Posts
Christopher’s
Corner Try[1]:
·
Spirit Hour: English
Ale or Devil’s
Whisker’s Cocktail in honor of St. Dunstan
·
Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance
of the Angels
·
Religion in the Home for
Preschool: May
·
Monday: Litany of Humility
·
Bucket List trip[2]:
Iceland
[1] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A
Food Lover's Life List (p. 800). Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
[2] Schultz, Patricia. 1,000 Places to See Before You
Die: A Traveler's Life List Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
MAY 19 Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
ST.
DUNSTUN
2 Maccabees, Chapter 8, Verse 16
Maccabeus
assembled his forces, six thousand strong, and exhorted them not to be
panic-stricken before the enemy, nor to FEAR
the very large number of Gentiles unjustly attacking them, but to fight nobly.
Judas
sums up their theological position before the battle succinctly: Our opponents
trust in weapons and strategy, whereas we simply trust in an all-powerful God.[1]
Fight or die[2]
One of the greatest
temptations in the Catholic life is that of complacency. We go through the
motions, attending Mass on Sunday and maybe going to a parish program or two,
but the Faith never really penetrates
deep into our souls. It remains a superficial reality; just another thing to
do in our comfortable, civilized lives. We love to complain about the
problems in the Church—rending our garments over this bad bishop or this
corrupt priest. We ask:
Where are the saints of
the modern Church? Where are the holy men and women who can be shining
lights in this dark world?
We
lament the state of things, never realizing that it is that God has called us
to be saints. It is we who must
strive for sanctity as if our lives depended on it—because they do.
Fight for the Crown of Eternal Life
Jesus Christ is calling
you and me to rise above satisfaction and mediocrity and to pursue
greatness. He does not want us to muddle through the Christian life. He wants
us to fight nobly for the crown of eternal life. “Fight your way in at the narrow
door,” he tells us, “There are many who will try and will not be able to
enter.”
Now, realize that this
spiritual combat does not necessarily mean grandiose outward actions. Most of
us are not meant to establish a religious order or to convert a far-flung
nation. The saints constantly tell us that holiness is found in sanctifying our
everyday actions, however small they may be. Even so the point is, no one
coasts into heaven effortlessly. It doesn’t work that way. We have a powerful
enemy who works day and night to destroy us. Every day we encounter temptations
internal and external that, if consented to, will destroy our souls. Men, a survey has
revealed that 50%—that is 1 in 2—Christian men are
addicted to pornography. If you think I am
exaggerating the spiritual dangers, you are wrong. There is a war for your
soul, and if you are not watchful, if you are not vigilant,
if you are not intensely focused on the pursuit of holiness, you will
fall away.
Choose Today Who You Will Serve
Holiness begins with a
choice: God or the world.
Whom will you serve?
You
can’t have it both ways. As with any war, there is no middle ground. You either
fight or die. “You cannot please both God and the world at the same time,” says
St. John Vianney, “They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts,
their desires, and their actions.” In other words, you can’t pursue the world’s
values and ideals while calling yourself a Christian and a Catholic. You can’t
hold on to pet sins, abusing God’s mercy by asking his forgiveness, all the
while having no real intention to change.
Take up Your Cross
Christ is calling you to
take up your Cross and follow him. Doing so will bring you more happiness and
more joy than you can possibly imagine. But it will also cost you the comfort
and ease the world promises. “You are like crusaders united to fight against
the world,” said St. Louis de Montfort, “not like Religious who retreat from
the world; lest they be overcome, but like brave and valiant warriors on the
battlefield, who refuse to retreat or even yield an inch. Be brave and fight
courageously.” Men, if you’ve been mediocre, if you’ve been comfortably
complacent, I challenge you today to follow Christ passionately, with all that
you are and have. Clothe yourselves in the armor of God and take up the weapons
of prayer and penance, calling on the powerful intercession of Our Lady, Help
of Christians. Resolve in your heart to do battle, for eternal life, and
then “Be brave and fight courageously.” Your soul depends on it.
Apostolic Exhortation[3]
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
II. The Mass as the eternal
memorial of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross
19. In the Bible and the Church
liturgy, when the Sacrifice of the Mass is called a ‘memorial,’ it means much
more than remembering the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary. It means that whenever
the Mass is celebrated, the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary that happened in the
past is really made present to us at Mass, here and now. This is only possible
because being the eternal High Priest who has conquered death, His
self-offering on the Cross is an everlasting act of love. The Letter to the
Hebrews points clearly to the eternal nature of Christ’s sacrifice: “Because He
remains forever, [He] has a priesthood that does not pass away… He is always
able to save those who approach God through Him, since He lives forever to make
intercession for them” (Heb 7:24-25).
20. Therefore, in every
Mass, Jesus is not being offered again; rather, we – the Mystical Body of
Christ – are taken up into the one sacrifice at Calvary by means of the
Priesthood of Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary is perpetuated and made
present to us in such a way that we can participate in it, linking our
imperfect and sinful lives to the perfect and pure sacrifice of God and
receiving all the divine benefits that flow from His eternal sacrifice. Our
Lord made this possible for us at the Last Supper by instituting the Sacrament
of the Eucharist. He uses this Sacrament to make His self-offering at Calvary
present to all believers in every place and in every time. Ever since that holy
night, throughout the centuries, whenever and wherever the Mass is celebrated,
the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross is really made present.
