Introduction to the
book of Malachi
This short book
may have been written before Nehemiah’s first return to Jerusalem in 445 B.C.;
it is also possible that it was written while Nehemiah was there, or even
later. What seems to be the author’s name, mal’ākî, (“the word of the
Lord to Israel through Malachi”), but many believe that this is a pseudonym
based on mal’ākî, “my messenger,” and that the author’s real name is
unknown. In any case, he shows us attitudes and behaviors characteristic of the
Jewish community a few generations after the end of the Babylonian exile, and
describes God’s response. God loves Israel, but the people return that love
poorly. Taking advantage of the negligent attitude of the priests, they
withhold tithes and sacrificial contributions and cheat God by providing defective
goods for sacrifice. People divorce their spouses and marry worshipers of other
gods. Sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, and people who take advantage of
workers and the needy abound. Priests, who could strengthen discipline by their
instruction, connive with the people, telling them what they want to hear.
Underlying all this is a weary attitude, a cynical notion that nothing is to be
gained by doing what God wants and that wrongdoers prosper. God condemns the
wrongdoing and the underlying attitude, issuing a challenge to immediate
reform, but also announcing a general reckoning at a future moment.[1]
JULY 8 Wednesday
Cursed is the cheat who has in his flock an
intact male, and vows it, but sacrifices to the LORD a defective one instead;
For a great king am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is FEARED among
the nations.
Names are
important. Most of us remember the elementary school playground and the mean
names kids called each other. Author and speaker, Kary Oberbrunner[2],
states that we all have a secret name that the One who made us gives us.
Oberbrunner said, “My name is Kary, and I have a girl’s name.” He was no
stranger to mean names on the playground. He went on to say that each of us has
three names:
1.
Our
birth name – the name assigned to us when we arrive in this world
2.
Our
given names – the names assigned to us as we walk through the world. These
names can be positive and negative, ranging from successful, beautiful, star
athlete to those names assigned by mean kids, like concentration camp victim,
stupid, addict.
3.
Our
secret name – the name granted to us by God, Oberbrunner said the problem is
our birth names and given names don’t ever fill up the void inside us. We
pretend and wear masks.
What would God call you?
When Christ called his apostles; He revealed to some of them God’s name for
them. Sons of Thunder for John and James and for Simon son of John, He called
him Peter which means “Rock”.
Prayers
of reparation to the Holy Face[4]
PRAYERS of reparation to the holy face of Jesus, as
requested by Our Lord Jesus Christ. These prayers are to be said on Sundays and
Holy Days of Obligation, publicly (if possible), and preferably before the
Blessed Sacrament or before the picture of the Holy Face.
Dear Lord, through the Sorrowful and
Immaculate Heart of Mary, I (we) offer Thee these prayers in reparation for the
sins which offend God the most in these modern times – the sins of Blasphemy
and the Profanation of Sunday and Thy Holy Days of Obligation:
One Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory
Be to The Father
The “Golden Arrow” Prayer Dictated by Our Lord to Sister
Mary of St. Peter
May the most holy, most sacred, most
adorable, most incomprehensible and unutterable Name of God be always praised,
blessed, loved, adored and glorified in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth,
by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.
After receiving this prayer, Sister Mary of St. Peter was
given a vision in which she saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus delightfully wounded
by this “Golden Arrow”, as torrents of graces streamed from It for the
conversion of sinners.
Litany of The Holy Face of Jesus
I
salute Thee, I adore Thee and I love Thee, O adorable Face of Jesus, my
Beloved, noble Seal of the Divinity! outraged anew by blasphemers. I offer
Thee, through the heart of Thy blessed Mother, the worship of all the Angels
and Saints, most humbly beseeching Thee to repair and renew in me and in all
men Thine Image disfigured by sin.
O
adorable Face which was adored, with profound respect, by Mary and Joseph when
they saw Thee for the first time, have mercy on us.
O
adorable Face which ravished with joy, in the stable of Bethlehem, the Angels,
the shepherds and the magi, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which transpierced with a dart of love in the Temple, the saintly
old man Simeon and the prophetess Anna, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which filled with admiration the Doctors of the Law when Thou
appeared in the Temple at the age of twelve years, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which possesses beauty always ancient and always new, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which is the masterpiece of the Holy Ghost, in which the Eternal
Father is well pleased, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which is the ineffable mirror of the divine perfections, have
mercy…
Adorable
Face of Jesus which was so mercifully bowed down on the Cross, on the day of
Thy Passion, for the salvation of the world! Once more today in pity bend down
towards us poor sinners. Cast upon us a glance of compassion and give us Thy
peace.
