PathToHoliness

Last week’s Our Sunday Visitor had an excellent article (subscribers only) on the Angelus prayer and its possible contribution to the “pro-life arsenal.” The Angelus is a prayer typically repeated three times a day – 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. – recalling the conception and birth of Jesus Christ. Says OSV:

As people pray the Angelus, perhaps they will come to understand better the value of any human conception as they remember and honor the greatest conception of all time.

The words of the prayer:

Leader: The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
Response: And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary . . .
Leader: Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Response: Be it done unto me according to your word.
Hail Mary
Leader: And the Word was made flesh,
Response: And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary . . .
Leader: Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
Response: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Leader: Let us pray.
Response: Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen.

JP II’s favorite passage from Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes 22, says that, “only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light.” Indeed, as the document goes on to explain, by His incarnation, Christ has united himself with every man and therefore fully reveals man to himself. Christ not only became man, but chose to identify totally with all humankind, even in its weakest and most vulnerable state. The more we meditate on the profound mystery of the Word made flesh, the more we come to understand and appreciate the dignity of every human person, born and unborn.

Note: during Easter the Regina Caeli is said in place of the Angelus.

Today is the feast of that great 16th century Spanish mystic and doctor of the Church, St. John of the Cross. Today’s Office of Readings has a passage from a spiritual Canticle of his that says:

“[T]he apostle Paul said of Christ: In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God…Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much [interior and exterior] suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there is consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.

Saint Paul therefore urges the Ephesians not to grow weary in the midst of tribulations, but to be rooted and grounded in love, so that they may know with all the saints the breadth, the length, the height and the depth – to know what is beyond knowable, the love of Christ, so as to be filled with all the fullness of God.

Here John speaks of the “narrow gate” through which we must pass to merit eternal life. Sadly so many avoid this gate because it is lined with fire and one inevitably gets burned. But we do not travel through it alone. Pope Benedict, in his encyclical Spe Salvi, speaks of Christ the true shepherd in this way:

“The true shepherd is one who knows even the path that passes through the valley of death; one who walks with me even on the path of final solitude, where no one can accompany me, guiding me through: he himself has walked this path, he has descended into the kingdom of death, he has conquered death, and he has returned to accompany us now and to give us the certainty that, together with him, we can find a way through.”

We are not alone in our sufferings. Indeed, when we suffer we are even closer to the Redeemer through the power of the Cross.

Prayer of Peace by St. John of the Cross:

O blessed Jesus,
give me stillness of soul in You.
Let Your mighty calmness reign in me.
Rule me, O King of Gentleness,
King of Peace.

Read more about St. John of the Cross and his other writings.

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn and the Mother of the Americas. May our nation be helped by her intercession this coming election year on behalf of all those who have no voice.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, we turn to you who are the protectress of unborn children and ask that you intercede for us, so that we may more firmly resolve to join you in protecting all human life. Let our prayers be united to your perpetual motherly intercession on behalf of those whose lives are threatened, be they in the womb of their mother, on the bed of infirmity, or in the latter years of their life. May our prayers also be coupled with peaceful action which witnesses to the goodness and dignity of all human life, so that our firmness of purpose may give courage to those who are fearful and bring light to those who are blinded by sin.
(from a prayer said at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on January 22, 1999)

Holy Mother of God and of the Church, our Lady of Guadalupe, you were chosen by the Father for the Son through the Holy Spirit.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn, Pray for us!

More on Our Lady of Guadalupe

As I was reflecting on today’s feast day, it struck me what a really pro-life feast we are actually celebrating today (and yes it was a Holy Day of Obligation in the U.S. even though it’s a Saturday since, as a country, we are consecrated to Mary as the Immaculate Conception). God did not choose to purify the womb that would carry His son at some random point in her development outside the womb like, say, her presentation and dedication in the temple or at the Annunciation, both of of which would have seemed appropriate or reasonable. Rather, he chose to preserve the sinlessness of the Mother of God from the very moment of her conception inside the womb of St. Anne. This, like the Incarnation itself and the scene at the Visitation when the unborn John the Baptist leaped for joy in the womb of St. Elizabeth, illustrates the significance and the sacredness of life before birth. Let us pray on this day that such innocent life may once again be preserved and protected in our Nation through the intercession of this Immaculate Mother, Patroness of our Land.

