Day 29-Let Freedom Ring: Freedom from Racism
We have allowed the temptation of the devil to move our hearts to not see fulfillment in Your goodness.
We have still our tongues in the face of evil.
We have allowed false divisions to wreak destruction on our society and Church.
We have expected You to be pleased with our divisiveness.
We have, at times, been a source of scandal for those searching through our sinfulness and rebellion to 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 racism.
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 and ever.
Amen.
In Your power and goodness, You created all things.
You set a path for us to walk on and a way to an eternal relationship.
By the strength of Your arm and Word of Your mouth
Cast from Your Holy Church every fearful deceit of the Devil
Drive from us manifestations of the demonic that oppress us and beckon us to racism and entitlement.
Still the lying tongue of the devil and his forces so that we may act freely and faithfully to Your will.
Send Your holy angels to cast out all influence that the demonic entities in charge of racism have planted in Your church.
Free us, our families, our parish, our diocese, and our country from all trickery and deceit perpetrated by the Devil and his hellish legions.
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 forever and ever.
Amen.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy, etc.
God the Holy Ghost,
Holy Trinity, one God,
Holy Mary, Queen of the Angels, pray for us, etc.
St. Michael, the Archangel,
Most glorious attendant of the Triune Divinity,
Standing at the right of the altar of Incense,
Ambassador of Paradise,
Glorious Prince of the Heavenly armies,
Leader of the Angelic hosts,
The standard-bearer of God's armies,
Defender of Divine glory,
First defender of the Kingship of Christ,
Strength of God,
Invincible Prince and warrior,
Angel of Peace,
Guide of Christ,
Guardian of the Catholic Faith,
Champion of God's people,
Guardian Angel of the Eucharist,
Defender of the Church,
Protector of the Sovereign Pontiff,
Angel of Catholic action,
Powerful intercessor of Christians,
Bravest defender of those who hope in God,
Guardian of our souls and bodies,
Healer of the sick,
Help of those in their agony,
Consoler of the Souls in Purgatory,
God's messenger for the souls of the just,
Terror of the evil spirits,
Victorious in battle against evil,
Guardian and Patron of the universal Church,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Relying, O Lord, upon the intercession of Thy blessed Archangel Michael, we humbly beg of Thee, that the Sacrament of the Eucharist which we have received may make our souls holy and pleasing to Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SAINT JOHN VIANNEY
They
were seeking to arrest him, but they feared
the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So,
they left him and went away.
It is natural to fear
something you cannot control. Christ could not be controlled by the men in
charge of the Temple system; so, they feared Him and they feared the crowd that
followed Him. Christ’s message was good news to the crowd who were but pawns in
the Jewish Temple system of wealth and power. We in times of trouble should be
like Tobit and seek to walk all the days of our lives in paths of truth and
righteousness. It was Tobit who defied those in power to do an act of mercy by
burying the dead. While his neighbors mocked him and saying to one another: “He
is still not afraid! Once before he was hunted down for execution because of
this very thing; yet now that he has scarcely escaped, here he is again burying
the dead!” (Tobit 2:8) Love makes sacrifices. He (Christ) laid down His life
for us. We should also lay down our life for our brothers. (1 John 3:16) Most
of us by the grace of God are never confronted with such terrors of evil. Yet,
we too in our quiet lives can lay down ourselves in service to our brothers.
Feast of Saint John Vianney[1]
During the French Revolution a
small band of Ursuline nuns was imprisoned in the Bastille. To cheer her
disconsolate companions, one of the group passed wheaten discs of bread, cut
from the loaf of the daily rations, to memorialize the happy days when they
were free and could receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. At that time all
religious schools and churches were closed, and those who harbored priests were
imprisoned. At the Vianney farmhouse near Dardilly, France, fugitive priests
were offered a refuge. Here their son was prepared in his tenth year for the
reception of Holy Communion by a hunted priest. While tending his father's
sheep, John Vianney fashioned a small statue of Our Lady out of clay. He hid it
in the hollow of an old tree with this petition: "Dear Lady Mary, I love
you very much; you must bring Jesus back to His tabernacles very soon!" On
a visit to his aunt at Ecully, John listened to her praises of Father Balley,
the parish priest, and he sought the Father's advice regarding his vocation to
the priesthood. The pastor appraised the overgrown, awkward youth of faltering
speech and devoid of general education. Though John was unable to answer the
questions pertaining to earthly science which Father asked him, yet, when the
priest put to him the questions of the catechism, his face became luminous with
lively interest. He answered every question correctly, and in a manner beyond
his years. The amazed pastor took this evidence as a sign from heaven,
prophesying, "You will become a priest!" The ensuing years brought
many trials to John. He was conscripted; his mother died; he failed often in
his studies. Ordained as a Mass priest, August 12, 1815, he remarked to Our
Lady, Queen of the Clergy: "Here is your priest, O Blessed Mother! Stay
close to me. Help me to be a good priest!" As a curate and as a pastor,
St. John Vianney's daily instruction on the catechism found an inspired
audience, among whom were noted orators such as Père Lacordaire, O.P., the
famed preacher of Notre Dame. The saintly pastor performed many miracles, but
the greatest was his own manner of Eucharistic living. It was his Lord, living
in Father Vianney, who made him "spend and be spent" in ceaseless
service for both sinner and saint in the sacred tribunal of penance.
Things to Do[2]
·
The
Collect praises St. John Vianney's zeal for souls and his spirit of prayer and
penance. Say a special prayer today that by his example and intercession we too
may win the souls of our brothers for Christ.
·
Say
a prayer for priests that they may persevere in their vocation. If you haven't
been to confession for a while resolve to do so right away and be sure that you
remember to say an extra prayer for your confessor.