O
adorable Face which became brilliant like the sun and radiant with glory, on
the Mountain of Thabor, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which wept and was troubled at the tomb of Lazarus, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which was rendered sad at the sight of Jerusalem, and shed tears
on that ungrateful city, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which was bowed down to the ground in the Garden of Olives, and
covered with confusion for our sins, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which was covered with the sweat of blood, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which was struck by a vile servant, covered with a veil of shame,
and profaned by the sacrilegious hands of Thine enemies, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which by Its divine glance, wounded the heart of St. Peter with a
dart of sorrow and love, have mercy…Be merciful to us, O my God! Do not reject
our prayers, when in the midst of our afflictions, we call upon Thy Holy Name
and seek with love and confidence Thine adorable Face.
O
adorable Face which was washed and anointed by Mary and the holy women and
covered with a shroud, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which was all resplendent with glory and beauty on the day of the
Resurrection, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which is hidden in the Eucharist, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which will appear at the end of time in the clouds with great
power and great majesty, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which will make sinners tremble, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which will fill the just with joy for all eternity, have mercy…
O
adorable Face which merits all our reverence, our homage and our adoration,
have mercy…
O
Lord, show us Thy Face, and we shall be saved! O Lord, show us Thy Face, and we
shall be saved! O Lord, show us Thy Face, and we shall be saved!
Here are five habits St. Padre Pio believed all Catholics
should practice, based on advice he gave to his spiritual children.
I. Weekly Confession
“Confession is the soul’s bath. You
must go at least once a week. I do not want souls to stay away from confession
more than a week. Even a clean and unoccupied room gathers dust; return after a
week and you will see that it needs dusting again!”
II. Daily Communion
“It is quite true; we are not worthy
of such a gift. However, to approach the Blessed Sacrament in a state of mortal
sin is one thing, and to be unworthy is quite another. All of us are unworthy,
but it is He who invites us. It is He who desires it. Let us humble ourselves
and receive Him with a heart contrite and full of love.”
III. Examination of Conscience Every
Evening
Someone once told Padre Pio
that he thought a nightly examination of conscience was pointless
because he knew what was sin as it was committed. To this, Padre Pio
replied, “That is true enough. But every experienced merchant in this world not
only keeps track throughout the day of whether he has lost or gained on each
sale. In the evening, he does the bookkeeping for the day to determine what he
should do on the morrow. It follows that it is indispensable to make a rigorous
examination of conscience, brief but lucid, every night.”
IV. Daily Spiritual Reading
“The harm that comes to souls from
the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder…. What power spiritual reading
has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into
the way of perfection.”
V. Mental Prayer Twice Daily
“If you do not succeed in meditating
well, do not give up doing your duty. If the distractions are numerous, do not
be discouraged; do the meditation of patience, and you will still profit.
Decide upon the length of your meditation, and do not leave your place before
finishing, even if you have to be crucified. Why do you worry so much because
you do not know how to meditate as you would like? Meditation is a means to
attaining God, but it is not a goal in itself. Meditation aims at the love of
God and neighbor. Love God with all your soul without reserve, and love your
neighbor as yourself, and you will have accomplished half of your meditation.”
Let
Freedom Ring: Freedom from Fear-Day 1
By Fr.
Bill Peckman
In the Garden of Eden, the
Devil tempts Adam and Eve. He lies to them. His lie is effective because it
taps into fear. The fear is simple: God does not want what is good for you. The
Devil sells a fear to Adam and Eve that God wishes them to be perpetually ignorant
of good and evil (even though they already knew the good), that they are
missing out without that knowledge. Fear finds its roots in a disbelief in
God's providence and care. God knows this and in the Scriptures. He tells us
365 times to not be afraid. Overcoming fear is trusting in God.
Fear rules our nation now.
It used to be that the American Dream was the ability to act rightly and freely
and set one's course independent of one's socioeconomic status. In the last 100
years the American Dream transformed into accumulation of possessions and
status. Now the American dream had turned into a nightmare of anarchy by which
the dream is complete autonomy and self-determination independent of God,
science, or reason. The fear comes from a belief that this life is all that
there is, and we must create a reality conducive to my personal truth. Anyone
who challenges this is to be feared and despised.
