Nov 15 Fri - What is the main necessity for the apostolate?

 

Nov 15 Fri
What is the main necessity for the apostolate?
The goal of the new evangelization is to enable every person to come into contact with Christ, and to make the Church more capable of transmitting the Gospel of salvation in a persuasive and comprehensive way.

This mission, which extends to the life of the Church, will be "new" not in its content but in the interior impulse, open to the grace of the Holy Spirit, which constitutes the power of the Gospel and always renews the Church; "new" in the search for ways that are appropriate to the times and situations; and "new" because it is necessary even in countries that have already received the proclamation of the Gospel.

Jesus gave an imperative command to the Apostles: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned."

This command is accompanied by extraordinary powers: "These miracles will accompany those who believe: in my name, they will cast out demons…"

Matthew is more explicit in the content of the apostolic mission: "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, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

What formation did Jesus provide the disciples for such a great mission? It is worth meditating on this. The dimensions of the apostolic mission are grandiose, almost excessive: to go to all the peoples of the earth, to teach a new doctrine, to baptize those who believe, to teach them moral behavior. It is shocking to contemplate what this mission entails: they must learn languages, adapt to many cultures, overcome frontiers, encourage others to change their religion and abandon many traditions, preach rigorous customs of life, and be ready to die to carry out this mission.

From a human point of view, this seems like a disproportionate task. While it is true that the most important force at their disposal is divine grace, the formation Jesus provides the disciples also matters, as it is not advisable to leave them without this human preparation, and Jesus does not do so. Moreover, the formation he gives them will serve all the apostles of all times.

The apostolic formation is preceded by previous ones. It would be difficult to reach everyone if the apostles lacked human virtues, were not sufficiently prayerful and holy, or if their doctrinal education were insufficient. No one gives what he does not have.

On one occasion, Jesus gave them an important lesson: "When he saw the crowds, he was filled with compassion for them because they were weary and lowly, like sheep without a shepherd." He then shows them that prayer must precede the apostolate: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest." He does not tell them to act more effectively or to organize themselves better, but to pray for apostles. The first requirement for an effective apostolate will always be prayer, because the fruits depend on God's grace.
Excerpts from St John Paul II

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Nov 14 Thu - What is the connection between the Eucharist and the Faith?

 

Nov 14 Thu
What is the connection between the Eucharist and the Faith?
The individual expression of personal faith cannot be separated from the faith of the community celebrating the sacrament. There is unity and continuity between what is celebrated (lex orandi), what is believed (lex credendi), and what is lived (lex vivendi); in other words, my Christian life, personal prayer, and sacramental celebration.

Since the truth that we Christians profess is a Person, Jesus Christ, the apostles, and their successors must also present it as a Person.

The Eucharistic communion with Christ of each individual passes through the communion of faith with the Pope and the local bishop, mentioned by name in each Eucharistic celebration. He who receives Holy Communion does not confess Christ alone but also shares the confession of faith of the community in which he participates in the Eucharist.
 
Thus, one must profess a clear and conscious adherence to the faith of the Church, which explicitly includes the following: - Faith in the Blessed Trinity expressed in the Creed;
- Faith in Christ, faith in the redemptive meaning of the death of Christ, the Son of God, the Lord, “for many” and “for me,” and of resurrection;
- Faith in the Holy Spirit, particularly active and present in the Mass; and
- Faith in what the Eucharist signifies as the sacrament of the body of Christ and of the ecclesial body.

We conceive our Christian life as a journey, in which, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we try to conform our daily life to that of Christ, with joy and amid the ups and downs of life.

On this journey, Christians go to the Eucharistic food, to receive the gift of communion with Christ, and continue to grow in faith, hope, and love until eternal life.

Full participation in the Eucharist implies communion with the body of Christ and the Church. It does not seem possible to approach it with consistency if:
- One does not recognize the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist;
- One rejects the faith of the Church in the Blessed Trinity, invoked at various times during the celebration, sealed with the recitation of the Creed;
- One’s Christian charity is deficient in one’s personal life; that is, one is aware of having committed a conscious and deliberate act that seriously compromises faith and ecclesial morals (mortal sin).

