Nehemiah,
Chapter 4, Verse 8
I
made an inspection, then addressed these words to the nobles, the magistrates,
and the rest of the people: “Do not fear
them! Keep in mind the LORD, who is great and to be feared, and fight for your kindred, your sons and daughters, your
wives and your homes.”
The final battle for the kingdom, like here in
Nehemiah; will begin with the secular resistance to the rebuilding of a people
dedicated to God. The target is the family. Families must not live in fear. Do
not let fear take hold of your families and communities. The enemies’ threats
and attacks are forthcoming. Do not let your spirit be broken. Take concrete
measures to protect your family. You must challenge your fears and only fear
God. Depend on God and fight for yourselves. HE will free you from the grip of
hopelessness. Begin today by returning to an ardent faith in Christ and His
church. Let go of all sinfulness and tepidness and seek individual and family
holiness striving for saintliness.
Beatitudes
Hike
During this hike you will be
praying the Divine Mercy Prayer, Christ asked that we pray for the lukewarm.
"Today bring to
Me the Souls of persons who have become lukewarm and immerse them in the abyss
of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the
most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They
were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your
will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."
Most compassionate Jesus, you are
Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most
Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls who,
like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O
Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them
into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love,
for nothing is beyond Your power. Eternal Father turn Your merciful gaze upon
lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of
Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His
three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy.
Amen.[2]
During this hike you will meditate on each of the
ways you may have been walking away from God; marking each of the points as you
hike stopping multiple times to pray. On the return hike, you will meditate
using the walking towards God meditations. Remember every journey away from
something is a journey toward something—the first meditations are the seven
deadly sins with fear added as an eighth; and you will be meditating on the
Beatitudes of Christ on the way back in reverse order.
Pray the chaplet first or if you
wish after you finish the meditation on the deadly sins. This meditation uses
synonyms of fear, pride, envy, anger, avarice, sloth, gluttony and lust. Words are the music of the human heart;
different words carry different emotions and meanings. If a certain word strikes your heart-it is
the Lord speaking to you.
Walking Away from GOD
(Have I been/Shown?)
1.
FEAR: Terror, Dread, Horror, Fright;
Panic, Alarm, Trepidation, Apprehension.
2.
PRIDE/HUBRIS: Arrogant, Conceit,
Smugness, Self-importance, Satisfaction, Pleasure, Delight.
3.
ENVY: Jealousy, Desire, Resentment,
Spite, Malice, Meanness.
4.
WRATH: Anger, Annoyance, Rage, Fury,
Aggravation, Frustration.
5.
AVARICE: Greed, Materialism,
Covetousness, Acquisitiveness.
6.
SLOTH: Laziness, Idleness, Sluggishness,
Inactivity, Indolence (condition that is slow to develop or be healed and
causes no pain-i.e. fail to resist evil) Apathy.
7.
GLUTTONY: Excess, Exclusivity, Over
indulgence, Intemperance.
8.
LUST: Yearn, Desire, Long for, Hanker
for, Hunger for, Ache for, Crave.
Walking toward GOD
(Have I failed to be, do or show?)
8. CHASTITY (PURITY OF HEART): Cleanliness, Wholesomeness, Spotlessness, Clarity;
Transparency, Knowledge, Honesty, Wisdom. Opposing Deadly Sin: LUST
Blessed are the clean of heart, for
they shall see God. The clean of heart are those who preserve with care the
innocence with which they are invested at holy Baptism, or seek to regain it,
when lost, by penance; those who keep their hearts and consciences unspotted
from all sinful thoughts, particularly from all unchaste thoughts, desires,
words, and acts, and who endeavor in all things to have a pure intention
directed to God alone. They shall see God, that is, they shall know Him even
here upon earth, for as the eye that is to see must be clean, so only souls
that are pure and unstained can behold God. But further, our knowledge is like
our hearts; the purer the heart the clearer and greater is the knowledge of
God. But in the world above they shall see, know, and possess Him as He is.
What blessedness! Strive, therefore, to keep your heart clean. (Goffine’s
Devout Instructions, 1896)
7. TEMPERANCE (POOR IN SPIRIT): Sacrifice, Give Up, Forgo, Let Go, Surrender,
Tithe, Self-Control, Abstention. Opposing Deadly Sin: GLUTTONY
The poor in spirit are:
·
Those
who, like the apostles, readily forsake all earthly things, and for Christ’s
sake become poor.
·
Those
who, happening to lose their property by misfortune or injustice, suffer the
loss patiently, in resignation to the will of God.
·
Those
who, like Jesus, are content with their poor and humble position, seek no
higher or happier one, and would rather suffer want than enrich themselves by
unlawful acts, by fraud or theft.
