A Prayer for Discernment

A Prayer for Discernment

You have led me to desire your will and often your will seems beyond
me, but you O God are my friend and I know that you are with me always. In your
presence,calm my fear. Grant me the desire to be still in your presence, to
gaze on you and to feel your gaze. Grant me eyes to see you in your creation,
and to recognize in humanity the image and likeness of your Son. Grant me
ears that are attentive to your Word. May I respond with love to your call. Grant
me the desire to reach out and embrace all people with your love, to be
your hands in the world. Grant me the courage to echo in my life the Yes of Mary
and the passionate fidelity of Elijah your prophet. May I seek your will in
all things.
May I live my faith in you and be a sign of hope for the world.

Fasting by Bro. Ignatius Mary

How to Think Properly About Fasting by Bro. Ignatius Mary
Now what about devotional fasts? What if we do feel called to perform some devotional fast?

The devotional fast called for by our Lady—the bread and water fast on Wednesdays and Fridays—is also purely voluntary in nature. If one feels called to do it, then one should do it, as long as it is remembered that this fast, and all other devotional fasts, are purely voluntary and thus is not required to be a good Catholic.

Since we in this country are not use to going without, it is also suggested that we not beat ourselves up if we canot live up to such dramatic fasts and bread and water. For those interested in the more severe fasts it is suggested that one start with a less severe fast and work their way up to the more severe forms (see the note about St. Benedict at the end of this essay).

For example, since the definition of a fast according to the Church is one full meal in the day plus, if one needs, two snacks not to equal the amount of a full meal, and no snacking in between, one could start by doing this sort of fast on Wednesday and Friday. And then work up to one meal and no snacks, then just the two snacks and no meal, then just one snack, and finally only the bread and water.

To help in fulfilling the bread and water fast, one can buy some of the tastier Italian, French or other European breads, for example, and perhaps still put butter on it at first. The water could be flavored with lemon.

Intecession

Intecessors of the Lamb - Teachings:
"Intercession is another dimension of healing. It is a tremendous method and a tremendous stage of healing. It is amazing that, when we begin to forget about ourselves, which is what we do in intercession, God does not! Perhaps it is because when we are in the state of total self-forgetfulness we are totally in a state of poverty. We have let ourselves go at that moment. It is then that God comes in and really heals. The more we can come into this beautiful state of grace, the more powerful our intercession will become for others. We can bring to God all those people that He wants to bless and to heal. It pleases God so much when we do this - particularly when we can bring before Him those who we know really do not care for us. Jesus said that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He said I want you to do this so that you may be children of the Heavenly Father. That is really beautiful. It is in Matthew 5:44 "

Love your enemies

USCCB - (NAB) - June 17, 2008:
"But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust."

When we notice 'bad behavior' in others, it should be a call to prayer and an opportunity to be Jesus to them and not a provocation to like behavior from us.

super natural reactions

Jezebels : A Catholic Reflection:

"Often, our next reaction to the Jezebels in our world is what we call 'defense.' We reason that if some people are going to be so vicious, we must protect and defend ourselves. However, Elijah's reaction to Jezebel was not defense, but prophecy (see 1 Kgs 21:17ff) and discipleship. He finally defeated Jezebel and Ahab by making Elisha his disciple and by anointing Hazael and Jehu through Elisha and his disciples (1 Kgs 19:15-17).

In summary, when we see mean and vicious people, our reaction should be repentance, prophecy, and discipleship.

PRAYER: Father, give me supernatural reactions and not just natural ones.

PROMISE: 'What I say to you is: offer no resistance to injury. When a person strikes you on the right cheek, turn and offer him the other.' –Mt 5:39"

obedience

"June 16, 2008
Obedience

'The Devil doesn't fear austerity but holy obedience.'
St. Francis de Sales

For Reflection:
Why would the Devil be fearful of obedience? How much fear am I willing to cause him today?"

The Jesus Prayer

"The Jesus Prayer

O my Divine Savior, transform me into yourself.
May my hands be the hands of Jesus.
May my tongue be the tongue of Jesus,
Grant that every faculty of my body may serve only to glorify you.
Above all, transform my soul and all its powers,
that my memory, my will and my affections
may be the memory, the will and the affections of Jesus.
I pray you to destroy in me all that is not you.
Grant that I may live but in you and for you,
and that I may truly say with St. Paul:
'I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me' (Gal 2:20).
__._,_.___"

Alessandra Borghese

Alessandra Borghese: the prodigal daughter - Telegraph:

"In 1999, she recalls, looking me straight in the eye, she had a meeting. 'Catholicism is not a philosophy, neither is it a theology, but it is a meeting with a person. So the moment you meet Jesus Christ, your life can change radically. That is when I started to look at everything differently.' Borghese has since that meeting, become Italy's best-known born-again Catholic."

St. Anthony Feast Day

"Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua, Performer of Miracles

Dear Saint Anthony, your prayers obtained miracles during your lifetime. You still seem to move at ease in the realm of minor and major miracles. Saint Anthony, Performer of Miracles, please obtain for me the blessings God holds in reserve who serve Him. Pray that I may be worthy of the promises my Lord Jesus attaches to confident prayer. [mention your special intentions]

Franciscan Mission Associates"

Search for the God's will

Search for the God's will and do good - The reflection of Message, April 25, 2008 - Medjugorje.ws:

"Our Lady invites us to search for the God’s will, and it is revealed to us completely only in the personal encounter with Christ. Only searching for and doing God’s will can lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Mt 7,21). God’s will is more important than our will. To search and do God’s will does not mean to get lost or to disown one’s own freedom – on the contrary, it means to get free from the daily slavery and sin. It means to get free from the imprisonment of the small gods like: power, money, other people’s opinion etc. All these idols take your life, only God gives it. All other gods promise a lot, and do not give anything in return. Our Lady accepted the God’s will, she agreed to serve only the one true God and to do His will. By uttering only one word fiat – let it be so for me – she changed the course of history, with the God’s mercy."

