O bright midsummer noon, my God, I thirst for thee, sigh for thee, faint with love of thee. Join me closer to thyself, O blazing sun, that the soil of my heart, warmed by thy rays, may bring forth blossoms of holy charity. Kindle in me the lamp of thy love; pour thy sweet peace into my breast, and shape me wholly to the pattern of thy grace, so that I may grow pleasing in thy eyes.
My Jesus, clothe me with the bright purple of thy precious Blood, crown me with the garland of thy worshipful death, welcome me into the bridal chamber of thy burning love. Abolish all in me that is not to thy liking. Refashion my evil, soiled, and empty heart in the likeness of thy own. Give me a pure mind and simple affection. Embrace me in the arms of thy charity, press me to thy divine breast, let my soul be melted by the force of thy burning love and sink into the abyss of heavenly delights. Thy sweetness, Lord, Thy goodness, thy beauty and loveliness, are strong attractions, but I cannot rise to thee unless thou condescendest to me. Stoop then, fount of pity, to my low and wretched level, and enable me to love thee with my whole heart, with my whole soul, and with all my strength. Ocean of sweetness, flood me with the tide of thy loving-kindness. Open the cataracts of that great abyss, and let the waves of thy mercy flow over me. Drown me in the deluge of thy living love; sink me in the deep waters of thy blessed charity. Break down the hateful barrier of my lukewarmness and wrongdoing, and enable me to follow thee, Lord, with ardour unquenched. Let the stormwind of love hurl me to thee, breathless, lifeless, all unconscious of self. Kiss me with the kiss of thy forgiveness; and with its seal upon me let me never henceforth love any but thee, for thou art my whole treasure, my whole heritage, everything for which my soul can hope." Prayer By Louis de Blois, O.S.B.
"As it is most certain that the teaching of Christ cannot deceive, if we would walk securely, we ought to attach ourselves to it with greatest confidence and to profess openly that we live according to it, and not to the maxims of the world, which are all deceitful. This is the fundamental maxim of all Christian perfection"
MTA= The words of Jesus are priceless, like no others. The Gospels, maxims upon maxims, and that translates to: "Thus says the Lord". Therefore, time to know gospel truths, live um and love um!
🔵 “The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.” By Helen Keller
🌑 “If the pastors of the flock are not faithful and holy, what will become of the sheep? Today hundreds are preparing for the solemn rite of ordination. They are to be God's messengers, like the Angel Gabriel, they will be "sent from God" to His virgin spouse, the Church, to announce the tidings of salvation. Theirs is a high commission, an awful dignity, and an untold honour; nay, they are even honoured far above Gabriel, for he but brought the message of God to Mary, but they will bring God Himself to His people. How clean of hands and pure of heart should those angelic messengers be! Can we pray sufficiently for them?" From book: “Meditations for Advent and Easter"
This is very serious business that warrants immediate attention. Maybe the simple answer is not to receive less, but what is needed is to put forth an enormous amount of effort towards living a life of trust and faith, utilizing all the graces that comes from a daily intake of the Most Holy Eucharist. The Rhema word for December is reflection. More serious consideration is definitely needed from those at The Eucharistic banquet table about who it is that is being receiving and how is the reception affecting our daily lives. Profound reverence is needed, and paves the way for lightening to strike. Points that are worth deeply pondering may include why we aren't filled with trust, why we fall so short in loving, carrying crosses, and being single of heart in regards to true, unadulterated devotion? Also, what reason is there for allowing hope to wax and wane? Why aren't we seeing our errors and changing errant behavior that sprouts like weeds everyday, when we are receiving in Communion, Jesus the bread of life and light of the world?
For daily, if not hourly, by thoughts, words, and deeds we err, are we aware this, or do we only see: I go to daily Mass, I receive Holy Communion daily, I pray the Rosary, I say the Rosary, or I pray the Liturgy of The Hours as promised? Yes, that may be well and good, but no good if the "how" is neglected along with frequenting the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If the quality of the fruits produced in our lives are poor and the quantity minimal, then wemay one day hear what we would prefer not to hear:
Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers" |
Why are we still so blind, strutting around like spiritual peacocks instead of like repentant sinners in mourning, seeking entrance into the Promised Land? Evading the Sacrament of Reconciliation, thinking less is more, it opposite of what should be occurring, making a bee-line to the confessional. Really people, a month is too long, and really once a year? By adhering to the minimum, staying safely within the parameters, how far do you think you'll eventually get? A new year is dawning, are you up for changes? Lord, help me/us to journey on to higher grounds.
