Feb 15 Sat - Should I strengthen my character?

 

Feb 15 Sat
Should I strengthen my character?
In the pilgrimage of our present life, we will always have temptations, for it is through them that we make progress. No one knows himself unless he is tempted; no one can be crowned unless he has conquered; no one can conquer unless he has struggled; and no one can struggle unless he is tempted or has an enemy.

Without struggle, there will be no victory, no peace. For “victory and peace cannot be attained if loyalty and resolve to win the combat are lacking.” Supernatural peace is generated by grace, but our full response is needed, and this presupposes a strong, mature, well-developed personality for its foundation.

One’s character is the set of psychic, and spiritual qualities that shape the way of being of each one. From a Christian perspective, one’s character is not to be shaped by an ideal standard, but by the living model of Jesus Christ; it is a matter of love. All these elements around a person do not determine entirely one’s character. The will and one’s freedom play a decisive role in forming one’s character.

“Don't say, ‘That's the way I'm made..., it's my character.’ It's your lack of character.” No one is born with their character already shaped; character is formed over the course of a lifetime through the repetition of certain acts, the fostering of good dispositions, and the determination to cut out what must be cut out. Together with these human means, one needs a trusting abandonment into the will of God, our almighty Father.

Our Lord uses difficulties and temptations to strengthen our character. We fight against discouragement and bravely struggle, relying on God's strength. The determination not to give in but to keep struggling does not mean we have to be insensitive to sorrow and tiredness. What is needed is a sufficient reason to respond to grace: to love, believe, and hope.

The education of character is not a task for some period of one’s life; it is accomplished continuously within ordinary life, through small actions and right choices.

Nothing worthwhile is achieved simply based on initial enthusiasm. "What good are plants that blossom and then quickly wither? St John Chrysostom asks. Our Lord requires the steadfast endurance of his followers." We must pursue our goal resolutely, and patiently, using the right means to attain it.

"Will-power. -Energy. -Example. -What has to be done, is done... Without wavering... Without giving in to human respect." If we are not decisive, we cannot go far in our interior life, apostolate, or work. Saint Josemaría reminded us: "‘Pray that I may never be satisfied with what is easy.’ -I have prayed. Now what's needed is for you to carry out that fine resolution."

"We need to grow in strength of character, in fortitude, for we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We need to cultivate serene courage, and flexible, intelligent daring."

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Feb 14 Fri - What is the specific way for lay people to participate in the mission of the Church?

 

Feb 14 Fri
What is the specific way for lay people to participate in the mission of the Church?
The apostolic mission is the concern of all the faithful of the Church.
Christ passed on to the apostles a triple office, or authority (in Latin munus; plural munera): the office of sanctifying, the office of teaching, and the office of ruling. All Christians must make the faith known, spread Christ’s teaching, and bring all people under the mantle of the Church.

However, there are specific tasks for each segment of the faithful within the Church; today we will refer to the tasks of the laypeople.

SANCTIFYING
The Church participates in Christ’s priesthood, mainly through the sacraments. The lay people, by the common priesthood (also called baptismal priesthood) of all the faithful, actively participate in the sacraments in their proper way.

All the lay people have the duty of working for the spread of the divine plan of salvation to all men. All their works, prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of body and mind, if they are accomplished in the Spirit –indeed even the hardships of life if patiently borne– all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist, these works are most fittingly offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. Thus, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, leading people to the sacraments.

TEACHING
The laity –part of the Church– also teaches, announcing Christ with their words, and the testimony of their lives. Thus, they teach their children, relatives, and friends so that the power of the Gospel may shine out in daily family and social life.

Lay people with sufficient knowledge may impart catechetical formation, teach the sacred sciences, and collaborate in the means of social communication. According to their knowledge, they also have the right and the duty to manifest to the pastors (and to the other faithful) their views on matters that concern the good of the Church, always respecting the integrity of faith and morals.

This evangelization by the lay people acquires a specific property and peculiar efficacy because it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world.

