Rogation Monday
ST. JULIA OF CORSICA
Daniel, Chapter 5, Verse 19Because he
made him so great, the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and FEARED him. Whomever he willed, he would
kill or let live; whomever he willed, he would exalt or humble.
The “He” we are talking about is King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel here explains to Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson that "the Most High God" gave Nebuchadnezzar power and greatness, which allowed him to do whatever he wanted as king. But God proved to Nebuchadnezzar that only God was really in charge, by making him live in the wild with the animals for seven years and forcing Nebuchadnezzar to acknowledge God. Yet, says Daniel, Belshazzar, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, failed to learn the same lesson and become humble.
Only humble leaders can be secure in their
own power.
The Law of Empowerment[1]
says that
Only secure leaders give power to
others. But what does it mean to be
secure? Using the analogy of personal finance, let’s look at what’s missing
from the lives of insecure leaders. This will help us better understand where
security comes from and why it matters. Paupers, debtors, and hoarders lack the
real or perceived financial security necessary to give generously to others.
·
Leaders
without purpose are like paupers.
Paupers have no source of income aside from the financial assistance they
receive from someone else. Penniless and dependent, they’re clearly unable to
help others financially. They have no passion, low energy, and little drive to
grow in influence. Usually, their only source of power is the position they
have been given by somebody else. In terms of personal authority, they’re impoverished.
·
Leaders
without authenticity are like debtors. Debtors may have nice salaries, but
their expenses exceed their income. They’ve maxed out credit cards and taken
out hefty loans. Consequently, they’re stuck paying exorbitant interest rates
on the amounts they have borrowed. In an upside-down financial situation,
they’re in no position to give generously to others. Someone deeply in debt may
appear wealthy, even though they’re secretly on the verge of bankruptcy. The
closer you inspect their life, the more signs of dysfunction you see.
Similarly, inauthentic leaders may seem to have all the tools to lead with
excellence. However, they are missing the crucial component of moral authority.
They do not practice the values they preach, and they prefer to keep others at
arm’s length to hide their shortcomings.
·
Leaders without humility resemble
hoarders. Hoarders
are sitting on a pile of wealth, but they think only of protecting it rather
than of sharing it with others. They have the plentiful resources but are
unwilling to part with them.. Having put their talents to work, they enjoy a
significant amount of power. However, they’re worried about others taking it
from them or gaining more of it than they have. So, instead of using their
influence to empower others, they keep it for their own benefit.
As leaders, we can only lift others up when we’re standing on a firm foundation. Purpose, authenticity, and humility give us a secure, stable base from which to lead. Purpose is the answer to the question: why do you want to lead? The best leaders have a purpose that is greater than they are. Their “why” involves more than accumulating money or seeking self-actualization. They see leadership as a calling rather than a career, relishing the opportunity to use their unique talents to accomplish something significant that will outlive them. Authenticity means being comfortable in your own skin. Authentic leaders have self-awareness, self-respect, self-confidence, and emotional maturity. They prize integrity above image, and they seek to build trust with others on the basis of their personal character. Humility is often wrongly associated depreciating and downgrading ourselves. However, true humility flows out of gratitude and comes when we credit God for our blessings and others for our successes. As Rick Warren teaches, a humble leader doesn’t deny his strengths; he’s simply honest about his limitations. Humble leaders feel no need to trumpet their status, are unthreatened by criticism, and revel in the accomplishments of others. They put their pride aside so that others have room to shine.
THE
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before the Ascension are observed as days of
solemn supplication, and are called Rogation Days. These three Rogation days
serve also as a preparation for the feast of the ascension, which reminds us
that we have the most powerful intercessor in our savior, who is now enthroned
at the right hand of the father. Since 1929
many churches in the
United States have
observed Rogation Sunday as Rural Life
Sunday, or Soil Stewardship
Sunday. Services on this day examine
the religious aspects
of rural life. In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church cancelled
the Rogation Days.
In their place Church
authorities instituted days of prayer for
human needs, human
works, and the
fruits of the earth.
Local bishops may
now set appropriate
dates for these
observances in their dioceses.
Things to Do:[3]
Rogationtide
Monday[4]
Rogation
Days are a Roman Catholic "baptism" of the Robigalia, a pagan
procession to gain favor from the Robigo, the Roman god of grain. Since the
Church had no objection to praying for the harvest, it threw out Robigo while
keeping the procession and prayers. Today would be a good day to reflect on
what we want to harvest this fall; so like farmers we must till the soil of our
soul reflecting this day on our use of our TIME and look at in what ways we may
offer our time to Christ to help build a harvest for His Kingdom.