From my Guadalupe Novena (which is now on day 7):

“Merciful Jesus, I beseech You through the intercession of Your dearest Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe, who nurtured You from childhood, bless my native land. I beg You, Jesus, look not on our sins, but on the tears of little children, on the hunger and cold they suffer. Jesus, for the sake of these innocent ones, grant me the grace that I am asking of You for my country.”
Amen

I am making up my own Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn and Patroness of the Americas, asking for her intercession for next year’s election. Primaries start in JANUARY!! I am adapting this from an entry I found in the Diary of St. Faustina. Please pray with me for the next nine days:

“Merciful Jesus, I beseech You through the intercession of Your dearest Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe, who nurtured You from childhood, bless my native land. I beg You, Jesus, look not on our sins, but on the tears of little children, on the hunger and cold they suffer. Jesus, for the sake of these innocent ones, grant me the grace that I am asking of You for my country.”

Amen

Here it is Advent already and my travel has finally slowed down for a while. It’s a good time to do some extra personal reflection and examination of conscience.

To help you along the folks at Scepter Publishers recommend the “In Conversation With God” series. I’ve never made it through a whole year with them but they’re great. If you don’t want to start with the whole collection then you can order just the book for the Advent season.

Here’s a synopsis of the series:

Author Francis Fernandez-Carvajal makes generous use of the writings of the great saints as he brings you focused and moving meditations on themes taken from the Mass readings for that day, the liturgical season, and more. This work is rich and extensive enough to serve as your spiritual reading for a lifetime, as it helps you relate the particulars of the message of Christ to the ordinary circumstances of your day. Each volume is small enough for you to carry it to Adoration or some other suitable place for meditation. The whole set comes with a handsome slipcase that prevents wear-and-tear on the individual volumes.

Do unborn children have tears? I don’t know, but this will be my prayer for our country from now until election day. It comes from a passage I recently came across in the Diary of St. Faustina:

Once after an adoration for our country, a pain pierced my soul, and I began to pray in this way: “Most merciful Jesus, I beseech You through the intercession of Your dearest Mother who nurtured You from childhood, bless my native land. I beg You, Jesus, look not on our sins, but on the tears of little children, on the hunger and cold they suffer. Jesus, for the sake of these innocent ones, grant me the grace that I am asking of You for my country.” At that moment, I saw the Lord Jesus, His eyes filled with tears, and He said to me, You see, My daughter, what great compassion I have for them. Know that it is they who uphold the world.

Today we remember all those who have died. While we mourn for the dead, we also have hope for though, “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” They are now

“justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God – to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.” Rom. 3:23-25

But in order to stand in the presence of God, one must “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48). That is why we believe in the, what I call, “cleansing fire” of purgatory. Though one may be justified by faith on earth, there may still be attachments that one must be purged from in order to see the glory of God, though some souls may have experienced this cleansing here on earth.

Here is a song that I have dedicated to a girl I knew in high school who died in a car accident (just 11 months before my own accident) – she was just 14 years old. I did not know her very well, but had a few classes with her. One of those was a speech class in which she gave a speech on Lynard Skynard. It didn’t hit me until I had a dream about her after my accident and started really thinking about her and praying for her, that she played this song, the lyrics of which sound prophetic to me now, during that presentation (probably a month or so before she died).

O Lord, we beg of you, through your loving kindness, have mercy on the soul of your servant (N…), and now that he/she is set free from the defilements of this mortal flesh, restore him/her to her heritage of everlasting salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Today’s readings are beautiful to reflect on when we think about the dead.

A wonderful prayer from St. Theresa of Avila:

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

As pro-life people we must love and respect all human life, including those who do not love us in return, and even those who wish us harm. The Gospel reading at today’s Mass for peace was from Matthew in which Jesus tells us,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Mt. 5:43-44)

Today’s anniversary gives us the opportunity to put this teaching into practice. May we learn how to love and forgive our enemies, especially those who wound us so deeply. Let hatred not enter our hearts no matter how grieved we may be. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Today is the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As our priest said this morning, today is a feast of hope. It is a reminder of God’s love for us and for what awaits us in heaven. Today we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin, whom God sent to be the Mother of our Lord, who died to offer us eternal life. This is the greatest prayer that I can think of on this blessed day:

Hail Mary, full of grace
the Lord is with thee,
Blessed are thou among women
and Blessed is the Fruit of thy womb
Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of death,
Amen.