Married and family life have a special importance in this prophetic office of the Church. In it, the married partners have their proper vocation: they must be witnesses of faith and love of Christ to one another and to their children.

Therefore, even when occupied by temporal affairs, the laity can, and must, do valuable work for the evangelization of the world.

RULING
Because of their special vocation, it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs (business, politics…) and directing them according to God’s will.

The laity is given this special vocation: to make the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only through them that she can become the salt of the earth.

By their competence in secular disciplines, they must work earnestly so that created goods may serve the utility of all men. By so doing they impregnate their family, culture, and human works with a moral value.

If appointed to certain ecclesiastical offices (for tasks that do not require priestly ordination), the laity can also collaborate in the hierarchy's mission.

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Feb 13 Thu - What should I do when they attack me unjustly?

 

Feb 13 Thu
What should I do when they attack me unjustly?
The Lord says: “Had you wandered to the ends of the heavens, the Lord your God would gather you even from there, would come there to reclaim you and bring you back to the land your fathers possessed, so that you in your turn might make it your own, prospering there and increasing even more than your fathers.

“The Lord your God will make all these curses recoil on your enemies who have persecuted you. And again, you will obey the voice of the Lord your God and keep all those commandments of his that I enjoin on you today.

“The Lord your God will give you great prosperity in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your cattle, and in the produce of your soil. For again, the Lord will take delight in your prosperity as he took delight in the prosperity of your fathers, if only you obey the voice of the Lord, keeping those commandments, and if you return to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul." (Deuteronomy 30:1-20)

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" How great was that man who was given light, and favored by that light! The light he saw did not fade at dusk. Souls assuming this light do not fall into sin or stumble on vice.

Our Lord says: “Walk while you have the light in you." This light is himself. Thus, He said: “I came as a light into the world, so that those who have eyes may not see and the blind may receive the light." The Lord then is our light, the sun of justice and holiness, who has shone on his Catholic Church spread throughout the world. Hence, we should claim: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"

The man who has been thus illumined does not limp or leave the path, but stands all things. He thinks of his true country still afar, and he puts up with adversities. He is not saddened by the difficulties, but finds his strength in God. He fights his pride and endures, and grows in patience through humility.

When this light begins to shine upon the person who was in darkness and the shadow of death, in the darkness of evil and the shadow of sin, he reacts, examines himself, and repents saying: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"

Great is this gift from God; with it, one fears neither sickness nor tiredness, and disregards pain. If He enlightens and saves me, whom shall I fear? Even though the dark shadows of evil thoughts crowd about, “The Lord is my light." They can approach me, but cannot prevail; they may raid my heart, but cannot conquer it. Though the blindness of evil desires assails me, again I say: “The Lord is my light." For He is my strength; He gives himself to me and I give myself to him. Run to this physician while you can, or you may not be able to find him when you need him.
Excerpts from a sermon by John the Serene, bishop.

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Feb 12 Wed - Should the lay people participate directly in the mission of the Church?

 

Feb 12 Wed
Should the lay people participate directly in the mission of the Church?
Christians constitute “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation … once you were no people but now you are God’s people” (1 Pt 2:9–10).

This people of God has been established by Christ as a communion of life, love, and truth, it is taken up by Him, and sent forth into the whole world, as the instrument for the salvation of all; as the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18–20). This command of Christ applies to all the members of his Mystical Body.

In the Church, there is a diversity of ministries, but there is only one aim: the sanctification of all. And all Christians participate in some way in this task, through the character imprinted by the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.

We must all feel responsible for the mission of the Church, which is the mission of Christ. The fulfillment of the Church's mission is called apostolate; its object is to spread the kingdom of Christ all over the world for the glory of God the Father.
The hierarchy serves the mission of the whole Church. Its mission is to be the instrument of Christ, the head of the Church. Thus, the task proper to the hierarchy is to organize and watch over the fulfillment of the mission of the entire Church.

