✝Week II Living Lent = By Rev. Augustine Writh, O.S.B.
The Cheese & Crackers = Quotes by Dante Alighieri, Fr. Richard Clarke, and Dietrich Von Hildebrand.
🍆The Veggies = My
🍟The Potatoes = Article: "SEEKING HARMONY", By Fr. Richard Heilman
🍤The Seafood = "SACRED SIGNS AND ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AT MASS. What Do These Actions Mean, and Why Are They So Important?" Part IV of V, By Rev. Cassian Folsom, OSB
🍧The Dessert = YouTube video: "The Mystery of Lent", by Marino Restrepo
The more love that it finds, the more it gives itself: so that, as we grow clear and open, the more complete the joy of heaven is.
And the more souls who resonate together, the greater the intensity of their love, and, mirror-like, each soul reflects the other." By Dante Alighieri
🍘 “The best proof of a friend's love is a desire for our company. In this what friend like God ? He asks us, begs us, commands us to be always in His presence : " Walk with God and be thou perfect." His one object in all His advice to us is to secure our company forever in heaven. Why am I so indifferent about His presence, so soon weary of God ?” By Fr. Richard Clarke
🏐 "Readiness to change refers in the first place to all the negative and ultimately spurious tendencies in our nature which oppose a barrier to our control by Christ. But it also refers, further, to all that is naturally good in us; for the latter is not destined to remain natural but to become enhanced and transfigured by the recreative action of the supernatural". By Dietrich Von Hildebrand
➰DTJN = Rough-hewn, splintered wood gathered
➰tmm = Or the likes of ravaged rags all worn and tattered
➰DTJN = as kindle for a mighty Flame
➰tmm = Be assured "God's Got It", it's no game
➰DTJN = ’round which we whirl unchained wild
➰tmm = No serious damage in the long run to God's child
➰DTJN = like royal David of dancing fame
➰tmm = The glory of God plans for us will never fail, putting all that is rubbish to shame
➰DTJN = For me it is certain (though dimly seen)
➰tmm = Certainty via spiritual senses intact and operating in a way that is ever so keen
➰DTJN = there was a Fiery Divine-human yearning
➰tmm= Deep within the soul an ache, an icy hot burning
➰DTJN = with raging-hunger on his blistered tongue
pining,
➰tmm = Oh, what a joyous moment that culminates in spiritual fine dinning
➰DTJN = writhing to taste impossible Love
in Passover mystery,
➰tmm = An experience capable of obliterating any imaginable or perceivable misery
➰DTJN = living Memory sung
➰tmm = Spirits riding high, climbing from rung to rung
➰DTJN = singing downward from High Above
➰tmm = On the wings of the Most Glorious Peaceful Dove
➰DTJN = through the steaming Blood of Adonai, arising.
➰tmm = Wonders to soon envelop in ways ingenuously surprising
➰DTJN = Wheat crushed, ground-divinity chewed
for God is Bread,
➰tmm = Vivaciously reviving and bringing more and more life to souls, even those on spiritual life support or the stark dead
➰DTJN = immortal Love-made-Food,
➰tmm = To enrich, renew, revitalize, and spiritually soothe
➰DTJN = bitter herbs with all sweetness endued.
➰tmm = Who can resist surrendering when it is by the Great I Am you are constantly being wooed
➰DTJN = Metabolized in one Body, one Flesh co-dying
expiring,
➰tmm = A vigorous process that continues forever and a day, untiring
➰DTJN = a consecrating desecrated Corpse all-Holy
risen now Most High in glory,
➰tmm = The grand finale of the greatest love story
➰DTJN = a Father’s Only Own become our Food of freedom,
➰tmm = A very heavy price was paid for no light a ransom
➰DTJN = us setting free
tmm = Yes, let it be, let it be
➰DTJN = to love like Bloodied water outpoured, wastefully:
➰tmm = Marvelously extravagant, impeccable, oh so lavishly
➰DTJN = God who reigns, Beauty blessing from the cursèd Tree.
➰tmm = All hail, honor and glory, yes, glory, glory!
tmm/TruGIG
™
Dr. Thomas J. Neal
Info from this site: https://www.romancatholicman.com/seeking-harmony/
"There are actually three wounds that ravage souls and bring spiritual death to them by turning away from God. St. John speaks of these evils when he says: "For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things] - these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself]"
Poverty (counters lust of the eyes): To be poor in spirit is to realize that nothing we have is worth more than the kingdom of God. Knowing this, we become willing to part with anything we have if it hinders us from receiving the kingdom. Being poor in spirit does not always mean taking vows of poverty or despising the blessings God has given us. Instead, it is a condition of the heart. The main point is always "detachment." It's not whether you have it or not, it's how you have it.
Chastity (counters lust of the flesh): Chastity is a commitment to purity and fidelity no matter what your state in life, whether married, single, or consecrated. Chastity reminds us of the deeper meaning of sexuality. Many in society treat people like animals and detach the "marital act" from the reverence it deserves. They accept it and promote it in the wrong context and thus betray its sacredness.
