Apr 5 Sat - Does my mortification facilitate my prayer?

 

Apr 5 Sat
Does my mortification facilitate my prayer?
One especially appropriate time for true penance is Lent, with its urgent call for purification, atonement, and reparation.

We need to be purified from the remains of past and present faults, and this we do by penance and mortification. These make us freer from attachment to sin, cleaner in God's eyes, and less burdened for our journey along the road to holiness.

Jesus frees us from the yoke of sin, making us capable of sharing in the divine intimacy of the Trinity, and becoming children of God.

“Lent is, then, a time of penance; this is not something negative. Lent should be lived in the spirit of filiation, which Christ has communicated to us and is alive in our souls. Our Lord calls us to come nearer to him, to be like him: ‘Be imitators of God as his dearly beloved children’, cooperating humbly but fervently in the divine purpose of mending what is broken, of saving what is lost, of bringing back order to what sinful man has put out of order, of leading to its goal what has gone astray, of re-establishing the divine balance of all creation."

Through penance, we atone to the Lord for our guilt, and through mortification, we remove the obstacles to our inner growth.
 
The more we purify ourselves, the more our interior life will progress, because mortification makes it easier for us to be friends with God. If we wish our prayers to penetrate the heavens, let us take care to purify our minds of all vices or over-human thoughts. Mortification purifies the eyes and ears of the soul. As a result, we can see the Lord more easily and be attentive to his words, in an ongoing conversation that characterizes our lives as contemplative souls.

“Just think about the wonder of God's love. Our Lord comes out to meet us, he waits for us, He is by the roadside, we cannot fail to see him. He calls each of us personally, speaking to us about our own things - which are also his. He stirs us to sorrow, and opens our conscience to be generous. He encourages us to want to be faithful, so that we can be called his disciples... Our Lord has not forgotten us during all the time in which, through our fault, we did not see him. Christ loves us with all the inexhaustible charity of God's own heart."

If we did not practice mortification, which is the prayer of the senses, and if we failed to subject our body and its inclinations to voluntary servitude, how difficult it would be for us to hear God speaking to us!

We must fight against our wretchedness to rise up to God and to hear and understand his words. Generous small mortifications help our inner recollection, enabling us to pray at all times. To attain the inner silence we need, we have to mortify our external senses, and also our imagination and memory.

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Apr 4 Fri - Charity without truth?

 

Apr 4 Fri
Charity without truth?
Pointers from the Encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’ of Benedict XVI.

Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled arbitrarily. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. (no. 3).

Fideism: thinking that faith is independent of reason.
Truth frees charity from the slavery of emotionalism; Fideism deprives Truth of human and universal breathing space. (no. 3).

Charity without God.
A Christianity of ‘charity without truth’ would be more or less a pool of good sentiments, helpful for social cohesion, but of little relevance. Thus, there would no longer be any real place for God in the world. (no. 4).

The Church does not go into politics.
The Church does not have technical solutions to offer, and does not claim “to interfere in any way in the politics of States.” She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation…. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. (no. 9).

The Church is for man’s true progress.
Progress, in its origin and essence, is first and foremost a vocation: “In the plan of God, every man is called upon to develop and fulfill himself, for every life is a vocation.” This is what gives legitimacy to the Church's involvement in the whole question of development.” (no. 16).

Intellectual property.
On the part of rich countries, there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care. (no. 22)

Integral progress.
Progress of a merely economic and technological kind is insufficient. Development needs, above all, to be true and integral. The mere fact of emerging from economic backwardness, though positive in itself, does not resolve the complex issues of human advancement. (no. 23).

Job insecurity.
When the uncertainty over working conditions, caused by mobility and deregulation, becomes endemic, tends to create new forms of psychological instability, giving rise to difficulty in forging coherent plans for one’s life, including marriage. This leads to situations of human decline, to say nothing of the waste of social resources. (no. 25).

Man, the first asset.
I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: “Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life” (no. 25).

Fight against hunger.
In the global era, the elimination of world hunger has also become a requirement for safeguarding the peace and stability of the planet. Hunger is not so much dependent on lack of material things as on shortage of social resources, the most important of which are institutional. (no. 27).

Life and development.
Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. (no. 28).

