Diary of a Daily Mass-er

The Posture of Love

2010-10-18T13:55:00.003-04:00

JMJ

Several weeks ago, I read an article in the local Catholic paper that astounded me. It was all about how public displays of private prayer are unhealthy. Perhaps what surprised me the most was that the article was written by the Catholic priest, Fr. Ron Rolheiser, who should know better. Since his columns are syndicated, he has now, most probably, created much confusion among the faithful. He cites Matthew 6:5-6 where Jesus says, “…but when you pray, go to your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to your Father who is in that secret place,” as the text to justify, in a fundamental way, his arguments for believing the way he does. He claims that Jesus “doesn’t distinguish as to whether these acts come from a sincere heart or a false one” in an attempt to convince the reader that all public acts of private prayer are bad. He says they are “bad art, art that irritates more than it inspires,” and that all such displays are “unhealthy exhibitionism.” He even says that private devotions and private acts of penance when done in public are “unhealthily exhibitionistic.” Fr. Rolheiser misses the whole point of Jesus’ warning against hypocrisy and His attempts to call people to repentance and to true love even while admitting that that was Jesus’ main point. “But,” says Fr. Rolheiser, “He (Jesus) is also warning against the public display of private devotion itself, no matter how sincere.” While it is true that Jesus wants to be in communion with us in our hearts, where we continually love each other in secret, He didn’t intend for us NEVER to show any expression of that love in public. If fact the entire Bible is filled with example after example of people using their very bodies to thank, praise and give expression to the gift of love they have received from the Lord. Not only in scriptures do we find example after example of people showing their love for God in gestures and prostrations, in tears and in reverential bows, but our whole Catholic Tradition is filled with story after story of worshiping God with our whole selves from the Apostles all the way down to present day pilgrims who sometimes travel on their knees as an act of love for our Lord and to call upon His great mercy. St. Peter fell to his knees in the boat and begged the Lord to depart from him. St. John laid his head on the heart of our Lord during the first Holy Mass! St. Mary Magdalene wept all over the feet of the Savior and dried His feet with her hair and anointed them and kissed them. The Lord certainly didn’t tell her she was an unhealthy exhibitionist…instead He praised her love and I’m sure He delighted in her actions and in her.

How glad I am, then, that our own good priest gave a wonderful catechesis this weekend on genuflection. In just a few minutes he encapsulated the teaching of the Church on why we genuflect and how good it is for us. He quoted St. Paul and how “every knee must bend at the Name of Jesus” and how genuflecting in front of the Holy Eucharist reminds us of the Lord of Heaven and Earth who is Present with us and how the humble posture of genuflecting increases our humility and our belief in the Real Presence. It reminds us of who God is and who we are. He spoke of many things and ended by pointing out that worshipping God with our whole selves (minds, hearts, souls AND bodies) is what Catholics do. I was very proud at that moment to BE a Catholic. What a beautiful and rich faith we have been given by God!

We learn though our senses and it is so important to see people in love with God for the building up and passing on of the faith. We learn love through the example of others especially our parents. When we see that they love each other we are somehow more secure…we have a greater sense of well-being. Fr. Rolheiser would probably have benefited to see my own parents dancing in the kitchen while dinner was cooking… I know I did. If we never see expressions of love, disorders are bound to occur. And if we never see them in Church, heresies are bound to occur. Just look at Jansenism or any other heresy; we are people with bodies and souls and we need healthy examples to thrive. To see our priests and religious in prayer is one of the best examples of increasing our belief in God…Our hope in Him and our love for Him. An eloquent homily does far less than to see the change in a priest’s face or voice as he realizes he is speaking of his beloved God. To see authentic and healthy love is contagious and spreads to our hearts like fire. And it is fire…the fire of God’s love. On Good Friday every year, the Church asks her priests to prostrate themselves at the beginning of the service. It is always a powerful moment for me and while our priest is down prostrate on the floor in body, the congregation should all be down there with him in spirit…The whole body of Christ. We should never be put out to see others loving God. It is our mission to make Him more loved and when we see someone come and display their private feelings of love towards God, we should be uplifted and edified that He is loved more. Sadly, there are so few who love him and fewer still who show Him. “Behold this Heart which has loved so much, yet is so little loved.” When our Lord said this to St. Margaret Mary, He must have wept. He so wants our love and affection and we still refuse His tender appeals. May we never be ashamed of our love for Him; He will never be ashamed of us before His Heavenly Father and the Holy Angels.

Oh, my sweet Lord! Thank you for your love and for teaching me how to be me in your presence. My body sometimes acts of its own accord when we are together. If you didn’t have work for me I would always be kissing the ground and thanking you for your great mercy toward me. In the silence of my heart I am with you always and gazing upon your beauty. I forget myself sometimes in your presence and I just see you and your need for love and the tears come. Thank you for the gift of yourself in the Holy Eucharist…it is a miracle of love. A love that lowers itself to folly! I love you so much and want to love you even more…to be a fool for love. Thank you for all the examples you have given to your Church to show us all the many ways you are loved and glorified. Thank you for the martyrs who were, and are, never ashamed to show you their love with their very lives. Thank you for the Holy Virgins who give you their entire selves as your brides…may the fragrant purity of their lives inspire us all to keep our lamps lit and ready for you. Thank you for the gift of the Priesthood and the gift of Spiritual Fatherhood. You choose the weak and make them strong. You are present among us in your priests and I beg you to make them all faithful to the teachings of your Church. Bring back the lost and keep your faithful sons true. Thank you for all your saints who became as children in your sight. How they trusted in you! When they raised their hands, you picked them up and carried them. When they cried, you comforted them. When they needed your power, you gave it to them. What a good Father you are and a good friend and a good lover! May the passion of the saints inspire us to cling to you and to never give a thought to human respect when it comes to showing you love. May all of us forget ourselves entirely and live only for you….like your holy mother Mary. Thank you for giving us such a selfless mother who shows us how to be a Christian. She shows us what it means to be Church and to be one with you. Oh, my mother, please obtain the grace of love for Fr. Rolheiser. Teach him how to fall in love with Jesus…real, mad, and crazy love that thinks only of the beloved and when he finds him, just like the bride in the Song of Solomon, he “would not let Him go.” Good and gentle Jesus, give your special help to all your chosen sons that they may bring your love and your truth to your people. And may we all respond to that love and return it to you with every action of our lives…with every breath we take, with every beating of our hearts, with every step we take…with all. May we always be grateful for all of the blessings of our lives especially your beautiful life-giving love! Amen.

Recommended Reading:

The Better Part by Fr. John Bartunek, LC
20 Holy Hours by Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC.

Something Beautiful for God

2010-04-17T13:23:00.004-04:00

JMJ

Last October my daughter and I had the privilege to go on pilgrimage to Rome, Orvieto, and Assisi. It was an amazing time of blessing. We went in many Churches and although all were immensely beautiful, the thing that strikes me now is that all of them without exception looked and felt like Churches. There is something that impacts the soul when you are in a Church that was built for the glory and honor of our Lord…a Church that spares no expense to give the best of what human beings can offer to God. Sacred space somehow transforms your heart and lifts your soul into the realms of heaven. Certainly, the Lord’s real and actual presence in the Eucharist touches us most deeply, but when Church architecture, sacred art, and furnishings draw the attention of the soul to God, the beauty of the details can melt one’s heart. God is beauty and when He is surrounded by the reflection of His beauty…Wow!

More recently, I saw a news story about a Church out East which was being transported brick by brick down south to Georgia. Why would anyone take the trouble? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to build a new Church? This particular Church is a replica of one that is in Rome and is very beautiful and I think the people involved in Georgia recognize the treasure that it is. To be honest, when we look around the United States today, there are very few Churches left that actually look and feel like Churches. So many of them feel empty of all devotion and are more like meeting halls or banquet rooms than the house of the Lord. There was a book entitled Ugly as Sin by Michael Rose written a few years ago that addressed this topic and I think one of his points was how a lack of beauty in Church and putting Jesus off to the side and out of sight leads people to a lack of faith in the Real Presence and a lukewarmness of soul. The emphasis eventually becomes about ME instead of God. There is much to reflect on about why this has come about in our country and what it means, but it would take many more posts to delve into the topic. Besides, I believe there are quite a few books that tackle this very subject. I would like instead to reflect on my own parish and the plans to make our sanctuary more beautiful….to make our Church more beautiful for God.

I belong to a Catholic parish that sits right in the center of Central Michigan University. How amazing it is to have Jesus, the Bread of Life, right at the center of a secular school of higher learning that often directly promotes a Culture of Death. What is most amazing about our parish is that it is essentially a campus parish run by students under the energetic leadership of our pastor. It is their parish. The students are musicians, lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, sacristans, altar servers and organizers of many events. They are involved in bible studies, organizing and leading rosaries, Eucharistic Adoration, Vigils, purity groups, vocation discernment groups, college fellowship nights, pro-life groups and on and on. There are tremendous blessings occurring every single day at our parish and vocations are flourishing. I give thanks every day for the gift of belonging to such a vibrant faith community. Our parish is most of all a place of prayer and worship. The Sacrifice of the Mass stands of the center of all that happens there. Jesus is our focus which is why blessings continue to fall upon us left and right.

One of our blessings is that we are going to remodel our parish and give Jesus a new home at the front and center of our Church where He will be the main focus and will be seen by everybody. We will make His home more beautiful so hearts can be drawn right into His own beauty and be filled with the peace that only He can give. And how much we need His peace in these days! Many of the students at our parish stop in and out of the Church throughout the day to find a moment of silence and peace in the Lord’s presence. There is so much noise in the culture and in college life in general and it is a great blessing to be able to come and rest in Jesus and recharge the soul batteries and be filled with His love so that one can take it back out into the noise and share it with others. It is so important that our parish always remain as a haven for the young church and a defender of truth in the midst of a sea of relativism.

If there is a criticism at all about our parish it is that not enough students are involved and contributing to the maintenance of the parish. Our collection reports are pitiful…once it was less than 200 dollars! I don’t think it is a lack of generosity as much as oversight. I’m sure not many know that our parish is subsidized completely by the diocese and, so far, we stay open only because our bishop realizes the future of the church is right here. I will never buy the fact that students are too poor to put something in for God; I have yet to meet a student who doesn’t: own an iPod they could sell, go out for beer and pizza they could give up, or buy all kinds of college gear that they could do without. I truly think they are not aware that there is a real need here…that the parish doesn’t run itself and that God isn’t dropping hundred dollar bills in the parking lot every weekend. Maybe they don’t realize that THEY are the stewards of the parish. Perhaps they don’t yet trust that God is good and will provide for them or maybe they are infected with a sense of entitlement that is so prevalent in our society today. Perhaps it is just ignorance. Whatever the reason, God is looking for generous hearts…it is our hearts that He wants most of all. And He wants ALL of our hearts and not just a piece of them like a tithe. He wants us to be willing to give all and when we get over our fear and offer Him our all….oh, what blessings He will cover us with. Jesus loved the poor and it is us poor sinners that He loves the most. How He praised the poor widow who put in her whole livelihood. He called poor fishermen who were uneducated to lead His Church…poor, but generous because they immediately dropped their nets and followed Him. Would that we will all do the same! It sounds radical and irresponsible to the ears of our contemporary “practical” culture, but living a truly Christian life IS radical. It is only irresponsible if we think God is powerless, but He is not! He is Almighty and can be trusted with everything including our lives and treasure. He is our real treasure!

