Claire was our firstborn (Bermuda) then Christopher (Sicily), Candace (Arizona), I was in Army bootcamp in Alabama. Then to Hawaii as an MP in Schofield and Dara. Next was Rachel 3 years later Germany. Then home to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona was Nicole. Finally off to Belgium and my 6' 7" son Vincent. We retired. After 5 years Diane needed a life of her own; we divorced. I took the children...and we moved on. Cancer took Diane in 2015.
Rachel’s Corner
They were overjoyed at
seeing the star,
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him
homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
(Matthew
2:10-11)
o When I was but a child, I suffered a grand-mal seizure that nearly killed me. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My Dad immediately called Father Paul Wolff who was General Patton's Belgian Guide and asked for prays at the shrine of our Lady of
Beauraing. A week later the brain tumor disappeared and there was still a small scar left on a portion of my brain, and I continued to have seizures, but medicine kept it under control for many years. Eventually through the work of a doctor I received a world class surgical procedure that completely healed me of seizures, from the world-famous Barrow Neurological Institute. Today I work there.·
Foodie:
Alligator-tastes
like chicken, but one wonders what the alligator ate.
·
Spirit: There
is a drink called “Sex with
an Alligator”-People are sick.
·
do a personal
eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Mary’s Month-Do
a family Rosary
·
Bucket List: Military
Hop-Azores
Thursday Feast
Thursday
is the day of the week that our Lord gave himself up for consumption. Thursday
commemorates the last supper. Some theologians believe after Sunday Thursday is
the holiest day of the week. We should then try to make this day special by
making a visit to the blessed sacrament chapel, Mass or even stopping by the
grave of a loved one. Why not plan to count the blessing of the week and thank
our Lord. Plan a special meal. Be at Peace. According to Mary Agreda[1]
in her visions it was on a Thursday at six o'clock in the evening and at the
approach of night that the Angel Gabriel approached and announced her as Mother
of God and she gave her fiat.
Dinner Menu
Best Places to Visit in
may-Las Vegas and Grand Canyon
Often
referred to as the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’, Las Vegas is the
ultimate playground of adventures, cuisines, and nightlife scenes, and when you
visit, you’ll see why!
While Sin
City sees an influx of visitors during winters and scorching summers, I
honestly think the best time to visit the city is from March to this month and
from September to November.
It’s
still one of the warmest states to visit this month, but temperatures are much
more manageable and hover around 89.6 degrees during the day.
You’ll
find various events, hot (but not unbearable) daily temperatures, and fewer
crowds. Nearby the city is the Grand Canyon, and I highly suggest a visit
here—it’s a one-in-a-lifetime experience!
Spring
and fall make for an ideal trip to the canyon for hiking, skywalking, and
discovering the wildflower blooms, but I would also highly recommend just
enjoying the scenic vistas.
Visitors Center Address: 495 S. Main St.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Average temperatures –89.6 degrees
My
highlights…
Capturing an unbelievable Instagrammable
shot overlooking the Grand Canyon after hiking around the area.
Checking out a fun show at MGM Grand.
In honor
of Joan of Arc tomorrow May 30
·
Go to Mass at Joan
of Arc Church
Today is Pope Pius VI’s Feast Day he is the author of the church instructions On Human Life (Humanae Vitae) we must live lives of compassion and hope.
[1] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The
Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with
Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
MAY 29 Thursday Ascension of the Lord
Mount
Everest first climbed 1959
Wisdom,
Chapter 6, Verse 7-8
For
the Ruler of all shows no partiality, nor does he FEAR greatness, because
he himself made the great as well as the small, and provides for all alike; but
for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.
Seek
God’s will for your life rather than power, fame and glory.
From
a Catholic perspective, Chapter 6 of the Book of Wisdom emphasizes the divine
responsibility of rulers and leaders. It warns that those in power will be
judged more strictly by God and urges them to seek wisdom to govern justly. The
chapter highlights that wisdom is a gift from God, leading to righteousness and
integrity. It also teaches that wisdom is accessible to those who earnestly
seek it, and that embracing wisdom brings one closer to God and His eternal
kingdom.[1]
Feast of the Ascension[2]
Forty days after
Easter, our Lord ascends into heaven. The Paschal candle is extinguished.