Let this new year find us trying to work out our salvation in this manner:
Info from this site: http://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?did=0916-notes-confession
Posted comment:
"Words have no color. Not one of us has seen Truth, the man Himself. But, we believe the words He spoke. How soothing to the ego are academic freedoms. What's the one about, 'it's not what goes in that is evil, but what comes out' [my paraphrasing]? Who has been given more and, therefore, must be more careful of spoken words? To the one who been given much, is it blaspheming the Holy Spirit to scatter the flock? Maybe included in those Words of mercy, 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do', is mercy for those who do not choose their words wisely. For this, we pray"
Thoughts spun from posted comment:
💡1. "Who has been given more and, therefore, must be more careful"
{MC= If reception of the Holy Eucharist is frequent, then there should be great evidence in one's life. The more frequent the reception, the greater should be the results of reproducing in us an authentic christian life in imitation of Christ Jesus. If nothing is happening over time, then we are not being careful or mindful.
💡2. "To the one who been given much, is it blaspheming the Holy Spirit to scatter"
{MC= If all or many of the graces offered in the Eucharist are being repelled, rebuffed, or wasted, as evidenced by our lack of trust and following Christ closely as a true disciple, then our actions are true blasphemy. Yes, really!
💡3. "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, is mercy for those who do not choose their words wisely"
{MC= In our blindness we do not know or realize the consequences of actions, or always leaning on our own understanding. If we care to do God's Holy Will day in and day out, desiring true holiness, and if we take time out to stop, drop, and roll, how blest we shall be for all ages. Begging for graces to "know thyself" in order to live in obedience and in repentance, limitless mercy will then will be our gift from on high to help us flourish spiritually.
The new year will bring an end to aphorisms and maxims, and a big welcome to truffles. Truffles will be selections from the rule is St. Benedict. Led to establish a rule of life and many confirmations that St. Benedict is befriending me for 2017. Read something recently from Caryll Houselander that speaks well to the inspirations about establishing a rule of life:
"In the world as it is, torn with agonies and dissensions, we need some direction for our souls which is never away from us; which, without enslaving us or narrowing our vision, enters into every detail of our life. Everyone longs for some such inward rule, a universal rule as big as the immeasurable law of love, yet as little as the narrowness of our daily routine. It must be so truly part of us all that it makes us all one, and yet to each one the secret of his own life with God. To this need, the imitation of Our Lady is the answer; in contemplating her we find intimacy with God, the law which is the lovely yoke of the one irresistible love."
Info from this site:
http://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/25-facts-about-angels/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CatholicCompanyBlog+%28Catholic+Company+Blog%29
"Since ancient times humans have been fascinated with angels and how they work. Much of what we know about angels outside of Sacred Scripture is taken from the Church Fathers and Doctors, as well as from the lives of the saints and the experience of exorcists. Listed below are 25 interesting facts you may not know about God’s powerful heavenly ministers!
👼🏼1. The angels are entirely spiritual beings; they do not have material bodies.
👼🏼2. Angels have an intellect and a will, just like humans.
👼🏼3. God created the complete hierarchy of angels altogether in one instant.
👼🏼4. The angels are ordered into nine “choirs” and are ranked according to their natural intelligence, far above human intelligence.
👼🏼5. The highest angel in rank of natural intelligence is Lucifer (Satan).
👼🏼6. Each individual angel has its own unique essence and is therefore a distinct species, as different from one another as trees, cows, and bees.
👼🏼7. Angels have personalities that differ from one another, similar to humans.
👼🏼8. Angels are infused with a perfect knowledge of all created things, including human nature.
👼🏼9. Angels do not know particular events to occur in history, unless God wills that knowledge for a particular angel.
👼🏼10. Angels do not know what graces God will give to certain humans; they can only infer it by observing the effects.
👼🏼11. Each angel was created for a specific task or mission, of which they received instantaneous knowledge at the moment of their creation.
👼🏼12. At the moment of their creation angels freely chose whether to accept or reject their mission, a choice forever locked into their will without remorse.
👼🏼13. Each human being from the moment of their conception has a Guardian Angel assigned to them by God to lead them to salvation.
👼🏼14. Human beings do not become angels when they die; rather, the saints in heaven will take the position of the angels who fell.
👼🏼15. Angels communicate with one another by passing concepts mind to mind; the higher intelligence angels can empower the intellect of the lower ones to grasp the concept being communicated.
👼🏼16. Angels experience intense movements in their will, different from but similar to human emotions.
👼🏼17. Angels are far more active in the life of humans than we realize.
👼🏼18. God determines when and how angels can communicate with humans.
👼🏼19. Good angels help us to act in accord with our created nature as rational human beings, fallen angels the opposite.
👼🏼20. Angels don’t move from location to location; they instantaneously act where they apply their intellect and will, which is why they’re depicted with wings.