Often the image of poor immigrants in our country comes to my mind when I think of the situation of our parish. People from all over came here and had nothing, but they raised money to build glorious churches for God and for their communities. How did they do it? Why did they sacrifice and make it a priority in their lives? Because building something beautiful for God is always blessed. God will never be outdone in generosity. Our students come from all over, too, and have a chance to be a part of something beautiful, something that takes work and sacrifice and is lasting. Truly if we only realized what graces He is ready to give us, we wouldn’t think twice about giving all we have. Perhaps one has a 20 dollar bill and a 1 dollar bill when the collection passes by…how many will put in the 20 over the 1? God wants our hearts to be willing to give it all. He wants our treasure and our labors and most of all our love…they are all His gifts to us. He will guide us in prayer about how much to give or contribute, but it is important to talk to Him about these things. Make a holy hour every day and ask Him what He wants you to do for your parish….for Him? Ask Him what He needs from you that only you can give to Him. Ask Him what makes Him happy. Tell Him you love Him and try to mean it more every time. Show Him. Ask Him to put strong desires on your heart to lead you. Open the scriptures and let Him talk to you. Ask Him to show you all that He has given to you. When you are able to see how much you owe Him, there will be nothing that will stop you from trying to give back to goodness Himself. It takes one student reading this to do something beautiful for God and for that something to cause a ripple effect to touch many, many lives. The possibilities are endless. Ask yourself when the last time was that you donated time or flowers or candles or wine for Mass. When was the last time you offered to help with the garden and lawn, or shovel snow, or other tasks? When was the last time you raised money or sacrificed a meal for the good of the parish community? Have you asked the office to sign you up for envelopes so you can contribute regularly? Our parish needs funds for this modest renovation project, to be financially independent and free from worry about closing, money for operating and upkeep etc., and our students (and the rest of us too!) need to learn how blessed it is to give of time, treasure, and talent…to belong to a noble family whose head is Christ Himself. We ALL need to do something beautiful for God because He is God and we owe Him everything as He has given us the greatest gift of all…Himself! Oh, let us build something beautiful for God and for our universal Church. It will be something that will last and when students go on to graduate from here, they can still contribute and do something beautiful for God by seeing that the Church in the middle of the campus where they once found a much needed moment of peace remains open until He comes again. It will be a place for their children to come and have a safe haven full of truth, goodness and beauty. If anyone besides my mom reads this blog post and would like to help build something beautiful for God, please send donations to St. Mary’s University Parish, 1405 S. Washington St., Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858, Attn. Renovation Fund. We can use many prayers too! Be generous, for where your treasure is there also is your heart. May God Bless you as He has blessed me!

My Lord, thank you for all the many gifts you give to me. You have given me such a blessed existence. I am made for you and I love you. You give me life and peace and joy and so many good gifts. The greatest gifts are the ones I don’t always recognize…those crosses that make me more like you. Oh, but I see you are always helping me to carry them as you lead me along paths that are new and unknown. Lord, we are going to give you a new home in your Church. We have taken the step and we are trusting in you to send the money we will need to accomplish it. Inspire our hearts to be generous to you and to give you more room in every aspect of our lives. Your presence is so important to the world. Without you living in so many tabernacles and in the hearts of your faithful, the world would end. Your love is particularly needed in the souls of young people. How bombarded they are with cynicism and attacks against you and your bride the Church…against the truth of your life. So many young people are not even aware of the dignity they possess in being made in your image and likeness. How sad it must make you yet you have many friends in the young men and women of today. They want to do the right thing. They are starving as we all are for hope for our world. And you are the answer. You are our Hope and our Peace and our Truth too. And you are Beauty. I want to see you surrounded with beauty always…surrounded with friends who love you and spend time with you and let you love them. I adore you, Jesus. I’m so excited about this project which will take you out of the corner and put you back into the center of the Church. I pray that everyone will come to see and know you and give you the respect and reverence you deserve. So many seem unaware of your presence in the Church and I ask you to give them grace to know of the wonders of your love. You are so lovable and tender. You are the answer to every problem and the Key to the Kingdom. Bring us all into you, Lord…that we may all be one. I ask for your grace to descend upon our parish and all the students. Help them to be generous and thoughtful to you…to be kind to you in all sorts of ways. And I beg for the help of the poor widow in the gospel to help me be more generous. May she obtain for me the grace never to complain about anything in my life for that shows you such a lack of gratitude. Help me, my King, to trust always in your goodness and providence in my life and in the lives of us all. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

Architecture in Communion: Implementing the Second Vatican Council Through Liturgy and Architecture by Steven J. Schloeder
No Place for God: The Denial of Transcendence in Modern Church Architecture by Moyra Doorly

15 Minutes of Glory

2010-03-10T17:57:00.003-05:00

JMJ

A lot of people these days talk about getting their 15 minutes of fame. Fame in our culture seems to be everything. Most people at some point in their lives have thought about being famous. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be famous too; I wanted to be just like Barbra Streisand in her musicals. What flair! I would dress up in all sort of costumes (even attempting to make big hats with lots of feathers) and sing into a hairbrush microphone. Oh, to be Dolly Levi coming down those steps at the Harmonia Gardens with Louis Armstrong directing the band! If I wasn’t dreaming of being a famous movie star, then it was some other sort of famous person. I even had my hair cut really short when Dorothy Hamill won the Olympic gold medal for figure skating so I could be more like her. What is it inside of us that yearns to be famous? Why the desire to be noticed? Is it God living within us that seeks His own rightful adoration or is it our fallen human nature that seeks to “be gods?” I think deep within us all there is a need to be loved…to be accepted for who we are and loved in spite of it. That’s why we were made after all…made by love to be love. Jesus, in His Sacred Humanity, had this need too. According to the gospels, He WAS famous. Over and over we hear of how His fame spread and how people were astonished and amazed by Him. We hear so many times of the crowds pressing in on Him, of people wanting healing from Him, of the general madness surrounding Him that He once had to get into a boat so He could teach the people. We see, though, in Jesus’ own life how fleeting fame is. Not only did He get booted off the stage, but the crowds yelled out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Poor Jesus who only went about doing good and begging for our love. Every time I read the gospels, it doesn’t matter what scene in our Lord’s life that I’m meditating on, I hear Jesus saying the same thing. “Love me. Let me love you. I’m starving for your love. I can heal you. Please love me. I need you.” He hungered for what we all hunger for. It is so remarkable and such a miracle that God descended so far for love of us creatures! And that the victory of His love was made evident on the Holy Cross! Oh, what a marvelous love. It would have been more than enough to simply have won the victory, but He went so far as to institute the Eucharist so He could be with us always. And He still begs for our love. We are privileged to be able to enter into communion with Him every day and experience not 15 minutes of fame, but 15 minutes of Glory!

In his book, Heaven Sense, Fr. Arendzen speaks about how we will see God in heaven through an act of contemplation and love (4-6):

At first, it may seem difficult to realize that our happiness in Heaven can possibly consist in an act of contemplation and love. On earth, the common idea of enjoying oneself consists in some gratification of the senses: a sumptuous banquet, sweet music, healthy exercise, a beautiful landscape; or the company and praise of our fellowmen, the achievement of some great work through the exercise of our brain and skill, the discovery of something fresh and new, the traveling through unknown and sunlit lands. These and a thousand other things flit before the human mind when it imagines supreme happiness, for this happiness is thought of as an endless variety of such things as our own experience on earth suggests. A life of contemplation may seem a pale and attenuated existence, holding little attraction for us. On reflection, however, it becomes more and more evident that the highest and happiest life must be the complete satisfaction of mind and will in the sight and possession of an infinite personal Being.

Even on this earth, the greatest known joy is intimacy—that is, knowledge and nearness with another intelligent being. Imagine
a mother, after the Great War, gazing again on the face of her son, and hearing his voice, and then clasping him in her embrace, and holding him as her very own possession, of which the battlefield had almost robbed her! The first moments of their mutual happiness contain a joy so intense that all other so called enjoyments are as nothing in comparison.

Or imagine a husband and a wife who have been parted by strange misfortunes, and after years of separation meet again. As a matter of fact, this theme has ever been elaborated in all human literature, and we may rest assured that it will remain so as long as man lives here below.

No doubt this theme of storytellers, poets, and songsters has been degraded times out of number because of the carnal and sexual element that so often is intruded, or rather, intrudes itself. But nobler minds, at least, can realize that the sensual side of this earthly affection ought not and need not be the dominant factor in true human love, that the knowledge and spiritual possession of one another can be the source of a quasi-delirium of pure joy even on earth.

True, this does not often last long, but at least as long as it lasts, it is supposed to outweigh all other things. Pain, poverty, and distress only provoke a smile, and the very comparison of such joy with other earthly goods is disclaimed as degradation. ‘Strong as death is love,
and many waters cannot quench its fire.’ (Song of Sol. 8:6-7) Given the infinity of God, God must be infinitely beautiful and infinitely lovable. So, far from a pale and extenuated existence, Heaven is the romance, the never-ending love story of the soul and God.

We can enter into the romance of heaven on earth with our communion of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Every day we should be experiencing a quasi-delirium of pure joy when we receive our Lord. When I think of the amazement and love that the Virgin Mary must have experienced at the annunciation when she realized God was within her own body, I must confess, I have to beg for mercy for all of the times I have disregarded the Lord within my own body after Holy Communion. Oh, but Mercy He is full of and we can start fresh, thanks be to God. It is never too late until death to begin to cultivate the knowledge of God, to possess Him, and to love Him with all the love of our being. How sad I feel when people receive communion as if they are receiving mere bread when they are in fact receiving Jesus, the bread of angels…the same Jesus who went about doing good and wanting our love….dying for our love. It is said that the Jesus is really present within us body, blood, soul and divinity for as long as the species remains in our bodies which is about 15 minutes. How can we not want to prostrate ourselves at such a sublime condescension of our God sharing Himself completely with His creatures?! It is astonishing that He chose to remain with us even though He knew most people would take Him for granted, abuse Him, ignore Him, or prefer to go out to eat or watch a movie or talk to friends, when He, our greatest friend, wants to give us Himself entirely. He wants us to possess Him and He wants to possess us in a mutual banquet of intimacy, love, and tenderness. May God grant that we all wake from our stupor and realize what a gift is ours in Jesus, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and may we look not to fleeting fame, but to eternal glory that can begin right now on this earth for us if we but only show Him a flicker of real love.