Obedience (counters pride of life): Obedience is a commitment to listen to God through the mediation of Sacred Scripture and through the teaching of Christ's Bride, the Church. We choose obedience to indicate a preference for the common good over personal desire. Obedience demonstrates that the most perfect form of freedom is that which makes a commitment to another person (divine or human) or a cause.
(Excerpt from Church Militant Field Manual)
Impressive warrior saints like St. Francis of Assisi taught these counsels of perfection by wearing a rope around their waist with three knots in it; each knot would denote poverty, chastity, and obedience. Today, some have followed their lead by wearing a small rope around their wrists with these three knots, reminding them how to be free, no longer tied to the world but to God. Are you free to enlist in Christ's elite fighting force and be the warrior saint He is calling you to be?"
🙏🏼8. "Kneeling for the Eucharistic Prayer
After the Gospel and the homily (if there is one that day), after the Preparation of the Gifts, the Great Prayer, called "the Canon" or "the Eucharistic Prayer", begins. During this time we kneel. Since this gesture has a somewhat complicated history, it's worth spending some time on it. The meaning of this gesture of kneeling is manifold: humble submission before the majesty of God, penance and a spirit of repentance, adoration and reverence in prayer.
The use of this posture in the Mass developed gradually.
a. In a seventh century document, the Ordo Romanus I, it says that during the Canon the Pope stood upright, while all the others in the sanctuary remained bowed for the entire Eucharistic Prayer. The sign for standing upright again was the phrase nobis quoque peccatotibus near the end of the Canon: that was the sign also for the deacon and sub-deacon to go about their preparations for communion. In fact, in the old Mass, that phrase was said out loud while the rest of the Canon was said quietly, as a remnant of the ancient practice of bowing during the Canon.
b. From the ninth century onward, there is historical evidence for the posture of kneeling during the Canon. The Synod of Tours (813) described this as the characteristic posture of the faithful, although for Sundays and feasts, it was the custom to stand.
c. In the thirteenth century, because of developments in Eucharistic theology and various movements of Eucharistic devotion, the practice of kneeling at the consecration became the norm.
d. In 1502, the Ordo Missae of John Burckhard prescribes kneeling for the prayers at the foot of the altar, and for the consecration. Our present rubrics - by way of the post Tridentine liturgical books - have their origin in this Ordo Missae of Burckhard.
The history of this gesture - whether in liturgical prayer or in private prayer - is rather complex. For our purposes today it is enough to stress the importance of doing it well. Guardini says: "... let not the bending of our knees be a hurried gesture, an empty form. Put meaning into it; to kneel, in the soul's intention, is to bow down before God in deepest reverence." The bodily posture of kneeling is above all a sign of reverence for Christ present in the Eucharist. Which reminds me of a story I must tell you. In January 1993, I was serving as substitute chaplain at a small Catholic college in New England. It snows there, and that particular winter there was lots of it. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved not only in the main church, but also in the chapels of the two dorms.
Now, during the Christmas vacation, since no one is around, the Blessed. Sacrament is removed from the dorm chapels, and when the students come back, it is brought back again. So I was walking with the Blessed Sacrament from the church to the girls' dorm, covering the pyx with my cope, because it was windy and cold. An altar server with his candle accompanied the Blessed Sacrament. As we approached the door of the girls' dorm, two of the students happened to be coming out at the same time. They weren't expecting us, but as soon as they saw that I was carrying the Blessed Sacrament, without a moment's hesitation, they knelt down in the snow in honor of Christ present in the Eucharist. That gesture made a profound impression on me.
In these our days, when the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist is often very weak - when there are some people who don't even know what it is that they receive -it is imperative that we show by our gestures the faith we believe. Actions speak louder than words! So let us kneel. Flectamus genua. Carefully, deliberately, reverently. That will reinforce our own belief in the Real Presence of Christ, it will teach our children by example, it will inspire our fellow Catholics, and it will scandalize a world that does not believe.
🙏🏼9. Walking up to communion
After the Eucharistic Prayer and the Great Doxology, it is time for communion. How do you get from your pew to the sanctuary? You have to walk. Now, it's not as self-evident as it seems. How to walk with dignity, to process. Guardini addresses this question also.
Walking. How many people know how to walk? It is not hurrying along at a kind of run, or shuffling along at a snail's pace, but a composed and firm forward movement. There is spring in the tread of a good walker. He lifts, not drags, his heels. He is straight, not stoop-shouldered, and his steps are sure and even. When I was a novice, we were taught how to walk in procession so that we would keep even two by two, and so that the line would stay straight. It was particularly difficult to keep together when making a turn, because the monk on the outside would have to walk faster than the monk on the inside, so as to keep together. Anyone who has done any marching knows that: marching in a band, or in the armed services, or in a parade.
At the time of my novitiate, we all thought that being taught how to walk was ridiculous. "You'd think a grown man would know how to walk!" we exclaimed in our pride and ignorance. But the fact of the matter was, we didn't know how to walk properly. The Novice Master was right: we had to be taught. When you walk up to communion, don't look all around you this way and that. Concentrate on what you are about to do, on whom you are about to receive. With this kind of walking, you draw near to presence of God. Be conscious of what you are doing, and walk with calm reverence and a spirit of recollection and prayer."