New forms of slavery.
When man is far from God, he is unsettled and ill at ease. The new forms of slavery like drugs and the lack of hope into which so many people fall, can be explained not only in sociological and psychological terms but also in essentially spiritual terms. The emptiness of a soul that feels abandoned, despite the availability of many therapies for body and mind, leads to suffering.
There cannot be holistic development and universal common good unless people's spiritual and moral welfare is taken into account, considered in their totality as body and soul. (n. 76).

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Apr 3 Thu - Can I have a conversation with God?

 

Apr 3 Thu
Can I have a conversation with God?

Among the highest gifts we may receive from God is being able to pray and have a conversation with Him, because it means that we are in His company and in union with Him.

When light enters our eyes, our eyesight is activated and sharpened; when a person is listening to God, God’s inextinguishable light shines into him and his soul becomes bright and clear. I am talking, of course, of prayer that comes from the heart and not from routine. We may pray regularly every day, but prayer may be had continuously by day and by night.

Indeed, the soul should not only turn to God at times of scheduled prayer. Whatever we are engaged in, whether it is care for others, regular professional work, or some act of generosity, we should also remember God and say something to Him, internally.

Thus, the love of God becomes as salt is to food, turning anything we do into a perfect dish offered to the Lord of all things. Then it is right that we should receive the reward for our actions, to be enjoyed through all eternity, if we offer everything to Him every day of our lives.

Prayer is the light of the soul, true knowledge of God, and a link between God and men. Prayer lifts the soul into the heavens hugging God in an embrace beyond description. The soul seeks food from God like a starving person on the hunt for a meal. It fulfills its commitments and receives in exchange gifts better than anything that can be seen or imagined.

Prayer is a go-between linking us to God. It gives joy to the soul and calms its emotions. I warn you, though: do not imagine that prayer is simply words. Prayer is the desire for God, leading to commitment, not given by man but brought about by God’s grace. As St Paul says: For when we cannot choose words to pray properly, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf in a way that could never be put into words.

If God gives you the gift of such prayer, it is a gift of permanent riches, a heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. Whoever tastes that food catches fire and his soul glows forever with desire for the Lord.

To begin on this path, start by adorning your house –your soul– with purity and humility. Make it shine brightly with the light of justice. Decorate the walls with the gold leaf of good works, with the crystal chandeliers of faithfulness and greatness of heart. Finally, to make the house perfect, place a solid roof above it all, with the satellite dish of prayer.

Thus, you will have prepared a clean and sparkling house for the Lord. Receive the Lord into this royal and splendid mansion — in other words: receive –by his grace– His image into the temple of your soul, become another Christ.

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Apr 2 Wed - For what reason should I be happy?

 

Apr 2 Wed
For what reason should I be happy?
“What a strange capacity man has to forget even the most wonderful things, to become used to mystery! Let's remind ourselves, this Lent, that the Christian cannot be superficial. While being fully involved in his everyday work, among other men, his equals; busy, under stress, the Christian has to be at the same time totally involved with God, for he is a child of God.”

Christ taught us to act as children do before their Father.
At the most important times of his life on earth, Christ wished to show us his attitude of prayer to his Father: such as when he raised Lazarus to life, when he multiplied the loaves and fishes, or when he instituted the Eucharist, or in the loneliness of Gethsemane, or on Calvary when he prayed: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!

Our presence of God, and our conversation with God our Lord, should not be based on feelings or imagination; they should be deep-rooted habits that lead us to please God and seek to fulfill his will in everything.

“A man of God is never alone. He has no reason for boredom, since he is always in the presence of his Beloved. The Lord is waiting for us at every moment. He takes an interest in everything that happens to us. God is beside us, full of loving care, like a mother and a father, always ready to listen to our words, always responding to our love. He watches over us and wants us to turn to him, confidently, asking for help, knowing that He will never fail to hear us.”

This is presence of God: we should never lose it. Filiation is union: and sanctity consists in union.

The fruit of presence of God is cheerfulness, which makes the path of sanctity pleasant.
“Let us be happy. I am happy. I shouldn't be, looking at my life, making that personal examination of conscience that Lent requires. But I do feel happy, for I see that the Lord is seeking me again, that the Lord is still my Father. I know that you and I will surely see, with the light and help of grace, what things must be burned and we will burn them; what things must be uprooted, and we will uproot them; what things have to be given up, and we will give them up.”