AT the Introit of the Mass the Church
sings the words spoken by the angels to the apostles when Jesus ascended to
heaven: “Ye men of Galilee, why wonder ye, looking up to heaven? Alleluia. He
shall so come as you have seen Him going up into heaven, alleluia! alleluia!
alleluia! Oh, clap your hands, all ye nations, shout unto God with the voice of
joy.”
Prayer.
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who believe that Thy only
begotten Son, our Redeemer, ascended this day into heaven, may ourselves also,
in mind, dwell in heavenly things.
EPISTLE.
Acts i. 1-11.
The former treatise I made, O
Theophilus, of all things which Jesus began to do and to teach until the day on
which, giving commandments by the Holy Ghost to the apostles whom He had
chosen, He was taken up: to whom also He showed Himself alive after His
passion, by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them, and speaking of the
kingdom of God. And eating together with them, He commanded them that they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the
Father, which you have heard, saith He, by my mouth: for John, indeed, baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
They therefore who were come together asked Him, saying:
Lord, wilt Thou at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel?
But He said to them:
It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in His
own power. But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you,
and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria,
and even to the uttermost part of the earth. And when He had said these things,
while they looked on, He was raised up: and a cloud received Him out of their
sight. And while they were beholding Him going up to heaven, behold two men
stood by them in white garments, who also said:
Ye men of Galilee, why stand you
looking up to heaven?
This Jesus Who is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen Him going into
heaven.
Explanation.
For forty days after His resurrection,
Jesus remained with His disciples, to convince them of the truth of His
resurrection, to teach them in regard to His kingdom, that is, His Church, and
their vocation; and as they were still thinking of an earthly kingdom to be
established by Christ, He referred them to the instruction of the Holy Ghost,
and then ascended to heaven, whence He shall come to be our judge. Rejoice over
the instructions which are preserved for you through the Church; but rejoice
especially that Jesus has taken possession of the glory gained by His most
profound humiliations, for now He is there an intercessor for you; there He
prepares for you a mansion; there is now your home. To-day look up to heaven
where Christ is, hope, suffer, love, and pray.
GOSPEL.
Mark xvi. 14-20.
At that time, as the eleven were at table, Jesus appeared
to them and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart:
because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again.
And He said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that
believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that
believe: In My name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues:
they shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall
not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall
recover. And the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into
heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. But they going forth preached
everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that
followed. “Let us ‘says St. Augustine, “in spirit, ascend with Christ, that
when the time comes, we may follow Him in body also. But we must know, dear
brethren, that neither pride, nor avarice, nor impurity can ascend with Christ,
our Lord, for pride does not keep company with the teacher of humility, nor
wickedness with the source of all good, nor impurity with the Son of the
Virgin.”
Aspiration.
O King of glory! Who didst on this day
ascend victoriously above the heavens, leave us not orphans, but send us, from
the Father, the Spirit of truth Whom Thou hast promised, and receive us all
into Thy glory.
Why,
on this day, is the Easter-candle extinguished and carried away after the
gospel?
It is done in
remembrance of the hour in which Christ, Who is typified by the Easter-candle,
left this earth.
Ascension Thursday Customs[3]
Ascension Plays
In the early centuries the Church celebrated the Feast of the Ascension with elaborate processions that imitated Christ's conducting His Apostles to Bethany (Lk. 24.50). Eventually, however, these liturgical processions became nonliturgical pageants, and the pageants, in turn, became plays. Ascension Thursday was a day for special effects. This could happen in a dignified way during the Mass, as when in Germany the priest would lift a crucifix during the Gospel at the words, "He was taken up into heaven," or it could happen in a dramatic way after Mass with a theatrical representation of the Ascension event. Statues of the risen Christ would be hoisted by pulleys into the air and then either concealed by white silk representing clouds or pulled through an opening in the ceiling. The audience would then be showered with roses, lilies, and wafers. The flowers symbolized the various gifts of the Holy Spirit promised by Christ before He left, while the wafers reminded all that Jesus is still present to us in the Blessed Sacrament.
· Traditional banquets on this day would gastronomically imitate Christ's ascension by making the main course something that could fly to heaven. Birds of almost every feather - pigeons, pheasants, partridges, and even crows - eventually found their way to the Ascension Day table.
