Come to the Quiet! --- A Catholic Blog

Dark night or depression?

2012-01-26T16:29:00.000-06:00

Q: Dear Sister Carmen, I am struggling with prayer – it is very dry and I feel very alone but I have not given up. I believe I am in the dark night but I am also melancholy by temperament.

How can I discern what I amexperiencing? I don’t have access to a spiritual director because of my remote location. Am I depressed or in the dark night or both? I know you can’t know everything about my situation via this simple question – can you point me in the right direction?

A: Dear Friend, You are right in saying that I can’t know everything about your situation. Each of us is an unrepeatable individual unique among all persons living today, those who have lived before us and those yet to come. God has created us and in so doing has a plan for each of us. We want to live our lives in accordance with that plan and thus seek to discern how the Holy Spirit is leading us. A good spiritual director, if available, can be of invaluable help in this.

I can only give you the signposts that are general standards for growth in the spiritual life and there are many variations in these in the way that God chooses to work in the individual soul.

Before discussing dryness in prayer let us back up a little and summarize some of what has already been said. We have been dealing with the beginning mansions of the Interior Castle of which the first three Mansions form a special grouping. These three are a preparation for entrance into the Fourth Mansion in which one experiences the Prayer of Quiet. Teresa provides us with visual images to describe the work to be done either actively or passively as one journeys toward union with God. She applies a universal image in trying to express her thoughts, that of “water”. What she terms the First Water is applied to the first three Mansions. She compares the work done here to one who obtains water from the well by means of lowering and pulling up the bucket – hard work – but in Teresa’s day necessary if that was the only means at hand to obtain the precious water. How important was the water to the individual? Certainly a matter of life and death!

Thus in the spiritual life how important is our union with God to exercise the labor needed to reach our goal? The grace of God is there for us just as the water is in the depth of the well. Are we willing to use the means at hand to draw it up? Such means are: overcoming patterns of sin, practice of prayer, strengthening our sacramental life, practicing the Presence of God, cultivation of the virtues, bringing our wills into conformity with the will of Christ, detachment from worldly desires, practice of charity, etc. All of these are within the aid of ordinary grace. Much of the work here is “active work”, work we must do, with the help of God’s grace. And it is often slow work for growth takes time.

While all of us at one time or another may have experienced some form of consolation in prayer, however fleeting, the spiritual life is of too great a value to be an easy road. There is much hard work to be done especially in the first three mansions. It is here where we test the honesty and validity of our desire for a deeper relationship with God. Any relationship that is worthwhile takes profound commitment and arduous work on our part.

Now to get to the crux of your question! Why does wanting a deeper prayer life mean that often my prayer will be dry? And how do I determine whether this dryness is a result of spiritual growth or an effect of my melancholic temperament?

Can someone be going through the Dark Night and be experiencing melancholy at the same time? After all, many saints had a melancholic temperament. Regardless of our temperament each type has both strengths and weaknesses and of itself temperament does not stand in the way of spiritual growth. It is a part of what makes us the person we are. What we are referring to here is not our temperament but a form of melancholia or depression which can affect someone regardless of their temperament type. Yes, it is possible for someone to be going through both at the same time but it is not the usual case. Difficulties may be a source of suffering for us but not every suffering is the Dark Night.

If dryness is the result of one’s spiritual growth in prayer, the person will still have that strong desire to give him/her self totally to God through perseverance in prayer even when the senses feel no delight. Joy can also be experienced in suffering. On the other hand, melancholy closes the person in on self so that rather than seeking solitude to be alone with God in a loving relationship the person develops an unhealthy separation from others.

Generosity becomes a key word here. The one growing in prayer may not have a sense perception of the graces being received because the body is not perfectly conformed to the spirit and these graces are often very gentle and subtle, but the person is moved outwardly toward God and in service to others. Even if the person feels no delight in prayer the habitual attitude is to “give” rather than to “receive”, a characteristic quality of love. On the other hand, dryness which results from melancholy turns the person inward on self suffocating the spiritual life.

Consolations may seem more pleasurable and are sometimes given by God because of our weakness. We give a small reward to a child to help them persevere in reaching their goal. It takes humility to walk in dryness recognizing our human frailty. But the strength we gain in the practice of fortitude draws us into closer conformity with Christ. If our path were to be strewn with consolations, what might be the deceptions that would assail us? The example of St. Bernadette is helpful here. Although the apparent rejection of her Novice Mistress was painful to her, she recognized that had she been treated as a favored one, it might have stunted her spiritual growth. The lack of human consolation enabled her to identify more closely with Christ Crucified. If God leads us by the road of dryness it is because He knows what is best for us. We must have confidence that He seeks our happiness even more than we do ourselves.

In union of prayer,
Sister Carmen Laudis, O.C.D.
Read more: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2012/01/22/dark-night-or-depression#ixzz1kbchcJYt

The Moment of Conversion

2012-01-11T06:03:00.000-06:00

by Friar Jim Van Vurst, OFM

God’s Touch Is a Graced Moment

There are what we call “graced moments” in people’s lives. They can also be described as “the touch of God.” I suspect most of us have experienced such a moment more than once in our lives. After all, we are in God’s hands and God is always walking with us. Jesus himself said that he would never abandon us.

One of the most significant and dramatic touches of God is when a person experiences a conversion in his or her life. It may be somebody who really doesn’t know God and so rejects him. Then there are conversions that take place in people's hearts, who, though they believe in God, has wandered away and led a life directly contrary to God’s gospel values. A conversion is one of the most mysterious events that can occur simply because it happens in the deepest part of the person: the heart.

The Conversion of Zacchaeus, the Tax Collector

We are blessed in that the Gospels give us several scenes or events that reveal to us just how that conversion and change take place. One event in particular is what happened to the wealthy tax collector who met Jesus as he was passing through the town of Jericho (Lk 19:1-10). This encounter took place shortly before Jesus entered Jerusalem and faced his passion and death.

By this time, Jesus’ reputation for his miracles had spread widely. Even without modern communications, news of what Jesus had done in his ministry spread like wildfire. As Jesus approached the entrance to Jericho, he was spotted walking with some of his disciples, and word spread quickly: The miracle worker is coming to town.

Enter Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector who would have any number of his contacts telling him of Jesus' approach. This is when the conversion process starts for Zacchaeus. He is curious to see Jesus. It is at a moment like this that his heart opens, and the grace of God slips in. Zacchaeus’ heart beats faster. He had to see this man about whom he had heard so much.

The Gospel tells us that Zacchaeus tried to get a good look at Jesus as he approached, but he was short, and the gathering crowd blocked his view. And so he climbed a sycamore tree and perched up there like a bird in a tree. Now he could see Jesus coming. Then came a major moment of grace: the call. Jesus looked up, spotted Zacchaeus, smiled and shouted, “Zacchaeus, come down. Today I must stay in your house with you.” Jesus’ voice and his manner filled the heart of Zacchaeus. It was the touch of God, though Zacchaeus could not fully realize just then. But we can be sure that in the days following that call, Zacchaeus would relish and imagine those words of Jesus again and again.

Of all the people in the town Jesus might have chosen, the religious leaders think a dinner in the home of a tax collector would be the last thing Jesus would do. After all, Zacchaeus worked for the Romans and collected taxes. Cheating and overcharging were the standards. Why is Jesus eating with a sinner?

But it is at that very moment that the heart of Zacchaeus responded to Jesus’ invitations. He hurried down from the tree and ran to Jesus. Luke uses these beautiful words, “Zacchaeus received Jesus with joy.”

Conversion Means Change of Life

Conversion also means change and the giving of self. Does Zacchaeus mean what he says? Is he really going to change? Yes, indeed. Every call from God requires a response, both in word and in action. Zacchaeus stands before Jesus and says, “Behold, half my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over.” Zacchaeus illustrates a key element of the grace of conversion: He changes his behavior and makes reparation for all he has cheated in the past. After Zacchaeus fulfilled that promise, he was probably no longer a rich man. In truth he was richer than ever. His heart was filled with the riches of God’s grace.

Jesus knew what Zacchaeus was saying and that he really meant it: “Today salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and save what was lost.” Jesus' words are a confirmation that Zacchaeus really made the change, and the grace of God filled his heart with goodness.

From our perspective, it always appears that we are seeking God. The truth is that God never stops seeking us. Zacchaeus might have been lost for a time, but God never ceased going after him. That one circumstance of Jesus passing through the town became the grace of opportunity. Zacchaeus responded to hearing the word of Jesus’ approach, even if it were out of curiosity. It doesn’t take much to open one’s heart and let God in. That’s the first step.

The second step: Jesus’ words and his invitation to Zacchaeus: “Come on down,” open Zacchaeus’ heart fully to the grace of God. When Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus into his home, the tax collector receives the Lord.

The third step in Zacchaeus’ conversion was described in the change he made in his life. He repaid what he had taken dishonestly and he repaid it four-fold. The conversion was complete and Zacchaeus began his new journey through life as a follower of Jesus, growing and maturing in that faith.

I believe that, in our own lives and journeys, we have all experienced one or two conversions and life changes. After all, the Gospel events that we relish are not just for our enjoyment, but to remind us of God’s love and God's constant seeking of us. Zacchaeus may have thought he was rich as he counted his coins after a major tax collection, but he could never have realized how rich he would someday be.

Do you think that, after Jesus’ resurrection, Zacchaeus did not become a member of that early Christian community? There seems little doubt that he did and told his story to many. After all, Luke considered it important enough to make sure that the grace-filled event would be remembered wherever his Gospel was read.

Chistmas Power

2011-12-26T21:40:00.000-06:00

God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenceless child, so that we can love him. God is so good that he can give up his divine splendour and come down to a stable, so that we might find him, so that his goodness might touch us, give itself to us and continue to work through us.

This is Christmas: "You are my son, this day I have begotten you". God has become one of us, so that we can be with him and become like him. As a sign, he chose the Child lying in the manger: this is how God is. This is how we come to know him. And on every child shines something of the splendour of that "today", of that closeness of God which we ought to love and to which we must yield – it shines on every child, even on those still unborn.

Opportunities for Service Often Appear During Advent

2011-12-13T15:12:00.000-06:00

Sometimes we are ready - as individuals, as a family, as a couple - to seek some opportunities to experience Advent with a different spirit. We are ready to have our hearts opened and engaged by doing some service for others. We know from past experience, or we've heard from others, that this is a very rewarding and grace-filled way to enter into Advent. It helps us to prepare for Christmas because we focus on how grateful we are and we enter into the spirit of sharing by allowing us to imitate our Savior who simply gave of his very self for us. And, it helps us get closer to the experience of the poor and needy of our world. We think about their needs and we do something - even if it is a small thing - to reach out.

We could acknowledge our response to the fact that there are others who have so much less than we do, through no fault of their own other than their being born into different circumstances than our own. Some of us may have very little to give. We may be out of a job or without health care or struggling to make ends meet. And, even for us, there is a sense that we have more than many people on the face of the earth. Perhaps we have no money to give away, but we have time to give to help someone else. Getting started involves reflecting on what kind of service might be right for me and what it will mean.

Lord you came to enter our life journey completely and to become one with us. Thank you for your love and your mercy. Thank you for the many blessings you have bestowed upon me and my family. Please let this simple generosity today lift someone else's burdens. As I reflect upon the smallness of your coming, as a baby born in poverty, let this small practice of generosity today become a symbol for my desire to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick - to enter into greater service for the least of my brothers and sisters.

St. Charles Borromeo: On the Meaning of Advent

2011-12-05T03:36:00.000-06:00

When we remove all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, bringing with him the riches of his grace.

We Wait and Prepare for the Messiah's Coming

2011-12-04T01:44:00.001-06:00

The word Advent derives from the Latin word meaning coming. The Lord is coming. We may reflect that every year at this time we celebrate his coming , so that in a sense we can lose the feeling of expectancy and joyful anticipation, because at the end of the season, everything seems to return to pretty much the same routine. If that is the case, then our preparation may have been lacking and we have therefore been robbed of much of the true meaning of this season.

During Advent we recall the history of God's people and reflect on how the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament were fulfilled. This gives us a background for the present. Today we can reflect on the past track record of God and so begin to understand what it means to us now for the sake of what is to come, in our own future and that of our world.

© Liguori Publications Excerpt from Advent - A Quality Storecupboard The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer

Feast of All Souls - Special Prayer for the Poor Souls in Purgatory in November

2011-11-02T12:45:00.000-05:00

Meditation:

"The Blessed Virgin herself told the saint [Bridget], that as a poor sick person, bedridden, suffering, and abandoned, is relieved by words of encouragement and consolation, so are the souls in purgatory relieved by only hearing her name. The mere name of Mary, that name of hope and salvation, and which is frequently invoked by her beloved children in their prison, is a great source of comfort to them; for,' says Novarinus, 'that loving Mother no sooner hears them call upon her than she offers her prayers to God, and these prayers, as a heavenly dew, immediately refresh them in their burning pains."

St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books: 1978), 233.

Happy Feast of All Saints!

2011-10-31T22:05:00.000-05:00

October 22, Feast of Blessed John Paul II the Great.

2011-10-23T07:56:00.001-05:00

Today is the first feast day of our beloved Blessed John Paul II the Great.

the prayer is:
O God, Who is rich in mercy and Who willed that Bl. John Paul II should
preside
as Pope over Your universal Church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his
teaching, we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole
redeemer of mankind, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One
God forever and ever. Amen.

Happy Feast of St. Therese!

2011-10-01T08:47:00.001-05:00

"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul." These are the words of Theresa of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun called the "Little Flower," who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. [In French-speaking areas, she is known as Thérèse of Lisieux.] And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world. Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24.

Life in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time, however dull that time may be. She saw in quiet suffering redemptive suffering, suffering that was indeed her apostolate. Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent "to save souls and pray for priests." And shortly before she died, she wrote: "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth."

[On October 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, the third woman to be so recognized in light of her holiness and the influence of her teaching on spirituality in the Church.]

Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

2011-09-29T16:40:00.000-05:00

Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.

Michael appears in Daniel's vision as "the great prince" who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God's armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century.

Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel's visions, announcing Michael's role in God's plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah.

Raphael's activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit's son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah's marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit's blindness and the restoration of the family fortune.

The memorials of Gabriel (March 24) and Raphael (October 24) were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael's.

Each of these archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides.

Gratitude towards our Heavenly Mother

2011-09-20T12:29:00.001-05:00

Quote:
St. Bonaventure
"As wax melts before the fire, so do the devils lose their power against those souls who often remember the name of Mary, and devoutly invoke it; and still more so, if they also endeavor to imitate her virtues."
Glories of Mary, (Tan Books: 1978), 148.

Meditation:
How often do we hear it said, "I never realized all my mother did for me until I had children of my own." Commonly, a mother's actions and sacrifices go unrecognized even by her own children. With the example of natural motherhood in my mind, how many favors has my heavenly Mother performed for me that I have not recognized?

St. Thomas writes on the virtue of gratitude:
Since true friendship is based on virtue, whatever there is contrary to virtue in a friend is an obstacle to friendship, and whatever in him is virtuous is an incentive to friendship. On this way friendship is preserved by repayment of favors, although repayment of favors belongs specially to the virtue of gratitude.

Resolution:
Today, I will try to cultivate a spirit of gratitude towards my Heavenly Mother for all her actions on my behalf. I will especially remember this when I say the name of Mary in my Rosary.

The Sacredness of Unborn Life

2011-08-24T07:00:00.002-05:00

"Give us the grace, When the sacredness of life before birth is attacked, to stand up and proclaim that no one ever has the authority to destroy unborn life." ~Blessed Pope John Paul II

Jesus’ Special Friends

2011-08-24T06:51:00.000-05:00

The Gospels relate many people Jesus met and talked to during his three-year ministry. Some were friends and co-workers, such as his apostles and closest disciples. There were special people whom he helped and who became his followers, such as Mary Magdalene, the first to witness the risen Jesus. But in both the Gospels of Luke and John, Martha, Mary and their brother, Lazarus, truly stand out as very special friends.

This family lived in the town of Bethany, a couple miles southeast of Jerusalem. It seems Jesus felt very comfortable and welcome in their home. In fact, during the early days of Holy Week, Jesus spent his nights with these friends. During the days, he preached in Jerusalem. And it was during this week that Mary anointed Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair—an act which upset Judas. He thought it was a waste of money, though Jesus said that it was a symbol of his upcoming death and burial. You’ll recall that it was Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead even after he had been in the tomb four days (John 11). And many people came to believe in Jesus after witnessing that astounding sight.