“Without joy, we cannot serve. Can you imagine someone serving you with weeping and wailing?”

Therefore, if we ever feel sad, we must see if we are struggling hard to live in God's presence. “Are you unhappy? Think: there must be an obstacle between God and me. You will seldom be wrong.” God our Father wants us to be happy; thus, He wants us to be in his presence, always trying to fulfill his will. St. Josemaría tells us: “Use the same method as I do. I forget that I exist. I can’t have any personal problems because I can’t think about my affairs - I don’t have time to.”

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Apr 1 Tue - Why did Our Lord allow the Devil to tempt him?

 

Apr 1 Tue
Why did Our Lord allow the Devil to tempt him?

“Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer." Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. Let’s see if it is an individual: “I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish." Now it is no longer one person; it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all his members. But what single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. Jesus was told by his Father: “Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession." This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, is the one Church of Christ. She cries from the ends of the earth because we all form a single family.

What does she cry? She says: “Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth." She cries from every part of the world.

How does she cry? With her heart in anguish. The speaker shows that the Church is present among all the nations of the earth not in a state of exalted glory but in a condition of severe trial.

Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from hardship. We progress through suffering. No one gets to know himself except through trial, receives a crown except after victory, or grows stronger except by fighting the temptations of the enemy.

The body of the Church crying from the ends of the earth is in anguish but is not left on its own. Christ chose to go ahead of us, who are his body, using his body, in which he died, rose, and ascended into heaven. Now, the members of his body may hope to follow where their Head has gone before.

He made you one with him when He chose to be tempted by Satan. You have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly, Christ was tempted by the devil. Thus, you and I are also tempted. Christ received his flesh from our human nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you. He suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you. Thus, He suffered temptation in your human nature, and by his own power gained victory for you.

If, like Christ, you are tempted, in him and with him, you can overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? If you see yourself as tempted like him, see yourself as victorious with him. He could have kept the devil away from himself; but if He had not been tempted, he could not teach you how to overcome temptations.

Thus, since Christ suffered temptation, united to Him, and with him, we overcome the Devil.
Excerpts from St Augustine

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Mar 31 Mon - Why do some run away from God?

 

Mar 31 Mon
Why do some run away from God?
“Two wrongs these people of mine committed; they deserted me, the fountain of living water, and then they dug water reservoirs of their own, leaking cisterns, that could not keep or give them water.” Jeremiah 2:13.

Open your eyes for a moment and you will see your God in tears. Open your eyes and you will see the utter confusion of this age we live in. In all the history of humanity has there ever been worse chaos? Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, have all run away from their God. They have removed from their shoulders the sweet yoke of the Almighty and thrown it far away. The nations of the earth have rebelled against their Lord and His Christ.

Perhaps, like the prophet, we think that only the uncultured and the illiterate are ignorant of the ways and precepts of Yahweh. We turn to men of influence, men of power: we speak to them of God. Surely, they, at least, will know His commandments. "And these I found conspiring, as none other, to throw off the yoke, to break through their bonds."

Look at them all running madly from God. And then in their wild, irrational flight they suddenly stumble against the Cross standing dark and lonely in their path. They keep on, escaping from this Cross, leaving it behind alone and forgotten. A great army of determined creatures united in their hatred of the Creator. And the mad torrent of those who hate Him carries away those indifferent and lukewarm.

Where are they going? They have left God far behind, and now they go about searching for something worth believing in, something to quench their thirst. Now it is the turn of unbelieving men, nailed to the false cross of their own unbearable lives, to cry "I thirst" also, because they do not know where to look for water. The earth for them is a hateful place, and heaven is very far off. But where are they going?

They seek new gods and new creeds to believe in. They all, whether it be in their nation, or their race, or money . . ., seek something that neither nation nor race nor money can give. They try to replace the divinity of God, who is our Father, by adoring His creatures in the filthy mire of their evil ways.

The ancient cry of the Holy Spirit is woeful and still new: They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and sought water where there was none.

And nowadays it is these leaking reservoirs-makers who shape the destinies of the nations of the earth. They know only hate, nothing of love. The education and formation of the men of tomorrow are in their dirty hands, crooked and deformed from fondling their money.