In Central Europe Ascension Thursday is a popular day for mountain climbing or picnicking on hilltops. No doubt this is in commemoration of the summit of the Mount of Olives from which Christ ascended and the heights to which he soared. A similarly inspired tradition is eating some kind of bird for the Feast since on this day Christ "flew" to Heaven.
Rest
Like any other solemnity, Ascension Thursday is supposed to be a day of rest and liberal leisure. For some reason or another, however, traditional folklore treats this observance for today with particular severity. Popular superstitions warned against working in field or garden, and special punishments were purportedly reserved for women who sewed. Any needle, it was thought, that was used for work on Ascension Thursday would soon attract lightning!
Ascension Thursday[4]
Ascension commemorates the day that Jesus ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:1-11) after spending 40 days appearing to his disciples after his resurrection. The disciple’s thought Jesus was going to restore the earth to the Kingdom of Heaven, but instead, as he promised to send the Holy Spirit to give them power, he ascended into Heaven and disappeared in a cloud. Ascension is the 40th day after Easter, celebrated on the sixth Sunday of the Easter season in Protestant churches and on the 40th day after Easter in Roman Catholic churches.
· The Apostle's Creed, one of the statements of faith in the Christian Church, mentions Jesus' ascension:
·
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven
and earth; And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was
conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. The third day he rose from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father
Almighty.
·
An ancient custom in England, called the Beating
of the Bounds, is often performed on or near Ascension. Before maps, this
was the day that people would mark the boundaries of their property with stones
marked with chalk. Some English churches still perform the custom, led by
the vicar. Church members carry sticks to wick at weeds as they process.
· In the Orthodox tradition, celebration of the Jesus' Ascension starts with an all-night vigil or vespers (evening) service beginning on Saturday.
Ascension Top Events and Things to Do
· Johann Sebastian Bach wrote several pieces related to both Easter and the Ascension. Listen to Bach's the Ascension Oratorio, Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Praise God in His Kingdoms) on YouTube.
·
Go bird watching. A custom in Sweden, is
to get up early in the morning of Ascension and venture out into the woods to
listen for the call of a cuckoo. It is considered good luck to hear one
on this holiday.
·
Go to church and learn about why Jesus'
ascension is important to the Christian faith. Jesus is considered to be
both human and divine, and the ascension is an illustration of Christ's divine
nature.
·
View paintings that depict the ascension.
One of the most famous works is The Ascension of Christ by
Rembrandt Van Rijn.
· Have a picnic.
Curried
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Chinese
Chicken Salad
(It
is traditional to eat some sort of bird since Jesus "flew" to
heaven.)
Strawberries
(The
fruit represents Christ, the first fruit of all men.)
Cream
Puffs
(Symbolizing
the clouds that were in the sky.)
Sparkling
Grape Juice
(Chosen
for the "rising" bubbles.)
Preparing for
the empowerment of the Holy Spirit[5]
On
Ascension Day the Lumen Christi is taken from the dining room
table to signify that the Lord has ascended. In the days when the Faith was
flourishing, the Sunday after the feast of the Ascension was called "The
Sunday of the Roses," the name given from the custom of strewing the
pavements of the churches with roses, as an homage to Christ who ascended into
heaven when the earth was in the season of flowers. Why cannot we in our day
have roses in our homes, make an offering of flowers to our church, or take
roses from our gardens to one infirm or sick?
Here
are some prayers and meditations to be said in the family between the Ascension
and Pentecost Sunday.
One
of the simplest ways we have found for young children to prepare for Pentecost
is by meditating on the mysteries of the Chaplet of the Holy Spirit. We reflect
on one mystery a day.
Opening Prayer: Sign of the
Cross-Act of Contrition
First Mystery: Jesus is conceived by the Holy
Spirit of the Virgin Mary.
Meditation: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and
the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Therefore, the Holy One to be
born shall be called the Son of God (Luke 11:35).
Prayers: One Our Father and Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Second Mystery: The Spirit of the Lord rests upon
Jesus.
Meditation: When Jesus was baptized, He immediately
came up from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw
the Spirit of God descending as a Dove and coming upon Him (Matthew 3:16).
Prayers: One Our Father and Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Third Mystery: Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert.