As our business has grown I’ve found it more difficult to take time for daily devotions such as morning and evening prayer and spiritual reading. However, I believe that they’re even more important in my life than ever before. It’s nice to be making a good living but you have to question why you’re doing it. Why do I work so hard? Hopefully it’s to fulfill God’s will.

Since I became a Cooperator of Opus Dei I have learned how we can turn the most ordinary things we do into part of our daily prayer. For example, one of the first things I try to do each morning is offer all my “prayers, works, joys and sorrows” of the day to God. Then I’ve got kind of a head start on my goal of praying constantly.

St. Josemaria Escriva has helped so many people change their lives by finding meaning in everything we do.

There’s a great video produced by the St. Josemaria Institute which you can order that helps show how you can achieve this kind of fulfillment in your daily prayer life by using examples of how other ordinary people have done so.

That video is now available to watch online too. (Quicktime Movie)

Today we celebrated the feast of the mother of one of the Church’s most celebrated saints. St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine (whose feast day is tomorrow), prayed unceasingly for the conversion of her famous son, and, as we all know, was happily obliged by Our Lord. Not only that, but her husband, Patricius, a pagan with a terrible temper, converted to Christianity and was baptized a year before his death thanks to her prayers as well. She is a wonderful example for married couples and parents who are called to care above all for the spiritual well being of their spouse and children. I believe that it was not only her prayers, but also her example as a pious Christian woman that also won over her husband and son. This passage from 1 Peter makes me think of St. Monica and the example that all married women should give:

Likewise, you wives should be subordinate to your husbands so that, even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives’ conduct when they observe your reverent and chaste behavior. Your adornment should not be an external one: braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in fine clothes, but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God.
1 Peter 3:1-5

She is also an example to all of us of our call to persevere in prayer. The conversion of St. Augustine did not happen overnight. It was a long, turbulent journey (20 years or more) during which the reluctant saint fell in and out of serious sin and his mother deeper and deeper into a conversation with Christ on behalf of her son, storming the gates of heaven with her constant tears and prayer. In the end this great mother witnessed the baptism of one of our greatest saints and spent the last days of her life reflecting with him and longing for the joys of heaven:

“Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?”
from St. Augustine’s Confessions

Her final request was that her son, who became a priest and bishop, remember her “at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.”

I have been saying the morning offering every morning for quite some time and it never really hit me until just recently that through that prayer we offer to Jesus not only our daily work and sufferings – something that seems pretty common for us to offer – but we also offer our JOYS:

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.

It seems to me that this is something that is often overlooked. It is easy to think of the Lord in times of trouble or sorrow, and we should, in those times unite our sufferings to Jesus on the cross. But Christ wants to share in every part of our lives, that includes our joys! The next time things are going well, or you are enjoying a particularly peaceful or happy moment with friends, family, or even alone in nature, think of Our Lord, thank Him and ask Him to enjoy that moment with you. For without Him, that moment would not be possible!

Today is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne (my patron saint), believed to be the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Magnificat book today suggests that this memorial “gives reason to rejoice in the gift of family life and to reflect on the mutual responsibility parents and children have to love one another and lead one another to holiness.” This is the meaning of true marriage and family vocations. In his forward to Christopher West’s book, Good News About Sex and Marriage Archbishop Chaput says that the “most fundamental vocations crisis of all” is marriage and family life. With the divorce rate among Catholics equal to the national average, it is obvious we have a problem on our hands.

Today as we celebrate this very holy couple, blessed to be the parents of the Mother of God, let us pray for greater, and stronger, marriage and family vocations, from which, no doubt, will come more priestly and religious vocations! Let us also thank God for those holy couples and families that exist today, helping to strengthen the Church and society.