They talk of peace and try to console the victims of war, and the injured. These are the leaders in the present disorder and they vainly promise order and prosperity.

They speak of a great brotherhood to unite the rich with the poor, masters with their servants, children with their parents, and soldiers with statesmen. They speak of this great union that ignores Christ and laughs at His Church.

What shall we do?
Let’s go on. Continue our journey straight ahead, undeterred by the barking dogs we meet along. "Will. — Energy. — Example. — What has to be done, is done . . . without hesitation …, without more worrying …

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Did Jesus have likes and dislikes?

 

Did Jesus have likes and dislikes?

One way to tell whether one person knows another well is whether he is familiar with what that other person likes and does not like.  Aristotle said it was a mark of friendship to like and dislike the same things.  Maybe those who do can spend more time together, with less conflict.  At very least, to know what someone likes is a test of friendship.  Country music or classical?  Fast cars or punting on a lazy river?  Ethnic food or mac n’ cheese?

Therefore, if we are friends with Jesus, we should have an idea of what He likes and dislikes. I mean, in His human nature – those likes and dislikes which have the character of tastes, or visceral reactions.  Jesus loved mercy and hated sin, of course.  Did He react viscerally to sin, in His human nature?  Presumably so. And yet perhaps, even here, He did so more viscerally to some sins than to others.

He had to have had likes and dislikes, like all of us, if He assumed a genuine human nature.

When we think of such things, we often begin with food.  Let’s start there.  Do we know anything about the food He liked?  Newman said that He preferred simplicity.  After the Resurrection, on the shore, when Peter and His friends were in the boat fishing, He could have prepared for Himself, by His infinite might, any meal that He wished.  It was an Easter meal, after all.  You or I might have chosen filet mignon and fine wine.  Yet Jesus roasted one small fish and some bread over a charcoal fire. (Jn 21:9)

On the other hand, He had a taste for fine wine, “thou hast kept the good wine until now.” (Jn 2:10) And with magnanimity, He recognized the place for it, in abundance, at the celebration of a wedding.

In clothing, He seemed to despise luxury, “But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings.” (Mt. 11:8) And yet He loved good workmanship, because He wore next to Himself an exquisite garment, so well-wrought that even coarse soldiers declined to tear it. (Jn 19:23)

He must have liked to walk.  Hundreds of miles of journeys on foot are attributed to Him in the Gospels.  He loved being outdoors for days on end.  From His teachings, we know he loved nature, flowers, birds, fish in the sea, the seasons, and the sky.  He liked climbing mountains.  He liked the solitude and quiet of nature.

His earthly father, Joseph, picked where He was to grow up.  But in doing so, Joseph was only following the Lord’s providence.  It was Jesus who selected the place of His childhood.  What did He like?  Not a city, but a small village on a lake, remote from any city, a full two days’ journey from Jerusalem.   The lake is beautiful and self-contained, a place that a small boy can easily view as his home.

He loved going through life with family and relatives.  He could have told them to stay behind but He invited them to follow Him around.  He liked hospitality; His was an open household.  We think of His instructions to the Apostles, “You find them something to eat,” in the face of the 5,000 and 4,000, as a special test of their faith.  But what if He was merely saying what He usually said when many guests would be joining them for dinner?

In politics, His government was a mixture of monarchy (Peter), aristocracy (the Apostles), and timocracy (the seventy or so other disciples).  The only time a crowd is depicted as having a say is when it demanded the release of Barabbas and clamored for His own crucifixion.  His parables refer to lords, masters, and kings.  He liked doing things through mediators.  As a practical matter, He seemed to adopt the approach of His earthly father, who simply avoided conflict with bad rulers such as Herod: “When they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another.” (Mt. 10:23)

He liked logic, wrangling, defining terms, drawing distinctions, disputation, and argument – no 12-year-old boy places himself in a crowd of doctors, carrying on with them, who doesn’t.  “They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions.” (Lk 2:46)  

He loved to read, memorized Scripture, and in His own speech imitated the poetry of Scripture, its cadence, tone, and imagery.  He seems to have liked the book of Isaiah and the Psalms best of all.

I am making surmises here, not taking myself to be in any way authoritative, and inviting you to do the same.