·
The
rich and noble who set not their hearts upon the riches and greatness of the
world who use their riches and influence to relieve the misery of the needy and
oppressed.
·
Finally,
the truly humble, who, convinced of their weakness, their helplessness and
misery, think lowly of themselves, and regard themselves but as beggars, who
are always in need of the grace of God. To all these, therefore, in whose
hearts the world has no place, there is assured, as their inheritance, the
kingdom of heaven; here the kingdom of grace there the kingdom of glory.
(Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896)
6.
DILIGENCE
(HUNGER & THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS):
Fairness, Impartiality; Righteousness, Evenhandedness, Fair Dealing,
Persistence, Effort, Ethics, Rectitude. Opposing Deadly Sin: SLOTH
Blessed are they that hunger and
thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill. Hunger and thirst denote
the most ardent longing after those virtues which constitute Christian
perfection; such as humility, meekness, the love of God and of our neighbor,
penance. Whoever longs for these virtues as the hungry man does for food and drink
and prays to God for them with perseverance and earnestness, shall have his
fill; that is, he shall be enriched with them, and one day shall be satisfied
with eternal Happiness. (Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896)
5. CHARITY (MERCIFUL): Compassion; Kindness, Pity, Bigheartedness,
Clemency, Openhandedness, Forgiveness, Liberality, Understanding, Leniency,
Will, Benevolence, Generosity. Opposing Deadly Sin: AVARICE
Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy. The merciful here spoken of are:
·
Those
who willingly forgive the injuries done to them.
·
Those
who have compassion on their poor neighbors, and, according to their ability,
sustain them by alms. These shall obtain mercy; that is, God will forgive them
their sins and endow them abundantly with the goods of this world and of the
world to come. Thus, God deals with us as we deal with others. (Goffine’s
Devout Instructions, 1896)
4. PATIENCE (PEACEMAKERS): Relations, Mediation, Negotiation—Prevents
Destruction; I.E. Stem Cell/Abortion, Sufferance. Opposing Deadly Sin: WRATH
Blessed are the peace-makers, for
they shall be called the children of God. By peace-makers we are to understand
those who have peace with themselves, that is, a quiet conscience, and who
endeavor to maintain peace among others, or to restore it when broken. Such are
called the children of God, because they follow God, Who is a God of peace, and
Who even gave His only Son to reconcile the world with Him, and to bring down
upon earth that peace which the world itself could not give. (Goffine’s Devout
Instructions, 1896)
3. KINDNESS (MOURNING): Grief, Sorrow; Remembrance, Respect, Loyalty,
Integrity. Opposing Deadly Sin: ENVY
Blessed are they that mourn, for
they shall be comforted. By them that mourn we are not to understand such as
grieve and lament over a death, a misfortune, a loss of worldly goods, or the like;
but those who are grieved that God should be in so many ways offended by
themselves and by others that His Church should be so heavily oppressed, and
thereby so many souls lost that have been redeemed with the precious blood of
Christ. The only evil really to be grieved for is sin, and the tears shed on
account of sin are the only tears that are profitable, for they shall be
recompensed with everlasting joy. (Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896)
2. HUMILITY (MEEK): Modesty, Not Assuming, Reverence, Altruism.
Opposing Deadly Sin: PRIDE/HUBRIS
Blessed are the meek, for they
shall possess the land. That man is meek who does not murmur against God for
sending afflictions upon him, who is not angry at men who do him injury, but
who rather suppresses impatience, anger, envy, and revenge, nay, who seeks to
recompense the evil done him by his neighbor with good. Such a one is greater
than he who takes by storm fortified cities (Prov. xvi. 32); he possesses an
unfailing fountain of peace, quiet, and cheerfulness; by his meekness prevails
over the most hostile minds, is by such means truly a ruler upon earth, and
will one day, for his portion, obtain heaven, the land of the living, there to
enjoy eternal peace. (Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896)
1. LOVE & COURAGE (FAITH-BE NOT
AFRAID): Affection, Adoration,
Friendship, Confidence, Courageous, Trust, Valiant, Reliance, Heroic,
Assurance, Bold, Conviction, Daring, Belief, Fearless, Devotion, Plucky,
Loyalty. Opposing Deadly Sin: FEAR
Love Brothers and sisters do not be
afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who
wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the
whole of mankind. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his
saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the
vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ
knows “what is in man”. He alone knows it. So often today man does not know
what is within him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain
about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt
which turns into despair. We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and
trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal
life.[3]
Daily Devotions
[1]http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/richard-havermale/divine-mercy-hikes/paperback/product-23710456.html
[3]http://www.catholicvote.org/john-paul-iis-first-homily-sacrifice-humility-courage/#sthash.coO9xfTF.dpuf
Comments
Post a Comment