My Lord and love, thank you for sharing yourself so completely with me. So trustingly do you enter into me at Holy Communion that it is as if you were a child looking for someone to take care of you, or a lover who needs a caress, or a Father who has some sound advice to give, or a baby that just needs to be kissed. Sometimes you need someone to bind up your wounds or to encourage your heart and sometimes it is you who cares for me and holds me and makes known to me by your tenderness that I am indeed loved and that all I long for is right within me. You. You are everything. Live in me always! Stay Lord and I will keep you company and notice you when others forget you. Help me though, because I would be the first to forget you if you didn't first give me the grace of your love, but I know you want me to succeed in loving you and so I know you will give me that grace. Thank you for all the graces you give to all of us. Make us faithful to them and to you. Help us all to hear your voice in Holy Communion so that we won’t think of any part of life as separate from you. You are the glue that holds everything together and we can’t possibly live well if you are not put in first place. Lord, I would like to say your name with great love over and over throughout the day with the intention of receiving you well in Holy Communion. Of really loving you and having you be all in me. Help me to do so by letting my guardian angel remind me at least every 15 minutes. Jesus. How sweet a name! May it roll off my lips as a sweet caress to you to console you for every time you are forgotten by souls while you are still present in their bodies! Sometimes when I receive you I don’t know what to say and all I can do is sing, “What wondrous Love is this, oh my soul, oh my soul…” I am so amazed by your gracious love and so grateful for it. You make me cry so much when I think of your goodness to me and your special care for me. Thank you, Lord. I love you. Make my love constant and true and real. Be mine forever because my intimate life with you is bliss. Help us all to know and love you intimately. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

The Blessed Eucharist by Fr. Michael Müller, C.S.S.R.
Heaven Sense by Fr. John P. Arendzen

Spiritual Fatherhood

2010-01-20T18:12:00.003-05:00

JMJ

The priesthood is one of the greatest proofs of God’s immense love for us. In this year of the priest, there is so much to rejoice in and reflect upon. One of the more beautiful aspects of the priesthood is spiritual fatherhood which provides us with gazillions of reasons to be grateful to God. I recently did a search on spiritual fatherhood and was surprised at how much has been written on the topic. How I wish I had the gift of words or a brilliant brain to express the immensity of God’s gift by giving us spiritual fathers to engender the faith in us and bring us up in the ways of God, however, my grateful heart will have to suffice and I trust that the Lord will supply the rest.

The whole mystery of a priest’s fecundity is his holiness of life. The closer he resembles Jesus, the more fruitful will his ministry be and the more spiritual children he will bring into the world. That kind of responsibility would scare anyone to death if it were to be accomplished on one’s own, but Jesus can do all, and He provides the choicest, most powerful graces and pours them out upon His brother priests so that they can bring His love into the world. It really is all the work of God and yet it takes the constant YES of a priest to surrender himself totally into God’s hands…to be an instrument of the Divine and thus accomplish God’s will. A priest must truly resemble Christ in all of the virtues; he must be imbibed with deep faith, humility, obedience, trust in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and most of all possess great love. It must be a Divine and sacrificial love resembling his Savior, who came to be the servant of all. The same could be said of all of us who are baptized into the common priesthood of the faithful. In a special way, though, it applies to priests who are “Other Christs.” They bring us Christ, not only in the Eucharist and in the other Sacraments, but in their very own bodies which are given for us. St. Paul speaks about this beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians when he exhorts husbands to love their wives “as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for Her” (see Eph 5:25). Since the priest is wedded to the Church (the body of Christ = us), he is also called to give himself up for us. The fruitfulness of his life will be made evident to the extent that he does this.

It is what true fatherhood is all about, the total donation of self for the good of the children. It is a miracle of love! God has chosen certain men to show us the father’s love and to teach us what it means to be children of God. And we as children are often so ungrateful for the gifts our fathers give us. Not only do they give us the gift of themselves, but they provide for us in so many ways. Hidden ways.

A father is first of all an authority figure. He is the head of the family. We can learn much from St. Joseph about the poverty of spirit required to possess true authority which always is a gift from God. Jesus teaches us, Himself, what kind of authority is wielded in the kingdom of heaven…the authority of loving service. A father loves and cares for his family. He nourishes them and provides for their needs. He shelters them and guides them along safe roads. He protects them from danger. Our spiritual fathers nourish us with the Word and Sacraments, they provide for our spiritual needs, guide us along the safe roads of true doctrine and protect us from the evil one by their prayers and sacrifices. They teach us by their words and most of all by their example how to be a follower of Christ. And their great desire is to bring all children into the kingdom of God for His greater glory and our unending joy and eternal beatitude. What a beautiful plan of God!

So what happens when a priest is not given over entirely to Christ? What happens when we don’t SEE Jesus in our priests? Blessed Columba Marmion says, “Exterior humility is necessary for a priest for the very reason that he is a person of authority. He is, in the public view, a candle placed upon the candlestick: positus super candelabrum (Mt 5:15), his words, his gestures, his attitudes are all the object of notice. If these are open to criticism, if they allow petty preoccupations of self-love to appear, this is a betrayal of the faithful, who like to find in their priest, combined with that perfect dignity befitting the minister of the Lord, something of the profound humility of the divine Master.” (See Blessed Columba Marmion, Christ, The Ideal of the Priest pp 139-140). A betrayal of the faithful is the same as saying a betrayal of the family. Marmion also speaks of priests grumbling against legitimate authority and calls it evil. If grumbling is evil for the father, it is just as evil for the children. Grumbling about our priests is the least productive thing we can do when we are faced with such a sad situation of betrayal. How many times do we hear people, even ourselves, complain about this or that priest and how he said or did this or that. And yet how many of us pray for priests? How many make sacrifices for them? How many really love them enough to give up themselves for them as they have given themselves for us? We, as children of God, must honor our father and mother. We must do all we can to help our priests. We have all betrayed the Lord over and over again and He forgives us every time we repent. We must have the same spirit of forgiveness when it comes to priests who have not been faithful to the great dignity that is forever imprinted upon them by their ordination. The whole family needs to come together when there is a crisis and call upon the Lord for assistance. If there is a situation where a priest is clearly endangering the flock by his behavior or teaching, we must go to legitimate authorities and seek resolutions. We must also pray! The best thing we can do for our priests is to give them to the Blessed Mother, who, when she looks upon them, sees her son…sometimes she sees them covered with all sorts of filth, but she is a good mother who comes to clean them up and to help them and to restore in them the perfect image of her son that she sees. Let us all resolve to say one Hail Mary for our priests every single day. The power of one Hail Mary is extraordinary and all of us can do at least that. We should make it part of our daily routine to pray for our priests…one Hail Mary said with love can change the whole world and sanctify the entire priesthood. Oh, how fruitful our fathers will be then!

My Lord! My all! How can I ever thank you for sending me such a wonderful father? How can I express what is in my heart? For 10 years you were preparing my heart to receive you, emptying it of so much and getting it ready for you…all of my life, really. All of those years of praying for a spiritual father to guide me closer to you. You let me suffer so much by seeing your doctrine twisted by a chosen son of yours and yet you taught me to persevere in my prayer for him and in my prayer to you to help me. How many times I was lost in wanting you and yet not really knowing you? And then you sent me a real father who has birthed the faith in me. He has brought me so close to you and helps me at every turn to discover your infinite goodness. I see you in Him. I see all of your goodness, tenderness, beauty, and strength wrapped up in his heart. Every time I look at him, I see your love for me, for he loves me unconditionally as the best of fathers. Even though he sees how weak I am and how I can do nothing for you, dear Jesus, he still loves me. It is like a father who sees his own baby with some sort of disease and who needs extra special love and attention from its parents. Does he cast that baby aside or does he give it all the extra love he can to help the baby get well? Despite all of my miseries, his love is constant. It is the greatest proof of your love for me, Lord. Half the time I’m broken by it so incomprehensible it is that you have such a care for me…that you’ve chosen me from all eternity to be so close to you. He has taught me to pray, to really talk with you and to listen to you. He teaches me so much every day by his example. Make him a saint, Jesus. Give him all of your love. I have nothing to give him and there is nothing I can do for him except to beg you to give him your all. My favorite Mass intentions are for the clergy and I especially love when we say “For all those who have spiritual authority over us, let us pray to the Lord.” It is a way I can honor him in your presence. I wish you to give him everything. I see you already give him so much. He couldn’t love me if you first didn’t give him so many of your gifts. Continue to fill him with your patience and love…with all of your virtues. Overlook his weaknesses and pour forth your grace upon him. He is bringing you many children and forever I will belong to him in a special way because of the ties you have forged between us. I will be in heaven someday because he has taught me how to receive your mercy and your love. Jesus, how I love you and how glad I am that you love me so tenderly! Gentle Jesus, thank you! Help me to be a good daughter to him and to help him in his every need. Protect him from all evil. May our lovely Mother, Mary, hold him constantly in her arms and console him in every way until you receive him into heaven. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

Christ: The Ideal of the Priest by Blessed Columba Marmion
The Mystery of Joseph by Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe, OP

The Present Moment

2010-01-05T23:37:00.002-05:00

JMJ

Surrendering ourselves to God in the present moment is the most sure and solid way to sanctity that exists. It has been the secret of the saints in every age. It is the way where God, Himself, directs our souls and leads us on the path to union with Him…to heaven. There isn’t anything tricky or necessarily hard about it because God does all of the work Himself. We ARE the work of His hands. Books and books have been written on abandoning ourselves to God in the present moment…books written by saints that tell us everything we could ever hope to know on this subject, and how easy it is to become a saint ourselves if we only do the simplest of things and say “Yes” to God in every present moment that He arranges so lovingly for us.

So why do we say “No” all the time? For, indeed, that is what we are saying the moment we complain about anything in our lives. Every moment contains an unrepeatable grace from God and it would seem that so many of these beautiful gifts that the Lord wants to shower upon us go unwanted. We think of them as inconveniences or disappointments or struggles when in fact they are treasures that bring us closer to God…and not just closer, but actually unite us with Him. That God wants His creatures to be one in love with Him is so incredible and so mind-blowing that I shall never understand it; the only thing I can do is to be grateful for HIS goodness and offer my love in return. Truly, my hope lies in Him alone.