What about personalities?  These seem different from virtues and vices.  Is smugness a virtue or a vice?  Sincerity?  Snark? There are three personalities He disliked very much.  He disliked hardness of heart (Mk. 3:5); hypocrisy (Lk. 12:1); and esteeming oneself as righteous (Jn 9:41). There are theological reasons for hating these traits, but for Him it seemed visceral as well. If you want Jesus to “take a liking” to you, avoid them.  He will love you nonetheless, but do you want His love to be overcoming a repulsion?

He liked the opposite of these.  These likings, it seems, help to explain His choice of Apostles.  John had an evident tenderness of heart.  In his old age, Jerome reports, John would simply repeat, over and over again, “Little children, love one another.” In Nathaniel, there was no guile, deceit, or hypocrisy (Jn 1:47). Peter seems always aware of his weakness and sin, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Lk. 5:8)

God loves us, for sure.  And yet, an idea for Lent: become someone Jesus really likes.
By Michael Pakaluk

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Mar 30 Sun - Does sin separate me from God?

 

Mar 30 Sun
Does sin separate me from God?
We have been constituted children of God. As children, we are also heirs, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

This is a promise of incalculable gains and limitless happiness, which only in heaven will reach its fullness and complete achievement. Until then, we have the possibility of misusing the inheritance: this is what the younger prodigal son did. Like him, we could go away from our father’s house and waste all our wealth.

A Christian, as long as he is a pilgrim on earth, can dispose of his life freely; he can choose to be holy, serving in his father’s house, or he can choose to be a sinner, far away from it. The consequences are not similar.

Even more, the inclination to sin is in each person. The Vatican II tells us: “What divine Revelation makes known to us agrees with our experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil. … Man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness."

The temptation of grabbing the goods and going away can appear at any moment in life.

Mortal sin is the greatest tragedy that can happen to the Christian. It is so grievous this evil, that all mortal sins, even those of thought, turn men into sons of wrath and enemies of God.

Through sin, we lose sanctifying grace, which makes us children of God, remain subject to the devil, and become guilty of eternal damnation. “Don't forget, my son, that, for you, on earth, there is but one evil, which you must fear and avoid with the grace of God: sin."
 
And that day, when that young man went away from home, he considered himself very lucky, away from the limitations of his father.

Soon he began to suffer want. Outside God, man becomes a lonely and hungry being. He sinned to obtain a certain material pleasure; that pleasure was over and done, and sin remained. Joy vanished, and the chain remained. Satisfaction ended shortly and remorse took over. What a hard slavery!

He had to go to tend swine, the most shameful thing for a Jew.

But he “came to himself.” He examined his conscience and acknowledged his sin. This is the beginning of conversion: repentance. When one ignores or justifies his sin, conversion is blocked.

And, he decided to return to his father’s house. This is what a faithful man does after a big or small fall. When we stumble, we must stand up at once, with humility, without blaming others or the environment.

How close to God is the man who confesses his sin! Yes, God does not spurn a contrite heart. A humble person feels the need to ask God for pardon many times a day.

“God is waiting for us, like the father in the parable, with open arms, even though we don't deserve it. It doesn't matter how great our debt is. Just like the prodigal son, all we have to do is open our heart, to long for our Father's house, to wonder at and rejoice in the gift that God makes us, that of being his children, even though our response to him has been so poor."

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Mar 29 Sat - How can I keep walking along the straight road?

 

Mar 29 Sat
How can I keep walking along the straight road?
If you say "enough", you are lost. Go further, keep going. Don't stay in the same place, don't go back, don't go off the road.

Our struggle must not be vague. Thus, we must know ourselves thoroughly. We need a clear awareness of our weaknesses and sins to tackle them effectively and improve. We must examine our conscience daily. St Basil recommends: “Examine yourself to find what you are. Do everything possible to know yourself."

Perhaps we try to keep close to Jesus Christ, and want to seek Him in all our actions, but we often fail.

With our examination of conscience, we discover faults and omissions in fulfilling our commitment of love as Christians, and our duties as citizens. We see that we are still not humble enough, that our heart is attached to material things, and that our concern for others is scant. Why is this so? What is the reason for so much carelessness?

