First Friday
2 Samuel, Chapter 10, Verse 19
God
was with David, and he now defeats the Syrians and the Ammonites. The life of
David was that of a warrior and this was David’s last victory before his fall
with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah from David’s hand. All life is a battle
and sometimes we fail but like David let us always return to the Lord.
Do not be afraid of anything that you are going to
suffer. Indeed, the devil will throw some of you into prison, that you may be
tested, and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful until death,
and I will give you the crown of life. (Rv. 2:10)
Let
us build up our gratitude to the Lord for his saving graces.
“Lord
Jesus Christ, you are the strength or the weak and the confidence of those who
trust in you. Be my secure confidence and my abundant strength! Teach me to
understand myself and to believe in effectiveness of your saving grace. Grant
me the courage not to stop trying and teach me the humility to trust in you
when I tend to be discouraged by my weakness.[1]
Apostolic Exhortation[1]
Veneremur
Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling
of The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix
on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My
beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Part II
III. Worthy Reception of Holy
Communion – Conforming our life with Christ
55. The beautiful and rich Liturgy of
the Church, which has been passed down to us from the first century, contains
many expressions of devotion and faith in the real presence of Christ in the
Eucharist. For example, we call to mind that the main reason our churches are
decorated with beautiful and precious art is because here in the Church
building, Jesus is present in the tabernacle, always accompanying us and
interceding for us. We also celebrate our Masses with beautiful music and
vestments, incense, candles, and many other details that allow us to express
our faith and gratitude to Christ who has loved us so much that He has decided
to stay with us, really present in the Eucharist, until the end of time. Many
churches hold special hours of prayer and adoration of the Eucharist, to honor
and thank our Lord, and to bring all our needs before Him. We dress
respectfully for Mass knowing that we come to worship and receive our Lord who
comes to us at the altar and especially in our hearts. All these expressions of
devotion flow from a lively faith in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist.
56. As the Eucharistic faith of the
Church expresses itself in so many beautiful ways, so also, our faith in the
Real Presence should move us to desire and strive with all our efforts to
prepare and receive Jesus worthily in Holy Communion.
57. At the moment of Holy Communion,
the priest holds up the consecrated Host and says, “the Body of Christ”. When
we reply “Amen” and then receive the Body of Christ, we are expressing not only
our faith in Jesus Christ but also our desire and effort to live in friendship
with Him. By receiving the Body of Christ in Holy Communion we manifest our
union with the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. Therefore, if with our
“Amen,” we refuse to accept and live by the whole teaching of Christ and His
Church, we are not in communion with Him but living a ‘fake’ union, one that
overlooks truth and justice. In the same way, when we commit a mortal sin and
deliberately fail in a serious matter of “rejection of communion with God… then
we are seriously obliged to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until we are
reconciled with God and the Church” through the Sacrament of Penance (USCCB
“Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper”: On Preparing to Receive Christ
Worthily in the Eucharist).
To be continued…
[1]https://dphx.org/veneremur-cernui/
First
Friday[2]
The
prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus .
. . which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins."
To those who show him love and who make reparation for sins, however, our Lord
made a great pledge: "I promise you in the unfathomable mercy of
my heart that my omnipotent love will procure the grace of final penitence for
all those who receive communion on nine successive first Fridays of the month;
they will not die in my disfavor, or without having received the sacraments,
since my divine heart will be their sure refuge in the last moments of their
life."
To gain this grace, we must:
·
Receive
Holy Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays.
·
Have
the intention of honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of reaching final
perseverance.
·
Offer
each Holy Communion as an act of atonement for offenses against the Blessed
Sacrament.
Considerations
The fullness of God is revealed and given to us in Christ, in the love of
Christ, in Christ's heart. For it is the heart of him in whom "the whole
fullness of deity dwells bodily." Were one to lose sight of this great plan
of God-the overflow of love in the world through the Incarnation, the
Redemption and Pentecost-he could not understand the refinement with which our
Lord deals with us. So, when we talk about the heart of Jesus, we stress the
certainty of God's love and the truth of his commitment to us. When we
recommend devotion to the Sacred Heart, we are recommending that we should give
our whole selves to Jesus, to the whole Jesus-our souls, our feelings and
thoughts, our words and actions, our joys. That is what true devotion to the
heart of Jesus means. It is knowing God and ourselves. It is looking at Jesus
and turning to him, letting him encourage and teach and guide us. The only
difficulty that could beset this devotion would be our own failure to
understand the reality of an incarnate God. But note that God does not say:
"In exchange for your own heart, I will give you a will of pure
spirit." No, he gives us a heart, a human heart, like Christ's. I don't
have one heart for loving God and another for loving people. I love Christ and
the Father and the Holy Spirit and our Lady with the same heart with which I
love my parents and my friends. I shall never tire of repeating this. We must be very human, for otherwise we
cannot be divine. . ..