I call you to conversion

I call you to conversion - The reflection of Message, May 25, 2008 - Medjugorje.ws

Our Lady calls us anew to conversion, which, in other words, means betterment. The majority of today's Christians have not seen the Lord in flesh, whereas this encounter is a prerequisite for a new beginning. After such encounter, everything changes, life becomes different and better. One should bear in mind, though, that after the encounter with God our crosses do not disappear. It just becomes easier to carry them. Those who have had the experience of meeting with God, become the salt, cabbage and the light of the world. They become instruments through which God's love and joy in this world are spread. We are all called to convert and continuously change in our path following Jesus. Conversion is a life-long process. Nobody can say that they have completely converted because there is always something we must improve, primarily on ourselves, not on others. Conversion is following evenly in Jesus’ footsteps every day, without negotiating. Conversion is a permanent task of the whole Church. It is not man-made, it is God's work.

Reminder to all interested that we will be meeting tomorrow (June 13th)by the Our Lady of Fatima Statue in front of St. Joseph's church in Wakefield at noon to pray the rosary.

Obedience 6/12

"June 12, 2008
Obedience

'I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.'
St. Teresa of Avila

For Reflection:
How does obedience make things easy - even if they seem impossible?"

Grace! Pure Grace! Obedience opens us up to receive God's abundant grace.

a tiny cloud...

USCCB - (NAB) - June 12, 2008:

"And the seventh time the youth reported,
“There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.”"

Elijah and Mary

Flos Carmeli: Elijah and Mary:

"Mary is the cloud that rises out of the sea. The sea is saltwater, undrinkable, a vast body of water, next to which the kingdom can still thirst and die. The sea is salty, impure, an image of fallen humanity with its admixture of sin. Mary rises out of this sea, pure and perfect, laden with the water of grace that will pour out through her to all humanity--not the source of Grace herself, nevertheless the container into which all is poured until it overflows out to all people, limitless, and life-giving. Not God, but human, Mary rises from the sea, pure and Immaculate in her conception, formed as a vessel of God's grace and a place of refuge for His people."

the hands of a priest

ZENIT - Kissing the Hands of a New Priest: "During ordination a new priest’s hands are anointed with chrism as a sign of consecration and of the change that has been effected in his soul.

The custom of kissing his hands stems from a recognition of the fundamental change that has occurred and of the particular importance of the sign of the hands in priestly ministry.

After ordination the priest uses his hands to hold the Eucharistic species during the consecration, to make the sign of the cross while absolving sins, to anoint the sick and dying, and on occasion to impart the sacrament of confirmation."

This is why my first option for receiving Holy Communion is from a priest and directly on my tongue.

Obedience, part 6

"'What does it profit you to give God one thing if He asks of you another? Consider what it is God wants, and then do it.'

St. John of the Cross"

Obedience

"June 11, 2008
Obedience

'A little drop of simple obedience is worth a million times more than a whole vase of the choicest contemplation.'
St. Maria Maddalena De Pazzi

For Reflection:
Today, I will count my 'little drops of simple obedience.' How many have I had?"

Prayers

USCCB - (NAB) - June 11, 2008:

"Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”"

Let us pray for all those that teach the Catholic faith.

give up...and develop...

Intecessors of the Lamb - Teachings

"As we seek to rid ourselves of these sins of the spirit, we must look at the virtues that can be used to come against them. To simply get rid of sin, and not to fill the void it leaves with virtue, can set us up for another fall. It can keep those doors open to sin. Jesus talked about the parable of the person who had swept all the sin from his life. His house was nice and clean but it was not filled up with any virtue. It was not filled up with anything that was of God. It was empty. Jesus said that seven other spirits, more wicked than the first, entered in. We cannot leave the house empty. The Bible tells us that the last state of that man became worse than the first. It is one thing to surrender - to let something go. But we must also build as well.

We must give up our pride and develop humility. We must give up greed and develop generosity. We must give up anger and develop understanding. We must give up resentment and develop forgiveness. We must give up sensuality and develop purity. We must give up impatience and develop patience. We must give up gluttony and develop abstinence. We must give up envy and develop contentment. We must give up jealousy and develop trust. We must give up sloth and develop perseverance. We must give up hatred and develop love. We must give up fear and develop confidence. We must up worry and develop faith. To develop these we need to work at it. It must be our daily assignment to constantly replace the negative with the positive. Remember: perfection takes a lifetime. But there will be immediate results in our inner healing if we ask the Holy Spirit to help us daily. We will start to see the progress."

Carmel

Spirit Daily - Daily spiritual news from around the world: "Our Lady appeared as the Virgin of Mount Carmel not only in the final vision of Fatima, but also at Lourdes. Bernadette said 'she had never seen her so beautiful.'

As one website has written: ''Carmel' means 'garden' because the Mount Carmel headland was always green with life, as its heights dominated the semi-arid plains around its base. Metaphorically, it is the 'garden enclosed' of the Song of Songs, which [kind of relates to] the Church as the Bride of the Lamb, and simultaneously of the individual soul with its Bridegroom-Savior."