There is an incident about these two sisters that is so endearing because it describes our wounded human nature. It’s described in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus and some disciples had come from Jerusalem to stay the night at Martha and Mary’s home. Martha, being the elder sister and head of the house, is concerned with her role as hostess. After all, they will need something to eat and drink. The group sits and, lo and behold, Mary sits right at the feet of Jesus. It seems only Martha is aware of what is going on. She is left alone to take care of the guests.

Jesus starts teaching, and everyone around him is taken with his words. It seems that no one notices Martha's predicament. In a way, Martha is isolated. Finally, she can stand it no longer. She comes out and interrupts Jesus to get him to send Mary into the kitchen to help. To Martha this is a reasonable request. But, to her surprise, Jesus gently chides her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:41).

Martha’s Possible Choices

It is just a homey scene: a guest of honor, two sisters who see the whole event differently and a moment of teaching by Jesus himself. We can say that Martha had a point: She was, after all, the hostess. She would see it has her duty to prepare something for her guests. Hospitality in Middle Eastern cultures was paramount. Mary, on the other hand, is taken by Jesus and his words, and she lost awareness of Martha's predicament. She just wants to hear Jesus talk.

Martha could have dealt with this situation in three ways: 1) She could have said, “I would really like to hear Jesus. Given this circumstance with everyone around Jesus, he must be saying something important. I think I’ll sit down to listen and, when he is finished, Mary and I can get something together for our guests. 2) She could have said, “Well, I’m the hostess and, even though I would like to sit with the others and listen to Jesus, I’ll give that up and prepare something for my guests. And then, afterward, I can sit down with Mary, and she can tell me what Jesus said. 3) Or, finally, Martha might have said in anger and resentment, “Oh, let Mary sit out there and be special. I'll fix something and let them know that I didn’t appreciate having to do all the work while my little sister, Mary, got to sit by Jesus and listen.”

In the first case, Martha would behave in a very appropriate way. An opportunity to hear Jesus preach and teach was too good to miss. She would do her best with Mary’s help to get something together for the visitors. But, she rightly thought, that they would understand her decision. None of them would have wanted to miss hearing Jesus.

In the second option, Martha also makes a solid decision: She’ll deny herself the chance to hear Jesus because she wants to meet her visitors’ needs. Hearing from Mary what Jesus said won’t be the same as being there, but she will have done both things: served her guests and heard what Jesus said. It’s the third option that Martha chooses and, in doing so, let her emotions of anger, frustration and self-pity control her judgment.

The Gospel’s Lesson for Our Own Struggles

But haven’t we all experienced those feelings of frustrations in family life? People can get into a snit. Even when another option presents itself as a good alternative, we refuse to take it because we sometimes bask in the “poor me/no one cares” feelings that soothe us.

Jesus’ apostles struggled with these feelings, too, more than once. When James and John’s mother asked Jesus to make sure her two sons sat on Jesus' right and left when he came into his Kingdom, the 10 others heard that request and were upset, jealous and put out. We can’t blame them, especially when it seems that James and John put their mother up to making the request of Jesus (Matthew 20:20). Another time, Jesus was walking along and could hear his apostles arguing among themselves like little children. Who was first? Who was closest to Jesus? Who understood him the best? And so forth (Mark 9:9).

These are very human struggles—the “poor me” or “no one appreciates me or my efforts” feelings. Now, if I can catch myself in the midst of them and say, Lord, what’s going on inside me now? Why am I upset or having these feelings? then I can interrupt that negative and useless kind of thinking. It helps prevent a minor incident from causing serious harm to the very people we love. True, it is part of our humanness to go though these struggles at times. The Lord helps us understand ourselves at such times—that is, if we are able to turn our attention toward him. If we do, we can help our family relationships significantly.

by Friar Jim Van Vurst, O.F.M.

The Most Blessed Sacrament

2011-08-20T15:31:00.000-05:00

“I’d like to share a teaching that came to me one day as I sat before the Lord. I was just looking at the Blessed Sacrament and adoring Jesus and telling him I didn’t have much to say except that I loved Him.

“I felt as though the Lord said to me, ‘Well, don’t you know that you don’t have to say anything to me? Just be with me. Come into my presence. It’s not what you do for me, it’s what I want to do for you.’ ”

“Then I got an image of a person going out of his house and sitting in the sun. As he sat in the sun, he didn’t do a thing, but he started to change color. People who saw him knew he had been in the sun because his skin showed it. The man knew it, too, because he felt the effects of the sun: the warmth and the light.”

“I heard the Lord saying, ‘So it is when you come into my presence. You will experience the effects of your time spent with me. People will see it in your actions.’ ”

“It was a great teaching to me, knowing that I didn’t always have to be saying things but all I had to do was be there with Jesus.’”

Sister Briege McKenna

Love Your Neighbor

2011-08-14T07:11:00.000-05:00

"Always remember to love your neighbor; always prefer the one who tries your patience, who test your virtue, because with her you can always merit: suffering is Love; the Law is Love." ~Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified "The Little Arab"

Deny Your Desires

2011-08-09T07:10:00.000-05:00

Deny your desires and you will find what your heart longs for. For how do you know if any desire of yours is according to God?

---Saint John of the Cross

Part II - What Can I Do to Increase the Strength of my Will?

2011-08-03T09:21:00.000-05:00

What can I do to increase the strength of my will to resist temptation and grow in holiness? Part II of II

Q: I would like to ask you for a piece of advice. Since my will is not so strong as it should be; what are the exercises to practise that important element of spiritual formation?

A: In our first post we talked about some of the foundational ideas required to begin an effective effort toward strengthening our will. In this post we will talk about a few secrets and tips to making solid progress.

The Secret of a Schedule
The best tactic to employ for sure, even if slow, progress in this area is by establishing and following a weekly and daily schedule that reflects your priorities and duties. If at any given hour of any given day you know what you are supposed to be doing, you give your willpower a huge advantage over your raucous appetites. When your appetites want to abandon your duty or commitment, you will recognize it immediately, because you can look at your schedule and see what your own, freely chosen life-priority is right here and now. If you are supposed to be working on your thesis and your appetites want to take a trip to a museum, you can look at your schedule and make an act of self-governance with your will, training your appetites: “Well, okay, the Borromini exhibit is indeed worth seeing, but right now I can’t just abandon the office – I have some deadlines to meet. But I have scheduled a time for some recreation on Saturday morning, so I can go to the exhibit then.” That’s self-governance; that’s forming your will so that you are liberated from being a slave to your appetites. Coming up with your weekly and daily schedule may not be easy for you, especially if you have a spontaneous temperament. But with the help of a friend (someone who likes to plan and organize things), or even with your spiritual director, you can do it. But then you will have to watch out for another pitfall: becoming a slave to your schedule! That will only cause you to be frustrated and tense all the time. The schedule is a tool, a means to an end, but it can’t foresee everything, so you have to maintain a certain flexibility. Balancing your freedom between the two types of slavery – to your whims or to your schedule – is the proper job of the virtue of prudence. And you will grow in this virtue only if you try, make mistakes, identify them, and keep on trying. For that, the daily examination of conscience can be invaluable.

Top Tips
Be sure to schedule your weekly day of rest, and honor that. Be sure to schedule free time to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. We are not robots, after all. Be sure to schedule your times of prayer. Be sure to try and follow through on your commitments and decisions; exercising constancy is key for building willpower. If you want to make adjustments to your schedule or commitments, try to do so during your weekly review and planning session, not just on a whim.

Another spiritual discipline, penance and mortification, also aids in the formation of the will, although those disciplines have other primary goals.

Don’t forget that forming your will is a long process – in fact, it’s something we can never stop doing. Like a muscle, if we stop exercising, consciously, our willpower, it atrophies. Don’t worry if you don’t see much progress right away; don’t worry if you keep falling back into slob-blob mode; just keep begging for God’s help and plugging away, confident that you are glorifying God and building Christ’s Kingdom just by making a decent effort to serve him better: “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

Finally, remember that discouragement never comes from the Holy Spirit. Rather, it’s a trick of the evil one. We know that, because, as Scripture assures us, “with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), and “His mercy is everlasting” (Psalm 11:5).

Read more: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/08/02/what-can-i-do-to-increase-the-strength-of-my-will-to-resist-temptation-and-grow-in-holiness-part-ii-of-ii#ixzz1TyXjMDPc

Recognizing a Need to Develop Your Willpower

2011-07-26T09:41:00.000-05:00

Q: I would like to ask you for a piece of advice. Since my will is not so strong as it should be; what are the exercises to practise that important element of spiritual formation?

A: I am so encouraged to see that you recognize a need to develop your willpower! The first job the Holy Spirit has is to show us our need for God’s grace, so you are obviously in tune with the Holy Spirit!

And that’s the first point: We all need to remember that when it comes to pursuing spiritual maturity, our own efforts are never enough. (A heresy from the fifth century taught the contrary, and it was condemned by the Church; it’s called Pelegianism.) On the other hand, St Thomas Aquinas reminded us many centuries ago that “grace builds on nature,” and that means that we can do a lot to create a propitious for God’s grace to be fruitful, to take root in our souls and bear abundant fruit, “some one-hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold” (Matthew 13:8).

The Shortcut (Ha!)
Forming the will, our capacity to make prudent, firm decisions and follow through with them in spite of opposition, temptation, or difficulty, is absolutely necessary for spiritual progress. A weak will inhibits our capacity to love, because love means self-giving, and self-giving is necessarily difficult in a fallen world, a world in which our fallen nature tends automatically towards self-indulgence. So you are right to want to form your will, to strengthen it, to develop it. Unfortunately, no flashy, romantic method exists for character formation. I can’t give you a short-cut. I can only share some recommendations that spiritual writers have given throughout the centuries. It will be up to you to put them into practice. But you will not be alone – three of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which were planted in your soul at baptism, are directed towards giving your weak and wounded will a supernatural boost (these are the gifts of fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord). So, if you make a decent effort to do your part, the Holy Spirit will surely give you a fantastic return for your investment. Your will has two jobs in the spiritual life. First it has to submit to God, to embrace and obey God’s will. Second, it has to govern your other, lower faculties (like your appetites), so that they don’t go off on their own and drag you into the muddy acid of laziness, lust, greed, and the other vices. You can do some practical things to train your will in both tasks.

Job #1: Embracing God’s Will
To embrace God’s will for your life – whether in basic things like following the Commandments and the duties of your state in life, or in extraordinary moments when he sends special inspirations – you have to be convinced that God’s will really is the very best option. This is the kind of conviction that drove St Thomas More, for example, to give up the highest honors in the Kingdom, abundant riches, and an incomparable position of power and prestige, trading it all in for a few years in prison and a death sentence. He knew the answer to Christ’s question: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loses his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). The more deeply we are convinced that God’s will, God’s plan, and God’s way are based on his infinite wisdom, limitless goodness, and passionate, personal love for us as individuals, the more we will want to embrace it and follow it, no matter the cost.

Deepening Our Conviction
How can we deepen that conviction? There is absolutely no better way to do so than by making mental prayer a part of your daily life. Add to mental prayer a good dose of daily spiritual reading, a Rosary, and frequent reception of the sacraments of the Eucharist and confession, and you have a solid formula that will, gradually, deepen this conviction. It will become a solid, deep, granite foundation for a life of holiness and fruitfulness. But you have to avoid just going through the motions in those spiritual disciplines: be faithful to them, and be faithful to constantly striving to do them better. The help of a good spiritual director is useful here. Go over each of your prayer commitments with your spiritual director. Explain what you do and how you do it, and ask for advice and tips on how to do it better.

Job #2: Self-Governance
The will’s second job consists of governing your lower faculties. Your appetites always want to go towards their proper object, the particular pleasure associated with their exercise – food, sex, rest, entertainment… To strengthen your will, then, requires disciplining these appetites until, like a well-trained thoroughbred, they have learned to channel all their power in the direction that your will points them. This may take a long time. Our culture trains us in just the opposite way. Our consumerism actually debilitates the will in favor of the whims of emotion. Sometimes it takes prolonged periods of taxing effort to free the soul from the slavery of sentimentalism.

Read more: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/07/25/what-can-i-do-to-increase-the-strength-of-my-will-to-resist-temptation-and-grow-in-holiness-part-i-of-ii#ixzz1TDqpT3Jz

St. Faustina and the Holy Mass

2011-07-24T08:18:00.000-05:00

“Today during Holy Mass I saw the crucified Jesus. Jesus was nailed to the cross and was in great agony. His suffering pierced my soul and body in a manner which was invisible, but nevertheless most painful.

   Oh, what awesome mysteries take place during Mass! A great mystery is accomplished in the Holy Mass. With what great devotion should we listen to and take part in this death of Jesus. One day we will know what God is doing for us in each Mass, and what sort of gift He is preparing in it for us. Oh Jesus, my Jesus, with what great pain is my soul pierced when I see this fountain of life gushing forth with such sweetness and power for each soul, while at the same time I see souls withering away and drying up through their own fault”.

   Our Lord said to her with great sadness: “Oh how painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves to Me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward Me. I love them tenderly and sincerely and they distrust Me…they treat Me as a dead object…”

                    St. Faustina Kowalska

...only our love...

2011-07-24T06:46:00.000-05:00

So that is all that Jesus wants from us, he does not need our accomplishments, only our love. He thirsts for love.

St.Therese, The Little Flower

...the Journey and the Goal

2011-07-16T18:29:00.001-05:00

Living With God’s Will is the Journey and the Goal…the Transformation into Christ

It is our duty to progress in our spiritual life, to grow in our life of God’s love…of imitating Christ, and the key understanding is that we must spend more time with Him in order to achieve this goal and complete this duty. But how? St. Augustine tells us: “You were within me, and I was seeking you outside of myself”. It is in realizing and experiencing this truth that God really and truly dwells in our soul that we can begin the journey. God wants to live and act through us so we can really say with St. Paul; “It is no longer I who lives, it is Christ who lives in me”. This is an actual reality of the life we are called to live. Blessed Dina Belanger describes it: “Jesus…undertook to do everything: to think, to speak, to act…not only with me but in my place. He substituted Himself for me and I let Him have his way. What a choice gift it is to understand how to let the Savior live within one’s self”. God will give this gift to those who truly desire it and ask for it.

- Fr. Jean LaFrance and Robert T. Hart.

“Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me.”

2011-07-14T06:50:00.000-05:00

Blessed Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381), Canon Regular
The Seven Degrees on the Ladder of Spiritual Love, chapter 4

“Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me.”

Through humility, we live with God and God lives with us in true peace. That is where the living foundation of all holiness is to be found. It can be compared to a spring, whence four rivers of virtue and of eternal life flow forth (cf. Gen 2:10)… The first river, which flows forth from truly humble ground, is obedience; … The ear becomes humbly attentive so as to hear the words of truth and of life coming from the Wisdom of God, whereas the hands are always ready to do its most cherished will… Christ, the Wisdom of God, became poor so as to make us rich, he became a servant in order to let us reign, he died finally to give us life… So that we might know how to follow and serve him, he tells us: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.”

In fact, gentleness is the second river of virtues, which flows forth from the ground of humility. “Blest are the lowly; they shall inherit the land,” (Mt 5:5) that is to say, their soul and their body, in peace. For the Spirit of the Lord rests on the gentle and humble person; and when our spirit is thus lifted up and united with God’s Spirit, we carry Christ’s yoke, which is pleasant and gentle, and we carry a light burden… From this intimate gentleness, a third river flows forth; it consists in living patiently. The Lord visits us in tribulation and suffering. If we receive these emissaries with a joyful heart, he himself will come, for he said through his prophet: “I will be with him in distress; I will deliver him and glorify him.” ) Ps 91:15 …

The fourth and last river flowing from a humble life is that the person abandons his own will and every search for his personal benefit. This river has its source in suffering that is patiently endured. The humble person … gives up his own will and spontaneously abandons himself into the hands of God. Thus he becomes one single will and one single freedom with the divine will… And that is the very depth of humility … The will of God, which is freedom itself, removes from us the spirit of fear and makes us free, liberated and empty of ourselves… Then God gives us the Spirit of his chosen, who makes us cry out with the Son: “Abba, that is, Father” (Rom 8:15).

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine

"Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit"

2011-07-14T06:38:00.003-05:00

Photo©DesignPics

The Beatitudes: Eight Attitudes That Open Us to God's Saving Love

by Friar Jack Wintz, O.F.M.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus does not comfort the proud, but those broken in spirit. He assures them that they are the true recipients of God's saving love. In the Old Testament, God's poor are called the anawim, the Hebrew word for the poor, humble and afflicted. Only those who are "poor in spirit" understand that salvation is a free gift from God.