Recently, I had to miss the wedding of a young couple who are very dear to me. I was fortunate to have some time off work and was going to spend it making a mini-retreat and then go out of town and attend the wedding. God had other plans for me, though, as He allowed me to fall sick. My health is not good to begin with so when I catch any little virus, I seem to be doubly sick and doing anything at all becomes difficult. How I wish I could say that I surrendered to God immediately and gave up all of my plans of extra prayer and Mass and going to the wedding with great joy, but alas, I had to first struggle with disappointment…the disappointment of missing the wedding, of missing spiritual reading, of missing Mass and of missing Jesus, Himself, sacramentally, in Holy Communion. I had to struggle with the disappointment of having a sick body that was filled with aches and pains and the worry about when I’d be able to go to work again. It seems so often to be the case that we have our own ideas of what God wills for us and how we should achieve it and yet, the truth of it is, God makes Himself quite clear in the present moment. On our own we can’t help resisting God’s will (due mostly to our weak, fallen natures) and struggling against the very good gifts that will unite us with Him and make us holy, but thank God we are not on our own! God’s grace is sufficient for us and He has sent the Holy Spirit to encourage and teach us…even to teach us how to surrender in the present moment and say YES with hearts full of love. The Holy Spirit also teaches us that we live supernatural lives and there is meaning in everything…especially in the Holy Cross! Our bodies may sometimes be confined and full of weakness, but our spirits can fly into the realms of heaven and ask for blessings upon those we love and favors for those who need the graces of God. The Communion of Saints is such a beautiful tenet of our faith. We are all much closer to each other then we even realize. God is so glorious!

And if we haven’t always said YES to God in the present moment or if it has taken us a little time to do so, we should never be discouraged…the son in the gospel said no at first, but then he went and did his father’s will. God is patient. He will also teach us patience, and a good many other things, as He gently leads us in the ways of His love. May He continue to arrange every detail of our lives and finish His work in us so that we can be one with Him…both now and forever.

Forgive me, Lord, for thinking too much of myself and not enough about your love. How weak I am! It is such a grace to know it and to know that when I am weak and helpless that you are carrying me in your arms. I love you. I have the greatest desire to do your will with perfect love as you did your Father’s will and yet I see that my love is not perfect. I see that I love all of the consolations that you give me and when they are not constant, I am almost like a lost puppy wandering around in the snow. It is only with the eyes of faith that I know you are with me and loving me…only by the deep peace and joy in the depths of my soul that I know you are present. Forgive me for not surrendering to your will for me in the present moment….for all of the moments I resist your grace and your love. Please fill me with the grace to love you for yourself alone because you are worthy of all love. You seem to have shaken up my world lately and taken away all of the supports I rely on…especially your sacramental presence. I was full of fear and then you showed me clearly your will and helped me to embrace it…what a gift it was and is! You have not left me alone, but are showing me that you are purifying me…and making the foundation of my soul out of the solid rock of your love…your truth, goodness, and your beauty. Oh, Jesus, I want you with all that I possess! I want to be your delight and your consolation and the joy of the Father. Help me in every single moment. Help me in THIS moment, for in this moment I say YES! To everything! I adore you, Jesus. Bless us all with your love and your grace. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

Abandonment to Divine Providence by Fr. Jean-Pierre De Caussade, S.J.
Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence by Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, S.J. and Saint Claude de la Colombiere, S.J.

Waiting for the Lord

2009-12-16T22:56:00.002-05:00

JMJ

I have a special little book that I write some of my favorite things in. It is filled with words and phrases that lift my spirit or make me grateful to be alive and to be a child of God. A lot of the words in my little book are words I find in the Liturgy of the Hours Advent/Christmas volume. Words like splendor, radiant, glory, and light are written on the pages. What beautiful words they are! Advent is such a beautiful time of the year; it is filled with such longing and hope. It is also a penitential season enabling us to prepare to receive the newborn Jesus in a more real way into our hearts and lives; yet it often doesn’t feel penitential because this time of waiting and preparation is filled with such joyful anticipation and wonder. It’s sort of like preparing for a holiday party for all of your loved ones. There is a lot of work involved (though with love it doesn’t seem like work at all, but a delight), cleaning, shopping, cooking and doing all of those little extras that will hopefully please everyone…everything is done joyfully, with care and love, because you have expectations of what the party will be like…you want it to be nice for everyone. It’s also like waiting for a baby to arrive in the family…I’m currently awaiting the arrival of a new niece, and it seems I can’t wait to meet her. The anticipation itself becomes very exciting. Of course, if like me, waiting is difficult, then one truly feels the penitential nature of the season. Advent is such a great opportunity for spiritual growth…to develop virtues and to learn that there can be calmness in patient waiting. Peace. Praise God, the Church reminds us of this opportunity every single year!

Waiting has always been difficult for me; I’m a child of the instant gratification culture…of the ME culture. Since there is no room for selfishness in the spiritual life, there is a constant dying to oneself which usually involves some sort of suffering or pain. But the good news is that when something selfish dies within us, there is room for something else to be born inside of us…something better. And that something else is SOMEONE else, Jesus Christ. And that is such great news…someone definitely worth waiting an entire lifetime for.

Sometimes we wait with expectation and longing and hope for all of the wrong things and when they fail to match the perfection that is in our imaginations, we are so disappointed. Many of us have a collection of disappointments in our lives that cling to us. Of dreams shattered and feelings crushed by things or people or ideas that we think will satisfy us and make us happy or joyful, but never do. Even close friends or members of our own families seem to let us down and we let others down as well. We’re always causing each other so much pain. We all have such high expectations of everyone, including ourselves, and most of us possess those expectations on a purely natural level. It’s no wonder we are disappointed so often. All too often we view others as utilitarian to our own needs or value them for all the wrong reasons like intelligence, determination, beauty or wealth etc. It takes the little baby Jesus to teach us how to SEE people or things…to see the whole world around us in an entirely new way…with humble, trusting, baby eyes. A helpless little baby who is at the same time God! It simply boggles the mind in every way and forces us to re-examine everything in our lives and in our world. The amazing thing about waiting for Jesus during Advent or anytime of the year is that He never disappoints us. Never! He is always more than we can dream of or imagine if we surrender our whole being to Him. And when we do, He will teach us how to super- naturalize everything. We will see everyone as made in His image. We will see their inherent dignity as being children of God and we will learn to offer all of our disappointments to Him so that He can transform them into something beautiful. Nothing (not even a single tear) is wasted when it is given to the Lord with love. But sometimes we must first wait for Him. The person to teach us how, especially at Advent, is our lovely Blessed Mother Mary. Mary shows us how to surrender and how to wait.

How much of her life was spent waiting?!...waiting with trust that God would enlighten St. Joseph about the miracle growing within her, waiting for Elizabeth to have her baby, waiting nine months to see and to hold God in her arms, waiting in the cold while St. Joseph searched for an inn, and waiting in a cave to give birth to the Savior of all mankind. She waited with the utmost patience and graciousness as shepherds and wise men came to adore her Son. She waited the prescribed time to present Jesus in the temple, and waited as a refugee in Egypt. She waited on St. Joseph and Jesus with love day after day in Nazareth…praying, working, waiting, and pondering. She waited in anguish for three days when Jesus was lost in the temple wondering if she would ever see Him again and had to wait again as she pondered His reply when He was found. She waited at the bedside of St. Joseph as he lay dying; she waited with perfect trust even though her heart was filled with sorrow. She waited for her Son’s will to be done after she pointed out the need at Cana. She waited to hear news of Him while He was proclaiming the Kingdom of God and even had to wait outside to speak to Him as He gave us all a lesson. She had to wait in calmness as she saw the hatred toward Him whom she knew as both her God and her little baby. She waited while He was betrayed, unjustly accused, abandoned, mocked, tortured, and made to carry His own Holy Cross…the heavy weight of our sins. She waited at the foot of the Cross and watched Him bleed to death, to thirst, to suffocate, and to die of love. It seemed forever while she waited for Him to die, as the sword in her own heart was piercing through, and then she waited for them to place His sacred body into her arms once again. Oh my Mother! Obtain for us your love…a real and faithful love, which is so full of the patience of your Son! She waited for Him to rise again and waited for Him to ascend to the right hand of the Father. She waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit and waited eagerly to receive her Son again in Holy Communion from the hands of St. John at Ephesus. Through the liturgy, she waited, as we do each year, to relive all the mysteries of her Son’s life…of her own life, too, as she was a witness to them all. Let us all ask Mary, our sweet mother, to help us to wait with burning hearts for the coming of the Lord…at Christmas, in Glory, radiant, full of splendor, today in prayer, and in Holy Communion...always and forever. Let us be grateful and attentive to everything that concerns our Lord Jesus so that He can find rest in our hearts.

My tender Lord Jesus, lately everyday seems like an Advent for me as I wait eagerly for Mass and receiving you in the Sacred Host in Holy Communion. There is such anticipation within me because the more I taste your sweetness…your goodness…the more I want you. When I think I might not be able to receive you for a day, it seems I feel the greatest loss inside me (and that is only with a thought!). Thank you for giving me such a perfect schedule so that I can receive you everyday into my own body and thank you for giving me such ardent desires for you that you keep expanding. You pour your life out into me and I live because of you. Every day you make me more like you. I’m so grateful and I want to make the gift of myself to you more complete. Take all of me Lord and continue to be pleased with me even though I see how I have no right at all to your free gifts of love. You are so generous! I’m never disappointed receiving you. You always give me much more than I’m capable of even imagining. I never knew that I could rely on someone so completely; it is such a change from what the whole world says. The world says I should rely on myself for happiness and be full of my own strength and power and make my own world happen. But you come as a baby to teach me how to be humble and how to be poor in spirit and how to trust and rely on you for absolutely everything in my entire life…even my own happiness! Especially my own happiness! It is so amazing! And it is so liberating. My Lord, you give freedom upon freedom. You set us free from sin and free from ourselves. Sometimes, Jesus, when you want to increase my faith or perseverance, it seems you hide from me and I feel alone. In those times especially, Lord, let your mother help me to wait for you and to be still and filled with your own patience. Let her teach me how to love and to ponder in my heart the things I don’t understand until you are ready to give me more light. You always show me what you want me to know when you are ready. I'm so grateful! Thank you, my Lord, for giving us this lovely time of Advent to increase our longing for your coming. I love you. Continue to bless us all and hold us in your tender love. Amen.

Recommended reading:

The Imitation of Mary by Thomas à Kempis
Dawn of the Messiah: The Coming of Christ in Scripture by Edward Sri

Confession

2009-12-05T01:21:00.004-05:00

JMJ

We were blessed to have an Advent penance service at our Church this past week. It was so beautiful and I’m still reflecting upon the entire night, from the opening hymn of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” to the powerful reading of the prodigal son, to the magnificent homily about living out of the heart’s embrace of the Father, to examining our consciences together and receiving the Sacrament of God’s mercy…we had six priests present hearing individual confessions! What a wonderful night! Truly I was very grateful for the orthodoxy of the service and the reverence and solemnity of the entire night. So many times today one finds 'communal' penance/absolution services which are downright kooky with lots of downplaying of sin, covering over of guilt, and even placing your written sins in a hat to be burned up and blown away in the wind. This type of misguided “compassionate” service is very sad and an injustice to the Body of Christ.