We must remain vigilant. Probably you remember friends, good Christians, but they got lost. Do not imagine that they fell victim to a sudden failure. No, each went astray by neglecting his soul for a long spell, so that the firmness of his virtues was gradually undermined and his vices grew little by little, and so he came to a wretched downfall.

Through the examination of conscience, we get to know ourselves as we are, as sinners. Then we decide on the human and supernatural means we need to improve on the next day.

We must not delay this self-knowledge for some unspecified time in the future. It is urgent, today and now. On it depends our making the best use of the time our Lord gives us. We cannot forget that we know neither the day nor the hour when we will have to render an account to God. If we wish to stand at Jesus Christ's right hand on that day, we must fight now.

Our examination of conscience should yield specific resolutions for the following day: to improve in one Norm of piety, to conquer ourselves in a particularly difficult point of struggle, or to live better our consideration for others.

When we get up the next day, we should review our resolutions. Along with offering the day, we tell our Lord, I will serve!

“We must decide. It's wrong to have two candles lit - one to St Michael and another to the devil. We must snuff out the devil's candle: we must spend our life completely in the service of the Lord. If our desire for holiness is sincere, if we are docile enough to place ourselves in God's hands, everything will go well. For He is always ready to give us his grace, especially at a time like this - grace for a new conversion, a step forward in our lives as Christians."

“We cannot regard this Lent as just another liturgical season which has happened to come around again. It is a unique time: a divine help that we should accept. Jesus is passing by and He expects us to take a great step forward - today, now."

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Mar 28 Fri - Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría.

 

Mar 28 Fri
Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría.

All human beings have been redeemed by Christ the Priest. “The Word was made flesh to save men, to make them one with Him: this is why He came into the world."

Moreover, God made some men sharers in his ministerial priesthood, consecrating them and dedicating them to that service through the Sacrament of Orders.

St Paul says: “Because Jesus Christ lives forever and his Priesthood remains for all eternity." It is eternal and it is made eternal in us, his priests. Thus, when the priest consecrates, when he renews the Holy Sacrifice, he consecrates the Body and the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and he can say: ‘This is my Body’: the Body of Christ. ‘This is my Blood’: the Blood of Christ. The priest is another Christ."

If all Christians are ‘alter Christus’, other Christs, due to the marvelous and unique fact of having been baptized, the priest is another Christ also in a sacramental way, by the priestly ordination which configures him with Christ the Head of the Mystical Body. It enables him to act in Christ's name, with the power to renew the eucharistic Sacrifice, to forgive sins, and to preach the Word of God with authority. For this reason, the ministerial priesthood requires sanctity of life, a love able to stand up to all sacrifices, and an unconditional dedication to his mission.

St. Josemaría wrote, “What was God asking of me? He was asking for fidelity to his plans, for generous correspondence to his desire to open up the divine pathways of the earth. He was asking for a loving and firm fortitude, so that his Will would find an opening among men. Thus, I feel the grave responsibility to correspond to the mercies of God with an attitude of vigilant and loving firmness, so that nothing and no one will be able to force, to disfigure, the specific features that God has wanted to impress in this way of ours, which is a new way in the life of the Church."

The Church asks her children to pray for the sanctity of priests and an increase in priestly vocations. It is a duty of all the Christian faithful. St. Josemaría reminded us of it in his catechesis to thousands of people: “You must pray very much, so that we priests will be extremely faithful all over the world because every day, when we go up to the altar, we lend our Lord our body and our voice. It would be very sad if we betrayed the fidelity we owe Him, because we are Christ himself."

Priests are instruments of grace, despite their personal limitations. St Augustine explains, “The spiritual power of the sacrament is like light: it arrives pure to the objects it illuminates, and it is not stained even though it passes through a dirty medium. Nonetheless, ministers should be holy, and they should not seek their own glory, but rather that of the One they serve."

Thus, we should pray and mortify ourselves for them, so that they will be as God wants: faithful servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries.

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Mar 27 Thu - Is purity of heart a thing for everyone?