In this journey with Christ, one goes to the Sunday Eucharist not because it is an obligation established by the Church, but from the desire to be strengthened by the loving mercy of the Lord. This desire includes readiness for necessary sacramental reconciliation with Christ and the Church when needed.

He is also aware that his sacramental participation and, concretely, the Eucharist is part of the public witness to which he has freely committed himself. By participating in the Mass, he testifies to the sacramental reality of faith.

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Nov 13 Wed - Should I be prepared for my ultimate journey?

 

Nov 13 Wed
Should I be prepared for my ultimate journey?
Our life on earth is transitory: one day we will die.
Nothing men see so commonly as death, and nothing they forget so easily as death. We all must die: this is one of life's great truths. Sooner or later a day will come when we render an account to our Father God. Our time on earth is a period of trial that God grants us. For here, we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

“Here, we have no lasting city. And lest we forget it, St. Josemaría writes, this truth appears crudely, at times, at the hour of death: lack of understanding, persecution, or being despised... And always loneliness, for even though we may be surrounded by affection, every person dies alone."

“Now is the time to untie all the bonds that bind us. Let us prepare ourselves at all times for that step which will bring us into the eternal presence of the Most Holy Trinity."

Life is short, time is limited, and time is our treasure, the "money" to buy eternity. Our days will come to an end, and we'll be judged by our deeds. Nothing on earth has permanent value. All that this earth can offer us is continually passing away: hardly has pleasure begun than it already ended. God will come for us only once. He should find us well prepared to enter happiness without end. “Always, forever! Words brought to our lips by the human desire to prolong - to make eternal - what is pleasant.
Lying words, on earth, where everything must end."

We are wayfarers. Therefore, while treading firmly on the ground, we should always keep our gaze set firmly on the goal of our journey, on our Father God.
“Death comes, St. Josemaría wrote, and cannot be avoided. What empty vanity it is, then, to center our existence on this life. See how much many men and women suffer. Some suffer because life is coming to an end and it pains them to leave it; others because it goes on and they are sick of it. In neither case is there room for the mistaken view that makes our passage through this world an end in itself.

One must leave that way of thinking behind and anchor oneself to another, an eternal one. A total change is required, to empty oneself of self-centered motives, which pass away, and to be renewed in Christ, who is eternal."

The lesson is clear: Nothing we enjoy here will accompany us to the grave. “Don't set your heart on loves here below. -Such loves are selfish... -Elsewhere are the loves that endure." Since we will enter God's presence empty-handed, why do we latch on to things? They are a dead weight, an obstacle on our journey. In the end, we'll have to abandon them anyway. Before God, only our good deeds have any value. So, let’s prepare for our definitive meeting with God by practicing detachment from everything.

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Nov 12 Tue - Does unconditional dedication to God bring peace?

 

Nov 12 Tue
Does unconditional dedication to God bring peace?
St Paul lists among the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace... Joy and peace, he teaches, always go together. They stem from charity, which unites us to God and leads us to rest in him, in the joy of having found him. Therefore, joy and peace are a consequence of our dedication, of being and living as people in love.

St. Josemaría taught us to ask daily for ‘gaudium cum pace,’ the joy and peace Christ won for us by his redemptive Incarnation. “Let us take a look at this Lord of ours who came to bring peace on earth to men of goodwill. Not just to the rich, nor just to the poor –which is a way of viewing things that does a lot of harm– but rather to all our brothers and sisters! We are brothers and sisters of God, since we are brothers and sisters of Christ, children of our Blessed Mother. There is only one race: the race of the children of God. There is only one color: the color of the children of God. And there is only one language: the one spoken in our hearts and minds, the one you are using now to Jesus, the language of contemplative souls. A language that is not spoken aloud, but involves countless acts of the will: it brings clarity to the mind, affections to the heart, and decisions for an upright life, for goodness, light and peace."