God has given us such tremendous helps toward union with Him in the Sacramental life of the Church. The Sacrament of Confession is of such importance in my own life and it is a gift we should all partake of and be grateful for. There is real power in the Sacrament as it is truly an encounter with the living God. Frequent confession has changed me in ways both noticeably and secretly. I was dead, but now I live; I was lost, but now am found; I was blind, but now I see…and each time I encounter Jesus in this Sacrament there is a greater fullness…I’m more alive, more found, and able to see more and more clearly. One of the greatest things Jesus does for me in the frequent reception of this healing Sacrament is to teach me how to receive love. To receive His love and to receive the love of others…even to love myself. How important this is in our wounded lives! We all carry around such deep wounds…wounds that we inflict upon God and upon ourselves by our own sinfulness and lack of charity for others, wounds that others inflict upon us, and the wounds of living in a world that seems to be becoming less and less human. We are the walking wounded. We have found all kinds of creative ways to disguise our wounds…to hide them from others and especially from ourselves because being aware of them hurts us, convicts us, and calls for change from within us. So we hide them and we busy ourselves in all sorts of ways to distract us from seeing them so that we won’t have to turn to the Lord and be healed. We become addicted to food, TV, internet, phone, travel, entertainment, shopping, alcohol and drugs. We escape by sleeping too much or not enough and having so many little electronic devices that there is not a moment of silence in our whole day because if there were, we might hear His voice who is ever calling us to come to Him. He loves us so much and wants us to love Him in return. So why is this so hard for us? Why do we resist? Why do we busy ourselves with anything but Him? Do we think He will be boring? Or that He will make us become something we are not? Are we afraid that He actually DOES have the power to transform us? We convince ourselves that we can handle the status quo but we are uncertain about change so we keep up the business of day to day living plodding along and convincing ourselves that the only thing that matters is that “I’m a good person.”

It is fine to be a good person, but God wants us to be saints. It is what we are made for. Jesus even asks us to “be perfect.” Is that what we are afraid of? Either we convince ourselves that sainthood is for “good” people and THAT isn’t me or that sainthood is boring and that’s not for me either. In my case, all the wounds of life have left a deep sense of unworthiness and at the same time there resides in me such a deep desire for love…for the goodness and beauty of God. It is especially apparent in confession where these two parts of me come together and I am aware more and more of God’s mercy toward me and His unconditional love for me. And He loves me as I am right now, with all of my wounds showing and bleeding. And sometimes it hurts being looked upon with such love exactly as I am. But it is a good hurt because it is mysteriously healing. He heals me with that look of love. I don’t have to live defensively when He looks at me that way; I can open up to Him in love because He will never harm me or stop loving me no matter what. The most amazing thing happens and suddenly I am filled with unexplainable joy and gratitude. Hope too! I realize that God can make even me a saint and I often am overwhelmed with love for Him and a greater trust in Him. It is more precious than anything in the world and as I leave the confessional I wonder sometimes why more people don’t realize the treasure that is contained within. It is wholly good…God is entirely good! He grants lights according to our trust in Him…as our trust grows we are enabled to see the ways we offend Him…ways we didn’t even consider in the past, but have now become obvious. He shows us as we are in His loving presence and we see our nothingness, but at the same time, we see His greatness and see how much He loves us and how far He is willing to go to show us that He IS mercy. Even our many failings do not discourage us because we become convinced of His goodness. He, Himself, will stop by the side of the road and pick us up and bind up our wounds and pour the wine of His love upon us. He even carries us to the Inn of the Church where we are cared for until He comes again. How can we not be flocking in droves to confession? So many treasures wait for us in His infinite mercy. Sometimes we think we are good and that we have not sinned and wonder what there is to confess. That is the moment we should stop and realize that we are suffering from a spiritual blindness. If we ask the Holy Spirit to give us light, He will. And truly, there is not one of us who can get past the very first commandment without finding ample reason to be running to the Church for confession. How rarely do we put God and the things of God first in our lives. So much hope awaits us, though, for as long as we are still breathing, we can turn back to Him and start again. And He will make us saints if we open our hearts to Him and life will never be boring again. Let us all ask for the graces we need to appreciate this beautiful Sacrament and resolve to meet the Lord there more frequently.

Jesus, my Lord, thank you for the great gift of your mercy. Thank you for healing me and making my soul more beautiful. You are always present when I come to confession and you speak to me there. I am always amazed by your love and I am grateful. I love the form of confession and the safety I feel kneeling next to Father. What graces you send me to be able to come to confession without fear. Sometimes going in I have anxieties and am nervous, but there is something familiar about going that soon puts me at ease. I’m sure it is you, Lord, glad to welcome me with open arms. I feel like the very beloved daughter in whom the Father is well-pleased. I’m not afraid even when I can’t articulate my sins well or forget some of them or am highly emotional…inside of me there is a strong awareness of you. There is an awareness of your love and I become more and more resolved not to offend you again….to love you more and to do anything to make you more loved. You are so good to me, Jesus. You are so tender and full of love. I’m sad that so many people never go to confession…never come to you. You are all good and deserving of ALL our love. I want to love you and I know you will help me…you help me every single day. Forgive me, Lord, especially for the ways I offend you that I don’t even know about. Help me always be a witness to your mercy and to show your mercy to others. I beg you to call more people…indeed everyone…to the tribunal of Mercy so they can hear as I do those powerful words of absolution and be filled with the joy of heaven and with your own precious peace. I love you, Jesus. Never let me go…never let me betray you because you are everything to me and all I want…you have become so quickly my whole happiness. May you be the happiness and delight of us all and may we give thanks to you, for your mercy does, indeed, endure forever. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

An Examination of Conscience: A Preparation for the Sacrament of Confession by Fr. Robert Altier
The Confessions by St. Augustine

Christ Our King

2009-11-20T22:14:00.004-05:00

JMJ

The preface for the Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King is one of my favorites of the entire liturgical year. Actually, all of the prayers of the Masses for every day of the year are my favorites, but there is something special about the preface on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. I look forward to it every year. It makes me think of Heaven. It starts out, as all prefaces do, by addressing the Father with praise and thanksgiving: Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. We hear this so frequently that we can become sort of immune or desensitized to what is being said and hear it without really hearing it. The prayer can become just words in the air unless we are recollected and united with our priest who stands in the place of Christ, the head of our body. As one, we address our Father in Heaven who is so powerful that if He were to withdraw His life-giving presence from us, we would cease to be. His power should instill awe and wonder in us and a great sense of gratitude that He has made us His children. He is ever-living and He has created us to live forever with Him in love. Do we do well always and everywhere to give Him thanks? Do we thank Him for making us His children, for giving us life, for giving us faith, and for sending us all of those little crosses of each day that make us more like Christ, His beloved Son, in whom He is well-pleased? Thankfully, He has given us Jesus, Himself, and the more united we are to Jesus the more we CAN say that we give Him thanks always and everywhere.

The preface continues: You anointed Jesus Christ, your only Son, with the oil of gladness, as the eternal priest and universal king. How amazing to be anointed with the oil of gladness! It makes my heart glad just thinking of Jesus being anointed by His Father as eternal priest and king over all. I think of the times I have been anointed with the oil of gladness…in my Baptism, Confirmation, and several times receiving the Sacrament of the sick. Every Sacrament is a holy, solemn occasion and full of the sweetness of God’s grace. The Sacraments are such gifts of gladness! We are all made sharers in the divine life of God, but Jesus, as God, enjoys the fullness of it. Jesus is a priest forever, like Melchizedek of old (see Psalm 110), and He is the king of the universe. It continues: As priest, he offered his life on the altar of the cross and redeemed the human race by this one perfect sacrifice of peace. As king he claims dominion over all creation that he may present to you, his almighty Father, an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace. Wow! It almost sounds like a fairy-tale kingdom or some sort of unattainable utopia, yet this kingdom awaits us and even now is partially experienced in our hearts. This beautiful and eternal kingdom of truth, life, holiness, grace, justice, love and peace has cost our Lord Jesus every single drop of His precious blood. How much He loves us! And how much He loves the Father to present this kingdom of love to Him! The words in this part of the preface always impact me. Imagining a kingdom of holiness and grace or a kingdom of life and love helps me to realize how much I thirst for righteousness and how blessed I am. I spoke once on this blog about entering into the joy of the Lord and how we don’t have to wait until death to do so. It is the same with the kingdom because the kingdom of God is within us (see Luke 17:21-22). At this very moment, God is making our hearts into a kingdom of holiness and grace…into the kingdom of His love!

I’m also struck by the phrase sacrifice of peace. To see those words together is odd somehow, but true peace is only achieved by doing the will of the Father with love and real love always involves sacrifice. I take a glance into my own heart and ask myself what sacrifices I’m willing to make to let Christ, my King, reign there in peace. Will I sacrifice friends and family, self-love, useless chatter, time, favorite music or shows, plans for the future or money? Am I willing to give Him my health and well-being and my very life if He requires it? Will I let Him “Take Control” (see U Got 2 Believe! by Fr. Stan Fortuna) of my pride, of my desire for controlling things myself, my impatience…of my entire weak humanity? I must be able to say ‘yes’ to Him so that He can reign in me and half-measures won’t do. He deserves everything for He is the true King. And when sometimes it seems hard to say ‘yes’, I must remember that His grace is sufficient for me and that all things are possible with Him. He is such a benevolent King that when we “sacrifice” for Him, He turns those very “sacrifices” into fountains of joy! To give to Him, our King, the whole of our hearts and lives is not a burden at all, but a sign of our love and He rewards our love with His own Kingdom of peace!

And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise… How wonderful must God be to let us join in with the choirs of angels in heaven to give Him praise! At every Mass we are in so great a company from heaven and we are, or at least we should be, overwhelmed because it is really an awesome thing. We ourselves are able to glory in the Lord’s glory! Glory be to God!

It is such a lovely preface. All of the prayers of the Mass for this solemnity are beautiful, from the entrance antiphon to the opening prayer (in which both options are filled with the language of love), to the gospel acclamation, to the communion antiphon and the closing prayer. As we prepare to receive the King of Hearts into our own heart on this beautiful solemnity, let us all ask for the grace to let Him reign completely in us so that we can all be citizens together in His eternal and universal kingdom of truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love and peace!