Time
Consider
that Christ was on the cross from noon to 3 p.m. Three hours that must have
seemed an eternality to literally buy us back from damnation.
Reflect
today if you in turn can sacrifice 3 hours a week to give back to the Lord.
Yes, time is a precious commodity:
Consider:
·
Sunday
Mass is one hour can you give more?
·
Each
day has 24 hours.
o
Normally
you use 8 hours for sleep-offer your sleep to the Lord.
§
If
you wake in the middle of night give an hour to prayer and go back to sleep in
the Lord.
o
Normally
you use 8 hours to earn your daily bread and a place to sleep.
§
Before
you eat your bread and place your head on your “my pillow” thank the Lord.
o
Normally
you have 8 hours to bake the bread, make your bed; make sure your fed; wash
your head. Exercise and make use of your squatty potty, etc.
o
Brother
can you spare some time for the Lord
·
The
rosary takes 20 minutes.
Apostolic
Exhortation[5]
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 I
I.
The Mass as the new Exodus from Slavery of Sin
16.
Remember the First Passover was offered at the climax of the deliverance of
Israel from slavery to the Egyptians (c.f. Exodus 12). Each household was to take
a male lamb in the prime age of its life, free of defects, and sacrifice it to
God. The blood of the lamb was to be spread on the entrances of their homes
while its flesh was to be eaten. Every home that followed the rites commanded
by God for this sacred meal were spared from the death of their firstborn sons.
The first Passover saved the Israelites from death and led to their liberation
from slavery. At the annual Passover, the head of the household was to recount
the story of how the Lord delivered them from the oppression of Egypt and
spared their lives. Then they were to eat the flesh of the lamb that they
sacrificed.
17.
Jesus brought this first Passover to its ultimate fulfillment at the Last
Supper. At this Passover, Jesus took the position at the head of the household,
the father of the family. Instead of recounting the story of the first exodus
of the Israelites from Egypt, He spoke of His own suffering and death about to
take place. Instead of explaining the significance of the Passover Lamb to be
consumed, Jesus identified His body and blood with the bread and wine and
commanded that it be consumed.
18.
Just as the Hebrews had no alternative means of liberation other than the
Passover lamb, there is no other means to salvation than through the grace of
Jesus’ own self-sacrifice. Because Jesus is God, the second Person of the
Trinity, His offering of His Blood is in a real sense an act of God,
transcending time and place. Thus, in every Mass, we feast on the flesh of the
Lamb of God offered once for all in expiation for our sins. To be continued…
St.
Julia of Corsica[6]
Excerpted from Butler's Lives of the Saints
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO I. THE CREEDS
CHAPTER THREE-I BELIEVE IN THE
HOLY SPIRIT
683 "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy
Spirit." "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying, 'Abba! Father!"' This knowledge of faith is possible only in
the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by
the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our
Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church
communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the
Father and is offered to us in the Son.
Baptism
gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy
Spirit. For those who bear God's Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the
Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers
incorruptibility on them. and it is impossible to see God's Son without the
Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge
of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God's Son is obtained through
the Holy Spirit.
684 Through his grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith
in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to "know the Father
and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ." But the Spirit is the
last of the persons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed. St. Gregory of
Nazianzus, the Theologian, explains this progression in terms of the pedagogy
of divine "condescension":
The
Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more obscurely. the
New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the
Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of
himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the Father had not yet been
confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not
yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat
daringly.... By advancing and progressing "from glory to glory," the
light of the Trinity will shine in ever more brilliant rays.
685 To believe in the Holy Spirit is to profess that the Holy Spirit
is one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and
the Son: "with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and
glorified." For this reason, the divine mystery of the Holy Spirit
was already treated in the context of Trinitarian "theology." Here,
however, we have to do with the Holy Spirit only in the divine
"economy."
686 The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the
beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation. But in these
"end times," ushered in by the Son's redeeming Incarnation, the
Spirit is revealed and given, recognized and welcomed as a person. Now can this
divine plan, accomplished in Christ, the firstborn and head of the new
creation, be embodied in mankind by the outpouring of the Spirit: as the
Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of
the body, and the life everlasting.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: An end
to the use of contraceptives.
· Eat waffles
and Pray for the assistance of the Angels
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Total
Consecration to Mary Day 26
· Monday: Litany of
Humility
· Rosary
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