Our joy with peace, comes from our union with God. Two things I ask of God, St John Chrysostom comments: that you live in him and for him. In him, since nothing is firm and sure without his grace. For him, since nothing in this world is of any benefit to us if we do not direct it to God.

But if constant union with God were missing, if we didn't allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, we would never find peace or joy. For we would fall prey to the vices of the flesh which St Paul lists, and which St Augustine defines as everything that stems from a disordered love of self.

Still, struggle is needed to secure peace.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you, our Lord said. At the same time, he reminded us that this peace has to be won: Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

War, in the first place, against ourselves: against the pride and disordered self-love that rob us of peace. Each of us must struggle “to attain complete unity between our faith, morals, and deeds. Then, come what may, you'll have joy with peace, a serenity that will lead you to work ...It will lead you to order, obedience, poverty, chastity, loyalty, and to get the necessary rest, all in Christ's charity."

There can be no true interior peace without a determined effort to practice these virtues. For we would lack the spirit of penance needed to live Christian perfection ‘cum gaudio et pace’ amid our everyday tasks.

Nov 11 Mon - Why did they place on Jesus a crimson cloak?

 

Nov 11 Mon
Why did they place on Jesus a crimson cloak?
It was a cloak of humiliation. That humiliation implied public shame, disgrace, and ridicule. Jesus was condemned as a sinner and liar. He was charged with deceiving the people and attempting to undermine the civil authorities. He was the object of extreme hate and ultimate persecution by the religious leaders of His day.

It was a brutal blow. If Jesus had the sin of pride, He would not have been able to endure their scorn and mistreatment. He would have brought forth an army of angels to destroy His persecutors. But He didn’t. Instead, He endured every humiliation with confidence and integrity.

Why did our Lord choose those humiliations and die on the Cross? Could he not have redeemed us in a less painful way, without shedding his Blood? Why did he wish to deliver himself up so totally for us? Truly, “it was not necessary for him to undergo so much torment He could have avoided those trials, those humiliations, that ill-usage, that wicked judgment, and the shame of the gallows, and the nails and the lance... But he wanted to suffer all this for you and for me. And we, are we not going to respond?"

The sufferings Jesus endured never evoked in Him any feeling of hatred or revenge. In fact, from the Cross itself, He cried out, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” This powerful witness must influence you and strengthen you to pay no attention whatsoever to the false judgment of others. God has no concern about false judgments and the public humiliation that these judgments impose. Embracing your “cloak of shame” means allowing every worldly humiliation to dissipate before the Mercy and truth of God.

Reflect upon this struggle within you. It requires great humility to ignore false opinions. Seek to embrace that humility and allow the truth to make you free. Jesus’ “cloak” must cover you since it is ultimately the cloak of His grace and Mercy.

The humiliation and effacement of the Incarnate Word also serve to check our pride, which is the first sin and the root of all other sins.
Precisely for this reason, his choice of obscurity is even more praiseworthy. He made a holocaust of himself to accomplish his mission as the one Messiah.

God is asking us for something similar.
Are you truly humble? Can you mortify your self-love, for the sake of charity? Can you accept those humiliations that God asks of you, in unimportant things that don't obscure the truth?

In the intimacy of your heart, hear Jesus' words: ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ Hear also the gentle reproach that St. Josemaría passed on to us: “Love means deeds, not sweet words."

Nov 11 Mon
Why did they place on Jesus a crimson cloak?
It was a cloak of humiliation. That humiliation implied public shame, disgrace, and ridicule. Jesus was condemned as a sinner and liar. He was charged with deceiving the people and attempting to undermine the civil authorities. He was the object of extreme hate and ultimate persecution by the religious leaders of His day.

It was a brutal blow. If Jesus had the sin of pride, He would not have been able to endure their scorn and mistreatment. He would have brought forth an army of angels to destroy His persecutors. But He didn’t. Instead, He endured every humiliation with confidence and integrity.