All members of the Church must share in the apostolate –guided by the bishops and the pope– according to their status in the Church. The Second Vatican Council asserted the participation of each Christian –specifically of the laity– in the common mission of the Church.

The apostolate of the laity is a sharing in the salvific mission of the Church. Through Baptism and Confirmation, all are appointed to this apostolate by the Lord himself.

The pastors, indeed, know well how much the laity contributes to the welfare of the entire Church. They know that they themselves were not established by Christ to undertake alone the whole salvific mission of the Church to the world, but that it is their exalted office so to be shepherds of the faithful. They also recognize the lay people’s contribution and charisms; thus, everyone in his way will cooperate in the common task, with one mind.

Hence:
•   The mission of the entire Church and that of the hierarchy are not identical, just as the words Church and hierarchy are not synonymous.

•   The Church’s mission falls squarely on the shoulders of all her members. In contrast, the mission of the hierarchy –a particular aspect of the mission of the Church– is carried out only by the members of the hierarchy and those members of the people of God who are authorized and qualified to help them.

•   The mission of the laity is not merely a participation in the mission of the hierarchy, but it is a participation in the mission of the Church.

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Feb 11 Tue - Is the Church a congregation or a Body?

 

Feb 11 Tue
Is the Church a congregation or a Body?
When Saul of Tarsus, lying on the ground outside Damascus, looked into the blinding light and asked, “Who are you?”, the response was: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Paul discovered that Christ and His Church are so profoundly one that to persecute the Church is to persecute Christ.

But how does the Church relate to Christ? Most people don’t see an intrinsic relation between Christ and the Church. Christ is one thing, the Church another. At best, the Church is just the community that gathered to continue His memory. At worst, it’s a bunch of Pharisees who followed Jesus’ message of [you may insert your agenda here]. The doctrine of the Body of Christ teaches differently.

It’s not “as if” Christ is the head, or the Church is “like” Christ’s Body. Nor is their connection the legal union of a contract or the moral union of a shared purpose. Christ and the Church have an organic oneness, as between a head and body, or a vine and its branches. The Church is the extension of Christ himself throughout the world and history.

One effect of this doctrine is to deliver us from the anti-hierarchy heresy of our culture. In this Church organism, there is both a Head and Body. The head governs. But Christ the Head doesn’t rule over the Church tyrannically, but the way your head rules your body, as one organism. This is an organic hierarchy, not one imposed.

Christ entrusted his headship first to Peter and the Apostles and now exercises it through their successors, the pope and bishops. They must exercise this headship – no one else can. Of course, there are advisors and consultors and all the rest. But at the end of the day, the Church is not governed by committee or council or synod but by the Shepherds who watch over it in place of the Apostles.

No member of the body is less a member than the others. There’s a fundamental equality because each member of the Body was “in one Spirit…baptized into one body.”

Our egalitarian age loves to emphasize this equality but omits an important aspect, namely, an equal obligation to holiness. Nobody is off the hook. All the baptized must strive for sanctity.

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.” This oneness is based on the supernatural not the natural. It doesn’t come from common descent, mutual social interests, or a shared political purpose. It’s not something willed by us or imposed by external forces. It comes from being incorporated into one Body by one Baptism in one Spirit.

This oneness means that each member has responsibilities to the whole. There are no independent limbs in the Body of Christ any more than in your own body. Each of us has a responsibility to the others. Thus, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.”

Finally, the Body of Christ has authentic diversity. For a body to work properly, it must have different members, each fulfilling its proper role, a diversity that doesn’t divide.

When her members live their baptismal calling properly, the Church appears as she truly is, Christ’s continuing presence in the world. And the world finds in the Church what it seeks elsewhere despairingly: hierarchy without inequality, equality without mediocrity, diversity without division, unity without uniformity.
Excerpts from Fr. Paul D. Scalia

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Feb 10 Mon - What should I do when I notice the defects of the others?

 

Feb 10 Mon
What should I do when I notice the defects of the others?
We should understand and forgive other people's weaknesses.