Oh, King of my heart, reign in me! Thank you for calling me…for choosing me to love you. Help me to love you truly. I want to be with you in heaven and spend all of eternity thanking you for all you have done and are doing for me. I want to thank you for being so good and so gentle with me and for not leaving me alone. You have come to me in my weakness and in my poverty…in my helplessness…and have poured all of the treasures of your kingdom right into my lap. I need your help, Jesus, to share these gifts with others as I seem unable to do so. You are a wise King and I trust that you will show me what to do and give me the strength and courage to do it. Help me not to resist you in any way or to count the cost of belonging to you, for to belong to you is perfect freedom and every delight. You reign from the Holy Cross, the altar of your love and when you give me your entire self, you do not hold back, not even a single drop of your precious blood. I don’t want to hold back, either, for I love you, but I am such a needy little thing and I need your constant reassurance so I can really love you and forget entirely about myself. You will do all for me because you are good and generous and have the perfect plan for me. Thank you! Oh, Jesus, what a king you are! Make my heart into your kingdom here on earth and help others to see your sovereignty in their lives. Fill us with the warmth of your presence and forgive our ingratitude toward you. Love us, Lord, and always reign in our hearts. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

Spiritual Reading

2009-11-14T01:18:00.004-05:00

JMJ

Our priest gave a homily a few years ago and spoke about how the Holy Spirit poured into us is a lot like the chocolate syrup that is poured into a glass of milk. It pretty much sits there and doesn’t flavor the milk unless it is stirred up. He was addressing his remarks toward three little boys who were about to receive the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation, but all of us present were listening intently as he described ways we can stir up the Spirit within us such as praying every day, engaging the Word, coming to Mass and receiving Jesus into our hearts, frequent confession etc. It was delightful and very effective and, several years later, I still think of stirring up the Spirit whenever I see a glass of chocolate milk!

One of the great ways to enflame the Spirit living within us is spiritual reading. The value of it cannot be underestimated. Reading about the good things of God lifts our hearts up and expands them. It gives us knowledge of ourselves and of our Creator and gives us zeal in serving God and helping to build up His Kingdom. We are so blessed to have over two thousand years of writings from Christians. It is a wonderful patrimony! We have available to us the teachings of the Church from the very beginnings to the present...the lives of the saints, the witness of the martyrs, testimonies from holy bishops, and homilies from saints. We have books on meditations, books on philosophy, books on theology, books on the liturgy, about the Scriptures…so many books! In our time of technology, all of these books are available with virtually a click of a button. If we want to know more about a certain saint or want advice on overcoming a moral weakness, we can find out. If we want to learn about what the Church teaches about any given subject, we can easily discover it. The Church has safeguarded her treasure of the written word because she knows it is a gift from God and meant for all peoples of all times. It is more than a historical record; it is God’s love made manifest to His people of every time.

It is fortunate for us that we live in this time. In an age when the culture seems to be sliding into the abyss due to relativism among other things, we are called to be God’s love and light in the world. We have the truth in the Catholic Church and we need to proclaim it boldly. Some new publishers are doing just that. They are making available the wisdom of the ages by republishing classic works of Christendom which are faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. It is an important mission in a time when there is much confusion in about what is truth. It is sad that in a religion section of a bookstore one finds books by television personalities spouting new age philosophies…new teachers with ever new ways to tickle our ears. If we are not informed in our faith, we are in danger of losing it. I once looked through a book which was virulently anti-Catholic. It had so many lies at the foundation, but was so persuasive in language that I could see how uninformed people could buy into it. How many of our brothers and sisters have fallen away from truth based upon a pack of lies they thought were true because they lacked solid formation? There is so much freedom and security in possessing the REAL truth…possessing Jesus Christ, Himself, who can never be separated from His Church.

Spiritual reading in my own life is very important. It is also, at times, providential, as God places in my hands what is most needed to help me love Him more. That is what all spiritual reading should do…help us to love Him more. So often we find the encouragement we need or the hope we are looking for or the comfort we long for in the pages of spiritual books and we realize that God loves us and always sees the tiniest of our needs and provides for them. How can our love not grow for Him? Recently, I have been reading books by Blessed Columba Marmion. I will be ever grateful to Zaccheus Press for republishing his works. Zaccheus Press is a small publishing house “devoted to publishing fine books for all readers seeking a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith. While remaining ever faithful to the Magisterium, we seek to publish books that will both satisfy and intensify the reader’s thirst for a deeper relationship with God.” They have succeeded in their mission with me because reading Blessed Columba’s books have made me melt with love for God and thirst ever more for Him. Plus, I have a new friend in Blessed Columba Marmion. I am looking forward to meeting such a kindred spirit in heaven where we will both be “in the heart’s embrace of the Father” with Jesus, covered by the love of the Holy Spirit. I’m also looking forward to receiving other books from Zaccheus as they are really good quality and full of the good things of God. Praise God, they have a new book on St. Joseph! We need to support these publishers by buying their books and giving them to our loved ones. More importantly, we need to keep them in our prayers so God’s holy work will be done through them. Let us all thank God for the many ways He nourishes us through the written word of so great a cloud of witnesses!

Thank you, Lord, for all the treasures of your love which I find in reading good spiritual books. Thank you for helping me to grow closer to you through them…for giving me the gifts of the spirit and for keeping the desire in my heart burning for you. Thank you for giving me such a wonderful mother who has always instilled in me a love for reading and has provided me with so many beautiful books. I am grateful to her for all of those visits to the library, to bookstores, and for telling us to make a list of what we wanted when the newest Catholic catalog would come in the mail. Through her, Lord, You have imparted to me the importance of good spiritual reading. What a gift it is and what a gift she is! How present your love is in my life, Lord! Thank you for giving us such a wonderful library at our Church. I beg you to inspire every single parishioner to make use of it and to find your love hidden in the pages of the thousands of books there. Thank you for sending such a good and faithful priest who makes sure we are given the truth. You are the Truth, Lord; how could we not choose you? I love you, Jesus, and I feel so full of gratitude for all of the ways you have spoken to me through the words of your saints. I ask you to help those who are not able to read or those who don’t like reading. Give them abundant graces and impart your love to them in different ways, but please, help them. They need the solid food of your love, too. Help them, Lord. And help me to show with my smile your goodness to those who don’t see your love in the pages of a book….to show with the warmth of my hand your tenderness. Forgive me for all of the times I don’t and help me to try again. Let me be you in the world. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

Christ, The Life of the Soul by Blessed Columba Marmion
The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom by Fr. John A. Hardon

The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

2009-11-06T05:27:00.003-05:00

JMJ

I have a tremendous devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Maybe it’s because I’ve experienced the love of Jesus in a very real and tangible way. There are so many things to reflect upon when considering this beautiful devotion: the promises made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the nine First Fridays, enthroning an image of the Sacred Heart in one’s home, the connection between the Most Sacred Heart and the Holy Eucharist, the morning offering, the act of consecration, or all of the graces God in His generous love pours out upon us through this devotion. It is the reparation that our Lord asks of us, though, that I want to focus my reflection on today. Jesus asks of each one of us to repair in some way the wounds that our sins and our lack of love cause Him. As we grow closer to Him, we begin to feel in ourselves some of the anguish of His Sacred Heart. We start to love Him so much that we feel very bad when we see others reject Him, mock Him, act irreverently towards Him, neglect Him, forget Him, or wound Him in a multitude of other ways. Our Lord asked St. Margaret Mary to make a Holy Hour of reparation, “and so appease the divine anger by imploring mercy for sinners. Thus shall you assuage in some sort the bitterness I felt at that time because of the abandonment by My Apostles…for not having been able to watch with Me for the space of one hour.”

Judging by the emptiness of our adoration chapels world-wide, we are still unable to wait with Him for an hour. Or if we do go and see Him, all of a sudden we have to go to the bathroom or make a call or ask a question or stretch our legs or daydream about 101 useless things…anything to prevent us from spending a solid hour with Him whose sole focus is upon us alone. I don’t understand how we can make so many excuses as to why we are too busy to make a holy hour every day, yet we will stand in all sorts of inclement weather for hours upon end to obtain concert or sporting tickets or to get the latest gadget or to find the best sale. Our priorities seem to be all messed up and even those of us who want to follow Him will fill time with our own agendas of what we think will please Him. We will join bible studies, pro-life groups, fellowship nights, evangelization meetings and so forth. All of these things are good…very good, but unless we have spent time alone with the Lord discerning what He wants of us…unless He is at the center of us completely…can we be sure we are pleasing Him? Will we bear fruits that will last? Will they ripen at all without Him at the helm? Nothing hurts so much as to see a whole room full of people laughing and having a good time while in the next room our Lord sits virtually alone exposed upon the Altar. I see His sadness sometimes and feel in my own heart the pain it causes Him…the pain of choosing creature over creator. He so longs for us. For us! Why do so few of us long for Him? If that burning, aching, longing feeling for Him is not in us then we need to go and ask Him to give it to us. He will give it to the extent we want to have it, but He will never force Himself on us. He is like a patient bridegroom with a nervous bride on their wedding night. He waits with such love and tenderness until she realizes that what He’s offering is very good and that she can trust Him completely. He wants that from us so He can fill us with Himself and when He sees by our perseverance and our choices that we really mean it this time when we say we are going to love Him with our ALL, then He will fill us with such longing that nothing will keep us away from Him. He will transform us completely and the only thing we will be wondering about is why there aren’t mile-long lines at every Catholic Church in the world with people coming to see God, Himself, and give Him the praise, thanksgiving, adoration and love He deserves. One hour won’t seem too much anymore as we will want to give Him all twenty-four. The hours spent out of His physical presence will seem the long ones now as we begin to yearn to be near Him more and more.

There are many ways to make reparation to His Most Sacred Heart; all of our little acts of love done with the intention of consoling Him are pleasing to Him. Every little love-thought of Him brings Him pleasure. He notices all of the little niceties and wants our attention in small, loving ways. He also notices our lack of attention to the small ways as He did when He had dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee when He was denied the common courtesy of hospitality (see Luke 36:44). On this, the first Friday of the month, let us not be the ones who forget to show Him the kindness of our hearts; this will repair some of the pain of His.

Oh, beautiful Jesus, what love you show us! Remaining hidden under the veil of bread where it is so easy to abuse you and take you for granted and to forget about you. When your heart hurts because of our ingratitude, I will console you, O Lord. When people fail to genuflect with love in your presence or do it out of habit, I will console you, O Lord. When people talk endlessly before and after Mass and fail to think of you at all, I will console you, O Lord. When people make thoughtless or sacrilegious Holy Communions or are irreverent in any way towards your presence in the Sacred Host, I will console you, O Lord. When people arrive late and leave Mass early or come to the Holy Sacrifice without sufficient preparation or only out of a sense of duty, I will console you, O Lord. When your own Church is mocked and persecuted, I will console you, O Lord. When people aren’t devoted to your Blessed Mother who is everything to you, I will console you, O Lord. When you are left alone with nobody to show you any love, I will console you, O Lord. And if I fail to love you with the whole of my being or if I think negatively about my neighbor for not loving you or if I do anything that offends and hurts your Most Holy and Sacred Heart or if I put anything in my life ahead of you, I will run to the fountain of your mercy and make a good confession. I will pour out my heart with sorrow for having hurt you and let you heal me and do penance with such love that I know it will console you, O Lord. You are Mercy itself and I am so thankful for you. I love you, Jesus. I always want to love you and to be loved by you. May everyone come to love you and want you as I do…even more than I do so you can really be loved! Amen.