21. If we were at Calvary, what
would stand out to us? We would see Jesus’ gasping for breath. His gaze would
seem to alternate down and up, first towards us with mercy and longing and
second upwards in surrender to His Father. Would we simply say “thank you” or
would we be compelled to make a response of compassion? When we attend Mass, do
we seek to join Jesus in His total surrender to the Father’s will? Do we bring
our imperfections, our toil and sin, and lay them before Jesus to be consumed
by His Death? We either say with Jesus, “Into Your hands, Father, I commend my
spirit, too!” or we choose to remain enslaved to our sin. To be continued…
St.
Dunstan-Do you have a lucky horseshoe
Dunstan (909 – 19 May 988)
was an abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, a bishop of Worcester, a bishop of London,
and an archbishop of Canterbury, later canonized as a saint. His work restored
monastic life in England and reformed the English Church. His 11th-century
biographer, Osbern, himself an artist and scribe, states that Dunstan was
skilled in “making a picture and forming letters,” as were other clergy of his
age who reached senior rank.
Dunstan served as an
important minister of state to several English kings. He was the most popular
saint in England for nearly two centuries, having gained fame for the many
stories of his greatness, not least among which were those concerning his famed
cunning in defeating the Devil.
Dunstan playing his harp as
the devil visits
English literature contains
many references to him, for example in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens,
and in this folk rhyme:
St Dunstan, as the story goes,
Once pull’d the devil by the nose
With red-hot tongs, which made him roar,
That he was heard three miles or more.
Another story relates how
Dunstan nailed a horseshoe to the Devil’s hoof when he was asked to re-shoe the
Devil’s horse. This caused the Devil great pain, and Dunstan only agreed to
remove the shoe and release the Devil after he promised never to enter a place
where a horseshoe is over the door. This is claimed as the origin of the lucky
horseshoe.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Day 337 2623-2633
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE-PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER ONE-THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE
UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER
Article 3-IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
2623 On the
day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Promise was poured out on the disciples,
gathered "together in one place." While awaiting the Spirit,
"all these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer." The
Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls for her everything that Jesus
said was also to form her in the life of prayer.
2624 In the
first community of Jerusalem, believers "devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the
prayers." This sequence is characteristic of the Church's prayer:
founded on the apostolic faith; authenticated by charity; nourished in the
Eucharist.
2625 In the
first place these are prayers that the faithful hear and read in the
Scriptures, but also that they make their own - especially those of the Psalms,
in view of their fulfillment in Christ. The Holy Spirit, who thus keeps
the memory of Christ alive in his Church at prayer, also leads her toward the
fullness of truth and inspires new formulations expressing the unfathomable
mystery of Christ at work in his Church's life, sacraments, and mission. These
formulations are developed in the great liturgical and spiritual traditions.
the forms of prayer revealed in the apostolic and canonical Scriptures remain
normative for Christian prayer.
I. Blessing and
Adoration
2626 Blessing
expresses the basic movement of Christian prayer: it is an encounter between
God and man. In blessing, God's gift and man's acceptance of it are united in
dialogue with each other. the prayer of blessing is man's response to God's
gifts: because God blesses, the human heart can in return bless the One who is
the source of every blessing.
2627 TWO
fundamental forms express this movement: our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit
through Christ to the Father - we bless him for having blessed us; it
implores the grace of the Holy Spirit that descends through Christ from the
Father - he blesses us.
2628 Adoration
is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his
Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us and the almighty
power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the
spirit to the "King of Glory," respectful silence in the
presence of the "ever greater" God. Adoration of the thrice-holy
and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our
supplications.
II. Prayer of
Petition
2629 The
vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of meaning:
ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even "struggle in
prayer." Its most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is
petition: by prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with
God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of
adversity, not our own last end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we
have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to
him.
2630 The New
Testament contains scarcely any prayers of lamentation, so frequent in the Old
Testament. In the risen Christ the Church's petition is buoyed by hope, even if
we still wait in a state of expectation and must be converted anew every day.
Christian petition, what St. Paul calls {"groaning," arises from
another depth, that of creation "in labor pains" and that of
ourselves "as we wait for the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved." In the end, however, "with
sighs too deep for words" the Holy Spirit "helps us in our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes
for us with sighs too deep for words."
2631 The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness, like the tax collector in the parable: "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure prayer. A trusting humility brings us back into the light of communion between the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that "we receive from him whatever we ask." Asking forgiveness is the prerequisite for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal prayer.
2632 Christian
petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in
keeping with the teaching of Christ. There is a hierarchy in these
petitions: we pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome
it and cooperate with its coming. This collaboration with the mission of Christ
and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the Church, is the object of the
prayer of the apostolic community. It is the prayer of Paul, the apostle
par excellence, which reveals to us how the divine solicitude for all the
churches ought to inspire Christian prayer. By prayer every baptized
person works for the coming of the Kingdom.
2633 When we
share in God's saving love, we understand that every need can become the object
of petition. Christ, who assumed all things in order to redeem all things, is
glorified by what we ask the Father in his name. It is with this
confidence that St. James and St. Paul exhort us to pray at all times.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Conversion
of Sinners
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[1]The Collegeville Bible Commentary,
1986.
[4] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A
Food Lover's Life List (p. 800). Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
Braveheart
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