"Blessed Are They Who Mourn"

"Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted."

Those who are now mourning recognize their need for God's healing and forgiveness. In Matthew's Gospel, a tax collector named Matthew is among those eating with Jesus. When Jesus is asked why he eats with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus answers, "Those who are well do not need the physician, but the sick do" (Matthew 9:12). Only those who admit their sickness or sin are open to God's saving love.

"Blessed Are the Meek"

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

For some people, the word meek may suggest weakness or spinelessness. The biblical meaning of meek, however, indicates respect and forbearance. Jesus describes himself as "meek and humble of heart," and yet he is anything but spineless. Indeed, the Jesus we know has immense inner strength.

"Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst"

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied."

According to Jesus, they are already blessed who dedicate themselves to building a world of justice and righteousness, a world where everyone's rights are respected and all people will find a place at the table—and enjoy a fair share of the gifts of God's creation.

"Blessed Are the Merciful"

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

The Peace Prayer of St. Francis repeats the same dynamic in these familiar words: "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned." And this triumph of mercy happens not only in the next life. It happens now. No sooner do our hearts imitate the mercy of God than God showers on us the gift of his own overflowing love and mercy!

"Blessed Are the Pure of Heart"

"Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God."

Sometimes, after a spring rain, we come across a clear puddle of water. If we stir the puddle with a stick, it clouds up and turns muddy. When our motives and intentions are clouded, we lose our purity of heart and our ability to see God—and our neighbor as an image of God.

"Blessed Are the Peacemakers"

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."

The Hebrew word shalom means peace—a state of wholeness and total health. When we wish someone peace in the biblical sense, we are wishing them this same kind of wholeness. If we go about spreading God's love as instruments of peace, we bring wholeness and reconciliation to our world—and become "children of God."

"Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted"

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

As we look at this eighth beatitude—and look back at each of the preceding beatitudes—we see that Jesus is a great model for all of them.

We would each do well, I believe, to take a few moments to reread slowly this series of eight beatitudes and to contemplate Jesus, who followed them so lovingly during his life here on earth.

Love

2011-07-14T06:34:00.002-05:00

The meaning of love is to sacrifice yourself. ---St. Therese of Lisieux

Remain Fervant

2011-07-10T03:44:00.000-05:00

If thou continue faithful and fervent in working, God will doubtless be faithful and liberal in rewarding.
St. Therese

Evangelizing this Summer

2011-07-09T11:17:00.000-05:00

We do not have to have all the answers or be professional evangelizers to participate in the building of his kingdom.

In our encounters this summer, let us relax and be joyful. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to be filled with Christ’s joy and hope. Let us be eager to listen what others may share about their lives. Let us recognize and maybe even celebrate with them how God may be guiding them in his Divine Providence. Our willingness to listen and our joy of trusting God our Father will then be the starting point for others who have been awaiting the good news. We all want to know we are loved and we are called to be children of the same Father.

St. Therese of Lisieux

2011-07-08T10:56:00.001-05:00

"My actions, my little sufferings, can make God loved all over the world."
Patron Saint of Missionaries

"...no one knows the Father except the Son.." Matt 11:28

2011-07-07T14:04:00.001-05:00

Matthew 11:25-30: At that time Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

Christ the Lord

After reflecting on those who reject him and his message, Jesus now takes comfort in thinking of those who accept him. In his prayer of thanksgiving, he gives us yet another glimpse of his utter uniqueness.

He alone among men “knows the Father,” because he alone is the Son. Therefore, no one can reveal God to us as he can. If we want to know God, as every human heart does (consciously or not), we have only one recourse: Jesus Christ. Christ’s Lordship derives from his very identity as God, not from some extrinsic privilege. And so, if we go to him, look to him, study him, speak with him, follow him, delve into his teachings, and query those who have come to know him better than we have, we will be discovering God himself. If we lift our minds up to him, we will begin to think and see as he does, and if we give him our hearts, we will allow him to take the reins of our lives. God wants to be known and loved, and so he sent us Jesus Christ to be his self-revelation.

Christ the Teacher

Since every heart innately yearns for God, this Gospel passage ought to be prized above all others, for it teaches us the secret for satisfying that yearning. To encounter God requires only one thing. Not intellectual prowess, worldly excellence, or sophisticated achievements, but simplicity. God gives himself to those who are “mere children” – to those who are childlike. The mark of children is not innocence; most often they are quite mischievous. It is not ignorance, for they often surprise us with their insights and thoughtful questions. Nor is it helplessness, for many of them are streetwise survivors, as often seen in situations of poverty and war.

The mark of the child is trust. Children readily put their trust in those given charge over them (until that trust is violated). It is natural for children to depend on their parents, to follow unquestioningly their older siblings. They have not yet developed the average adult’s haughty air of self-sufficiency. By word and example (as for example in the Garden of Gethsemane) Jesus teaches us that intimacy with God requires trust above all. Faith is trusting that what God reveals is true; hope is trusting that what he promises will come about; love is trusting that what he asks us to do is what we should do. If we put our trust in God, and not in ourselves, we will find God.

Christ the Friend

Pulling weeds for a whole day all by oneself is a wearisome thing. But working side-by-side with a good friend considerably lessens the weariness. Life lays upon us many burdens, which our own selfish tendencies make doubly hard. Jesus Christ wants to bear them with us, softening them with his wise humility, walking by our side as the best of friends. Those who have accepted his invitation and hitched their life to his under the same yoke, like two oxen pulling a plough together, have discovered the difference. They are called saints, and their joy never wanes, not in this life and not in the next.

Christ in My Life

I want to know you, Lord. I want to know what you care about, what you think about, what’s on your mind and in your heart. I want to know what makes you smile, what makes you frown. I want to discover the God who created me – who created all things. Jesus, your face reveals God’s face. Open my eyes, Lord, let me see you…

Lord, I know you don’t judge me, because you promise that you are meek and lowly of heart. How hard it is for me not to judge! How much grief I cause myself and others by my outbursts of vanity, arrogance, and anger! I want to learn from you, Lord, and I know you want to teach me. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart more like yours…

Lord, why do I think I can do everything by myself? You designed me to need other people, to help other people, and to depend upon God for everything. This is the law of your universe. Like a little child in its mother’s arms, so I keep myself in you, O Lord. Teach me to trust you and to obey your will. Thy Kingdom come…

Read more: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/07/06/37-a-flash-of-joy-matthew-1125-30#ixzz1RRolcRSQ

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - July 16th

2011-07-05T15:28:00.001-05:00

Mount Carmel in our times - some excerpts

Mount Carmel comes to memory as the biblical site where the prophet Elias battled the 450 priests of Baal in a public spiritual contest which led to their defeat and ruin as Scriptures aptly recorded. (1 Kings 18:19-40). It was also here where Elias sent his servant seven times to the mountaintop to look for rain after years of drought which ended as he proclaimed, "Behold a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man's foot." (1 Kings 18:44).

Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel
We can find Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, overlooking the modern-day city of Haifa. It rises 1742 feet above sea level and towers above the Mediterranean coastline and its limestone rocks form a cliff-like landscape. The name "Carmel" means, in Hebrew (Hakkarmel [with the definite article], "the garden" or "the garden-land" because of its renowned lush and verdant beauty during ancient times. (Isaiah 35:2) It is known for its cover of flower blossoms, flowering shrubs, and fragrant herbs. Such was its charm and appeal that it was compared to the beauty of the bride in Solomon’s song. (Song of Songs 7:5)
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Nowadays it comes in various names as Antelope-Nose, Har Karmel, Holy Headland, Jebel Kurmul, Mar Elyas, Mount of User, Rosh-Kedesh.

Origin of Invocation
The title of Our Lady of Carmel can be traced back to the hermits who used to live in the renowned and blessed mountain at the time of the Old Testament. There, this pious and austere community prayed in expectation of the advent of a Virgin-Mother who would bring salvation to mankind much like the holy prophet Elias who ascended Mount Carmel to pray to God for the salvation of the Israel which was suffering a terrible drought at that time.
Elias "went up to the top of Mt. Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth put his face between his knees." (1 Kings 18:42). He persevered in prayer, and as previously mentioned above, sent his servant several times to the mountaintop to see any sign of foreboding rain. Elias, never wavering in his confidence, received the good news on the seventh try, "Behold a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man's foot." (1 Kings 18:44) Soon thereafter, torrential rains fell upon the parched land and the people of Israel were saved.

A Prefigure of Our Lady
Elias saw the cloud as a symbol of the Virgin mentioned in the prophecies of Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14). The hermits took after his example and prayed likewise for the advent of the much awaited Virgin who would become the mother of the Messiah. It became their spiritual mission.
Theologians see in that little cloud a figure of Mary, bringing salvation in the seventh age of the world. As the clouds arise out of the sea without the weight and the salinity of the waters, so has Mary arisen out of the human race without suffering its stains.[1]
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St. Simon Stock and the Scapular
Any account on the story of Our Lady of Mount Carmel could not fail to mention the role that St. Simon Stock played especially in relation to the brown scapular. We could trace Simon Stock’s origin to the County of Kent in England where he was born around 1165. Being of English descent, he was also known as Simon Anglus.
In the thirteenth century, during the era of the Crusades, he joined a group of hermits on Mount Carmel who claimed to be the successors of Elias while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As the situation became too precarious for them due to Saracen threats, the community moved and settled in Aylesford, England. In 1247, at 82 years old, Simon was elected the sixth superior-general of the Carmelites at the first chapter held there. He instituted reforms to best suit Western conditions and the cenobitical rather than the eremitical way of life. As such, the community came to be regarded eventually as a mendicant order along with the Dominicans and the Franciscans.
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The Brown Scapular
The scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, also known as the Brown scapular, is one of the most popular and celebrated of Roman Catholic devotions. The sacramental as the lay faithful commonly use it is a miniature derivative of the actual brown scapular used by the Carmelites -the sleeveless outer garment falling from the shoulders which is worn as a sign of their vocation and devotion.
As was mentioned, Our Lady gave St. Simon a scapular for the Carmelites with the following promise, saying : "Receive, My beloved son, this habit of thy order: this shall be to thee and to all Carmelites a privilege, that whosoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire …. It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger, and a pledge of peace."
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Feast Day
The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was instituted by the Carmelites between 1376 and 1386 under the title "Commemoratio B. Marif Virg. duplex" to celebrate the victory of their order over its enemies on obtaining the approbation of its name and constitution from Honorius III on 30 Jan., 1226 (see Colvenerius, "Kal. Mar.", 30 Jan. "Summa Aurea", III, 737). The feast was assigned to 16 July, because on that date in 1251, according to Carmelite traditions, the scapular was given by the Blessed Virgin to St. Simon Stock; it was first approved by Sixtus V in 1587.[10]
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Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Lourdes and Fatima
As if in a gesture of approval and blessing, the Queen of Heaven and Earth chose to make her last apparition at Lourdes on July 16th 1858, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Likewise, one cannot fail to recall Sister Lucia’s account while describing the vision of October 13, 1917 at Fatima: "…it seemed to me I saw Our Lady in a form similar to Our Lady of Mount Carmel." [11]
Thus through the centuries Our Lady of Mount Carmel kept a constant watch over her children, ever solicitous to intercede for them and lead them to Her Divine Son. Amidst the sea of chaos, confusion and impiety raging in the world today, may Our Lady of Mount Carmel grant us strength and fortitude so we may all remain faithful to Her Son and His Holy Church.

by Dr. Jose Maria Alcasid

GOD’S MOTHER’S ROLE IN FORMING CHRIST WITHIN US

2011-07-03T12:15:00.001-05:00

“Let me remind you again of the dependence shown by the three divine Persons on our Blessed Lady. Theirs is the example which fully justifies our dependence on her. The Father gave and still gives his Son only through her. He raises children for himself only through her. He dispenses his graces to us only through her. God the Son was prepared for mankind in general by her alone. Mary, in union with the Holy Spirit, still conceives him and brings him forth daily. It is through her alone that the Son distributes his merits and virtues. The Holy Spirit formed Jesus only through her, and he forms the members of the Mystical Body and dispenses his gifts and his favours through her. With such a compelling example of the three divine Persons before us, we would be extremely perverse to ignore her and not consecrate ourselves to her. Indeed we would be blind if we did not see the need for Mary in approaching God and making our total offering to him”.

St. Louis de Montfort

THE GREATEST POSSIBLE GIFT IS THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST

2011-07-03T12:09:00.001-05:00

THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT: THE GREATEST POSSIBLE GIFT IS THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST

Our greatest error in life will be how little value we placed on Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the reception of our Lord in Holy Communion is the greatest wonder in the Universe. “The next greatest wonder is the indifference and ignorance of Catholics regarding Holy Mass. How is it that so many Catholics do not go to Mass (and the majority who do so complain about it)? The Great Sacrifice of Calvary is offered near their homes, almost at their very doors, and they are too lazy to assist at it. The Sacrifice of Calvary? Yes, for the Mass is really and truly the very same death of Jesus on the Cross…nothing on earth, and nothing in Heaven itself, gives more glory to God and obtains more benefits for us than a single Mass”.

Fr. Paul O’Sullivan

How can I know what the will of God is in my life?

2011-06-28T05:16:00.000-05:00

Preparing for Corpus Christi

2011-06-24T04:05:00.000-05:00

Quote:
St. Peter Julian Eymard
"But, like Mary, let us fly to the service of adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist who is waiting for us."
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, (Eymard Library) 160

Meditation:
St. Peter Julian Eymard
"This devotedness ought, then, to be the devotedness of pure love, pure Eucharistic love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. This love should absorb all else."
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, 160

Resolution:
Our Lord waits constantly in the Tabernacle and even in some places exposed in Adoration. My thoughts should turn to the Divine Prisoner during the day. If my son were locked away waiting for a visitor, wouldn't my mind be on his loneliness?

What absorbs my mind that I fail to think of Him in the Tabernacle?

Way to Happiness

2011-06-24T03:46:00.000-05:00

The only way to our happiness and proof of our love is to keep the word of Jesus.
---St Therese, The Little Flower

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

2011-06-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

A lesson from Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity:

"[Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity] simply could not understand how a person could carelessly leave God Who dwells within the soul in order to turn to the world and earthly things. 'God dwells within you, do not leave Him so often', she advised. Even as she worked the sisters noticed her recollected attitude. She once wrote, 'It is wonderful to recall that, except for the vision of seeing God, we possess God as all the Saints in Heaven do. We can surely be with Him always and no one can take us away from Him. He dwells in our souls!'"

Resolution:
Today I will be careful to guard myself from excessive curiosity. I will turn my eyes from billboards, joggers, bicyclists, internet ads to the "God who dwells within." This is not a sterile, puritanical mortification but a sweet and hopeful mortification if I practice guarding my eyes in imitation of Our Lady. Her eyes are always on the Lord.

How can I know what the will of God is in my life?

2011-06-21T07:14:00.000-05:00

Q: How can I know what the will of God is in my life? I have been suffering physically for almost a year. I have been praying for healing and others have been praying for me. How do I know if it is God’s will that I continue suffering? I don’t know whether to keep on praying for healing or to just accept this suffering as God’s will. I pray that I may know His will but so far can’t figure out what it is.

A: Clearly, you have a passionate desire to know and embrace God’s will in your life. You should be so grateful for this desire! You are “hungering and thirsting for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6), and so, you are blessed!

The spiritual life is, in its most basic elements, nothing less than a following of Christ, an imitation of him. And his very food – the thing that he hungered for and the thing that nourished and strengthened him – was “to do the will of the one who sent me” (John 4:34). The mere fact that you submitted this question is sure proof that the Holy Spirit is hard at work in your heart, and that you are making an effort to collaborate with him. On the other hand, the interior turbulence that the situation is causing you is most likely not from the Holy Spirit. I hope the following thoughts can help put you more at ease.
Before trying to answer the specific question about your physical suffering, we have to make a theological distinction. The phrase “God’s will” can cause confusion if we don’t identify two broad sub-categories, so to speak: From our perspective, God’s will can be either indicative or permissive.