Why did our Lord choose those humiliations and die on the Cross? Could he not have redeemed us in a less painful way, without shedding his Blood? Why did he wish to deliver himself up so totally for us? Truly, “it was not necessary for him to undergo so much torment He could have avoided those trials, those humiliations, that ill-usage, that wicked judgment, and the shame of the gallows, and the nails and the lance... But he wanted to suffer all this for you and for me. And we, are we not going to respond?"

The sufferings Jesus endured never evoked in Him any feeling of hatred or revenge. In fact, from the Cross itself, He cried out, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” This powerful witness must influence you and strengthen you to pay no attention whatsoever to the false judgment of others. God has no concern about false judgments and the public humiliation that these judgments impose. Embracing your “cloak of shame” means allowing every worldly humiliation to dissipate before the Mercy and truth of God.

Reflect upon this struggle within you. It requires great humility to ignore false opinions. Seek to embrace that humility and allow the truth to make you free. Jesus’ “cloak” must cover you since it is ultimately the cloak of His grace and Mercy.

The humiliation and effacement of the Incarnate Word also serve to check our pride, which is the first sin and the root of all other sins.
Precisely for this reason, his choice of obscurity is even more praiseworthy. He made a holocaust of himself to accomplish his mission as the one Messiah.

God is asking us for something similar.
Are you truly humble? Can you mortify your self-love, for the sake of charity? Can you accept those humiliations that God asks of you, in unimportant things that don't obscure the truth?

In the intimacy of your heart, hear Jesus' words: ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ Hear also the gentle reproach that St. Josemaría passed on to us: “Love means deeds, not sweet words."

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Nov 10 Sun - Should I be detached from material possessions?

 

Nov 10 Sun
Should I be detached from material possessions?
The poor widow of Jerusalem gave to God all she had to live on. Our Lord praises her so strongly because, while she is extremely poor (she only has two cents in her purse), she is deeply generous (she gave all she had to live on). Although the amount she contributed was tiny, the sacrifice she made was immense. God does not weigh the gold but rather considers the conscience of the giver. The widow’s soul became full of God’s blessings.

All put in some of what they had left over. She gave everything to acquire the invisible goods. She offered what is short-lived to obtain what is immortal. For this reason, the Lawgiver himself did not forget her; the Judge of the world anticipated his sentence and foretold in the Gospel that he would give her the crown on the day of judgment.

It is not wrong to desire recognition and honor or to feel happy receiving it. After all, we are children of God, and He loves us.
Our Lord strongly condemns the scribes because, while they outwardly act piously (reciting long prayers), inwardly they are greedy (devouring the houses of widows).
If the scribes who behave in this way “will receive a very severe condemnation,” what will the widow receive who, from her poverty, has contributed her whole livelihood, her life? - The kingdom of heaven.

Jesus instructs his disciples to prefer Him over everything and everyone. He bids them to renounce all that they have for His sake and that of the Gospel. Thus, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is necessary to be detached from riches.

Why is this so? I believe the reason is that riches cannot give us life or make us rich in what truly matters. Only God can.

More precisely, if our choices are directed toward material things, they will not be directed toward charity, which seeks the true good of others, despite what it might cost us.  

Poverty of spirit, which Our Lord declares as blessed and which He lived, implies voluntary humility. This quality helps us acquire happiness and grace, beauty of soul, and peace.

Those attached to riches try to find happiness in an abundance of goods; yet only abandonment to God frees us from anxiety about tomorrow and prepares us to see Him.

God expects of us our love in the fulfillment of His Will, even in the smallest details. If we live in conversation with the Lord, we will become detached from everything and more centered on Him. We shall be happy to live in one place or another, whether we have certain means or lack them. In all circumstances, our gratitude to God will be evident, as we recognize that we are His instruments to do good to souls.

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Nov 9 Sat - Does God want me to be free?