👼🏼21. Angels can prompt and guide the thoughts of humans, but cannot violate our free will.
👼🏼22. Angels can take information from your memory and bring an image into your mind in order to influence you.
👼🏼23. Good angels bring to mind imagery that helps us do the right thing according to God’s will; the fallen angels the opposite.
👼🏼24. The degree and kind of temptation from fallen angels is determined by God according to what is necessary for our salvation.
👼🏼25. Angels don’t know what is happening in your intellect and will, but they can surmise by watching our reactions, behavior, etc.
Scripture tells us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses
📐Not sure what any of you are already doing, (some in lay orders are praying the Liturgy of the Hours) but thinking it's a good idea for me to once a month do the Liturgy of the hours.
As reading in the book: A Rule of Life", which is selling for 141.00 dollars, and so happy for the Lord's blessing to have found a PDF copy for free, praise God, see that we can make special the times during the month and during the year.
gigapostolate.weebly.com/a-garden-salad.html
"Relationships and friendships are not intended to be static. Indeed, they cannot be, for they will either grow or deteriorate depending upon how each party manages them. Our relationship with God is - or should be - a very close one and therefore we need to set aside quality time for Him every day as well as make special times during the week, month or year. This is what we are setting out in our Rule of Life, well aware of how our relationship with Him can either grow or deteriorate"
📐 To me a way to make the year special might be a conference or a retreat, but need more ideas about what can make the month special/
📏My ideas are to pray the Liturgy of The Hours, once a month as a special time of prayer, since it is not a part of my daily routine. Years ago did it daily for some time, but after some years went by, felt led to embrace spending time in prayer in others ways.
📐Another monthly practice that might be considered is going to mass all 7 days some months out of the year. My routine is 6 days a week, then staying home all day one day out of the week, which normally on a Sunday.
📏 Another monthly practice that might be saying a Litany once a month
📐Another monthly practice that might be...
📏Not sure how to exactly proceed, but will begin to make baby steps. If someone else is led to journey along the road, maybe in sharing God directions may help us make haste with the Holy Spirit down the road of holiness. For there is no other reason to be doing this or doing that, if it is not the Holy Spirit directing our actions as we travel the path of holiness. Always know that something can be a good thing, but if done at the wrong time will not be a great benefit too ur souls helping us advance in sanctity.
📐Definitely need to incorporate the daily Examen in my Rule of Life. For me this is a hit and miss area. The rule might solidify the practice, as this is the book stated: "One very useful practice is to review the past day (or 24 hours) and see where and how we have responded to God"
📏 Reading something in the book, helped me see more clearly what Shelley was explaining to me one day when were together for the Olive Mass. After the reception we had a lots on time on hands before tailgating so she said she would come with me to the Cathedral to do my Holy Hour. My thoughts were that since the Blessed Sacrament wouldn't be exposed, can't really let that count as my daily Holy Hour visit. Can't remember if her plans were to go later or if she had already gone to the chapel for her Eucharistic Adoration visit, but she then proceeded to explain what Fr. Guste said about adoring Jesus whether He is inside the tabernacle or exposed. Well that came in handy, and so happy she shared this valuable info with me. Armed with this knowledge, if the Adoration chapel is closed for some reason, it will still be possible to do a Holy Hour by staying an extra hour after Mass. The opportunity to put that into practice presented itself during the Thanksgiving holidays when the chapel was closed. After Mass, there wasn't a second thought about spending a hour in church adoring Jesus in the tabernacle, thank you Shelley. If that conversation was never a reality, no way staying an extra hour in church would have occurred.
Now, reading for the book: "A rule of Life", a clear explanation is at hand regarding this matter, that the time is labeled a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. An hour visit to the Blessed Sacrament or an hour Eucharistic Adoration, both glorifying God by praying and adoring.
"The Catholic Church has a rich store of devotional practices, some of which may well be incorporated into a Rule of Life. The most obvious, perhaps, because it springs directly from the Mass, is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. Many parishes provide an opportunity for this each week, but if you cannot be present for whatever reason Our Blessed Lord is always present in the tabernacle and we can adore him and pray to him there. It is sometimes simply called “A Visit to the Blessed Sacrament” and so we might make a commitment to visit at least once a week, making sure that the church will be open. Almost every Catholic church has, around its walls, the Stations of the Cross and many Catholics make a point of following Our Lord in his journey to the Cross"
Missed practicing this year what was the discussed in the book about how we might also want to keep a fast day just before Christmas, Dec. 23, but maybe next year might follow this recommendation, along with observing what was mentioned about the Family Fast Days recommended by our Bishops in October and Lent. This was new information coming my way.
Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaKHV3DMqmQ&sns=em