety," The Catholic Exchange]