 

Nov 9 Sat
Does God want me to be free?
“All creatures have been created out of nothing by God and for God: both men, who are rational creatures, although we so often act unreasonably, and the irrational beings who roam the surface of the earth, or burrow in its inmost recesses, or sail the azure skies - some soaring so high that they come face to face with the sun. But in all this wonderful variety, it is only we men (I am not referring now to the angels) who can unite ourselves to the Creator by using our freedom. We are in a position to give him, or deny him, the glory that is his due as the Author of everything that exists."

This possibility makes up the light and shadow of human freedom. Our Lord invites us, and urges us to choose the good, so tenderly does he love us! ‘See, today I set before you a choice between life and death, good and evil. If you pay heed to the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live... Choose life, that you may live.’

God's plans always take into account, and respect, our freedom. “God has left us free, which is a great good and the source of many evils, but it is also the source of holiness and love."

Freedom is the source of love since only free beings can love and be happy. There is no love where there is coercion; we don't speak about fidelity unless there is a voluntary decision to fulfill specific commitments.

But since our freedom is limited, we have the possibility of rebelling against God, saying "No" to his demands. Yet God has wished to run the risk of our freedom. He so greatly values this gift that, to conserve it for our benefit, He accepts the risk of our offending him.

“Ask yourself now (I too am examining my conscience) whether you are holding firmly and unshakably to your choice of Life. When you hear the most lovable voice of God urging you on to holiness, do you freely answer ‘Yes’? Let us turn our gaze once more to Jesus, as He speaks to the people in the towns and countryside of Palestine. He doesn't want to force himself upon us. If you choose to be perfect..., he says to the rich young man. The young man refused to take the hint, and the Gospel goes on to say: he went away sad. That is why I have sometimes called him the "sad lad". He lost his happiness because he refused to hand over his freedom to God."

“The only freedom that can assail the faith is a misinterpreted freedom, an aimless freedom, one without objective principles, one that is lawless and irresponsible. In a word, immorality. Unfortunately, this is what some people are advocating, and their claim does indeed is a threat to the faith."
Pic: Apse of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.

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Nov 8 Fri - Should I live in the past, or worry about the future?

 

Nov 8 Fri
Should I live in the past, or worry about the future?
He who keeps on observing the wind will not sow, and he who looks the clouds will not reap, says Sacred Scripture. It is an invitation to fulfill the duty of each moment, today and now, not being put off by plans and hopes for the future. It is easy to fool ourselves waiting for more favorable circumstances.

St. Josemaría wrote: “Tomorrow!: sometimes it may be prudence; very often it is the adverb of the defeated." What would have become of the twelve Apostles' work if they had waited for favorable circumstances to begin preaching? Death would have found them still waiting and empty-handed.

“For us, Christians, the shortness of our journey through life should instead be a spur to help us make better use of our time." The brief span of our time on earth should focus our attention on the task at hand. Thus, we will live with our feet squarely on the ground, while never forgetting that our goal transcends our earthly life.

One common temptation that many face is living either in the past or in the future, and failing to live in the present moment. You live in the past when you remain controlled by past events, sins, and sufferings. The past must be healed, and your sins of the past must be forgiven. Once that is done, you must let go of the past and not allow it to affect you negatively.

The past can affect you for good when 1) you learn from the mistakes you have made, 2) you are strengthened by the healing of past hurts, 3) you continue to rejoice in all that God has done for you.

You are affected negatively by the past when you dwell on your past sins and offenses, failing to seek forgiveness and healing.

You must be concerned, not worried, about the future. You live in the future when your mind is constantly obsessed with that which is out of your control. It’s easy to fear the future or to be anxious about it, but you must remember that the future is not yet here, and you must not fear or worries cause undue stress.

All we have is the present moment. Therefore, live each moment, today, now. Be present to the present moment. Embrace it, live it, and encounter the love and Mercy of God as He is with you here and now.