God’s Indicative Will
God can indicate that he wants us to do certain things – this is his indicative will. In this category we find the Ten Commandments, the commandments of the New Testament (e.g., “love one another as I have loved you” [John 15:12], “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” [Matthew 28:19]), the commandments and teachings of the Church (e.g. fasting on Good Friday), the responsibilities of our state in life, and specific inspirations of the Holy Spirit (e.g. when Blessed Mother of Teresa was inspired to start a new religious order to serve the poorest of the poor).
The field of God’s indicative will is humongous. In touches all the normal activities and relationships of every day, which are woven into the tapestry of moral integrity and faithfulness to our life’s calling, plus the endless possibilities of the works of mercy (thus obeying the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” [Mark 12:31]).

Yet it not only consists in what we do, but also in how we do it, which opens up the whole arena of growth in Christian virtue. We can wash the dishes (responsibilities of our state in life) with resentment and self-pity, or with love, care, and supernatural joy. We can attend Sunday Mass (Third Commandment and commandment of the Church) apathetically and reluctantly, or with conviction, faith, and attention. We can drive to work (responsibilities of our state in life) seething at the traffic jams, or exercising patience. When we ask ourselves, “What is God’s will for me?”, 88% of the time (more or less) God’s indicative will is crystal clear.

God’s Permissive Will

But the phrase “God’s will” also touches another category of life-experience: suffering. Suffering, of one type or another, is our constant companion as we journey through this fallen world. God has revealed that suffering was not part of his original plan, but rather was the offspring of original sin, which ripped apart the harmony of God’s creation. His indicative will to our first parents in the Garden of Eden was “do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17). They disobeyed. Human nature fell; creation fell; evil attained a certain predominance in the human condition, giving rise to “the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death” (Catechism, 403).

Here is where the distinction between God’s indicative and permissive will comes in. God did not desire or command Adam and Eve to rebel against his plan, but he did permit them to do so. Likewise, throughout human history, God does not will evil to happen (and its consequence of suffering), but he does permit it. He certainly didn’t explicitly will the Holocaust, for example, but, on the other hand, he did permit it.

The question of why God permits some evil and the suffering that comes from it, even the suffering of innocents, is an extremely hard question to answer. Only the Christian faith as a whole gives a satisfactory response to it, a response that can only penetrate our hearts and minds through prayer, study, and the help of God’s grace (See Catechism #309). St Augustine’s short answer is worth mentioning, however. He wrote that if God permits evil to affect us, it is only because he knows that he can use it to bring about a greater good. We may not see that good right away; we may not see it at all during our earthly journey, in fact, but Christ’s Resurrection (Easter Sunday) is the promise that God’s omnipotence and wisdom are never trumped by the apparent triumphs of evil and suffering (Good Friday).

With these basic ideas in place, in our next post we will summarize these principals and then apply them specifically to your question.

2011-05-24T06:56:00.002-05:00

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Pope Benedict XVI: Everyone should have a spiritual director

2011-05-20T09:16:00.000-05:00

VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Anyone who wants to live their baptism responsibly should have a spiritual director, says Benedict XVI.

“As she has never failed to do, again today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction, not only to all those who wish to follow the Lord up close, but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his baptism, that is, the new life in Christ,” the Pope stated. “Everyone, in fact, and in a particular way all those who have received the divine call to a closer following, needs to be supported personally by a sure guide in doctrine and expert in the things of God.”

The Holy Father noted how a spiritual guide helps ward off subjectivist interpretations as well as providing the counseled with the guide’s “own supply of knowledge and experiences in following Jesus.”

He likened spiritual direction to the “personal relationship that the Lord had with his disciples, that special bond with which he led them, following him, to embrace the will of the Father (cf. Luke 22:42), that is, to embrace the cross.”

Father Corapi:"...in the end those that remain faithful to Jesus Christ win the war."

2011-05-19T14:17:00.000-05:00

New Flash: WE WIN!

January 15th, 2009
An excerpt from the book, Letters, by Fr. John Corapi

As we prepare to enter a new era in politics and perhaps society in general,keep something in mind: WE WIN! No matter what political party is in power at a given point in time, in the end those that remain faithful to Jesus Christ win the war. We may have to fight many battles outnumbered and even despised and looked upon as criminals and outcasts by a society that is unraveling and degenerating into something no one could have imagined.

What matters is that we run the race to the finish line and fight the good fight. Don't "go with the flow," for as the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen reminds us, "Dead bodies float downstream." More than ever we shall have to be strong in the faith. Regular and worthy reception of the sacraments, constant prayer, and rigorous study of the faith is now essential, not merely a luxury.

The front line and primary battle is going to be the fight for life: The dignity of every human life from the moment of conception to the last moment of natural life. If we lose that one, every other battle space will be compromised. If the government succeeds in establishing abortion as an inalienable "right", then the elderly and sick will be next. It will then be a short and slippery step to the government deciding who lives and dies regardless of their inherent human dignity.

If you don't already pray the Rosary every day, please start at once. The prayer of the holy Rosary is the prayer of the holy Gospel, and that means it is the prayer of the Good News Who is Jesus Christ, the LIFE of the world. Many saints will be forged in the crucible of the coming years. Make sure you are among them.

My Heart Burns with Love!

2011-05-18T05:31:00.001-05:00

May 18, 2011

The Sacrifice of the Holy Mass brings Heaven into our presence. As Jesus, Our God and Savior, descends into the transubstantiation of the bread and wine; as His Life, Death and Resurrection are re-presented on the Altar of Love, then all of Heaven is present with Him. What amazing truth! I find that during the Holy Sacrifice of the Catholic Mass that my soul is transported mysteriously to a place where the angels sing, peace floods my being and my heart burns with love!

Andrea Knepp

Saint Simon Stock

2011-05-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

Carmelite Religious
May 16: An Optional Memorial from the Common of Men Saints (Religious).

Simon the Englishman, was elected as one of the first Prior Generals of the Order and served during the difficult days of transition between hermits and friars. He died whilst on visitation of our friary at Bordeaux in the mid‑thirteenth century. He has been venerated in the Carmelite Order for his personal holiness and his devotion to Our Lady. A liturgical celebration in his honour was observed locally in the fifteenth century, and later extended to the whole Order. Shortly after the return of the friars to Aylesford a major relic of St Simon was retuned to England by the Archbishop of Bordeaux.

Prayer

Father, you called St Simon Stock to serve you

in the brotherhood of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Through his prayers

help us like him to live in your presence

and to work for the salvation of the human family.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Scripture Readings

Ephesians 6:10-13, 18; Gospel - John 15:9-17.

Texts taken from the “Carmelite Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours,”

Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome: 1993.

Image courtesy of the Carmelnet webmaster, USA.

Filial Trust in God

2011-05-17T11:47:00.000-05:00

We need not be afraid to enter into this school of the Cross. For through the Cross we see the transformation of God’s justice into mercy: the just Judge of the Old Testament becomes our loving Father in the New Testament through the crucified love of Jesus. Jesus Himself takes away the “sting of death” and the “sting” of every Cross. “He who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of Life” (Jn 8:12). He is here with His grace and gives us the inner strength to bear our Cross which comes from the Heart of the Father. “For the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). We must only accept it from His hands with faith and child-like trust. In order to do this, we must meditate on the word of God, for within it Jesus has given us an example, which by frequent meditation strengthens us in our daily struggles. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy, and My burden light” (Mt 11:28-30).

Moreover, Jesus gives us His Sacraments which refresh and nourish us. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation we are purified and strengthened in our battle against temptations, especially against those which we specifically mentioned in Confession. In the Eucharist we drink from the wounds of Christ on the Cross and are nourished with His very Body. Jesus tells us, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54). The victory of the Cross, eternal life, lies already inherent in the Eucharist. Through Holy Communion, we commune with the Cross of Christ, and with His Spirit who gives us the strength to bear the Cross. Indeed, in the Eucharist we receive Christ, victim and glorified!

Moreover, Jesus gives us His Mother Mary as model and intercessor on our personal way to God. “She herself by enduring her tremendous griefs with a strong and confident spirit, more than all the faithful of Christ, the true Queen of the Martyrs, ‘filled up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ…for His Body, which is the Church’ (Col 1:24); and she has attended the Mystical Body of Christ, born of the torn heart of our Savior, with the same mother’s care and deep love with which she cherished and nurtured the Infant Jesus nursing in the crib” (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 2291). Let us look then to Mary and follow her to Calvary, in order to learn from her how to accept and even embrace the Cross with love.

http://www.opusangelorum.org/English/2011_1/2011_transforming.htm

Submission to Mary

2011-05-17T11:36:00.000-05:00

St. Louis de Montfort
"We advance more in a brief period of submission to Mary and dependence on her than in whole years of self-will and self reliance."
True Devotion to Mary, #155

Seek God above all things

2011-05-17T11:33:00.000-05:00

"Meditate well on this: Seek God above all things. It is right for you to seek God before and above everything else, because the majesty of God wishes you to receive what you ask for. This will also make you more ready to serve God and will enable you to love him more perfectly" (St. Paschal).

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

St. Paschal Baylon

(1540-1592)

Paschal spent his spare moments praying before the Blessed Sacrament. In time many people sought his wise counsel. People flocked to his tomb immediately after his burial; miracles were reported promptly. Paschal was canonized in 1690 and was named patron of eucharistic congresses and societies in 1897.

Redemptive Suffering - Some Thoughts

2011-05-09T21:07:00.002-05:00

This topic deals with pain and suffering.
Having just prepared ourselves for 40 days to be ready for Resurrection Sunday, we know well that Easter could never have occurred without the bittersweet Passion of Good Friday!

But we are a Resurrection people!
We are Catholics who understand the rich heritage we have in the cross of suffering, the Cross of Reconciliation!
Oh, that we might embrace the powerful mystery of the precious beauty of Christ's Cross of Love!

Webster says that Suffering is the bearing or undergoing of pain, distress or injury.

Our culture tells us to avoid those three things like the plague!
We fear pain, even abhor it and run away from it sometimes without even realizing we are doing so. That's because avoidance of pain is entrenched in our culture and the prince of this world, this Neo-Pagan culture of ours, is Satan.

But, I said that we are a Resurrection people! This is especially true of us as Catholics! We embrace the Cross of Good Friday because we have been taught that if we are filled with the Spirit of the Living God, that it takes us to the Glory of Eternal Life!

Remember how in St. Matthew's Gospel, Ch 16 - Peter is given the Keys of the Kingdom?
Right after that scene, our Lord explains that the son of Man must be lifted up and die. Peter reacts strongly and tells Jesus there is no need for him to take up His cross!
What does Jesus say to him? What does Jesus call him? He says, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
We see therefore that Christ severely reproved Peter when the latter wants to make him abandon the thoughts of suffering and of death on the Cross.
Jesus refuses to listen to Peter who represents the darkness of the worldview at that time...the same view that persists until today. Instead Jesus says to the apostles, "Take up your cross and follow me!"

The great apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul, said that we must "preach Jesus and preach Him crucified!"
And still further, in his epistle to the Galatians Ch 6:14, St. Paul adds:
"But, may I never boast except in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

Salvifici Doloris, 1984, is the first Papal Encyclical on suffering written by Blessed John Paul II.
He writes and I quote,

"Declaring the power of salvific suffering, the Apostle Paul says:
"In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church".
He continues: "These words seem to be found at the end of the long road that winds through the suffering which forms part of the history of man and which is illuminated by the Word of God. These words have as it were the value of a final discovery, which is accompanied by joy."

For this reason Saint Paul writes:
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake". The joy comes from the discovery of the meaning of suffering....The Apostle shares his own discovery and rejoices in it because of all those whom it can help—just as it helped him—to understand the salvific meaning of suffering."

I am reminded of words from Our Saving Lord to Saint Faustina:
"If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering." (p.1805)

The defining moment of redemption for the human race was not when Our Lord healed the sick or preached in the synagogues. But rather, it was when the God-Man was nailed to a cross and drained of His blood out of love for mankind.
We see then that there is no greater measure of our love than our willingness to follow in the footsteps of Our Redeemer, that is; our willingness to be affixed to a cross and to suffer, just as the apostles.

In section 13 of Salvifci Doloris, Blessed John Paul II said,
"But in order to perceive the true answer to the "why" of suffering, we must look to the revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists. Love is also the richest source of the meaning of suffering, which always remains a mystery: we are conscious of the insufficiency and inadequacy of our explanations. Christ causes us to enter into the mystery and to discover the "why" of suffering, as far as we are capable of grasping the sublimity of divine love.

“I love the cross, the cross alone. I love it because I always see it behind Jesus' shoulders.” Saint Padre Pio

To Make Others Love God......

2011-04-25T16:58:00.002-05:00

"I feel that my mission is about to begin ~ to make others love God as I love Him."

St. Thérèse, The Little Flower
Order of Carmelites Discalced

Carmelite REFLECTIONS - Intimate Video of Spirituality

2011-04-25T16:56:00.001-05:00

http://www.carmelite.com/spirituality/reflections.cfm?loadref=85

My Easter Wish to You

2011-04-25T06:42:00.000-05:00

The liturgical season of Easter is upon us! What ineffable joy! I pray from the depths of my soul that each and every one of you who reads these humble words might find the fullness of God's mercy and luxuriate in the amazing ocean of His love! His Mercy endures forever! There is no sin greater than the mercy of our Saving Lord! Trust in Him with all your being!

Andrea Knepp 4-25-2011

Call Upon Mary

2011-04-25T06:38:00.002-05:00

"In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may more surely obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal" (St. Bernard of Clairvaux - 12th century).

....we kill the soul!

2011-04-25T06:36:00.000-05:00

"Inordinate love for the flesh is cruelty, because under the appearance of pleasing the body, we kill the soul."

-- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

An Act of Love

2011-04-25T06:31:00.000-05:00

I believe Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament,
O Jesus. I love Thee and desire Thee.
Come into my heart.
I embrace Thee, O never leave me.
I beseech Thee, O Lord Jesus, may the burning and most sweet power of Thy love absorb my mind, that I may die through love of Thy love, Who wast graciously pleased to die through love of my love.

HE IS RISEN! ALLELUIA!

2011-04-25T06:19:00.002-05:00

Death is evicted today together with death's maker; today, through Christ, life is restored to humankind. Today are broken the devil's chains; on this day the freedom of the Lord is granted to Christians.

Saint Odilon of Cluny (961-1048), monk

C21 Webcasts on Demand

2011-04-21T20:57:00.001-05:00

C21 Webcasts on Demand

2010
Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh spoke on the translated work: The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila.

Turn your ear towards me

2011-04-18T10:12:00.000-05:00

In Psalm 101 It is Christ who lifts his voice to the Father, saying,

"Turn not your face from me in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear towards me and in the day when I cry out to you, answer me quickly" (Ps 101:3).

This is the prayer of Christ the Head; it is also the prayer of every suffering and tempted member of his Mystical Body, the prayer of every soul crushed beneath the weight of evil, wrestling with the enemies of God, and fearful of her own weakness.

Vultus Christi

strive to be really hidden with Him

2011-04-17T01:19:00.000-05:00

"Come then, O beautiful Soul, since you know that your desired Beloved lives hidden within your heart, strive to be really hidden with Him, and you will embrace Him with loving affection."

St. John of Ávila

"....the desire for revelations deprives faith of its purity...."

2011-04-16T18:40:00.001-05:00

"St. John of the Cross asserts that the desire for revelations deprives faith of its purity, develops a dangerous curiosity that becomes a source of illusions, fills the mind with vain fancies, and often proves the want of humility, and of submission to Our Lord, Who, through His public revelation, has given all that is needed for salvation."--Pope Benedict XVI

Strive to be one of the few....

2011-04-14T08:42:00.002-05:00

“If you want to be certain of being in the number of the Elect, strive to be one of the few, not one of the many.

And if you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few;
that is to say, do not follow the great majority of mankind,

but follow those who enter upon the narrow way, who renounce the world, who give themselves to prayer,
and who never relax their efforts by day or night, so that they may attain everlasting blessedness.”

-Saint Anselm, Father and Doctor of the Church

April 12 Feast of St. Teresa of Los Andes

2011-04-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

St. Teresa of Los Andes

(1900-1920)

One needn't live a long life to leave a deep imprint. Teresa of Los Andes is proof of that.

As a young girl growing up in Santiago, Chile, in the early 1900s, she read an autobiography of a French-born saint—Therese, popularly known as the Little Flower. The experience deepened her desire to serve God and clarified the path she would follow. At age 19 she became a Carmelite nun, taking the name of Teresa.

The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired and the joy of living in a community of women completely devoted to God. She focused her days on prayer and sacrifice. "I am God's, " she wrote in her diary. "He created me and is my beginning and my end. "

Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. At age 20 she contracted typhus and quickly took her final vows. She died a short time later, during Holy Week.