Recommended Reading:

The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: How to Practice the Sacred Heart Devotion by Rev. John Croiset
Christ in His Mysteries by Blessed Columba Marmion

Humility

2009-10-28T23:28:00.002-04:00

JMJ

God is the creator and we are His creatures. Acknowledging this, the simplest of all truths, is what it means to be humble. So why does it seem at times like the most difficult thing in the world? Why do we like to BE God? Why do we want to be in control of everything and be the creator of our own world? When it is too hot, we want it to be cool. When it is too cold, we want it to be warm. When our head hurts, we want it to stop. We even go so far as to try and make deals with God so we can ‘pretend’ that it is Him in control and not us. “If you only take this suffering away now and get me through THIS moment, then you can give it to me later (at a more convenient time for me).” But when God takes us at our word, when the suffering does come, we’ve changed our minds. Now, we don’t want it at all. It is at this low moment that we are very tempted to fall right into false humility. I’m sooooo bad. I can’t do anything for God. I have noooo love. We must fight against this, beg for mercy, and get back up and begin again. In one of Mother Angelica’s books, she speaks about the three types of people who fall into sin which she likens to a mud puddle. The sinner stays right in and wallows about, the good person gets up, asks for pardon, but keeps brushing himself off, saying all the while, “I can’t believe I fell in,” and the saint gets up, brushes himself off, asks for pardon, and then moves forward and starts again on the way.

God never tires of teaching us that without Him we can do nothing. It is one of the ways He displays His infinite patience and love for us. It would be great if we could learn the lesson once and for all the first time we are given it. God would be able to work through us immediately and without our interference. Yet He knows it will take many lessons for us to be truly humble. We needn’t fear because He IS God and He is in total control. He will keep at it and, each time, the lesson will take deeper root. I think it increases His glory. We fall deeper in love with Him as we see the depths of His patience in regard to us….the depth of His love. Our resolve becomes stronger to please Him and our willingness to let Him save us from ourselves is increased. We become docile in His hands because we become convinced that those hands are good, gentle, and very strong…so strong that we know He will not let us go…strong enough to save. This is how true humility is born in us. Praise God! Let us all ask for the grace to be more aware that we need a savior and the grace to be grateful that we have the perfect savior in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Lord, Jesus, here I am again standing before your cross as you look upon me with the tenderest love. Heal me with your gaze. Help me to always see your gaze no matter what I’m doing or thinking. For when I’m looking at you, I see the truth of things. I see what love is and hope begins to blossom in me. Hope in you and in your promises. You really love me with the truest love. My repeated falls and imperfections are no obstacle at all for you; they actually become gifts as I offer them with love and beg you to transform them into something good. Forgive me for all the times I resist your plan for me and give me a greater trust in your infinite goodness. Sometimes, you invade my whole being with your presence and I lose all fear. In those moments, I can see that you are making me into your beautiful creation. It’s me, but more me than I could even hope to dream of. How can I thank you? I just look with awe and am overwhelmed and joy fills me to such an extent that it has to pour out of me somehow. Direct that joy, Lord, and use it for your purpose. Use it to draw souls to you…to show them how loving and gentle you are. Help me to die completely to myself and to let you be all in me. And please, Lord, keep filling my heart with desire for you and showing me what it is I truly want because you know more than I what will give me peace. You are my peace; may you always be my peace. Amen.

Recommended reading:

Humility of Heart by Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo
Victory over Vice by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
The Way of the Cross by St. Josemaria Escriva

Entering In

2009-10-11T13:04:00.003-04:00

JMJ

"Well, done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your Master." (see Matthew 25:23) Which of us hasn't dreamed of hearing those words from the lips of our Lord at the hour of our death? We all like to imagine heaven and all the good contained therein. We imagine seeing Him face to face and entering into eternal bliss, which is the communion of Love between the Persons of the Holy Trinity. God created us for that...to share in His love. It is really overwhelming to think about being created to give and receive love. And we all know deep in our souls that love is what we want most, the love that only God can satisfy.

What is remarkable, and a great act of mercy on the part of God, is that He formed a Church so that we don't have to wait for the hour of death to begin participating in the joy of the Master; we can enter in right now! And that is, as our own Father says, "really, really, good news." The Holy Mass is the place where heaven and earth touch...where Mercy and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other (see Psalm 85). Already here on earth we can begin to "taste" the joys of heaven...to participate in the Divine life of God Himself! Double Wow! Just looking at the fact that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is happening continually all over the world, at every minute, is enough to give us a tiny glimmer of God's Eternal Nature. He is being given praise and thanksgiving always...the eternal now. Our human minds can't really grasp the mystery of God or the Church, but we can be open to receiving His light and the many gifts He wants to give us every day--the gifts of His love. We can prepare ourselves to enter in more fully to the joys of the Lord.

So how do we enter in more deeply? Our Mother, the Church, gives us direction in this regard so that we don't have to wonder or seek aimlessly trying to find a way in. We are blessed to have a very wise pastor; we need to listen to him! The Church is certainly not lacking in information or examples. There are loads of books on growing in holiness available today. There are books on every kind of subject that deal with the sanctification of the soul; I think for most of us, though, it is not our lack of knowledge that holds us back, it is our lack of effort. We must pray!...without ceasing as St. Paul tells us. We need to be always talking with Jesus and listening to Him and spending time with Him so that we can find out what He wants for us and so we can discover more about Him and love Him more every day. He is our best teacher, our best friend, our true love, our ALL. And He wants the very best for us. He has made it easy to talk to Him by becoming a man like us. Now, we can "see" and "touch" Him. He is interested in absolutely EVERYTHING in our lives. Nothing is too small for His attention. Praying with the Word is very helpful in discovering more about Him and more about ourselves. We need to be meditating every single day on the life of our Lord and whole new worlds of love and joy will begin to open up for us. He will satisfy us, and, at the same time, make us want more of Him. Much more! Short aspirations of love throughout the day help us keep in touch with Him when we are busy or in the middle of work. Pretty soon, with perseverance, those aspirations will become like your life's breath and you will realize He is ALWAYS with you. And of course, spending time with His Real Presence in the Eucharist is such a gift. He touches our very souls in His Eucharistic Presence. It is amazing to be near Him--Our God!

Another way of entering in is frequent confession, which fills us with supernatural joy and aids us in loving Him and prepares us for receiving His love in Holy Communion...receiving Him. Another way is praying with the prayers and readings of the Mass before Mass. The prayers of the liturgy are so beautiful, but how many of us ever sit down and pray with them and make them our own? They are one of the Church's treasures, full of poetry, petition, beauty and love. It is sometimes good to meditate on the Eucharistic prayers so that at Mass, we are more united as a body in our offering together, in our prayer together. Mortification is also good for preparing our hearts. Sometimes, the mortification of our imagination seems the most difficult. How the mind likes to roam about! But reigning it in before and during Mass will help us enter into our Master's joy. Maybe it is difficult to avoid glancing around to see who's at Church on a particular day--mortifying our curiosity will bring down blessings from the Lord at Mass. Coming early to Mass is another way to quiet our hearts from all the noise of the day and enter more deeply into His presence. Thanking Him after Mass for the gift of Himself and all the gifts of our lives and asking Him what He wants us to do with those gifts will draw even more graces upon our souls. God is so good; we only need to show up with the tiniest of desires for Him and He will take us in His Hand and teach us and love us and show us each our individual path to Him. He will ignite the spark within our hearts, and we will begin to be more effective instruments in His Hands for His greater glory and the good of souls. May we all make progress in entering in this week to the joy of the Lord!

Oh, my Jesus, I'm about to enter in to the church and, already, I feel your presence in the parking lot. I'm filling up with gratitude that you have called me again to come and be close to you, and I'm also wondering how I made it to church without getting in an accident because I don't remember the drive over here as I was thinking about you the whole time and singing you a song in the car. You must have guided my actions through the guardian angel you have given to me. Thank you. As I enter the church, I sign myself with the Holy water and thank you for making me part of you through the gift of my baptism. Continue to bless me, Lord. I enter the chapel and kneel down, praying, "Here I am Lord, I come to do your will." How can I ever thank you enough for giving me a home in your church, making me Catholic, giving me the gifts of faith, hope and love? Giving me your own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist? Every time I open the church doors, I feel as if I am coming home, that I can breathe again, that I am safe and loved and that I belong here as nowhere else. You have made it this way for me to let me know that heaven is my true home--where you are is home. What a grace it is to love you because we both know I can't even think of you for a moment unless you help me, so thank you for helping me today and please never stop helping me. Oh, Lord, help others to think of you and to love you. Show them how sweet you are and how you love. If they knew how you love unconditionally, they would flock here. You only bring peace and joy and quiet to the soul...you are gentleness itself. You are my rest and my strength. How I love you, Lord! Give me the grace of recollection during this Mass and accept me, the whole of myself, as a gift to you. Never let us part. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

How to Pray Always by Fr. Raoul Plus, S.J.
Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis De Sales

To Assist at Mass

2009-10-08T06:41:00.003-04:00

JMJ

In my last post, I spoke of how assisting at Mass is the greatest thing we can ever do for God. We don't hear the word 'assist' regarding Holy Mass very much anymore. What does it mean exactly? As incredible as it sounds, God NEEDS our help in the redemption of the world and in the sanctification of our souls!! Now, our God, who is infinite perfection, doesn't "need" our help, but our God is a God of Love who knows WE need to help and somehow, mysteriously, His Glory is increased as we participate in the Holiest, most Sacred Work on earth: The Holy Mass. I once heard Rosalind Moss use the analogy of a mother and young child baking a cake together. The mother is perfectly capable on her own of making that cake and will probably do it more efficiently and more quickly on her own, but when her child asks, "Mommy, can I please help you?," the good mother looks into the beautiful eyes of her child and sees longing there and the desire to be close, the desire to help, and the desire for good things. She not only allows her child to help, but encourages her child and makes that child feel as if the success of the cake is due to his or her efforts. The child is probably going to make a mess of things and get eggshells in the batter and so on, but the mother is so full of love for her child that none of that will matter. What will matter is seeing the joy on her child's face and the sharing in the child's sense of accomplishment as they bond even closer...seeing the child develop more fully, to learn virtue, and to grow in love. God is far better than even the best of mothers and His love is infinite; He knows we are going to get eggshells everywhere and mess things up, but He loves us and wants us to grow into ourselves the way He designed us to be. His plan for us is perfect FOR US and He's planned it from all eternity that we were going to "help" Him. Wow!

So how to assist at Mass? We can bring everything to Him and unite it with Him. Nothing is lost. Even our many failings are sanctified through our union with Christ. The right dispositon on our part is the key to it all. God's limitless grace accomplishes all the work, but our desires to love Him with ALL our hearts, ALL our souls, ALL our strength and ALL our minds go a long way in disposing us for the Sacred Work of the Holy Mass. Just to have a recollected spirit and to know that God is present in our very own Church...in our very own hearts. He is REALLY there! Think about it! If Pope Benedict were going to come and visit us in our own local church, what wouldn't we do to prepare for such an honor!? Everyone would be preparing in some way for such a blessed arrival. Well, as beautiful as our Holy Father is, he only represents Christ to us...the "sweet Christ on Earth," as St. Catherine of Siena said. But we don't have a representative of Jesus at each Holy Mass, we have Jesus! Sometimes I don't think we are fully aware of what that means. Let us pray for the grace to be more aware of the gift that God has given us in enabling us to assist Him in the great work of redemption--the great gift He has given us in Himself.