If you cannot transform yourself into what you would like to be, how can you expect to control others? We desire their perfection yet fail to address our own shortcomings. We want them to face our strict corrections while refusing to correct ourselves. Their freedom irritates us, yet we insist on our own desires. We want them constrained by laws, yet we reject any limits on ourselves. This clearly shows how infrequently we consider others as we do ourselves.

If everyone were perfect, what suffering would we endure from one another for God's sake? However, God has arranged it so that we must learn to bear one another's burdens, for no one is without fault, no one is without burden, and no one is completely self-sufficient or wise. Therefore, we must support, console, and help one another, offering mutual counsel and advice. A person's true virtue is best revealed in times of adversity – adversity that does not diminish a person but rather reveals their true character.

Some "would not receive Jesus, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village."

Once again, Jesus gives the Apostles a lesson in understanding, forgiveness, and holy toleration for those in error.
Saint Josemaría: "Jesus wants us to have this spirit of his. Do you see his continual eagerness to be with people? Aren't you moved to contemplate how He rejects no one? He speaks to one and all, has a kind word for everyone, teaches them, instructs them, brings tidings of joy and hope, with this marvelous, unique fact, of a God who lives together with men!"

At that moment, the zeal of James and John was a bitter zeal. They hadn't yet learned to understand other people's weaknesses, following the Master's example.
"Christ desires all men to be saved, and that no one should be lost. He longs to give his life for all in an outpouring of love that is a perfect holocaust. Jesus doesn't want to convince us by force. Living alongside men, he gently draws them to follow him in search of true peace and joy."

"We must do the same, since it is Christ's own charity that impels us. With the ever-new light of charity, with generous love for God and neighbor, we shall renew our desire to understand and forgive everyone. Seeing the Master's example, we don't want to feel we are enemies to anyone."

"We can summarize our attitude to souls with St Paul's heartfelt cry: my affection is for all of you in Christ Jesus. By charity, you will sow peace and joy in the world, loving and defending the personal freedom of souls, the freedom which Christ respects and won for us."

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Feb 9 Sun - What is the result of encountering Jesus?

 

Feb 9 Sun
What is the result of encountering Jesus?
Jesus got into the boat of Simon; He asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon replied, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command, I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.

Then, Simon was told to go from his normal life of catching fish to his supernatural calling of fishing men.

Jesus violated a boundary, getting into Peter’s boat, and then He requested Peter, to pull out. Peter complied.

We do not know for sure if this was Peter’s first encounter with him, but by the end, he regarded the Lord as somebody you addressed as “Master,” one who makes commands.

Jesus rewarded Peter for letting him use his boat as a pulpit. Christ demonstrated his supernatural mastery over nature by making Simon take a phenomenal catch of fish, even though Simon, a professional fisherman, thought it was pointless since they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing.

Like at the wedding feast of Cana, this was a miracle of abundance: not just some wine for the wedding feast but lots and lots of very good wine; not just a few fish but so many that two boats were filled almost to sinking for the previously unsuccessful fishermen.

Simon was cut to the heart when he met the incarnate “Law” of God, Jesus Christ the Messiah: like the remnant of Jews who returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah and Ezra, who wept when they heard the Law of God read to them; like Isaiah when he experienced the holiness of God in his vision; like Paul on the road to Damascus.

Peter didn’t have a chance. He was caught by Jesus more surely than any fish in a net or with a hook in his mouth.

This call is to all of us, too: to put out into deep water and do apostolate.
When we do apostolate, don’t we have to break a boundary, to begin to talk about something “forbidden” in our society? We are, somehow, hopping into somebody’s boat if we bring up the topic of faith.

But we see that our Lord didn’t just say things, however good: He gave good gifts –food, drink, understanding, friendship, sight, healing, renewal, and even life.

Our own words, too, must be preceded, accompanied, and followed by a good gift: offering them an encounter with Christ. This is normally accomplished by allowing ourselves to be transformed by Christ, becoming the lips of Christ.