Teresa remains popular with the estimated 100,000 pilgrims who visit her shrine in Los Andes each year. She is Chile's first saint.

...when you leave this earth....

2011-04-11T06:56:00.000-05:00

"Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage."

~Saint Francis of Assisi
heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage."

~Saint Francis of Assisi

Embrace and Adore the Lord's Cross

2011-04-11T00:32:00.003-05:00

"We Must Embrace and Adore the Lord's Cross."
His Holiness, Pope Benedict: XVI

"...suffering which is lived with Jesus assists in the salvation of your brethren,"

2011-04-11T00:28:00.000-05:00

"You can overcome the feeling of the uselessness of suffering which consumes a person from within and makes him feel a burden to those around him when, in reality, suffering which is lived with Jesus assists in the salvation of your brethren," Pope Benedict XVI said.

He said this on May 13, 2010 at the Shrine of Fatima in Portugal on the 93rd anniversary of the First Apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary to 3 shepherd children. 500,000 faithful pilgrims, cardinals, bishops, and priests were present.

May Blessed Francisco and Blessed Jacinta along with Venerable Lucia, the 3 children visionaries of Fatima, pray for us all to grow in faith, hope and love.

Promise of victory over Satan

2011-04-11T00:25:00.000-05:00

"The conflict with Hell cannot be maintained by men, even the most clever.
The Immaculata alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan."

-Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe
Polish priest who was an Auschwitz Martyr, 1894-1941 AD

Ready to relent

2011-04-11T00:20:00.000-05:00

Come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning. Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to relent.

--Joel 2:12-13

Prayer is helplessness casting itself on Power

2011-04-06T12:14:00.000-05:00

“Prayer is helplessness casting itself on Power, infirmity leaning on Strength, misery reaching to Mercy, and a prisoner clamoring for Relief.” –Fulton J Sheen

Bishop Sheen knew the power of prayer. At his ordination to the priesthood, he made a promise to make a daily holy hour, a promise which he kept faithfully.

"It is only through prayer that we will change the world for Christ."

---Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Eucharistic Prayer --- Prayer to the Holy Face

2011-04-06T07:57:00.000-05:00

Holy Face of God - Manoppello - on mussel silk

A Personal Love

Jesus' love is a personal love. He loves each soul that He has created as if that soul were the only soul in the universe, and He adapts His infinite love to the particular sensibilities and needs of that soul with all the wisdom and tenderness of His Divine Heart.

Humility and Trust

Trust in the path that Christ has opened before you and be faithful to it. Allow His love to direct all things. Remain little and humble. Allow Him to direct and determine the course of events and the growth of His works. The more faithful you are to adoring Him in the Sacrament of His Love, the more will He be faithful to you in manifesting the wonders of HIs providence.

Remain Before Him

Fatigue and distractions in adoration are no impediment to His action in the depths of your soul. Go before Him and remain before Him even when you feel that your adoration is no more than a struggle and a failure to remain attentive in love and focused on His Eucharistic Face.

In the prayer of adoration, your feelings are of no importance. What matters in Jesus' sight is your humility and your willingness to endure distractions, fatigue, and even sleepiness while adoring Him from the heart of your heart. Know that even when you feel that your adoration has been a waste of time, in His plan it is something fruitful and very pleasing to Him. He does not see things as you see them nor does He measure their value as you measure it.

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!

2011-04-06T07:47:00.000-05:00

Saint Athanasius relates that

the devils, on being asked what verse in the whole Scripture they feared the most,
replied:

"That with which the 67th Psalm commences:

'Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered.
Let them that hate Him flee from before His face.'"

They added that this always compelled them to take flight.

I mean to gather you together

2011-04-06T07:45:00.000-05:00

I will welcome you like an appeasing fragrance when I bring you out from among the peoples.
I mean to gather you together from the foreign countries in which you have been scattered and through you I intend to display my holiness for all the nations to see.
You will learn that I am the Lord.

--Ezekiel 20:41-42 NAB

Prayers for Unity

2011-04-06T07:42:00.000-05:00

O Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, thou didst promise to abide with us always.
Thou dost call all Christians to draw near and partake of Thy Body and Blood.
But our sin has divided us and we have no power to partake of Thy Holy Eucharist together.
We confess this our sin and we pray Thee, forgive us and help us to serve the ways of reconciliation, according to Thy Will.
Kindle our hearts with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Give us the spirit of Wisdom and faith, of daring and of patience, of humility and firmness, of love
and of repentance, through the prayers of the most blessed Mother of God and of all the saints.
Amen.

– Fr Sergius Bulgakov

God's love must flow through this sacrifice

2011-04-06T07:36:00.000-05:00

Where there is genuine virtue, there must be sacrifice as well;
one's whole life must be a sacrifice.
It is only by means of sacrifice that souls can become useful.
It is my self-sacrifice which, in my relationship with my neighbor,
can give glory to God,
but God's love must flow through this sacrifice,
because everything is concentrated in this love and takes its value from it.
(Diary of St. Faustina 1358)

Is there difference between mortification and penance or penitence?

2011-04-05T06:31:00.000-05:00

A: This is a very interesting question. The distinction between mortification (synonymous in most spiritual writers with self-denial, abnegation, self-renunciation, dying to self) and penance (synonymous with penitence, sacrifice or self-sacrifice, and “reparation”) has to do with the interior motive behind the action. In other words, the exterior action (fasting, for example, or taking a cold shower on a cold morning) can be exactly the same, but depending on the reason why I am doing the action (my intention), the spiritual nature of the act can be either mortification or penance.

The intentionality of an act of mortification is to “punish [i.e., discipline] my body [i.e., self-seeking tendencies] and bring it under control, to avoid any risk that, having acted as herald for others, I myself may be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). In other words, I freely deny the satisfaction of a normal and healthy desire in order to grow in my spiritual maturity, to learn to govern the self-seeking tendencies built into my fallen nature. For example, I purposefully mortify my perfectly legitimate desire for dessert on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent, so that I am better able to control an illegitimate desire to get drunk whenever that desire happens to surface. Mortification is spiritual training, tempering of the willpower in order to be able to better govern our passions and instincts, starving the bad plants in the garden (vices and selfish tendencies) so the good plants (virtues) can flourish.

The intentionality of an act of penance is to “make up in my own body what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” (Colossians 1:24). I am doing penance for sin, making up for an evil, destructive deed, just as Christ did by dying on the cross. He offered his obedience as “payment” (or atonement) for our disobedience. This is how he repaired (made “reparation” for) the breach between God and man created by original sin. He sacrificed himself (made himself into an offering to God) on our behalf. Penance, therefore, is done as a way to tell God we are sorry for our sins, or for the sins of others, and to make up for them. Thus, my teenage son refused to go to Mass on Sunday, and so, to make up for this ungrateful offense against the majesty and goodness of God, I do penance on his behalf – perhaps making a Holy Hour on Monday evening instead of watching a favorite television show, or not listening to music during my morning commute this week, just to show God that someone (I) does indeed love the Giver more than the gifts. A good dad would do something similar if his son broke a neighbor’s window by throwing a rock; he would make up for it himself, if his son refused to do so. When we do penance, we are repairing for sin, reversing the self-indulgent act of sin by replacing it with a self-giving act of mortification.

Two other points remain on this issue. First, the only way that mortification and penance really help advance Christ’s Kingdom is if we are united to Christ. We must be living the life of grace – Christ must be alive in us – in order for us to unite our actions to his, so that they share in his merits. It’s like having a bank account with co-signers. The check only draws from the vault of merit if it is signed both by me (junior partner) and by Christ (senior partner). We cannot save ourselves by ourselves; we cannot grow in holiness apart from the source of holiness: “for cut off from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Second, the concept of sacrifice also includes an element of intercession and petition. Thus, when St. Therese of the Child Jesus was interceding for the conversion of a criminal condemned to death, she and her sisters joined sacrifices (acts of self-denial) to their prayers. In the same way, we can offer sacrifices (acts of self-denial, obedience, patience…) to God in order to benefit other members of the Body of Christ who may be in need – those in temptation or sorrow, those in prison or suffering persecution. We are connected to them through our membership in Christ. It’s like a tug of war. We are all on the same team, pulling in the same direction. But sometimes someone on our team stumbles, loses their balance, or stops pulling as hard as they can. In those moments, we can pull harder, making up for their momentary lack, picking up the slack, so that they can have a quick breather and then get back into action.

We can draw a whole host of conclusions from these observations, but I will finish by pointing out just one. Since the distinction between mortification and penance is in the spiritual intention, not the physical action, the same physical action can serve simultaneously as both an act of mortification and of penance. We can do one action with multiple intentions. So don’t worry too much about whether your Lenten sacrifice is for mortification or for penance – make it for both!

Yours in Christ, Fr John Bartunek, LC, ThD
Spiritual Direction

Saint Andrew of Crete---Great Lenten Canon of of the Byzantine liturg

2011-04-02T07:48:00.000-05:00

Saint Andrew of Crete (660-740), monk and Bishop
Great Lenten Canon of of the Byzantine liturgy, Canticle 2 (©Mother Mary & Archimandrite Kallistos Ware; DDB 1982)

«God, be merciful to me, a sinner »

Attend, O heaven, and I shall speak;
Give ear, O earth, to the voice of one
who repents before God
and sings his praise.

Look upon me in compassion, O God,
with your merciful eye,
and accept my fervent confession.

More than all men have I sinned;
I alone have sinned against you.
But as God take pity on your creation, O Savior...

With the lusts of passion
I have darkened the beauty of my soul,
and turned my whole mind
entirely into dust.

I have torn the first garment
that the Creator wove for me in the beginning,
and now I lie naked.
I have clothed myself in the torn coat
that the serpent wove for me in his counsel,
and I am ashamed (Gn 3,1-5)...

I looked upon the beauty of the tree
and my mind was deceived;
and now I lie naked and ashamed...

Sin has stripped me of the robe
that God once wove for me,
and it has sewed for me garments of skin...

Like the Harlot I cry to you: «I have sinned,
I alone have sinned against you.»
Accept my tears also as sweet ointment, O Savior (Lk 7,36f.)...

Like the Publican I cry to you:
«Be merciful , O Savior, e merciful to me.»
For no child of Adam has ever sinned against you
as I have sinned.

Like David I have fallen into lust (2Sam 11)
and I am covered with filth;
but wash me clean, O Savior, by my tears...

Give ear to the groaning of my soul,
and accept the tears that fall from my eyes:
O Savior, save me.

O Lover of mankind, who desire that all humankind should be saved,
in your goodness call me back

What do you think: Do you fear hell?

2011-03-31T06:53:00.002-05:00

What do you think: Do you fear hell? Here’s the response so far on Foxnews.com –

17.02% said – Yes. I am afraid my soul could be condemned there for eternity.
11.02% said – No. I believe God’s love and forgiveness extends to everyone.
39.27% said – I do not believe in hell.
27.44% said – I am certain I will be in heaven when I die.
5.26% said – Not sure. I guess I will find out when I get there.

As beatification nears, memories of John Paul II surface :: EWTN News

2011-03-30T15:10:00.001-05:00

As beatification nears, memories of John Paul II surface :: EWTN News

Lenten Reflection: The Father of Lies... and the Triumph of Truth

2011-03-29T18:05:00.000-05:00

- BY CATHY PEARSON

"He was a murderer from the beginning... He is a liar and the father of lies." - John 8:44

As Lent is a season of spiritual warfare, it behooves us to know our enemy. Our enemy, as St. Paul tells us, is not flesh and blood, but spirit - "principalities and powers of darkness in high places" - troops whose leader St. Peter describes as a roaring lion in search of someone to devour. The warfare over our souls is not between good and evil as intellectual concepts, but between active personal wills - God who is pure love and the devil who is pure hatred.

Ultimately this war touches each of us personally, and this reflection here will conclude on a rather personal note. But first it is important to create an analytical framework in which the seemingly random assaults of our enemy can be seen for what they are - part of a grand strategy by a wily general who has yet to concede that Christ has already won the final battle.

Through this window we will also be able to see that calumny and slander - sins so easily dismissed and often unconfessed - are in fact the ultimate weapon in the arsenal of our murderous foe.

KNOWING THE ENEMY

Each year at the beginning of Lent, the Church sets before our eyes the Gospel account of Christ’s temptation in the desert - perhaps lest anyone fall into the modern temptation of dismissing the idea of a personal devil as an Old Testament myth, to be discarded along with the supposedly equally mythical account of the Fall of Man.

In fact, the New Testament is replete with accounts of Our Lord’s battles with demonic spirits - who reveal their number as "legion" - and with their chief, Satan or Lucifer, the fallen archangel who declared his war in heaven with the fateful decision, "Non serviam" ("I will not serve").

The essence of evil is not mere failure to do good. It is hatred of the good. The devil hates the good God, but is powerless against his Creator. Nor can he do anything to diminish the angels, whose goodness is as eternally fixed as his own iniquity. He thus turns his hatred on human beings, trying his best to separate them from the grace and eternal happiness to which they are called and which, unlike himself, they still have a chance to attain. His goal is to rid the human race of all that is good and bring it down to his own level.

Satan’s war against the good is a double-track offensive. He seeks to destroy each individual soul - to destroy whatever good and potential for good is there - out of hatred for each person, but also to eliminate that soul as a force for good in the human community as a whole. He does this out of hatred for all mankind, and for God, and most especially for the God-man Jesus Christ, hoping vainly to deprive Him of His victory.

His strategy for eliminating his enemy, a good soul, is fourfold - to corrupt the good, to torment the good, to destroy the good, and to discredit the good.

Each tactic is a fallback for the one before. And together they show how closely related are the two seemingly distinct attributes by which Christ Himself described his archenemy: "a liar" and "a murderer."

(1) First try to corrupt...

He starts in liar mode. As he lied to Eve, telling her that by eating the fruit she would not die but become Godlike, so he lies to all of us. He tries to convince us we will be happier with whatever represents the forbidden fruit of the moment - whether it comes in the form of sensory or emotional gratification, intellectual satisfaction, security, longevity, whatever - than we will be by obeying God.

Of course, in the long term that is always a lie, and often enough in the short term - especially if one considers 80 or 90 years out of eternity as "short term." But believing the lie is not the essence of the sin; it just sets up the option. Neither Adam nor Eve, nor we when we sin, can duck behind "the devil made me do it." The fact that his promises are empty makes falling for them stupid, but no one loses his soul for stupidity.

Wisdom sees no advantage in disobedience; weakness and stupidity perceive an advantage that is in fact illusory; but virtue obeys in the face of a perceived personal advantage whether illusory or not. Satan’s trickery has made disobedience appealing, but only our sinful selfishness makes us decide that doing what is appealing is more important than obeying God.

Since placing anything above our Creator is the essence of idolatry, it is not surprising that the devil, in his temptation of Christ, makes the choice explicit - the quid pro quo for "all the kingdoms of the world and their riches" is to fall down and worship Satan.

With most of us he is more subtle, but the price is the same. Christ could have refused on the grounds that Satan could offer nothing that the King of Heaven could possibly want or need, but He answered instead with a reason that applies equally to the rest of us, for whom the devil’s temptations can be, and indeed often are, actually tempting: "The Lord your God shall you worship, and Him alone shall you serve."

(2) If you can’t corrupt, torment...

Enticement is only the first salvo in Satan’s war against the good. Clearly, if he succeeds in "turning" his enemy (to borrow spy lingo), by getting that soul to fall for his allurements and turn from virtue to vice, he has gained a friend and lost one enemy, and need not activate the fall-back plans. But thanks to God’s grace, many do resist his blandishments - perhaps finding no appeal at all in some of his cruder evils (say, cruelty or perversion or witchcraft), habitually choosing to deny their own natural inclinations (for instance, toward pride or pleasure or vengeance) if indulging them would offend God, and, finally, humbly seeking God’s forgiveness if they should have the misfortune to fall into sin, thus quickly regaining His grace.

Faced with this type of tenacious resistance to his carrots, the devil swings into Plan B, whipping out his sticks. His modus operandi usually involves inciting others to commit violence or other sins against his targets (as, in the most egregious example, inciting Judas to betray Christ), though in some cases he sends his demons to buffet them directly (as many saints, ranging from John Vianney to John Bosco to Padre Pio, have reported).

