2 Samuel, Chapter 12, Verse 26-28
26 Absalom then said, “If not you, then please
let my brother Amnon come with us.” The king asked him, “Why should he go with
you?” 27 But at Absalom’s urging, the king sent Amnon and with him all his other
sons. Absalom prepared a banquet fit for a king. 28 But Absalom had
instructed his attendants: “Now watch! When Amnon is merry with wine and I say
to you, ‘Kill Amnon,’ put him to death. Do not be afraid, for it is I who order you to do it. Be strong and act like
warriors.”
David’s family life
after the murder of Uriah reads like a mafia tale with David being the Don and
all his son’s vying for power.
Amnon was the heir-apparent to David's throne; Amnon
though is best remembered for the rape of his half-sister Tamar, daughter of
David with Maachah. Despite the biblical prohibition on sexual relations
between half-brothers and sisters, Amnon had an overwhelming desire for her. He
acted on advice from his cousin, Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David's brother, to lure Tamar
into his quarters by pretending to be sick and desiring her to cook a special
meal for him. While in his quarters, and ignoring her protests, he raped her, and
then expelled her from his house. King David was angry about the incident, but
could not bring himself to punish his eldest son, while Absalom,
Amnon's half-brother and Tamar's full brother, nursed a bitter grudge against
Amnon for the rape of his sister. Two years later, to avenge Tamar, Absalom
invited all of David's sons to a feast, and then had his servants kill Amnon
after he had become drunk with wine.[1]
David’s sin had found
him out. After he killed Uriah it was like killing his own self and now he was
not holding his children accountable. They became monsters. David’s youthful
heart of gratitude and love for God was sorely wounded. David never regained
the law of the Sacrifice. Yet, from David’s line comes Jesus Christ; His
sacrifice saves us all and you can, “Stand erect and raise your heads because
your redemption is at hand.” (Lk. 21:28)
Cinco de Mayo[2]
Today is Cinco de Mayo; sometimes
referred to as Cinco de Drunko, due to the heavy consumption of alcohol
connected with the hedonistic celebration. Cinco de Mayo is a relatively minor
holiday in Mexico. However, in America it is up there with some of our most
celebrated: like the Fourth of July and St. Patricks day. The holiday has
reinvented itself in America, from celebrating Mexico's win at the Battle of
Puebla, to celebrating Mexican culture, and beer, and tequila. If we're being
completely honest though, the actual meaning of Cinco de Mayo in America is
pretty lost on us, but so is the meaning of St. Patrick’s day. Today instead of
following this hedonistic celebration try and make it to Mass today.
First Friday-Sacred
Heart of Jesus[3]
ALTHOUGH many pious souls
had been accustomed, in the silence of their secluded lives, to venerate the
sacred Heart of Jesus with great devotion, still our divine Savior desired that
the boundless love of His Heart might be known by all men, and that a new fire
of love should thereby be kindled in the cold hearts of Christians. For this
purpose He made use of a frail and little-known instrument in the person of
Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun of the Order of the Visitation, at
Parayle-Monial, France. One day, when, according to her custom during the
octave of Corpus Christi, she was deeply engaged in devotions before the
Blessed Sacrament, the divine Savior appeared to her, showed her His Heart burning
with love, and said: “Behold this Heart, which has so loved men that it has
spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify
its love. In return I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their
irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in
this sacrament of love. And what is most painful to Me is that they are hearts
consecrated to Me. It is for this reason I ask thee that the first Friday after
the octave of Corpus Christi be appropriated to a special feast to honor My
Heart by communicating on that day and making reparation for the indignity that
it has received. And I promise that My Heart shall dilate to pour out
abundantly the influences of its love on all that will render it this honor or
procure its being rendered. Margaret obeyed, but met everywhere the greatest
opposition, until finally, when she became mistress of novices; she succeeded,
by the help of her divine Spouse, in animating her young charges to venerate
the sacred Heart of Jesus. But this was not sufficient for her zeal. She
persevered until she softened the opposition of the nuns, and kindled in all an
equal devotion towards the most sacred Heart. Thence the devotion spread to the
adjoining dioceses, where confraternities in honor of the most sacred Heart of
Jesus soon sprung up. Pope Clement XIII., after having instituted a most
rigorous examination of the whole affair, commanded that the feast of the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus should be solemnly celebrated throughout the whole
Catholic Church every year, on the first Friday after the octave of Corpus
Christi.
The Devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus
1. Object
of this Devotion.
In the divine Heart of
Our Savior we must not imagine an inanimate heart, separated from the person of
Christ, but the living heart of the God-Man, the center of all His affections,
the fountain of all His virtues, the most touching emblem of His infinite love
to man. The Church venerates the cross, the blood, and the wounds of the divine
Savior, by feasts which have their proper masses and lessons, in order, by meditation
upon these objects, to awaken in us a more fervent devotion to the Redeemer.
How much more worthy, then, of our devotion is the sacred Heart of Our Savior,
since all its thoughts, movements, and affections aim at our salvation, and it
is always ready to receive truly penitent sinners, to pardon them, to restore
them again to God s favor, and make them partakers of eternal happiness!
2. Excellence
of this Devotion.
It is, writes the
venerable P. Simon Gourdan:
a.
A holy devotion, for therein men venerate in Christ
those affections and motions of His Heart by which He sanctified the Church,
glorified His Heavenly Father, and showed Himself to men as a perfect example
of the most sublime holiness.
b.
An ancient devotion of the Catholic Church, which,
instructed by St. Paul, the great apostle, has at all times acknowledged the
great beneficence of the divine and sacred Heart of Jesus.
c.
An approved devotion, for the Holy Scriptures
everywhere admonish us to renew the heart, by changing our lives ; to penetrate
it with true sorrow, to inflame it with divine love, and to adorn it by the
practice of all virtues. When, therefore, a new heart is promised us, by which
to direct our lives, that can be no other than the Heart of Jesus, which is to
us the pattern of all excellence, and which we must follow if we would be
saved.
d.
A perfect devotion, as being the origin of all other devotions.
For the Heart of Jesus is the inexhaustible treasury from which the blessed
Mother of God, and all other saints have derived their graces, their virtues,
their life, their spiritual goods. Filled first with treasures from this
source, different servants of God have instituted and established other
devotions.
e.
A profitable devotion, for thereby we have brought
before our eyes the very fountain of life and grace, and can draw directly from
it, increasing in ourselves all virtues, by adoring this divine Heart,
meditating on its holy affections, and endeavoring to imitate them.
f.
A devotion pleasing to God, for thus we adore God, as Christ
requires, in spirit and in truth, serving Him inwardly in our hearts, and
endeavoring to please Him. Finally it is:
g.
A useful devotion, since its whole object is to unite
us most intimately with Christ as members of Him, her head, to make us live by
and according to His spirit, to have one heart and soul with Him, and through
grace finally to become one with Him, which is and must be the object of all
devotions.
As this devotion is, then, so
excellent, we cannot sufficiently recommend it to all who are anxious for their
salvation. While everyone can practice this devotion, and adore the sacred
Heart of Jesus, by himself, there is a greater blessing when pious souls unite
and form a confraternity for practicing the devotion. Of such confraternities
there were in the year 1726 more than three hundred, and they are now
established throughout all Catholic countries. Hesitate not, Christian soul, to
engage in this devotion, and to join in the adoration of that sacred Heart of
Jesus in which all men find propitiation, the pious, confidence; sinners, hope;
the afflicted, consolation; the sick, support; the dying, refuge ; the elect,
joy and delight.
An Offering to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Whoever says the following prayer
before the image of the most sacred Heart of Jesus, with sincere sorrow for his
sins, gains each time an indulgence of one hundred days; and by saying it daily
for a month, he can on any one day gain a plenary indulgence, if he makes his
confession, receives communion, and prays according to the intention of the Church:
“My
loving Jesus, I (N.N.) give Thee my heart; and I consecrate myself wholly to
Thee, out of the grateful love I bear Thee, and as reparation for all my
unfaithfulness; and with Thy aid I purpose never to sin again.”
Daily
Devotions/Prayers
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