The Christians of the first centuries transformed the brutal and hopeless Roman Empire with their charity, chastity, and cheerfulness. Those are gifts that Christ gives also to us, today. The hands of God have not been shortened.

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Feb 8 Sat - Following Jesus, does it consist of titanic efforts?

 

Feb 8 Sat
Following Jesus, does it consist of titanic efforts?
Caring for little things is your path to holiness. Consider the miracle that Jesus worked at Cana at his Mother's request. From the simple work the servants did, important effects ensued: just filling up some jars with water. But it was through that work that Christ worked his first miracle.

Even when it seems unimportant, our work brims over with divine transcendence if we work for love. Our daily occupations and surroundings are made up of small things, and these we must sanctify. That is our Christian vocation as normal people in the middle of the world.

“If Love is what motivates us, then in the course of our life how many little things we will find that need to be looked after; how many opportunities for doing some small service; how many difficulties -unimportant ones - we will learn to offer. Little things that can be difficult for us, and that we offer up for a specific intention: the Church, the Pope, relatives, friends, all souls."

“I repeat once more: we will have lost our way if we despise or reject little things. In this world, everything big is a collection of little things. Pay attention to what is little, and concentrate on the details. This is not some fixation or obsession: it is affection, virginal love, supernatural outlook at every moment, and charity. Always be faithful in small things for the sake of Love. And keep an upright intention, without expecting to receive anything in return here on earth, not even a smile or a look of appreciation."

Love makes little things big; in terms of sanctity, our actions only have value when done for love, and with love. “Do everything for love. Then there will be no little things; everything will be big. Perseverance in little things for love is heroism."

The love of God brings about a wonderful transformation, turning all those small, seemingly unimportant things that make up our ordinary life, into something divine, of infinite value: into holiness and apostolic fruitfulness. Let us not allow this daily treasure to go to waste.
 
We should ask ourselves: How well do I look after small things? Do I put love - sanctity - into the tiny things that make up my daily life?

Besides, we should accompany each little deed with an expression of love.
We return to the scene at Cana. Mary has given the servants good advice: “Do whatever he tells you."
They, in turn, carried out Jesus' command completely: "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.

“Fill the jars... Just that. The servants did their job, water being easy enough to get hold of... and so we have the first manifestation of our Lord's divinity.

“And just as the water at Cana was turned into exquisite wine, so the most common thing is turned into something extraordinary, something supernatural when we decide to serve God."

To serve God, let us conscientiously attend to the little tasks of each day.

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Feb 7 Fri - Should I admit my faults?

 

Feb 7 Fri
Should I admit my faults?
King David sinned but repented. He said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray, take away the sin of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

God wants us to acknowledge our sins and not hide them from him. Sincerity is the first step towards repentance. We are damaged goods; original sin makes us inclined to sin.

Thus, we should acknowledge our repentance with David: I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. We should bear in mind our particular circumstances, because God has given us so much, and He will demand a lot of us. If a person favored by the Holy Spirit and abundantly gifted by God falls into sin, it is not the same as when someone without such privileges commits the same fault.

“We must have clear ideas and a clear conscience. We cannot allow ourselves to do wrong things and say they are holy."

What should I do? The sacrifice that pleases God is a contrite heart.
St. Josemaría asked himself, “In what can we take glory? I am nothing but wretchedness. I should struggle to convert my wretchedness into something divine. Everyone who struggles is on the road to sanctity. Even though God doesn't want our shortcomings, He uses them to improve our humility and our sanctification."

“The best devotion is to make acts of contrition. We should always be returning like the prodigal son. There's no reason why we should drag a trail of wretchedness behind us. We should place it all in God's hands, and with true humility tell him, along with St Peter after his denials: Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you. You know that I love you despite my weaknesses. That way our wretchedness doesn't separate us from God. Rather it brings us closer to him, just as a child who has fallen does not turn away from his mother. "Mummy!" he shouts, running to his mother's arms. Or if he is a bit older, he runs to his father, whose arms are stronger... If we have made a mistake, big or small, let's run to God! God will not reject a contrite and humble heart."