To some extent, the devil’s campaign to torture his enemies can be seen as just another tactic to break down their resistance and obtain a surrender under duress. Dramatically portrayed in the Book of Job, the devil flings the gauntlet before God: it’s easy for Job to serve Him while everything is going well for him; let’s see what happens when he’s miserable. The good person desires the will of God, and the more closely he learns to align his own will with God’s, the fewer of Satan’s propositions have any real appeal. That’s why spiritual warfare so often gets physical. Physical pain, emotional sorrow and bodily death are part of the uniquely human condition since the Fall, but they are so contrary to what a reasonable mind experiences as good, and to the happiness for which we were created, that no sane person chooses them for their own sake.

Thus the devil hopes that those souls he cannot snare through greed, malice, lust, dishonesty, pride, or other vices that entail some attraction to something evil, he will succeed in bringing down instead through their natural aversion to something evil, namely suffering and death. He can use that aversion to elicit sins of cowardice, impatience or bitterness, or even - in classic torturer fashion - to extort other sinful choices the victim would not have freely chosen.

But sometimes this tactic doesn’t work either. As in the case where he entices men to want things God forbids, when the devil contrives to make torture and death the price of obedience to God, he again sets up his victims by creating a divergence of wills between them and God. But they can still choose to obey God, and as ordinary virtue would compel them to do so in the first case, heroic virtue compels also in the second.

Hebrews 5:8 tells us that Jesus Christ, "Son though he was, learned obedience by what He suffered." Because in His divine nature there could never be a divergence of will between Him and His Father, there could be no occasion for obedience, which implies doing as commanded and because commanded, something one would not otherwise have done anyway.

Because Christ’s human nature was itself sinless, his whole heart and mind and soul during His time on earth also desired exactly what the Father desired, a convergence requiring no obedience. The temptations of the devil in the desert thus had no impact; they had nothing to work with. So, as St. Luke tells us, Satan left Him "to await another opportunity."

Satan found that opportunity in the Garden of Gethsemani. At last he had his divergence, as Jesus, reflecting the natural aversion He experienced as man to the pain and death awaiting Him, prayed to His Father to be spared this suffering if possible, while adding, "not My will but Thine be done."

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich and other mystics tell us that the devil tried his utmost to exploit that divergence between "Mine" and "Thine," mercilessly bombarding our Redeemer with temptations. But the Father of Lies failed in the garden as utterly as he had in the desert. We see it immediately in St. Matthew’s Gospel. (Three evangelists record that the Lord in agony prayed essentially the same prayer repeatedly, but only Matthew separately records the original prayer and the repetition.) When Jesus restates His prayer, the divergence has vanished; there is no contrasting "not My will" - just "Thy will be done."

By the grace He won, countless saints have followed in their Savior’s footsteps, winning the palm of martyrdom or similarly enduring with Job-like meekness the extreme torments thrown against them during lives of heroic virtue. To some extent, Satan’s campaign to torment the good can be seen as the venting of blind fury, above and beyond any hope of breaking their resistance, bent simply on punishing them for their imperviousness to his wiles. The fact that some men retain their virtue seems to strike the Biggest Loser as a personal affront, exciting in him envy of the undeniable mixed with disbelieving contempt.

Wisdom 2:12-24, which notes that "by the envy of the devil, death entered the world," captures his mindset perfectly: "Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings... He is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, because his life is not like other men’s; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure... With revilements and torture let us put him to the test, that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death..."

(3) If you can’t defile, destroy...

Checkmated by heroic virtue in individual souls, forced to concede that they are lost to him, the devil turns his war tactics to the next objective - containing the damage.

What he cannot defile, he is driven to destroy. By eliminating his enemy physically, he can limit the extent to which goodness reigning in an individual soul becomes a force for good in the larger community of man.

Satan, whom Christ rebuked as "a murderer from the beginning," is not above recruiting and training new Cains in every age. As the plot against Jesus gained momentum, Our Lord confronted His guilty contemporaries: "You are trying to kill Me... you are doing the works of your father."

Famous murders frequently give rise to controversies over their parentage. The Gospels make it clear that a complex conspiracy played out in the death of Christ. Judas, the chief priests and elders, the Pharisees, others in the Sanhedrin, Pilate, the Roman soldiers, the crowds howling for Him to be crucified, the jeering bystanders, all had their roles, along with - most importantly - every sinner until the end of time, for each of whom Christ won redemption at the price of the Cross. But the conspirator-in-chief was Satan himself, egging on all the others.

We need not be "conspiracy buffs" to recognize that all murders, even those with a single known perpetrator, represent a successful conspiracy on the part of Satan and his demons to corrupt the murderer and destroy the victim. Of course, it is important to remember that Satan can neither torment nor kill unless the permissive will of God allows it for God’s own reasons. As illustrated in the Book of Job, and as Christ reminded Pilate, no one on earth or below can exercise any power over others that God has not given them. And God does have His reasons:

"Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He proved them, and as sacrificial offerings He took them to Himself." (Wisdom 3:5-6) No one knows why God’s providence miraculously intervenes to stop numerous assassination attempts - for instance in the life of St. John Bosco, whom God protected in his apostolate of good works to an old age - while permitting other assassins to populate heaven with martyrs struck down in their youth, when their light had just begun to shine.

Faced with that mystery, we must also remember that an infinitely creative God brings good out of evil, that Christ has triumphed over His archenemy, turning the "necessary sin of Adam" into a greater blessing, that "where sin is, grace also abounds." As the patriarch Joseph told his brothers who had tried to kill him, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). Since Christ’s redemptive death, we know that He permits and sometimes even invites "victim souls" to share in the redemptive mission of His own suffering.

Despite Satan’s brilliant generalship, despite all his elaborate schemes to corrupt, torment and destroy the good, he always ends up shooting himself in the hoof. How bitterly must he contemplate how every act of betrayal and cruelty that culminated in Christ’s crucifixion played into our Heavenly Father’s superior plan for the redemption of the human race.

(4) If you can’t destroy, discredit...

But our infernal enemy has one last strategy up his sleeve. The good that he cannot destroy, he seeks to discredit, and thus to destroy as a force for good in others. In the face of the Resurrection - his definitive defeat - the devil’s fallback plan was to convince others that it never happened, that Jesus was a charlatan, that He was not who He claimed to be, that He did not work the miracles witnessed by thousands. It is tragic to contemplate the extent to which this brazen deception has found acceptance to this day.

Christ warned His disciples that servants are not above their Master - what was done to Him will be done to His followers. But He also promised they would be vindicated in the end: "Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of falsehood against you because of me; rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven." (Mt. 5:11-12)

And indeed, throughout Christian history, we see over and over again the devil’s zeal to discredit those whose goodness he cannot rob, in order to rob others of their good influence. In the lives of the saints we find numerous examples of holy founders and foundresses removed from positions of leadership in their religious communities by envious confreres who misrepresented their sanity, their competence or even their virtue. We find other cases of deliberate lies and elaborate setups maliciously directed at imputing sexual misconduct to holy bishops of irreproachable virtue after decades of self-abnegation in the Lord’s service.

The Curé of Ars, as ascetic and otherworldly a priest as ever was ordained, was once the victim of malicious gossip suggesting a scandal with a woman. The truth eventually exonerated the holy priest, but as he later wrote, "I thought a time would come when people would rout me out of Ars with sticks, when the bishop would suspend me, and I should end my days in prison. I see, however, that I am not worthy of such a grace."

It is, no doubt, an admirable act of humility on the part of saints to accept attacks on their person and character so meekly, being pleased to share the unjust treatment meted out to their Master. But from a different perspective, it is not the holy victims but all those deprived of their potential example and inspiration who suffer most when the devil causes the virtue and good name of God’s servants to be defamed. I was always pleased to read how one of my favorite saints, John Bosco - a perennial lightning-rod for the devil - went to great pains, whenever he or members of his religious community were attacked by slander, to make sure that everyone up to and including the Pope learned the truth of the matter.

Apparent scandal, even when it is not true, can lose souls. So can the loss of credibility on the part of Christian teachers and leaders. The Church has the right and the duty to fight back. Fortunately, she has been given a powerful weapon against the Father of Lies in the canonization process.

THE DEVIL AS THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE - LITERALLY

One of the things that most impressed me when I first became acquainted with the cause of Blessed Karl of Austria was not only that someone could achieve holiness as a national leader in modern times, but that the Church had been able to verify and document his reputation for holiness in spite of a concerted diabolical effort to discredit it, both before and after the holy emperor’s death.

In his case, the devil’s campaign went far beyond the type of isolated incident of false gossip endured by the saintly Curé of Ars. It was a massive, purposeful, multi-faceted onslaught that began as soon as Karl became ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I. Fueled by diverse interested parties - Masons, Marxists, foreign war propagandists, national separatists, anti-monarchists, anti-Catholics - the campaign encompassed a non-stop barrage of every imaginable charge, one after the other, but always with the same intent: to discredit the popular emperor in the eyes of his own people, to demoralize the soldiers, and on that basis to undermine both the war effort and Karl’s peace initiatives, to prolong the war, destabilize and overthrow the government, and ultimately to bring down the last bastion of Catholic political order in Europe.

Sadly, the campaign succeeded in almost every respect. Before assuming the imperial office, the young archduke and military officer had been liked and admired by all with whom he served, as much for his friendly and engaging nature and his personal bravery as a soldier, as for his Catholic piety and moral code which his peers respected if not all shared. Everyone could see his sobriety, his diligence to his duties, and how devoted he and his wife Zita were to each other and to their children. Once he became emperor, he showed his love and care for the people in countless ways - visiting communities in many parts of the empire to learn the people’s concerns firsthand, speaking with them in their diverse languages, going to the front lines with his soldiers, living humbly and sharing in all the wartime austerities, and instituting social programs to help the poor and veterans. The majority of the people came to truly love him in return.

And yet, within two years, his enemies had managed, through lies circulated in print and by word of mouth, to accomplish a 180-degree turn in the ruler’s image, portraying him - in the teeth of all evidence to the contrary - as a drunkard, a ladies’ man, a liar, a traitor, and a weakling, ill-prepared for his office, indifferent to the fate of the soldiers and the people. Eventually many believed the lies.

In that climate, it was easier for those seeking the downfall of the government to force him out of office and into exile, even to rob his family of their personal property, and ultimately to embed at least some of their lies into popular history - "history" taught and believed by at least some of his countrymen to this day.

It is thus quite remarkable that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was able to cut through that blanket of disinformation and to definitively proclaim the truth. Although devotion to Emperor Karl, and the request to begin the process leading to canonization, began immediately after he died by those familiar with the circumstances of his holy life and death, the calumniators who had caused so much damage and occasioned him so much sorrow during his lifetime kept up the campaign right through the years of his exile and death, and indeed right through the 80 years his cause was advancing toward beatification.

The Vatican was repeatedly pressured to postpone action, even after the investigation produced an overwhelming and unanimous case for heroic virtue.

It is worth noting that the investigation took place before the office of Devil’s Advocate was abolished - in this case referring not to the devil himself gleefully taking up that role but to the legitimate Church official charged with discovering facts that would discredit a Servant of God if any such facts do exist. When the work of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was conducted on the adversarial model, this task was taken very seriously. In the investigation of Karl of Austria, indeed in both the local and Roman phases of the inquiry, no allegation however unfounded, and no hostile witness however discreditable, was dismissed without serious scrutiny. The voluminous and accessible record in his case, and the conclusions derived from it, are thus invulnerable to the kind of questions sometimes raised in connection with causes investigated in recent years after the procedures were revised.

In Blessed Karl’s story we can see in unusually clear relief the devil’s four-fold strategy to disarm a potential force for good. One who (a) perseveres in virtue throughout his lifetime despite the devil’s temptations; who (b) perseveres unto death in faith, patience, gratitude to God, and love of enemies despite extreme provocations; and who (c) continues to inspire good in others even after the devil has driven him from a position of influence to die in obscurity, leaves Satan only one last recourse - to try to destroy his good name after his death. The devil is not content that the good should die, but that their good example die with them.

We don’t even have to look to the calendar of saints to find examples of our infernal enemy’s last, desperate tactic to discredit the good.

I do not doubt that most of us, if we thought about it, could point to examples, from our own personal knowledge and experience, of individuals of whose virtue, even heroic virtue, we are utterly convinced, but about whom damning accusations are widely believed. My own personal short list would start with Senator Robert Kennedy and Father Malachi Martin, both of whom I knew personally.

No doubt some readers who might roll their eyes at my candidates have names on their own lists that I in turn would regard with grave doubt.

In confusing times, it is hard even for those with the best of intentions to agree on the truth. Certainly there is enough real sin in the world - and in the most surprising places - that no one can assume as a matter of course that any particular accusation is false.

The devil’s masterstroke is to bury God’s heroes in the same indiscriminate muck. It is no wonder that for over a thousand years, every Holy Mass began with the psalmist’s plea, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy; protect me from the unjust and deceitful man... Send out Thy light and Thy truth."

We cannot reach the truth by wishful thinking. But we can pray for God’s truth to triumph. And we can make the devil’s task a bit more difficult by resolving not to fall into his defamation trap so easily.

The Church teaches that all sins against truth violate the Eighth Commandment, but we do well to keep particular vigilance over the sin God chose to single out: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." It offends against both truth and charity, and has the effect of destroying in someone else’s eyes the unique portrait of a real person created by God in His image, and replacing it with a fictional character created by the liar-murderer Satan.

It is no wonder that the modern phrase "character assassination" has been added to such ancient terms as calumny, slander and defamation.

Spiritual writers have long warned of the near impossibility of undoing the damage caused by slander. St. Philip Neri famously told a penitent who had confessed this sin to go to the nearest market and buy him a freshly killed chicken, plucking its feathers all the way back.

When she returned with the plucked chicken, he said, "Now go back and bring me all the feathers you have scattered." When she protested how impossible that would be as the wind had carried them in all directions, he agreed: "You cannot. And that is exactly like your words of scandal. They have been carried about in every direction. You cannot recall them."

How often we have heard the saying, "You can’t prove a negative." It’s easy for a lying witness to invent this or that incident - for instance, having seen someone steal something - but almost impossible to prove the person never stole anything. It often seems, indeed, that there is no way to restore an innocent reputation once lost.

The devil is so insidious! Thus he tends to make accomplices of us all! How easy it is to accept on first hearing, with no evidence whatsoever, a new charge against someone we already hold in low esteem, with little more than a shrug and a mumbled, "It figures." And how remarkable it is that even in the case of those who have earned our high esteem, an allegation we might dismiss outright as preposterous on first hearing can worm its way, even subconsciously, into a mental gray area of uncertainty after being heard a second or third time from seemingly independent sources.

Adolph Hitler, the father of the "Big Lie," had written in Mein Kampf that the "grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down." It continues to poison men’s subconscious thoughts even when conclusively shown to be false. Joseph Goebbels, his propaganda chief, was said to act as if on the principle that "people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough, people will sooner or later believe it."

A HATE CAMPAIGN AND ITS TWISTED LOGIC

Satan obviously subscribes to the Big Lie theory. It is typical of the devil’s brazenness that he tends to attack his victims not in their weaknesses but in their strengths. One thinks of the stories of Susanna and of Joseph in the Old Testament, accused precisely of the sin they had refused, and indeed by the very persons whose sinful invitations they had rebuffed.

You don’t find Satan and his minions planting stories that a saint known to be prone to anger lost his temper from time to time after supposedly reaching an advanced state of perfection, or that a penitent converted from a dissolute life had been guilty of more former sins than generally known. That would be too logical.

Instead, you find the egregious spectacle of a most humble nun portrayed as a pride-driven control freak, the most angelic priest portrayed as a womanizer, the happiest and most faithful of spouses portrayed as adulterers, the most selfless and charitable of souls portrayed as petty, stingy or cruel. This, of course, makes complete sense when we remember that it is their virtues and not their weaknesses that the devil hates.

Perhaps the best example of this in our lifetime is the half-century-old smear campaign against Pope Pius XII. It is not only false to suggest that this saintly pontiff was a Nazi sympathizer, but also false to suggest he was a culpably neutral bystander, or even an innocent bystander, when in fact he was a true hero among the "Righteous Gentiles" - one of Hitler’s most recognized and hated foes, whose condemnations of Nazi policies were early and unequivocal, and whose personal intervention saved the lives of many thousands of Jews. So, of course, the devil recasts him in the role of a Holocaust collaborator.