If we don't learn from Jesus, we will never love. If, like some people, we were
to think that to keep a clean heart, a heart worthy of God, means "not
mixing it up, not contaminating it" with human affection, we would become
insensitive to other people's pain and sorrow. We would be capable of only an
"official charity," something dry and soulless. But ours would not be
the true charity of Jesus Christ, which involves affection and human warmth. In
saying this, I am not supporting the mistaken theories-pitiful excuses-that
misdirect hearts away from God and lead them into occasions of sin and
perdition. . ..
But I have still a further consideration to put before you. We have to
fight vigorously to do good, precisely because it is difficult for us to
resolve seriously to be just, and there is a long way to go before human
relations are inspired by love and not hatred or indifference. We should also
be aware that, even if we achieve a reasonable distribution of wealth and a
harmonious organization of society, there will still be the suffering of
illness, of misunderstanding, of loneliness, of the death of loved ones, of the
experience of our own limitations.
Faced with the weight of all this, a Christian can find only one genuine
answer, a definitive answer: Christ on the cross, a God who suffers and dies, a
God who gives us his heart opened by a lance for the love of us all. Our Lord
abominates injustice and condemns those who commit it. But he respects the
freedom of each individual. He permits injustice to happen because, as a result
of original sin, it is part and parcel of the human condition. Yet his heart is
full of love for men. Our suffering, our sadness, our anguish, our hunger and
thirst for justice . . . he took all these tortures on himself by means of the
cross. . ..
Suffering is part of God's plans. This is the truth; however difficult it may
be for us to understand it. It was difficult for Jesus Christ the man to
undergo his passion: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me;
nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." In this tension of
pleading and acceptance of the Father's will, Jesus goes calmly to his death,
pardoning those who crucify him.
This supernatural acceptance of suffering was, precisely, the greatest of all
conquests. By dying on the cross, Jesus overcame death. God brings life from
death. The attitude of a child of God is not one of resignation to a possibly
tragic fate; it is the sense of achievement of someone who has a foretaste of
victory. In the name of this victorious love of Christ, we Christians should go
out into the world to be sowers of peace and joy through everything we say and
do. We have to fight-a fight of peace-against evil, against injustice, against
sin. Thus, do we serve notice that the present condition of mankind is not
definitive. Only the love of God, shown in the heart of
Christ, will attain our glorious spiritual triumph.
Devotion
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church. It was St.
Margaret Mary Alacoque, however, who made this devotion widespread. In 1675,
within the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi, our Lord appeared to her and
said: "Behold this heart which, notwithstanding the burning love for men
with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from most
Christians than sacrilege, contempt, indifference and ingratitude, even in the
sacrament of my love [the Eucharist]. But what pierces my heart most deeply is
that I am subjected to these insults by persons especially consecrated to my
service."
The
great promise of the Sacred Heart is most consoling: the grace of final
perseverance and the joy of having Jesus' heart as our sure refuge and Infinite
Ocean of mercy in our last hour.
Cognac
Day[3]
There are many forms of distilled alcohol that carry a distinct nobility to them, a bit of culture and of social grandeur that just can’t be claimed by other alcohols. When you think of beer, the concepts that arrive in your mind are often cheap bars and backyard BBQ’s, with wine the themes are the same but generally of a higher social class. Mention Bourbon, Scotch, and Cognac, however, and suddenly the rich red of mahogany and distinguished gentlemen in high-class studies and dens come to mind. Cognac Day is dedicated to one of these rich beverages, and perhaps one of the most distinguished.
History of Cognac Day
To begin with, let’s talk about what Cognac actually
is. Cognac, in a way, is what happens when wine grows up and develops
character, though we may be biased. Cognac begins with a white wine produced in
one of six designated growing regions, and it’s worth noting that if it wasn’t produced from a white wine grown
in those regions, it’s
not considered a real Cognac. The white wine from which it starts is considered
by most connoisseurs to be entirely undrinkable. There’s a further distinction in which a
Cognac must be produced from 90% Ugni Blanc, a form of white wine grape, to
have a specific designation. It all starts with the grapes being pressed and
left to ferment for three weeks in the wild yeasts that grow naturally in those
regions without the addition of sugar or sulfur. This wine is then distilled in
alembic stills and placed into Limousin oak casks for two years where it goes
from being nearly 70% alcohol to 40% alcohol. There are multiple grades of Cognac, and exploring them can be a great
way to spend Cognac Day.