“The Christian vocation is one of sacrifice, penance, and contrition. We must make reparation for our sins - for the many times we turned our face aside to avoid the gaze of God - and all the sins of mankind."

Only God, whom we have offended, can remove from our hearts the hardness that keeps us from recognizing we have offended him. So, if He ever sends us suffering, we should see it as a divine means to purify our soul, and as a special opportunity to show true Love and make up in some way for our previous lack of love. “If God wills that we be struck down by some affliction, take it as a sign that he considers us mature enough to be associated even more closely with his redeeming Cross."

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Feb 6 Thu - Is it possible education without values?

 

Feb 6 Thu
Is it possible education without values?
Sometimes people speak of 'education in values' to express the opposite of what one would expect: teaching people to choose virtue and reject vice.

It is said that the moral dissipation suffered by our society is due to an unprecedented crisis of values. Yet for several decades now, many international institutions and organizations have been promoting, through the many means available to them, the so-called education in values.

Unfortunately, many parents sin of naivety because, forgetting that we must be as cunning as serpents, blindly entrust the education of our children to the prevailing system, leaving them like sheep among wolves. Thus, they believe that when school curricula or educational programs use the word ‘values’, they mean what we understand them to be.

Yet the word value (in addition to referring to valor or courage) means a quality of a person for which it is considered good. Hence, the value of something is based on consensus, on the perception or valuation of what a majority, or even an influential minority, defines as value.

Under this concept, both objectively good guidelines are promoted (the non-negotiable value, promoted by the Church, of the right to life from conception to natural death) together with dubious modern ‘values’, especially with the so-called integral sexual education.

Many of the values promoted today, especially through the media and educational institutions, contradict Christian morality, attack the common good, and destroy the person. For, in addition, they cover all kinds of immoral conduct with the moral veneer of ambiguous and misleading language. Hence, they reject both the concepts of vice, immorality, and sin and those of virtue, grace, and holiness.

Consequently, our relativistic and hedonistic world spreads vice.
To successfully confront our evident moral crisis, it is indispensable to understand the prevailing concepts – to avoid their confusing language - and to promote the moral principles that, based on divine and natural law, benefit society as a whole and perfect the human being.

We must return to the promotion of virtue; that firm and stable attitude of the understanding and the will that regulates our acts, orders our passions, and guides our conduct according to reason. For, as Lope de Vega affirmed: “Virtue has in itself all things; and whoever lacks virtue, lacks everything.”

Only then, we will be able to bring the whole world, all the human values that attract many — friendship, the arts, science, philosophy, theology, sport, nature, culture, souls — within the sphere of hope: the hope of Christ.

We must not lose sight that, due to original sin, we are inclined to concupiscence (a blind desire for everything that produces satisfaction), so that we often confuse the apparent good with the real good by judging, subjectively, based on what we consider attractive or convenient at that moment.

Virtue, the quality of the soul to know and act the good easily and promptly, can only be achieved with perseverance, effort, and sacrifice, going against one's passions, appetites, and desires. Thus, we can achieve the freedom that gives self-control, and also the happiness produced by knowledge, and the exercise of goodness.

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Feb 5 Wed - How do I treat our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist?

 

Feb 5 Wed
How do I treat our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist?
We are told about the dispositions to receive the Eucharist fruitfully:
- Not to be aware of any mortal sin that is not yet absolved.
- Not to be under excommunication.
- To approach the sacrament with devotion.

If one is aware of having committed a mortal sin, making an act of perfect contrition is not enough to receive communion. This person should not approach the Eucharist without first receiving absolution in the Sacrament of Penance.

Besides,
- The one-hour Eucharistic fast must be kept. The sick, the elderly, and those caring for them can receive Communion even if they have taken something during the preceding hour.
- Out of respect for the sacrament, it is advisable to be clean, groomed, and properly dressed when going to Communion.

"Christ will overlook your weaknesses, on account of your loving care for his chapels and oratories. Our Lord is as defenseless as a child, a prisoner of Love. And Love is repaid with love. Always treat him well for me!"