Whatever credence one might place in last year’s revelation by former Romanian masterspy Ion Mihai Pacepa that Soviet intelligence created the "Hitler’s Pope" myth - even setting up and scripting Rolf Hochhuth’s 1963 play The Deputy - it has long been evident that that original salvo and the whole relentless propaganda assault that has followed it have been orchestrated by enemies of the Church bent on discrediting Pius XII and through him the Church herself.

It is typical both of the KGB and its diabolical progenitor that the open attack in mainstream media was launched after its victim was in his grave and no longer able to defend himself.

The unique malice of such defamation is its power to spread down a long chain in which perhaps only the first few links require malicious intent.

Farther down the chain, new links can be forged by self-interested opportunists, sloppy journalists, or even idle gossips on the level of St. Philip’s hapless chicken-plucker. Finally, when it has been heard often enough to pass for established fact, even innocent readers, students and later historians can be conscripted unknowingly into the chain of self-perpetuating falsehood.

FINDING THE WEAKEST LINK

I once asked a veteran newspaperman - who from personal knowledge of the facts had just dismissed as absolutely false a sordid tale then making the rounds - why any seemingly disinterested observer would make up something out of whole cloth that defames an innocent person.

"Why, for the money, of course," he answered without hesitation.

Apparently the 30 pieces of silver have not gone out of fashion, even if greed is only one of many weaknesses the devil might exploit to incite someone to commit calumny.

The sad thing is that, from the devil’s point of view, playing the calumny card is so easy - far easier than the other three tactics. He doesn’t have to find a breach in his impregnable target. All he has to do is find someone else - anyone else - whom he can manipulate more easily.

And it is so cruel. The good name that one of God’s servants has managed to keep spotless through an entire life - perhaps through long decades of hard-fought resistance to the devil’s relentless temptations, torments and assaults - can be wiped out in a few strokes of a liar’s pen.

Some years ago, this tragic possibility struck very close to home, as a major attack was launched on the reputation of someone very dear to my sister and me. The charges would be outrageous if false, incomprehensible if true.

One day my sister was kneeling in a church in Washington praying about these very matters - crying, in fact, and begging God for answers. Could any of this be true? Was it possible that the surpassing goodness - the force for good - that we had seen shining in another human being had been an illusion? Could one be so wrong about an encounter with holiness that every light of intuition, evidence and discernment had confirmed? All at once, as if in direct response to her appeal, she heard in the depth of her soul the promise found in Psalm 37: "Bright as the noonday shall be your vindication."

FROM ASHES TO VICTORY

More than a quarter century separates that day from this. The specifics of her prayer have yet to be answered, perhaps will never be answered in her lifetime.

The servant of God whose holiness she had begged God to affirm - like Pius XII, already in his grave when the allegations against him were mounted - has yet to be vindicated. (The next words in that psalm read, "Leave it to the Lord, and wait for Him.")

And yet, when God heard that prayer of my sister’s - a prayer intention that she and I profoundly share - He led us along unexpected paths, showing us that even the passage of many decades does not prevent God from vindicating his own.

I think now of a very bright noonday, the noon of October 3, 2004, when we stood in St. Peter’s Square as His Holiness John Paul II enrolled the name of Karl of the House of Austria among the blessed. How many more decades had the prayers of others been storming heaven for the vindication of this saintly man whom we had come to know and admire only so recently! Clearly, the Father of Lies doesn’t get the last word.

Christ has promised that the Spirit will lead us into all truth. This Lent, as we are reminded of the ceaseless battle between the Lord of History and the Father of Lies, perhaps a good Lenten resolution for all of us would be to be to try to listen to the Holy Spirit more, and to the "accuser of the brethren" less, as we pray again, "Send forth Thy light and Thy truth" and "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Him flee from before His face." We can pray that God will indeed vindicate His own, that we might the more joyously sing at Easter: "The powers of Hell have done their worst, But Christ their legions has dispersed.... Alleluia!"

Cathy Pearson, an American writer, lives in San Diego.

(This article is also available in PDF so you can see the beautiful illustrations. Click here.)
ITV - INSIDE THE VATICAN

...our eyes fixed on Heaven

2011-03-28T10:36:00.001-05:00

"Let us go forward in peace, our eyes fixed on Heaven, the one goal of all our works." ---St. Therese, The Little Flower

...our eyes fixed on Heaven

2011-03-28T10:19:00.000-05:00

"Let us go forward in peace, our eyes fixed on Heaven, the one goal of all our works." ---St. Therese, The Little Flower

Pater!

2011-03-26T06:43:00.001-05:00

Pater!

The grace of this Lent is a progressive passage into the mystery of the baptized soul's relationship with the Father. This relationship is nourished by the prayer of the psalms, for the psalter is the very sacrament of the First-Born Son's ineffable conversation with the Father. By taking up the psalter, I enter into the prayer of the Son, a prayer that is, at once, filial and priestly. By taking up the psalter, I open my heart to all the sentiments of His Heart, formed by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary; exultant in the piteous condescension of His Father towards the children of men; afflicted in His bitter Passion by every suffering of which human nature is passible.

The Father loves me,
loves me as a son in the Son,
so that I may love the Father,
love Him as a son in the Son.

The Father speaks to me,
speaks to me as a son in the Son,
so that I may speak to the Father,
speak to Him as a son in the Son.

The Father embraces me,
embraces me as a son within the Son
so that I may cleave to the Father,
cleave to the Father as a son in the Son.

from an article by Fr. Mark Kirby' O.S.B. - on his blog Vultus Christi

Spring 40 Days for Life Campaign: Day 10

2011-03-19T05:45:00.000-05:00

PRAYER
------------------------------------------------------

Lord, look kindly on your people who weep and mourn
amidst the vast devastation that abortion has brought
upon our land. We cannot even count the children
killed, and the mothers and fathers wounded.

We cannot measure the devastation and corruption
abortion has brought upon the very fabric of our
society. But we declare today that your favors have
not been exhausted, your mercies have not been spent.
They are renewed each morning.

Give us new strength today in the resurrection of
Christ your Son, that we may bear effective witness to
the victory of life! In His name we pray, Amen.

His Grace for My Sin – A Prayer of St. Augustine

2011-03-18T05:24:00.000-05:00

“What fault committed by man has not been expiated by the Son of God made man? What pride can be so immeasurably inflated, that it could not be brought down by such humility? Truly, O my God, if we were to weigh both the offenses committed by sinners, and the grace of God the Redeemer, we would find that the difference equaled not only the distance between east and west, but the distance between hell and the highest heaven. O wonderful Creator of light, by the terrible sorrows of Your Son, pardon my sins! Grant, O God, that His goodness may overcome my wickedness, that His meekness may atone for my perversity, that His mildness may dominate my irascibility. May His humility make amends for my pride; His patience, for my impatience; His benignity, for my harshness; His obedience, for my disobedience; His tranquility, for my anxiety, His sweetness, for my bitterness; may His charity blot out my cruelty!”

St. Augustine

A ROSE GARDEN of Prayer - The ROSARY

2011-03-14T21:31:00.001-05:00

The word Rosary comes from the Latin word Rosarium, a rose garden. The Rosary is a garden filled with lovingly repeated invocations to Our Lady, God the Father and the Blessed Trinity.

The Rosary of Our Lady consists of twenty decades dedicated to twenty mysteries in the lives of Jesus and Mary. It is customary to recite one fourth of the Rosary daily (five decades).

On Monday the Joyful Mysteries are said; on Tuesday and Friday the Sorrowful Mysteries; on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday the Glorious Mysteries on Thursdays the Luminous Mysteries given to us by the Great John Paul II.

It is piously believed that the Rosary was given to St. Dominic by Our Lady while he was combating the Albigensian heresy in the south of France, early in the thirteenth century.

It is also believed that the Rosary was in use long before that time as “a poor man’s Psalter,” the 150 Hail Marys taking the place of the 150 Psalms.

Whatever its origin, the Rosary has proved to be a powerful weapon against evil, and as Pope Leo XIII declared, the best and most fruitful means of invoking Our Lady. Mary herself has called for its recitation many times, most notably at Fatima in 1917.† † †

St. Louis De Montfort, the great and extraordinary preacher of the Rosary said:

“Let me place the Rosary around a sinner’s neck and he will not escape me.”

†

St. Dominic, great promoter of the Rosary said:

“A day will come when Our Lady will save the world by the Rosary.”

†

Sr. Lucia, OCD, last visionary of Fatima said:

"Let people say the rosary every day. Our Lady stated that repeatedly in all her apparitions, as if to fortify us against these times of diabolical disorientation, so that we would not allow ourselves to be deceived by false doctrines..."

Hymn: "Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All"

2011-03-14T07:27:00.001-05:00

William Faber, an English convert to Catholicism wrote this and other beautiful hymns

which today can be found in both Catholic and Protestant hymnals.

Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all,

How can I love Thee as I ought?
And how revere this wond'rous gift,
So far surpassing hope or thought.
Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore.
O make us love Thee more and more!
O make us love Thee more and more!

Had I but Mary's sinless heart,
To love Thee with, my dearest King;
O with what bursts of fervent praise,
Thy goodness, Jesus, would I sing!
Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore.
O make us love Thee more and more!
O make us love Thee more and more!

SPRING 40 Days For Life -- Day 6 Report from Shawn Carney, Campaign Director

2011-03-14T07:12:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrea,

When people hear about babies saved from abortion, it

motivates them to trust God -- and participate in

40 Days for Life.

After all, how often do you have an opportunity to

literally help save a life just by peacefully praying?

It's already happened in this campaign ...

.... 35 times (that we know of)!

Here are just a few of the miracles that God has

granted ...

-------------------------------------------------------

ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

-------------------------------------------------------

Prayer volunteers at the 40 Days for Life vigil in

Orange County were caught by surprise as the doors of

the abortion center flew open and a frightened young

woman literally ran out as fast as she could ...

.... barefoot!

A young man came out looking for her. The barefoot

runner was his girlfriend, and she was there for an

abortion.

Eventually, she was found nearby, and vigil participants

offered to get her something to eat. When they sat down

to their meal, the young woman told her story.

She was six months pregnant and was already on the table

at the abortion center. She had an IV and was in the

process of being sedated. But she was still alert enough

to realize ...

... she simply couldn’t go through with it.

"God's grace poured into her heart," said one of the

40 Days for Life volunteers. The young woman found the

strength and courage to remove the needle from her arm,

to quickly get dressed (except for her shoes!) and run

out to safety.

"Our prayers from outside helped her get that courage

to leave the table and run away," said the volunteer.

"I realized how important our role is."

-------------------------------------------------------

HOUSTON, TEXAS

-------------------------------------------------------

40 Days for Life participants in Houston say the campaign

has been quite eventful already.

There's a mobile pro-life pregnancy counseling center

in Houston, and it is often parked outside Planned

Parenthood's huge abortion facility.

Women arriving for appointments at Planned Parenthood

are offered assistance in this vehicle, and volunteers

say many of these women are willing and eager to listen.

"This was possible through the grace of God," said

one volunteer, "even with several Planned Parenthood

escorts on the scene."

Two abortion-minded women visited the mobile center.

One of those two made a huge turn around after seeing

her unborn child on the ultrasound image and chose life.

The other simply said she would think about it, so she

was given information about pro-life resources. Please

keep her in your prayers.

To see photos of the 40 Days for Life vigil at Planned

Parenthood in Houston, please go to:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1605

-------------------------------------------------------

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

-------------------------------------------------------

One of the 40 Days for Life volunteers in Milwaukee

watched as a couple pulled into the parking lot at the

abortion center. The woman got out and walked into the

building while the man remained at the wheel of his

truck. So one vigil participant walked over and struck

up a conversation.

Eventually, the volunteer started talking about his

dad, who was born during the Depression, less than nine

months after his grandparents got married.

"I couldn’t think of a worse time to have to worry

about feeding another mouth," he said, "but my

grandparents did the right thing."

The driver then opened his door and said, "OK, then

I'm going in. I'll talk to her."

He came out later, but shrugged his shoulders and

said, "I tried, but she ain't with it."

But the prayer volunteer encouraged him, "Go back and

try again. You have nothing to lose!"

The man went back inside again, and finally the couple

came out together -- smiling -- and got back into

their vehicle.

"We didn't get it!" he said.

"Amen!" said the 40 Days for Life volunteer.

"Amen!" replied the guy in the truck.

Today's devotional is from Fr. Frank Pavone, national

director of Priests for Life.

------------------------------------------------------

DAY 6 INTENTION

------------------------------------------------------

Pray that those tempted to abort may understand that

their child is already present, and already a real

person.

------------------------------------------------------

SCRIPTURE

------------------------------------------------------

And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of

Mary that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth

was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said,

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit

of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the

mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as

soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears,

the babe leaped in my womb for joy."

-- Luke 1:41-44

------------------------------------------------------

REFLECTION by Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life

------------------------------------------------------

Jesus not only loves unborn children -- He was one

himself!

Think about this for a moment.

We often hear people speak of a pregnant mother by

saying, "She's expecting a child."

Now if one is expecting a package, the package is not

yet there.

As reflected in our verse for today, however, this is

not the case with the mother.

Her gift is already there.

The pregnant woman, a mother already, does not have a

child "on the way," but has a child, already present

and in full possession of his or her human rights,

starting with the right to life.

------------------------------------------------------

PRAYER

------------------------------------------------------

Jesus, open my eyes to your presence in the life of

every child. Open my heart to joy in the birth of

every child, a birth that reflects the joy of your own

birth in Bethlehem.

As you shared life in the womb of Mary, so now send

your protection upon every child still in the womb,

and grant to their mothers the strength and joy that

comes from welcoming the gift of life. We pray through

Christ our Lord, Amen.

------------------------------------------------------

PRINTABLE DEVOTIONAL

------------------------------------------------------

To download today's devotional as a formatted,

printable PDF to share with friends:

http://40daysforlife.com/docs/spring2011day06print.pdf

------------------------------------------------------

Andrea, through your prayers and faithfulness

during the rest of this 40 Days for Life campaign, I

can't wait to learn how many more lives God will spare!

Yours for Life,

Shawn Carney

Campaign Director

40 Days for Life

PS: What great things are happening with 40 Days for

Life in YOUR community? Please share your stories by

posting a response to today's message at:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1605

PRO-LIFE Prayer of Reparation Let's all commit to still more prayer!

2011-03-13T16:51:00.001-05:00

Prayer of Reparation
(Click here for Spanish -- En Español)

God and Father of Life,
You have created every human person,
And have opened the way for each to have eternal life.

We live in the shadow of death.
Tens of millions of your children have been killed
Thanks to the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Father, have mercy on us.
Heal our land
And accept our offering of prayer and penance.
In your love for us,
Turn back the scourge of abortion.

May each of us exult in hearts full of hope
And hands full of mercy
And work together to build a culture of life.

We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

LITANY OF THE SACRED HEART

2011-03-13T16:47:00.001-05:00

V. Lord, have mercy on us.
R. Christ, have mercy on us.
V. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.

R. Christ, graciously hear us.

V. God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mother's womb, [etc.]
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God.
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty.
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God.
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High.
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven.
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity.
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love.
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love.
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues.
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise.
Heart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts.
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased.
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received.
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills.
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy.
Heart of Jesus, rich to all who call upon You.
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness.
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our offenses.
Heart of Jesus, overwhelmed with reproaches.
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our iniquities.
Heart of Jesus, obedient even unto death.
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance.
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation.
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection.
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation.
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in You.
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in You.
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints.

V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. spare us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. graciously hear us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
R. have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, meek and humble of Heart,
R. Make our hearts like unto Thine.

Let us pray.

Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Thy most beloved Son
and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers Thee in the name
of sinners; and to those who implore Thy mercy, in Thy great goodness,
grant forgiveness in the name of the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who
livest and reignest with Thee forever and ever. Amen.

What is the Communion of Saints?

2011-03-13T16:43:00.000-05:00

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church

CHAPTER THREE
I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

ARTICLE 9
"I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH"

Paragraph 5.

The Communion of Saints

946 After confessing "the holy catholic Church," the Apostles' Creed adds "the communion of saints."

In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: "What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?"⁴⁷⁷ The communion of saints is the Church.

947 "Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others.... We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church.

But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head....

Therefore, the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members, through the sacraments."⁴⁷⁸

"As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common fund."⁴⁷⁹

948 The term "communion of saints" therefore has two closely linked meanings:

communion in holy things (sancta)"

and "among holy persons (sancti)."