Fear rules within most
churches now. Fear has reduced the evangelical call of the Great Commission to
a call for the comfortable and non-challenging. It has stilled out tongues on
moral issues. It has gutted our catechesis. It has emptied our seminaries and
decimated the priesthood. Being Catholic has always carried a stigma in this
country. With the scandals in the Church, fear of being accused of things one
would never do is a strong deterrent to answering God's call. It was for me.
When the purveyors of fear have raised their voices, in fear we Catholics have
allowed ours to be silenced. A fearful person who will not stand up against the
lies of a human being will never stand up to the lies perpetrated by the father
of lies, the Devil. We would do well to heed Jesus's rebuke of His apostles in
Mathew 8:26, "Why are you fearful, ye of little faith?" He says this
as they are being tossed on the sea by a strong storm.
It might be said that
courage is the virtue to cultivate to fight fear. It goes deeper. The virtue to
cultivate is the theological virtue of faith. To countermand the Devil's use of
fear, in believing that God does not want what is good for us or will abandon
us if we follow Him, we must cultivate faith so as to be able and willing to
put our trust in His goodness and plan.
Faith must lead to
conversion. If not, then the grace of God is squandered. We shall have to
answer for this. Conversion is an outward and inward sign of the trust we faith
we have in God. Conversion sets the devil on his heels. It calls out his lie.
Faith will lead us to a place where we can stand out against the rising tide
and fight against the diabolical. Dead men flow downstream, weak men float
downstream, but live men can walk against the current and move forward. Faith
is the powertrain to give us such abilities.
Prayer
of Reparation
My Lord and my God, we
have allowed the temptation of the devil to move our hearts to doubt in your
goodness. We have still our tongues in the face of evil. We have been too
fearful to stand out in our culture, allowing the strong storms to quell our
trust in you. In our fear, we have allowed the ancient foe to advance. We turn
to you Lord, in our sorrow and guilt, and beg your forgiveness for our fear and
timidity. We beg for the grace of your goodness to build up within us what you
sought to build up in your apostles in that tempest tossed boat.
We know, Lord, if you will
it, it will be done.
Trusting in you, we offer
our prayer to you who live and reign forever.
Amen
Prayer
of Exorcism
Trusting in your goodness
Lord, We know if you will it, it will be done in unity with Your Son and the
Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever. Amen.
Litany
of Humility
O Jesus, meek and humble of
heart, Hear
me.
From the desire of being
esteemed, Deliver
me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O
Jesus.
From
the desire of being extolled,
From
the desire of being honored,
From
the desire of being praised,
From
the desire of being preferred to others,
From
the desire of being consulted,
From
the desire of being approved,
From the fear of being
humiliated, Deliver
me, O Jesus.
From
the fear of being despised,
From
the fear of suffering rebukes,
From
the fear of being calumniated,
From
the fear of being forgotten,
From
the fear of being ridiculed,
From
the fear of being wronged,
From
the fear of being suspected,
That
others may be loved more than I,
Jesus,
grant me the grace to desire it.
That
others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus,
grant me the grace to desire it.
That,
in the opinion of the world, others may increase
and
I may decrease,
Jesus,
grant me the grace to desire it.
That
others may be chosen, and I set aside,
Jesus,
grant me the grace to desire it.
That
others may be praised, and I go unnoticed,
Jesus,
grant me the grace to desire it.
That
others may be preferred to me in everything,
Jesus,
grant me the grace to desire it.
That
others may become holier than I,
provided
that I may become as holy as I should,
Jesus,
grant me the grace to desire it.
Every Wednesday is
Dedicated to St. Joseph
The Italian culture has
always had a close association with St. Joseph perhaps you could make Wednesdays
centered around Jesus’s Papa. Plan an Italian dinner of pizza or spaghetti
after attending Mass as most parishes have a Wednesday evening Mass. You could
even do carry out to help restaurants. If you are adventurous you could do the
Universal Man Plan: St. Joseph style. Make the evening a family night perhaps
it could be a game night. Whatever you do make the day special.
·
Do
Day 8 of Total Consecration to St. Joseph.
·
Do
the St. Joseph Universal Man Plan.
Daily Devotions
·
Trust in God in the midst of troubles.
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Novena
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
·
Rosary
[3]https://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Christ-Richard-Henry-Havermale/dp/1489516042
[4] http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/files/hf-english.pdf
[5]https://www.catholicgentleman.net/2014/08/st-padre-pios-5-point-rule-life/
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