Meditation: Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit about the desert for forty
days, being tempted the while by the devil (Luke 4:11). Prayers: One Our Father
and Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Fourth Mystery: The Holy Spirit in the Church.
Meditation: Suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
as of a violent wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak of
the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:2, 4, 11). Prayers: One Our Father and Hail
Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Fifth Mystery: The Holy Spirit in the souls of the
Just.
Meditation: Or, do you not know that your members are
the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Do not extinguish the Spirit. And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God in whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption (1 Cor. 6:19; 1 Thess. 5:19; Eph. 4:30).
Prayers: One Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Devotions for Holy Communion[6]
HOW WE
OUGHT TO COMMUNICATE.
PREPARE
yourself for holy communion the evening before by many thoughts of love,
retiring earlier, that you may rise sooner in the morning. Should you awake in
the night, raise your heart to God immediately, and make some ardent
aspirations, in order to prepare your soul for the reception of her Spouse,
Who, being awake whilst you were asleep, prepares a thousand graces and favors
for you, if, on your part, you are disposed to receive them.
In the
morning, rise up with eagerness to enjoy the happiness you hope for; and having
confessed, go with a great but humble confidence to receive this heavenly food,
which nourishes your soul to immortality: and after repeating thrice, “Lord, I
am not worthy,” cease to move your lips to pray, or to sigh, but opening your
mouth gently and moderately, and lifting up your head as much as is necessary,
that the priest may see what he is about, full of faith, hope, and charity,
receive Him, in Whom, by Whom, and for Whom you believe, hope, and Whom you
love. Represent to yourself that as the bee, after gathering from the flowers
the dew of heaven, and the choicest juice of the earth, reducing them into
honey, carries it into her hive, so the priest, having taken from the altar the
Savior of the world, the true Son of God, Who, as the dew, is descended from
heaven, and the true Son of the Virgin, Who, as a flower, is sprung from the
earth of our humanity, puts Him as delicious food into your mouth and body.
Having
received Him in your breast, excite your heart to do homage to the author of
your salvation; treat with Him concerning your internal affairs; consider that
He has taken up His abode within you for your happiness; make Him then as
welcome as you possibly can, and conduct yourself in such a manner as to make it
appear by all your actions that God is with you.
But
when you cannot enjoy the benefit of really communicating at holy Mass, communicate at least spiritually, uniting yourself by an ardent
desire to this life-giving flesh of Our Savior. Your principal intention in
communicating should be to advance in virtue, to strengthen yourself in the
love of God, and to receive comfort from this love; for you must receive
through love that which love alone caused to be given to you. You cannot
consider Our Savior in an action either more full of love, or more tender than
this, in which He annihilates Himself, or, as we may more properly say, changes
Himself into food, that so He may penetrate our souls, and unite Himself most
intimately to the heart, and to the body of His faithful.
If
worldlings ask you why you communicate so often, tell them it is to learn to
love God, to purify yourself from your imperfections, to be delivered from your
miseries, to be comforted in your afflictions, and supported in your
weaknesses.
Tell
them that two sorts of persons ought to communicate frequently: the perfect,
because, being well disposed, they would be greatly to blame not to approach to
the source and fountain of perfection; and the imperfect, to the end that they
may be able to aspire to perfection; the strong, lest they should become weak;
and the weak, that they may become strong; the healthy, lest they should fall
into sickness; and the sick, that they may be restored to health: that for your
part, being imperfect, weak, and sick, you have need to communicate frequently
with Him Who is your perfection, your strength, and your physician.
Tell
them that those who have not many worldly affairs to look after ought to
communicate often, because they have leisure; that those who have much business
on hand should also communicate often, for he who labors much and is loaded
with toil ought to eat solid food, and that frequently.
Tell
them that you receive the Holy Sacrament, to learn to receive it well; because
one can hardly perform an action well which he does not often practice. Communicate
frequently, then, and as frequently as you can, with the advice of your ghostly
father; and, believe me, by approaching to and eating beauty, purity, and
goodness itself, in this divine sacrament, you will become altogether fair,
pure, and virtuous.
Pier Giorgio Michelangelo Frassati patron of Mountaineering[7]
Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to summit Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953.
Climbing a summit
is deeply spiritual. Christ climbed tabor, Moses Sinai and even St. Patrick had
a favorite climb today call Patrick’s Croagh. We even have Saints that were
mountaineers. Today we will look at Pier
Giorgio.
