Please pray for Diane the mother of my seven children and for her children who celebrate the one year anniversary of her death.
When
our desires are not on God we become spiritually ill. Christ implemented the
sacrament of reconciliation to heal our hearts.
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis recently commented that without daily prayer, regular participation in the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, daily contact with God’s Word, and a “spirituality translated into charity,” we may die spiritually.
Pope Francis went on to list 15 spiritual “sicknesses” that are “more usual” in “our life”.
The 15 include not being self-critical and thinking oneself indispensable, “Martha-ism” (excessive Martha-like busyness), hardheartedness, excessive planning, failing to work with others, “spiritual Alzheimer’s” (forgetting one’s spiritual journey), and rivalry and vainglory.
Other spiritual sicknesses, the Pope added, include existential “schizophrenia” (living a double life that is “often dissolute”), gossip, careerism and flattering superiors, indifference to others, a severe “funeral face” (rather than self-deprecating good humor), the “disease of closed circles,” and “worldly profit, exhibitionism” (through “calumniating, defaming, and discrediting others,” even in the media “in the name of justice and transparency”).
Stations of the Cross[2]
Isaiah,
Chapter 29, verse 13-14
13 The Lord said: Since this people draws near with
words only and honors me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far
from me, And fear of me has become mere precept of
human teaching, 14 Therefore I will
again deal with this people in surprising and wondrous fashion: The wisdom of
the wise shall perish, the prudence of the prudent shall vanish.
This verse deals with spiritual blindness
and perversity of the Israeli Leaders. The Israelis failed to apply the
standards of God’s covenant in their military and political plans. They failed
to pray and offer to God their concerns and because of their unbelief they
merely made a show of their piety. They rejected the advice of their prophet’s.
Nothing ever changes. The key to living a
life fearlessly is to have our
hearts close to God’s. When we do this we will soon discover that the mind is
designed to implement your heart’s desire. Is your heart at peace? What are the
desires of your heart? What should the desires of our hearts be? The old
Baltimore catechism states that our purpose and our desires should be to know,
love and serve the Lord.
According to paragraph 1718 of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church:
The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire
for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human
heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it: We all want to
live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to
this proposition, even before it is fully articulated. How is it, then, that I
seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek
you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul
draws life from you. God alone satisfies.
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis recently commented that without daily prayer, regular participation in the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, daily contact with God’s Word, and a “spirituality translated into charity,” we may die spiritually.
Pope Francis went on to list 15 spiritual “sicknesses” that are “more usual” in “our life”.
The 15 include not being self-critical and thinking oneself indispensable, “Martha-ism” (excessive Martha-like busyness), hardheartedness, excessive planning, failing to work with others, “spiritual Alzheimer’s” (forgetting one’s spiritual journey), and rivalry and vainglory.
Other spiritual sicknesses, the Pope added, include existential “schizophrenia” (living a double life that is “often dissolute”), gossip, careerism and flattering superiors, indifference to others, a severe “funeral face” (rather than self-deprecating good humor), the “disease of closed circles,” and “worldly profit, exhibitionism” (through “calumniating, defaming, and discrediting others,” even in the media “in the name of justice and transparency”).
These temptations, he continued,
are a danger to every Christian and every community.[1]
Attend the Stations of the Cross
today.
Stations of the Cross[2]
Though
technically only the last fourteen days of Lent explicitly consider the
sufferings of our Lord, the Stations of the Cross (a.k.a. the Way of the Cross)
have long been a popular Lenten devotion for any or all of the forty days
(though they tend to be done on Fridays). These fourteen scenes from the via
dolorosa, the sorrowful path that Christ took while carrying His cross to
Golgotha, help direct one's heart to the mysterium fidei of our Lord's selfless
sacrifice.
We should along with our morning
offering to God and reception of the sacraments of confession and Holy
Communion do some daily accounting if we are going to make improvements. We
should try to see ourselves and ask God to help us see our day as He sees it by
examining our conscience. Spiritual writers usually divide the daily
examination into two parts general and
particular. The general exam is an
overall review of the day and should be done in the evening and the particular
exam is done throughout the day on how we are doing in those areas where our
rebellion is the greatest or in acquiring a certain virtue. The general examination is a weapon of
defense. The particular exam is of attack. The first is the shield. The second
is the sword (St. Josemaria Escriva). Most people make their general exam
near bedtime (This should cure any sleeping problems). Some people make their
particular exam at noon so they can redouble efforts for the rest of the day.
In the evening when we do the general exam we should consider the whole day
both the big things and the little. I always ask our Lord, what Have I done NOT
SO well today; and listen? Next comes the question, “Lord, what have I done
well? Finally, I ask, Lord, what are your concerns? One aspiration we should
have in our arsenal that we can use at the end is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” One thing not to do is give up.
Ask Him for help. Gaining a virtue or losing a habit of sin might take time;
but we will WIN.
[3]
Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap.
15. Examination of Conscience.
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