Sancta sanctis! ("God's holy gifts for God's holy people") is proclaimed by the celebrant in most Eastern liturgies during the elevation of the holy Gifts before the distribution of communion.
: The faithful (sancti) are fed by Christ's holy body and blood (sancta) to grow in the communion of the Holy Spirit (koinonia) and to communicate it to the world.

Act of Contrition

2011-03-11T11:01:00.001-06:00

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin.

Amen.

Litany of St. Joseph - -- Feast Day is March 19th

2011-03-10T21:05:00.002-06:00

V/ Lord, have mercy.
R/ Lord, have mercy.
V/ Christ, have mercy.
R/ Christ, have mercy.
V/ Lord, have mercy.
R/ Lord, have mercy.
V/ Jesus, hear us.
R/ Jesus, graciously hear us.
V/ God, the Father of Heaven,
R/ have mercy on us.
V/ God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,
R/ have mercy on us.
V/ God, the Holy Spirit,
R/ have mercy on us.
V/ Holy Trinity, One God,
R/ have mercy on us.
R/for ff: pray for us.

Holy Mary,
St. Joseph,
Renowned offspring of David,
Light of Patriarchs,
Spouse of the Mother of God,
Chaste guardian of the Virgin,
Foster father of the Son of God,
Diligent protector of Christ,
Head of the Holy Family,
Joseph most just,
Joseph most chaste,
Joseph most prudent,
Joseph most strong,
Joseph most obedient,
Joseph most faithful,
Mirror of patience,
Lover of poverty,
Model of artisans,
Glory of home life,
Guardian of virgins,
Pillar of families,
Solace of the wretched,
Hope of the sick,
Patron of the dying,
Terror of demons,
Protector of Holy Church,

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
R/ spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
R/ graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world.
R/ have mercy on us.

He made him the lord of his household.
R/ And prince over all his possessions.

Let us pray. O God, in your ineffable providence you were pleased to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of your most holy Mother; grant, we beg you, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom on earth we venerate as our Protector: You who live and reign forever and ever. R/ Amen.

Ash Wednesday Mass 1st Reading: Joel 2:12-18

2011-03-08T20:47:00.003-06:00

‘Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
fasting, weeping, mourning.’
Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn,
turn to the Lord your God again,
for he is all tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich in graciousness,
and ready to relent.
Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent,
will not leave a blessing as he passes,
oblation and libation
for the Lord your God?
Sound the trumpet in Zion!
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn assembly,
call the people together,
summon the community,
assemble the elders,
gather the children,
even the infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom
and the bride her alcove.
Between vestibule and altar let the priests,
the ministers of the Lord, lament.
Let them say,
‘Spare your people, the Lord!
Do not make your heritage a thing of shame,
a byword for the nations.
Why should it be said among the nations,
“Where is their God?”’
Then the Lord, jealous on behalf of his land,
took pity on his people.

O Sweet Manna from Heaven

2011-03-06T20:28:00.001-06:00

Jesus my Light, Jesus my Guide,
I love You, because You showed me the Way,
Holy Spirit, my Holy Companion and my Friend,
...You who whisper in my ear
counsel, wisdom and consolation,
I love You, because You allowed my eyes to see and hear,
I adore You, because You resurrected me
and You became, O Sweet Manna from Heaven,
my daily Bread,
You have consoled my distressed and wretched soul;
You care for me in this desert,
and You are mindful to my needs,
You are fanning into a roaring flame
Your Gifts to all mankind,
for the Glory of the Most Holy Trinity,
give us all the grace to devote ourselves
to obeying Your statutes
and that Your Law becomes our delight.
Amen

Novena to the Unborn

2011-03-06T06:42:00.002-06:00

Novena for the Protection of the Unborn

Prayers to the Holy Trinity, The Blessed Virgin Mary, All the Angels and Saints

O Heavenly Father, Creator and Giver of all life, Author of justice, Source of love and mercy: Although it is deserving of thine anger and punishment, look with mercy on our nation, which has offended thee by condoning the killing of millions of innocent children, thy precious sons and daughters, who, like all of us, were created in thine image and likeness, but whose only offense was their very existence. Amen.

O Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer, whose inestimable gift of self-sacrificing love provided the means of Salvation for all mankind through the shedding of thine innocent blood: grant that all may come to know thee, serve thee and love thee, and thus may know the meaning of true freedom and true liberty, which never destroys, but always serves and protects life. amen.

O Holy Spirit, source of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety and holy fear: inspire us with these gifts. Fill the hearts of the leaders of this nation, especially those who have the temporal power and the grave responsibility to make and interpret and execute laws, with the desire to do God’s will, to restore justice and to establish laws that govern the people of this land in conformity with the Divine Law — laws that will preserve, protect and defend the lives of all sons and daughters of God, from their earliest beginnings until death. Amen.

O Mary, Mother of Jesus, entrusted to be the mother of God’s only begotten Son, Our Savior, through thine obedient consent to God’s will, and who thus became for all people and all time the model of faith and of the self-giving love and devotion of Motherhood: take into thy motherly arms all the babies who are victims of abortion, that they may receive eternally the comfort of a mother’s love. May thine example and intercession open the hearts of all who reject God and His holy laws, comfort all those who suffer remorse because of abortion, and restore to hope in Christ those mothers and fathers who grieve and repent the killing of their children. Amen.

All Angels and Saints: may thy guidance and example show fallen humanity the way to perfect joy and freedom and peace found only in unity with God in obedience to His will through salvation in Christ Jesus; and may thy constant prayers be joined by those of all the little children — the “slaughtered innocents” — as a “cloud of witnesses” interceding for sinful man. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Novena: Day 1
Above prayers
Psalm 139
Gloria Patri (Glory be)
Rosary: Sorrowful Mysteries
Magnificat: Luke 1:46-55
Gloria Patri

Novena: Days 2-9
Our Father...
Above prayers
Three Hail Marys
Gloria Patri

Psalm 139 [RSV-CE]

Antiphonal (Responsive):

1. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me!

2. Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up; thou discernest my thoughts from afar.

3. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4. Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

5. Thou dost beset me behind and before, and layest thy hand upon me.

6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.

7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8. If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!

9. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11. If I say, “Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night,”

12. Even the darkness is not dark to thee, the night is as bright as the day; for darkness is as light with thee.

13. For thou didst form my inward parts: thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14. I praise thee; for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works! Thou knowest me right well;

15. My frame was not hidden from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.

16. Thine eyes beheld my unformed substance; in thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

17. How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee.

19. O that thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God, and that men of blood would depart from me,

20. Men who maliciously defy thee, who lift themselves up against thee for evil!

21. Do I not hate them that hate thee, O Lord? And do I not loathe them that rise up against thee?

22. I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

23. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me, and know my thoughts!

24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The Magnificat: Luke 1:46-55

Unison:

My soul doth magnify the Lord
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He hath regarded the low estate of
His handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth
all generations will call me blessed;
for He who is mighty hath
done great things for me,
and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on them that fear Him
throughout all generations.
He hath shown strength with His arm;
He hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts;
He hath put down the mighty
from their thrones,
and exalted the humble and meek;
He hath filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He hath sent empty away.
He hath helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spake to our forefathers,
to Abraham and his seed forever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Our fulcrum is God: our lever, prayer....

2011-03-04T16:00:00.003-06:00

Our fulcrum is God: our lever, prayer; prayer which burns with love. With that we can lift the world!

St. Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower, O.C.D., Doctor of the Church, Patron Saint of Missionaries

Clear Creek Monastery, OK

Carmel's gift to the world is prayer

2011-03-02T21:10:00.000-06:00

Carmel's gift to the world is prayer. Carmelite Spirituality reminds us that the longest life is still short and that during the Lenten Season all of us should take time to meditate on that truth. Following that theme, our March Carmelite thought is from Venerable Mother Luisita. Foundress of the Carmelite Sisters.

"Be very united with Our Lord so that your prayer may be continual, and at the same time, full of confidence in God. Fix your gaze on heaven, not on earthly things that all pass away like a breath leaving behind nothing but remorse and sadness like smoke that disappears with nothing but reality remaining."

EWTN Family Prayer - Those Who Suffer with Cancer

2011-03-01T17:47:00.000-06:00

This life of yours will pass quickly

2011-02-26T16:11:00.000-06:00

From In Sinu Iesu, The Journal of A Priest

This life of yours will pass quickly

It is not by privileges, special graces, or mystical experiences
that souls are perfected in love;
it is by a total adhesion to my Will,
and by a real death to all that is not my Will.

This life of yours will pass quickly.
In the end, you will take comfort in one thing only:
in the "Yes" that you will have said to my Love for you,
and in your adhesion to my Will as it will have unfolded
minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day in your life.

Tell me, then, that what I will, you will.
Tell me that all that is outside of my will for you is so much rubbish.
Ask me to cleanse your life of the accumulated rubbish of so many years.
Ask me to make you clean of heart and poor in spirit.
Seek nothing apart from what my Heart desires you to have.
Ask only for what my Heart desires to give you.
Therein lies your peace.
Therein lies your joy.
Therein lies salvation and glory.

Your plans, your desires, and your anxieties
are but puffs of smoke blown away by the wind.
Only what I will endures.
Only what I will gives you happiness.
Seek then what I will, and trust me to give you what you seek.

Souls who chase after rainbows
pass by the treasures that I have laid beneath their feet,
leaving them behind to pursue a future that is not,
and that will not come to be.

This is an exhausting exercise for you
and for so many souls like you,
who, enchanted by an ideal,
fail to see my work, and the splendour of my Will for them,
revealed in the present.

Live, then, in the present moment.
Choose to be faithful to me
in the little things that I give you
and ask of you from minute to minute,
from hour to hour, and from day to day.
It is foolish to pin your hopes and to spend your energy
on an imaginary good,
when the real good that I offer you is here and now.

It is not forbidden you to dream dreams
or to imagine a future that you think will make you happy
-- I give you your imagination and I am not offended when you use it.
The imagined good becomes an evil, however,
when it saps you of your energy;
drains you of the vitality
that I would have you offer me in sacrifice
by being faithful to the reality that is here and now;
and when you use your imagination
to flee from obedience and submission to me
in the circumstances
and in the places where I have placed you at this time.

Plan for the future by living in the present.
Open your heart to my voice each day,
and cling to the smallest manifestations of my Will.
Renounce all that springs from your own desires and imaginings,
and say "Yes" to all that springs from my most loving and merciful Heart.
Therein lies your peace, your joy, and your salvation.

From In Sinu Iesu, The Journal of A Priest
By Father Mark Kirby

http://vultus.stblogs.org/

Jesus Offers You the Cross....

2011-02-20T21:04:00.002-06:00

"Jesus offers you the cross, a very heavy cross, and you are afraid of not being able to carry it without giving way. Why? Our Beloved Himself fell three times on the way to Calvary, and why should we not imitate Him?"

St. Therese of Lisieux

U.S. House of Representatives voted to DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD!!

2011-02-18T19:55:00.000-06:00

Your prayers, your vigil participation earlier this
week, and your calls late yesterday paid off! (February 17, 2011)

The heated debate about stripping taxpayer funding
from Planned Parenthood -- America's largest abortion
chain -- raged for more than two hours in the House
of Representatives last night.

During the exchange on the House floor, Congressman
Chris Smith read aloud a passage from "Unplanned" --
the bestselling book by former Planned Parenthood
director Abby Johnson about her conversion during a
40 Days for Life campaign. Amazing!

And today, the U.S. House of Representatives -- by an
overwhelming majority vote of 240 to 185 -- voted to
DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD!!

Planned Parenthood is furious. In fact, they just
sent out an "Open Letter to Congress" saying, "How
could you?"

How could they? Because that's what the American
people told them to do!

The need for prayers and action is not over -- it
will continue next week when your legislators come
back to their home districts, and in the U.S. Senate
the following week ... so stay tuned, and be ready to
act on a moment's notice.

Andrea, I don't believe it's a coincidence that this
is all happening as you and I prepare to pray, fast,
stand vigil, and conduct grassroots outreach -- as we
launch the largest 40 Days for Life campaign in
history on March 9th!

Pray hard.

This is the moment we've all been working for!

For Life,

David Bereit
National Director
40 Days for Life

FRA ANGELICO -- Dominican Renaissance Artist -- Patron of Christian Artists

2011-02-18T11:09:00.001-06:00

Are you an art buff? Here is an interesting Saint of the Day!

February 18, 2011
Blessed John of Fiesole known today as FRA ANGELICO
(c. 1400-1455)
Renaissance Artist considered the Patron Saint of Christian Artists

"Fra Angelico was a Dominican friar in the monastery at Fiesole. The convent of San Marco was taken over by his Order in 1436, and he was commissioned to decorate the friar's cells with frescoes painted directly on to wet plaster walls. These were intended to stimulate prayer and meditation rather than to be a factual record of the Biblical story. He wanted to represent the sacredness of Christ in all its glory and simplicity; although he understood the principles of perspective, these were often sacrificed for a simple style. In the nineteenth century Angelico's painting captured the imagination of the Pre-Raphaelites, who saw in them the charm of a pure faith.

The patron of Christian artists was born around 1400 in a village overlooking Florence. He took up painting as a young boy and studied under the watchful eye of a local painting master. He joined the Dominicans at about age 20, taking the name Fra Giovanni. He eventually came to be known as Fra Angelico, perhaps a tribute to his own angelic qualities or maybe the devotional tone of his works.
He continued to study painting and perfect his own techniques, which included broad-brush strokes, vivid colors and generous, lifelike figures. Michelangelo once said of Fra Angelico: "One has to believe that this good monk has visited paradise and been allowed to choose his models there." Whatever his subject matter, Fra Angelico sought to generate feelings of religious devotion in response to his paintings. Among his most famous works are the Annunciation and Descent from the Cross as well as frescoes in the monastery of San Marco in Florence.

He also served in leadership positions within the Dominican Order. At one point Pope Eugenius approached him about serving as archbishop of Florence. Fra Angelico declined, preferring a simpler life. He died in 1455.

To see some of his masterpeices. Go to this blog.http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

St. Teresa of Avila: A truly humble person never....

2011-02-15T21:46:00.000-06:00

Meditation:
St. Teresa of Avila

"A truly humble person never believes he can be wronged in anything. Truly, we ought to be ashamed to resent whatever is said or done against us; for it is the greatest shame in the world to see that our Creator bears so many insults from His creatures, and that we resent even a little word that is contradictory.

Let contemplative souls, in particular, take notice that if they do not find themselves quite resolved to pardon any injury or affront which may be inflicted upon them, they cannot trust much to their prayer. For the soul which God truly unites to Himself by so lofty a method of prayer, feels none of these things, and no longer cares whether she is esteemed or not, or whether she is spoken well of or ill; nay rather honors and repose give her more pain than dishonor and trials."

A Year With the Saints, February (Tan Books:1998), 54-5.

HOPE: Intercessions for Those Involved in Abortion

2011-02-14T21:53:00.003-06:00

Hope after abortion
Project Rachel web site
------------------------
Intercessions for Those Involved in Abortion

For those who are tempted by abortion,
that God may plant in their hearts
a love for the treasure of life
and the strength to protect it;
we pray to the Lord:

For all doctors,
that inspired by their oath to protect life,
they may know the grace of repentance,
serving others as true disciples
of the Gospel of Life;
we pray to the Lord:

For all nurses,
that inspired by the gentle compassion,
of Mary, the Mother of God,
they might serve as guardians of life
in every moment of its existence;
we pray to the Lord:

For all hospital administrators,
that with wisdom and respect for life,
they might lead those who work with them,
for the nurturing and protection of all life;
we pray to the Lord:

For parents who have lost a child to abortion
and whose hearts are closed to the mercy of God,
that they might know the grace of repentance,
confession and the healing embrace of the Father;
we pray to the Lord:

For parents overwhelmed by grief and remorse
at the loss of their child to abortion,
that Jesus the shepherd,
so rich in mercy and compassion,
might heal their broken hearts;
we pray to the Lord:

For all who counsel the parents of aborted children,
that God might reward them for the crosses they bear and grant them the words of wisdom to lead lost souls home to him,
we pray to the Lord:

For each child aborted from his mother's womb,
that from their place in heaven
they might intercede for their mothers and fathers
for peace and healing and the gift of true repentance;
we pray to the Lord:

Thus says the LORD:
In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning,
of bitter weeping!
Rachel mourns her children,
she refuses to be consoled
because her children are no more.

Thus says the LORD:
Cease your cries of mourning,
wipe the tears from your eyes.
The sorrow you have shown
shall have its reward,...
There is hope for your future. ...

Jeremiah 31:15-17