Pier Giorgio Michelangelo Frassati was born in Turin, Italy on April 6, 1901. His mother, Adelaide Ametis, was a painter. His father Alfredo was the founder and director of the newspaper, “La Stampa," and was influential in Italian politics, holding positions as an Italian Senator and Ambassador to Germany.
At
an early age, Pier Giorgio joined the Marian Sodality and the Apostleship of
Prayer, and obtained permission to receive daily Communion (which was rare at
that time). He developed a deep spiritual life which he never hesitated to
share with his friends. The Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin were the two
poles of his world of prayer. At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de
Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to serving the sick and the
needy, caring for orphans, and assisting the demobilized servicemen returning
from World War I.
He decided to become a mining engineer, studying at the Royal Polytechnic
University of Turin, so he could “serve
Christ better among the miners," as he told a friend. Although he
considered his studies his first duty, they did not keep him from social and
political activism. In 1919, he joined the Catholic Student Foundation and the
organization known as Catholic Action. He became a very active member of the
People’s Party,
which promoted the Catholic Church’s
social teaching based on the principles of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical letter, Rerum
Novarum.
What little he did have, Pier Giorgio gave to help the poor, even using his bus fare for charity and then running home to be on time for meals. The poor and the suffering were his masters, and he was literally their servant, which he considered a privilege. His charity did not simply involve giving something to others, but giving completely of himself. This was fed by daily communion with Christ in the Holy Eucharist and by frequent nocturnal adoration, by meditation on St. Paul’s “Hymn of Charity” (I Corinthians 13), and by the writings of St. Catherine of Siena. He often sacrificed vacations at the Frassati summer home in Pollone (outside of Turin) because, as he said, “If everybody leaves Turin, who will take care of the poor?”
In 1921, he was a central figure in Ravenna, enthusiastically helping to organize the first convention of Pax Romana, an association which had as its purpose the unification of all Catholic students throughout the world for the purpose of working together for universal peace.
Mountain climbing was one of his favorite sports. Outings in the mountains, which he organized with his friends, also served as opportunities for his apostolic work. He never lost the chance to lead his friends to Mass, to the reading of Scripture, and to praying the rosary.
He often went to the theater, to the opera, and to museums. He loved art and music, and could quote whole passages of the poet Dante.
Fondness for the epistles of St. Paul sparked his zeal for fraternal charity, and the fiery sermons of the Renaissance preacher and reformer Girolamo Savonarola and the writings of St. Catherine impelled him in 1922 to join the Lay Dominicans (Third Order of St. Dominic). He chose the name Girolamo after his personal hero, Savonarola. “I am a fervent admirer of this friar, who died as a saint at the stake," he wrote to a friend. Like his father, he was strongly anti-Fascist and did nothing to hide his political views. He physically defended the faith at times involved in fights, first with anticlerical Communists and later with Fascists. Participating in a Church-organized demonstration in Rome on one occasion, he stood up to police violence and rallied the other young people by grabbing the group’s banner, which the royal guards had knocked out of another student’s hands. Pier Giorgio held it even higher, while using the banner’s pole to fend off the blows of the guards.
Just before receiving his university degree, Pier Giorgio contracted poliomyelitis, which doctors later speculated he caught from the sick whom he tended. Neglecting his own health because his grandmother was dying, after six days of terrible suffering Pier Giorgio died at the age of 24 on July 4, 1925. His last preoccupation was for the poor. On the eve of his death, with a paralyzed hand he scribbled a message to a friend, asking him to take the medicine needed for injections to be given to Converso, a poor sick man he had been visiting.
Pier Giorgio’s funeral was a triumph. The streets of the city were lined with a multitude of mourners who were unknown to his family -- the poor and the needy whom he had served so unselfishly for seven years. Many of these people, in turn, were surprised to learn that the saintly young man they knew had actually been the heir of the influential Frassati family. Pope John Paul II, after visiting his original tomb in the family plot in Pollone, said in 1989: “I wanted to pay homage to a young man who was able to witness to Christ with singular effectiveness in this century of ours. When I was a young man, I, too, felt the beneficial influence of his example and, as a student, I was impressed by the force of his testimony."