·
From
the Catholic Culture library: Pope John XXIII holds St. John Vianney as a model
for the priesthood in this Encyclical.
·
Read
this longer life of the Curé of Ars
and also these excerpts
from his sermons.
Total Consecration to St. Joseph-Day 16[3]
On
Day 16 Father Calloway points out that a just man is someone who loves God and
proves his love by keeping God’s commandments and directing his whole life
towards the service of his brothers, his fellow men. What about you? Do you
love God, keep his commandments, and act with honor and charity toward your neighbor?
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
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.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, Pray for Us.
Noble offspring of David, Pray for Us.
Light of Patriarchs, Pray for Us.
Spouse of the Mother of God, Pray for Us.
Chaste Guardian of the Virgin, Pray for Us.
Foster Father of the Son of God, Pray for Us.
Zealous Defender of Christ, Pray for Us.
Head of the Holy family, Pray for Us.
Joseph Most Just, Pray for Us.
Father Calloway emphasizes
· Saint Joseph will increase in you the virtue of justice.
Sometimes to understand something is to examine similar things and opposite things. One way to do this is to look at the synonyms and antonyms of the word “Just”.
Just=Really, Only, Now, Simply, Good
Unjust=Unfair, Discriminatory, Biased, Unwarranted, Unreasonable
Saint Joseph was a man who gave each their due. You could say he really cared, when he was with you; you were his only agenda; and Joseph acted now; he was simple and direct seeking the good God placed in his heart for you.
Unlike the men of his age and ours he did not seek an unfair advantage; nor did he discriminate; nor was he biased in his mind. He did not seek injury to another that was unwarranted or unreasonable. I think that when Jesus mentioned that if a neighbor asks you to walk a mile with him you should walk two, he was thinking of Joseph the Just. If Joseph was so with his neighbors how do you think he was with God. We cannot be just to others if we begrudge justice to God by halfheartedly spending one hour a week thanking Him and worshiping him. Are you a just man?
Just and Reverent Man
St.
Joseph must have confronted all sorts of events, whether advantageous or
adverse and always acted in accord with the Divine Will and strove to give God
and others their due. Joseph was a living example of a man who lived the Shema
Israel; he loved and put God first.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the
Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and with
all your soul, and with your entire mind, and with all your strength.
St.
Joseph, the model Christian.[4]
The
Church recognizes him as the greatest saint after the Virgin Mary. What is
absolutely remarkable is that the most holy place of Nazareth was also home to
great discretion, to such a simple almost ordinary life consisting of married
and fatherly love. A life turned completely to God, to observing prayers
and religious laws. A life marked by obedience to civil laws and daily
monotony. We can never meditate enough on this contrast between St. Joseph’s
remarkable sanctity and his modest everyday life.
St.
Joseph is the “silent” doctor of this Nazarene school. He mastered the art of
listening to the voice of God in reciting “Shema Yisrael” (“Hear, O’ Israel”)
twice a day. So, his silence was actually an ability to listen and promptly
obey. Here are some examples of his unwavering abandonment to Divine
Providence: He took his wife (Matt. 1:24); he went up to Judea, to Bethlehem
(Luke 2:4); and he took his wife and the child and fled to Egypt (Matt. 2:13).
After Herod had died, he returned to Nazareth together with his wife and child
(Mark. 2:19-23).
Through
the example of his earthly life, Mary’s husband, the father of Jesus and the
village artisan, attests to the mystical life. He was “just” because “the just
man is the person who prays, lives by faith, and seeks to do good in every
concrete circumstance of life,” said St. John-Paul II.
Something
that is never explicitly mentioned about St. Joseph is all those years of love
and hard work, which remind us of our own daily lives. It’s as if God is
telling us through Joseph: Don’t look anywhere else but your actual life for
occasions to be sanctified. Don’t leave it to seek out God; don’t think of your
own sanctity – just receive it, work humbly and steadfastly on it in all
circumstances, since there are so many occasions and so many places to obey the
will of God and to generously give yourself to God and others.
St. Joseph’s sanctity is silent, but
it doesn’t lack in eloquence. It invites us to listen to the Word, made flesh,
which was the center of his life and has now become the center of ours. Father
Nicolas Buttet
o
Pray the Litany of St. Joseph.
Saint Obama
Today has also been recognized as “Obama Day” and it
seems the left has already begun his canonization.
Obama’s
frequent appeals to history’s judgment reflect his confidence that history will
be kind to him. In the short run, it will: liberals will canonize Obama. Like
the faithful Catholics chanting “santo subito” after the death of Pope John
Paul II, Obama’s liberal boosters will turn him into Saint Barack, savior of
health care and slayer of bin Laden. You might see hints of this already
in your liberal friends’ wistful Facebook posts: “I’m really going to miss this
guy.” If liberals are calling the shots, Obama’s name will shortly be inscribed
on statues and state buildings, and his face will someday appear on coins and
currency, while the divisions he sowed and exploited in pursuit of personal
glory will be papered over. Generations of schoolchildren will learn about the
beloved, barrier-shattering college professor with the megawatt smile who could
tell a joke and make a jump shot—not the ambitious, polarizing ideologue whose
disdain for half the country was palpable. No mention will be made of his habit
of insulting supposedly lazy, ignorant Americans who cling bitterly to their
religion, guns, and “antipathy toward people who aren’t like them,” and who
fall prey to “anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to
explain their frustrations.”[5]
Daily Devotions/Practices
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face-Tuesday
Devotion
·
Pray Day 7 of
the Novena for our Pope and Bishops
·
Tuesday:
Litany of St. Michael the Archangel
·
The necessity of being
faithful to the end
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary.
[3]https://catholicexchange.com/now-is-the-time-to-consecrate-yourself-to-saint-joseph
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