Oh, Lord, who are we and who are You? When I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, "God is actually present right down the street," and I have not been able to stop thinking about it and about you. You, Lord, who created the heavens and the earth and all they contain...You, who come so close to your creation as to actually become a part of it! Thank you, my Lord, for all of the gifts you constantly pour out upon us. I'm going to assist at Mass today and receive you in Holy Communion. If I had a thousand lives, it would not be sufficient to prepare for such a favor and, sadly, how often I have gone up to receive you with other things on my mind...vanities and trifles no less! But today, with the help of your grace, I'm going to love you the whole of Mass and receive you with the most tender feelings of love and adoration at Holy Communion. I'm going to welcome you into the most secret places of my soul and share all of my thoughts and desires with you. And I'm going to console you and cover you with kisses and make you feel so welcomed. There will be no part of me that is off limits to your love tonight, only please, please, keep filling me with your grace and with your love so that I can love you rightly as you deserve. Have mercy on us all and keep us in your tender love. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

The Mass and the Saints by Thomas Crean, O.P.
Spiritual Excellence: How to Make Progress in Prayer and Love by Alban Goodier, S.J.

The Value of a Mass

2009-10-04T12:17:00.006-04:00

JMJ

There is nothing we will ever do in our lives that is as important as assisting at Holy Mass. Even if we could create a million worlds, cure every disease, end poverty, bring about total world peace, save the environment, and, please God, protect every single life from conception until natural death, it wouldn't add up to the value and importance of a Mass. Even if you were to only go to Mass once in your entire lifetime, the value and merit stemming from that one Mass would be worth more than every single prayer, fast, mortification, vigil, holy hour, or anything else you could do for God. Wow! Think of how amazing that is! What makes the Mass so valuable? The Mass is the total oblation of Jesus Himself for the redemption of the world re-presented on our altars as the highest act of love for the Father that is possible. Really, the only thing that can appease God is God. Jesus, because of His Divinity, is the only sacrifice acceptable to Him. And what an act of love for us, that He has taken on human flesh and made all of us His body so we can share in His gift to the Father and take part in the redemption of the world and the beautiful love of the Holy Trinity. Jesus is truly God and truly man. "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God" (CCC 460). And it all happens at the Holy Mass.

During the Holy Mass the fruits of our redemption are applied to us, the Word takes root in our hearts, grace is poured out upon us, venial sins are forgiven, sinners are converted, the souls in purgatory are released, the Church is strengthened, vocations are born, and, according to our dispositions, we are made more like Jesus as He increases our faith, hope and love. The more we are like Him, the more that we are able to die to ourselves and offer ourselves as a gift to the Father in union with Christ, the more we will let Jesus live through us. Truly, He will expand our hearts and make us share in His divine life. With God, ALL things are possible! We are adopted sons and daughters of the Father and the more like Jesus we become, the more He delights in us. There is a freedom in being a child of the Father that cannot be taken away by anyone or anything. The Holy Mass is such a great gift...let us all ask for the grace to appreciate this gift more and to be ever more devoted to these sacred mysteries.

My Lord, thank you for calling me to Mass, for loving me so much to share so intimately in your life of love. During the consecration today, when Father held the sacred Host and pronounced your words, ("This is my body, given up for you"), it seemed to me I saw your body born in a stable, held by your loving mother and St. Joseph, presented in the temple, learning to read at the side of your parents, being lost in the temple, and holding St. Joseph's hand as he died. I felt your pain and shared your sorrow. I imagined your body baptized in the Jordan, walking everywhere to seek out the lost...to seek me out. I saw your body as you grew weary with fasts and long nights in prayer...you were praying for me. I saw your body as you sat down at the side of the well to speak to the Samaritan woman and felt your thirst for her love. Your feet were tired and you did not complain once. I saw your body as you taught in the synagogues, shared meals with your friends, healed the sick, forgave sinners, raised the dead and tenderly showed your love to all without exception. When Father held the chalice and you said through his mouth, "This is the cup of my blood. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven," I saw your impending death. I saw the whole of your passion as you were arrested, cruelly treated, forced to go here and there while your own people mocked you and condemned you; even your friends abandoned you. I felt your patience as they spit upon you and scourged you and chose Barabbas over you. You could have stopped it all at any moment except that you embraced it all for love of me. You embraced cold, hunger, loneliness, rejection, loss, weariness, and every kind of suffering imaginable for love of me. And then you embraced the torture of the crucifixion for me. In your own body, you have taken the punishment that my sins deserve. I see the Holy Cross raised and you gaze upon me with love. Oh, Jesus, have mercy on me! Forgive me all! Help me to return such an incomprehensible love. As Father holds the paten and chalice before the great Amen, I want to jump onto it every time. Present me with you to the Father. Cover me with your precious blood, make my soul white as snow, and let your mother, who is also my mother, assist me in making my "yes" really true today. Yes, Lord, if you want me to live long, yes, if you want me to die young, yes, if you want me to go to die as a martyr, yes, if I'm locked away in prison for loving you, yes, if my life is boring, yes, if I have many inconveniences every day, yes, if I have a hundred friends, yes, if I have no friends, yes, if I have joy, yes, if I have sorrow, yes... Every little part of your plan revealed for me in the present moment, I say yes to. Yes, yes, yes...your will be done in ALL things. I don't want to place a single condition on my yes...I keep nothing back for myself, all will be for you. Only let us love forever...let me try to console you in my little way for all you have given to and for me. Your body and blood...your life and death...your love. I thank you. Take my body and my blood, Lord, and all my love, and do with it what you will. Let us always be one in love. Amen.

Recommended Reading:

The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Mass by Fr. Martin von Cochem
The Hidden Treasure: Holy Mass by Saint Leonard of Port Maurice

The Blessing of the Lord

2009-10-01T00:55:00.008-04:00

JMJ

Everything in our lives is a blessing from God whether we recognize it or not. We tend to think of positive things when we think of blessings like good health, prosperity, happy families, faith, hope, and love. Our adversities are also blessings...the most severe trials are blessings in disguise bringing the Cross of Christ very near to us. We are blessed with opportunities to grow in holiness, to be purified of our self-love, to learn patience, to unite ourselves more closely with Jesus and to help Him to save souls. All things DO work together for good for those who love God (see Romans 8:28). But there is one Blessing that stands out among the rest and that is the blessing that Jesus gives us Himself during the service that we call Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Benediction, which means blessing, typically comes after a period of adoration of Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament. It is a wonderfully special time where we can look upon Jesus face to face. His face is hidden in the Sacred Host, but with the eyes of faith, we can see Him quite clearly. And He sees us. He spends hour upon hour as a prisoner of love for us in our tabernacles just waiting for His friends to come and keep Him company, to adore Him, to talk to Him, to love Him. He asks, "Could you not spend one hour with me?" He so hungers for our love and He has so few lovers to come and receive all the blessings He wants to pour out upon us. His hands are filled with graces for us, true blessings, and often times they go unwanted.

Sometimes I think people are afraid to come and receive His blessing because there is singing involved at Benediction. And in Latin, a so-called dead language! Most people are not born with good singing voices, and it is human nature to feel self-conscious about sounding bad. I used to feel the same myself (and sometimes still do) as I have a weak voice and a bad ear. Thankfully, I have been blessed to know a young altar server who was not really the greatest singer, but who would sing with such zeal and gusto to our Lord Jesus that I was always inspired. He would take the greatest care to see that the sacred ceremonies were performed with attention and love and it really helped me to remember that I was there to adore and love my Lord, not hear myself sing! If God wanted me to be a better singer, He would have given me a voice like an angel. If I'm focused on my singing, I'm not focused on Jesus. Our own priest is not a Pavarotti either, but when he sings, my heart becomes so enflamed with love for God because I see that the Lord is making saints all around me. What a lovely sound it is! It takes a manly man to sing alone in front of people and I see in it the Holy Spirit pouring out His gifts of courage, fortitude, and piety. Jesus so delights in our little offerings of love. Our songs bring Him much honor, glory, and pleasure. I can use the example of my little neices who are 3 and 4. We were practicing singing Happy Birthday not long ago. The absolute look of joy on their faces as they thought of singing on the day of the birthday was so beautiful. Can you imagine if I would have said, "Mommy and Daddy won't like it because you sound bad...better just pretend to sing, but don't make noise?" Truly, God wants us to be like those innocent children with faces full of every good thing, with hearts full of purity, with voices full of love. And He wants us for Himself.

Oh, Jesus, Benediction is about to begin. They are getting the thurible ready and the Holy Angels are gathered about You. My heart begins to beat a little faster when I realize that You, my God, are going to personally bless me. Who am I, Lord, that You love so much to be right before me, giving me all Your attention. I, who am so often distracted in your presence...in the presence of my God and Savior? Have mercy, sweet Jesus, because You are Mercy. There is almost nobody left, Lord, to receive Your blessing. Where have they gone when You are about to distribute Your gifts? Your arms are full of treasure, but Your face looks sad that there are so few to receive Your presents. I will take them, my King, all that You wish to give me if You will be consoled. It's time; we kneel down and begin to sing Tantum Ergo Sacramentum... The incense wafts up to heaven...and Your love invades my heart. Thank You, my Lord, for not letting me leave You alone. How often do You make me wait hungering for Your peace, for Your presence, and then all of a sudden fill me with it at the end? You know how to teach perserverance. Thank You. It is time for You to bless us. Father lifts the monstrance high and makes the sign of the Cross over us. As we bend low in adoration, we sign ourselves: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Oh God, how good you are! I love you, Jesus! Your blessing is a true kiss from heaven. You have written Your name into my soul never to be erased. How grateful I feel at this moment! And now we pray the Divine Praises together. How beautiful they are! Blessed be God...who can bless You enough? And Mary and St. Joseph...in Your angels and in Your saints...my family, my life. Next is the Heart of Jesus prayer...Your heart, Lord, Your love...oh that You would be praised and adored everywhere, my Jesus. Help me to love You more and more. Give me Your heart so I can love You; let this moment never end! Jesus! Father is going to place You back in the tabernacle. He gently takes You out of the monstrance. To hold Love in one's hands--what a mystery! I never tire of trying to understand it all. Who can fathom a God so full of Love as to be God with us? And now I'm sad Lord, that You are back in the tabernacle...I want to come in there, too, and keep You company forever. I console myself with the thought that I can take You home with me because You also live in my heart. You are always with me. Stay with me forever. Holy God, we praise Thy name...

Recommended Reading:

Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Jesus, Present Before Me: Meditations for Eucharistic Adoration by Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P.