"Holy things should be treated in a holy way, and all the items employed in divine worship are holy, for they are dedicated to the service of God. Don't get used to things, even after many years: you should always try to maintain an attitude of awe and attentive respect for what is set aside, especially for our Lord."

He looks for such expressions of our love, especially in our life of piety. He, who has wanted to remain at our side in the tabernacle, expects such well-mannered kindness from us: "Have you seen how mothers go overboard in loving care for their children? I like to say that when we truly love God, we live in a holy way almost without realizing it."

"We can almost say that resolutions are no longer needed: my mother didn't make any resolutions to treat me well, but what attentive, loving care she showed! If you truly love God, you'll gladly go to any lengths to serve him: whether you feel like it or not, come rain or shine, in every circumstance, you'll joyfully seek ways to serve more and better."

We need to seek out Jesus at every moment, to find him and show our love for him in everything we do: "Are you united to him in your work? Do you greet him when passing by a tabernacle? Do you discover him in the others, when you're called to self-surrender, or when you receive good news?"

"Love is repaid with love. Thus, I come to accompany him, to visit him, I sing my love to him from afar, and when I pass close by... I can't understand those who are indifferent. Popular piety is right to depict the monstrance with a host of angels around it, hiding their faces with their wings because they consider themselves unworthy to be in his presence. And I ask the Blessed Virgin, his Mother, and mine, to help me receive him and treat him as she did: with purity, humility, and love."

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Feb 4 Tue - Why confess to a priest if I can talk directly to God?

 

Feb 4 Tue
Why confess to a priest if I can talk directly to God?

We, Catholics, confess our sins to the Church, represented by a priest, and receive God’s forgiveness and absolution BECAUSE GOD WANTED IT THIS WAY. God willed that HIS pardon and mercy should pass through His Son, Jesus Christ, who acts through the priest, and hence, instituted the Sacrament of Confession, upon giving His Apostles the power and authority to forgive sins or retain them.

God’s choice makes sense: any ‘objective’ offense to God of mine, should not be forgiven by a ‘subjective’ action of mine, merely.

– Where can you find God’s desire to forgive through his chosen ministers in the Bible and the institution of the Sacrament of Confession?

Jn 20:21-23 – “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so, I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. IF YOU FORGIVE THE SINS OF ANY, THEY ARE FORGIVEN; IF YOU RETAIN THE SINS OF ANY, THEY ARE RETAINED.”

The power to “forgive and retain” sins in the name of Jesus is described in other scriptural passages as the authority to “bind and loosen.”
But how could Jesus expect the Apostles to judge who should be forgiven, and who should not?
For us, humans, by being told or informed about the matter to judge.

– But isn’t it that only God can forgive sins?

Yes! Only God can, and it is He who forgives sins in the sacrament of Confession and not the priest. The priest is the instrument, he lends his voice to Christ.

The practice of confessing one’s sins has been present since the times when the Apostles were still alive. (James 5: 14-16)

The command in v. 16, “confess your sins to one another” must be interpreted within the previous context of the anointing rite, where the elders (i.e., presbyter = Greek πρεσβύτερος: priest, the senior, leader of the Christian congregation) presumably heard the confession of the sick person before his sins were remitted through the sacrament (5:14-15).

Had God willed us to confess directly to Him, by a merely subjective move, Jesus would not have given His power and authority to forgive sins to His Apostles or instituted the Sacrament of Confession.

When we, obeying God’s will, confess our sins to His instruments, we receive the assurance of having been forgiven (‘I absolve you from your sins’). It is not just a ‘feeling’ that I have been forgiven, rather the Church tells me so. This objective assurance is in no way present for those who reject the sacrament of confession or reconciliation.

By confessing our sins to God’s instruments, who are also sinners, we practice and grow in humility and faith, necessary virtues to receive God’s loving forgiveness. Besides, the priest may give us some advice, as “preventive medicine.”

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