How to celebrate Cognac Day
Ahhh, this is certainly
one of the grandest celebrations. Cognac Day can be celebrated by taking a trip
to your local liquor store and selecting a few varieties to try out. Get
together a few friends and you can have a positively thrilling taste test with
dozens of varieties to choose from. Cognac is far and away an improvement over
the simply fermented grape, distilled and cultivated down to its ultimate final
form. While you’re
sampling this drink, you should look into the various forms of glassware that
are specially designed for serving Cognac. Fill a glass, take a sip, and savor
the luxuriousness that is Cognac, you won’t
regret it!
Fish and Chip Day[4]
Rich, delicious, and flavorful, and
utterly satisfying, that’s
the best way to describe this treat. There’s
something about the tang of salt and the oil-stained newspaper that just speaks
of a meal so steeped in tradition it only seems appropriate that it comes
wrapped in the day’s
news. Fish and Chips Day commemorates
this fundamental meal of the working class, and while its roots may lay on
Britannia’s foggy
shores, there are few places in the world that this comfort food hasn’t found its way to.
To talk of the history of this
holiday is, as in the case of so many others, to speak of the origins of that
which it celebrates. Fish and Chip seem an odd thing to have become the
foundation for an entire cultures working class, but much comes into focus when
you understand the economy and industry of the time it took hold. In the late
1800’s, trawl
fishing became a major part of the industry in the North Sea, resulting in a
growing availability of fresh fish in areas further inland, especially within
the cities. Anyone who understands economics knows that ‘easily available’ means ‘cheaper to get your hands on’. Cheap, filling, and high caloric
food created an excellent foundation for a working class that held incredibly
physically demanding jobs. Thus, it was that “Chippers” started cropping up all over major
population centers, the vendors that served fish and chips to the people on the
street. From there, the meal spread all over the world and is now popular all
over Canada (being sold from ‘Chip
Wagons’) and
throughout the USA. In the America’s
it can be found in everything from corner burger shops as part of their fry
menu, to some of the most upscale restaurants which provide them with only the
best cod and sides. It really is a meal that crosses all the boundaries of
culture, class, and status.
How
to Celebrate Fish and Chip Day
Well, it starts off simple enough,
doesn’t it?
Pop on over to your favorite Chipper and get yourself a paper-full of this
delicious and filling meal. Try it, however, you like it, with a little tartar
sauce in the US, a bit of mayonnaise in Canada, or whatever strikes you as your
favorite thing to flavor your dish with. Malt vinegar is a very popular
addition, and with the delicious tang, it will make your Fish and Chip Day
flavorful and authentic!
National
Doughnut Day[5]
National
Doughnut Day is a day of appreciation of Salvation Army volunteers who
distributed doughnuts to servicemen during World War I. Doughnuts are
fried circular pieces of dough that are usually topped with sugar syrups,
chocolate, nuts and other flavorings. National Doughnut Day began in 1938 as a
fundraiser for Chicago's Salvation Army. The fundraiser aimed to support
the needy and honor the Salvation Army volunteers who donated their time during
World War I to hand out doughnuts to the soldiers. When the US entered
the war in 1917, Salvation Army huts were formed where many female volunteers
were deployed to mother the soldiers. During this time, women began to
make doughnuts for the servicemen who began to refer to the women as, Doughnut
Dollies. This national holiday is celebrated each year on the first Friday in
June.
National Doughnut Day Top Events
and Things to Do
·
Visit
your local doughnut store for specials and promotions to celebrate National
Doughnut Day. Many doughnut stores offer free doughnuts or specials.
·
Try
to make your own doughnuts with your favorite toppings, or try new blends of
sweet and savory toppings. Some interesting twists include maple bacon
doughnut, smoked salmon doughnut and grilled cheese doughnuts!
·
Become
a volunteer with The Salvation Army. According to The Salvation Army, more than 30
million Americans received assistance from the Salvation Army's officers,
employees and 3.4 million volunteers in 2014.
·
Pick
up a large box of doughnuts on your way to work or school to share with
friends, family, colleagues or fellow students
Daily Devotions
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
[1] A. Francis Coomes, S. J., Fathers’
Manual.
[2]http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/prayers/devotions/to-our-lord-jesus-christ/first-friday-devotion/)
[3] https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/cognac-day/
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