 

Mar 27 Thu
Is purity of heart a thing for everyone?
The Church invites us to consider the life of the holy Patriarchs of the Old Testament, so that by reading their story we may follow their footsteps, and tread the path of sanctity they went through with their efforts. St Ambrose tells us: Today we come to the story of Joseph. He had many virtues, but his chastity stands out most. We have learned about unshakeable faith from Abraham, about the purity of a sincere heart from Isaac, and about marvelous patience in difficulties from Jacob. It is only natural that Joseph should now be offered to us as a model of chastity.

The Apostle Paul exhorts us: Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints.

Anything that could tarnish holy purity, a virtue for everyone, must be kept far from our souls. “When I remind you now that Christians must keep perfect chastity, I am referring to everyone: to the unmarried, who must practice complete continence; and to those who are married, who practice chastity by fulfilling the duties of their state in life."

“If one has the spirit of God, chastity is not a troublesome and humiliating burden, but a joyful affirmation. Will-power, dominion, and self-mastery do not come from the flesh or from instinct They come from the will, especially if it is united to the will of God. To be chaste (and not merely continent or decent) we must subject our passions to reason, but for a noble motive, namely, the promptings of Love."

We have to go through life with love, with a love that is whole and entire, untarnished by anything. We must struggle to keep our integrity, never dialoguing with those foul things that continually seem to boil and rise within us.

To be chaste and clean, we depend on the knowledge of our weakness and our love for God and his purest Mother; they never deny us their help.

Let us learn to be humble, St. Josemaría insists. “We need prudence to protect our Love. We must keep a careful watch and not be overcome by fear. Many of the classical spiritual authors compare the devil to a mad dog tied down by a chain. If we do not go near him, he cannot bite us, no matter how much he barks. If you foster humility in your souls, you will certainly avoid the occasions of sin, and you will react by having the courage to run away from them. You will have daily recourse to the help that comes from heaven and you will make lively progress along this path of true love."

Humility will also bring us to use another very effective means, which is sincerity. Always be sincere. Be sincere with your spiritual mentor and with the priest. Finally, be very sincere with yourselves.
Holy purity is a virtue for everyone; it is a joyful "yes" from the fullness of love.

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Mar 26 Wed - What is Montse Grases’s prayer of closeness?

 

Mar 26 Wed
What is Montse Grases’s prayer of closeness?

The 17-year-old girl Montse Grases died with a reputation of sanctity after a long illness caused by bone cancer on March 26, 1959, precisely on Holy Thursday.

Pope Francis acknowledged her heroic virtues on April 26, 2016, and, since then, Masses for the dead have become Masses of thanksgiving as she is already considered by the Church as a model of holiness and virtues. Undoubtedly, those who knew her have an indelible memory of her. Her school friends, now octogenarians, continue to gather to remember Montse's smile and good humor that has served as a stimulus in their lives.

Pope Francis declared the need for new models of next-door saints, neighborhood saints. “She had that girl-next-door charm. She was effortlessly approachable. She was one of us; just like family", exclaimed Montse's school friends quite naturally.

All the saints, especially the young ones, proposed as models of holiness, have in common the “prayer of solidarity,” of trust or companionship and closeness to God.
What is that?

You see, there are two modes of prayer in the Church of God: first, the prayer of mercy. We go to God with simplicity and humility to ask for his help in our needs, appealing to his infinite compassion. "God does not tire of forgiving, it is we, who tire of asking for forgiveness". Jesus’ merciful heart does not get tired of paying attention to our supplications and needs.

Secondly, God gives special grace to some saints and shares with them a divine and human “solidarity” or close companionship. These saints trust God, enjoy His trust, and do what He wants.
I can have a prayer of solidarity by loving God today and here, trusting and having Him close, accompanying me in what I am doing right now, and sharing with Him my life in the simple circumstances of my life.

Since she became aware of God's call to Opus Dei, Montse Grases tried to seek intimacy with Jesus, to study with Him, to talk a lot with Him even while playing, and to share little joys and worries. She would internally talk with God while enjoying time with her friends, helping her mother at home with house duties – she was the oldest of nine siblings – or going on excursions.

The key to Montse's life, what led her to heroic holiness, was to accept God's daily invitation to companionship and dialogue with Him, as constantly and truly as possible, for, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms:
“If you knew the gift of God!” The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. He first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with our thirst. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.

This thirst she quenched in conversation with God while living with him the ordinary activities of everyday life.
Excerpts from José Carlos Martín de la Hoz

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