On May 20, 1990, in St. Peter’s Square which was filled with thousands of people, the Pope beatified Pier Giorgio Frassati, calling him the “Man of the Eight Beatitudes.”
His mortal remains, found completely intact and incorrupt upon their exhumation on March 31, 1981, were transferred from the family tomb in Pollone to the cathedral in Turin. Many pilgrims, especially students and the young, come to the tomb of Blessed Frassati to seek favors and the courage to follow his example.
Apostolic Exhortation[8]
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
II. Faith perceives what our
senses fail to grasp.
52. Our Catholic faith passed on to us
from the Apostles affirms that after the words of consecration, what seems to
our senses to remain just simple unleavened bread and wine really become the
Son of God and Savior of the world. For this reason, Saint Thomas Aquinas
through his beautiful Eucharistic hymn “Adoro Te Devote” invites
us to have a greater trust in Jesus’ words about His Body and Blood, even if
the reality may seem too good to be true: “Sight, touch, taste fail
with regard to Thee, but only by hearing does one believe surely; I believe
whatever God’s Son said: nothing is truer than the word of Truth.” And
in the hymn of “Tantum Ergo,” he invites us to beg the Lord
for this needed faith: “May faith supplement what our senses fail to
grasp.”
53. Faith makes all the difference in
how we experience God’s saving and transforming grace in the Eucharist. Faith
is the key we hold in our hands to open the treasures of God’s love and grace
entirely at our disposal for our sanctification. Beg the Lord to strengthen
your faith: “Make me always believe in you more and more” (Hymn Adoro
Te Devote).
54. The Lord Jesus invites us to
respond with faith like Peter, “To whom shall we go, you have the words
of everlasting life” and make a commitment not just to believe His
words that He is the Bread from heaven, but to build our lives according to
that belief. Jesus is asking us to make Him the “source and summit” of all
Christian life (Lumen Gentium, no. 11). He is asking us to choose him
who has chosen to dwell among us and has made the promise and commitment to
always be with us.
To be continued…
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Day 346 2700-2708
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE-PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER THREE-THE LIFE OF PRAYER
Article
1-EXPRESSIONS OF PRAYER
I. Vocal prayer
2700 Through
his Word, God speaks to man. By words, mental or vocal, our prayer takes flesh.
Yet it is most important that the heart should be present to him to whom we are
speaking in prayer: "Whether or not our prayer is heard depends not on the
number of words, but on the fervor of our souls."
2701 Vocal
prayer is an essential element of the Christian life. To his disciples, drawn
by their Master's silent prayer, Jesus teaches a vocal prayer, the Our Father.
He not only prayed aloud the liturgical prayers of the synagogue but, as the
Gospels show, he raised his voice to express his personal prayer, from exultant
blessing of the Father to the agony of Gesthemani.
2702 The need
to involve the senses in interior prayer corresponds to a requirement of our
human nature. We are body and spirit, and we experience the need to translate
our feelings externally. We must pray with our whole being to give all power
possible to our supplication.
2703 This need
also corresponds to a divine requirement. God seeks worshippers in Spirit and
in Truth, and consequently living prayer that rises from the depths of the
soul. He also wants the external expression that associates the body with
interior prayer, for it renders him that perfect homage which is his due.
2704 Because
it is external and so thoroughly human, vocal prayer is the form of prayer most
readily accessible to groups. Even interior prayer, however, cannot neglect
vocal prayer. Prayer is internalized to the extent that we become aware of him
"to whom we speak;" Thus vocal prayer becomes an initial form of
contemplative prayer.
II. Meditation
2705
Meditation is above all a quest. the mind seeks to understand the why and how
of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is
asking. the required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually
helped by books, and Christians do not want for them: the Sacred Scriptures,
particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts of the day or season,
writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great book of
creation, and that of history the page on which the "today" of God is
written.
2706 To
meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with
ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from
thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover
in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern
them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light:
"Lord, what do you want me to do?"
2707 There are
as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters.
Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly,
lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the
sower. But a method is only a guide; the
important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of
prayer: Christ Jesus.
2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: The
Sick, afflicted, and infirmed.
·
Preschool Parent
Pedagogy: Lessons from Books
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[2]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[6] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[7] https://frassatiusa.org/frassati-biography
[9] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The
Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with
Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
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