Do you struggle to let go of the past or try to control the future? Seek to embrace this present moment and all will be well. Reflect upon this tendency and especially look at what God wants of you today. Keep your focus on this present moment and seek to meet our Lord in it. He awaits you here and now.

We turn to our Lady; at her side, we contemplate the true value of the present moment and eternity, many times a day. Let us ask her again: Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Nov 7 Thu - Why should I attend the Sunday Mass?

 

Nov 7 Thu
Why should I attend the Sunday Mass?
The third commandment of the Decalogue states: “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.” It commands us to honor God with acts of worship on prescribed days.

In the Old Testament, God commanded the chosen people to keep holy the Sabbath day (Saturday), to remind them that God rested from his work of creation upon its completion on the seventh day, and that God blessed and sanctified that day.

In the New Testament, Sunday is the Lord’s day. On that day we celebrate the new creation—the re creation—of man as a son of God by grace. This supernatural new creation is far superior to the material creation of the world.

To assure and facilitate the proper sanctification of Sundays and other chief feasts, the Church prescribes attendance at Holy Mass during these days. The precept to attend Holy Mass obliges us to hear a complete Mass either on the same Sunday (or holiday) or in the afternoon of the previous day. Attending a complete Mass entails following at least its essential parts with bodily presence and pious attention.

“The Son of God, by becoming flesh, could become bread and in this way be the nourishment of his people journeying toward the promised land of heaven.
“We need this bread to cope with the toil and exhaustion of the journey. Sunday, day of the Lord, is the propitious occasion to draw strength from him, who is the Lord of life. The Sunday precept, therefore, is not a simple duty imposed from outside. To participate in the Sunday celebration and to be nourished with the Eucharistic bread is a need of a Christian, who in this way can find the necessary energy for the journey to be undertaken. A journey, moreover, that is not arbitrary; the way that God indicates through his law goes in the direction inscribed in the very essence of man. To follow the way means man’s own fulfillment, to lose it, is to lose himself.”

We read in the Acts of the Apostles (20:7 12): “On the first day of the week we met to break bread”. The verb used for “meeting” has for its noun synaxis, the Greek for Eucharist.

The Second Vatican Council reminds us: “By tradition handed down from the Apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ’s resurrection, the Church celebrates the paschal mystery every eighth day; with good reason this, then, bears the name of the Lord’s day or Sunday. For on this day Christ’s faithful should come together into one place so that, by hearing the word of God and taking part in the Eucharist, they may call to mind the passion, the resurrection, and the glorification of the Lord Jesus, and may thank God who ‘has begotten them again, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto a living hope’ (1 Pet 1:3).”
No wonder, then, that the Church requires us to go to Mass at least on Sunday under the pain of mortal sin.

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Nov 6 Wed - What is more important, the person or the collective?

 

Nov 6 Wed
What is more important, the person or the collective?
“Personalism” is just a word, but like many words, it has at least one meaning and can convey truth, or falsehood. But mere words cannot express the whole, infinite truth. That is why doctrine seems to “evolve” — Doctrines don’t “evolve” in the sense that species are said to evolve. They don’t become different from what they were. They may be expressed more clearly, in time.

Personalism, advocated by Saint John Paul II, offers a means to escape the controversy between individualism and collectivism: placing the person as the focus.

Around 1960, Karol Wojtyla explained: “The person is a good towards which the only proper and adequate attitude is love.”

“Racism” begins depriving all its victims of their personhood. And what begins with deprivation of personhood, ends in the Crucifixion of Christ.

Personalism offers an account of the person that is unambiguously religious: “Man is the only creature on earth that God willed for its own sake; he cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” [Second Vatican Council]

Karol Wojtyla offered both a clarification of the social doctrines of the Church, and a distinction between Christianity and the “enlightened humanism” that had come to replace it.

His was a way to remove Socialism or Collectivism (the person does not count, only the group) permanently from the social teaching of the Church, without surrendering to radical Individualism (the individual is isolated from social concerns).

It marvelously distinguished the superficial “progress” of technology and affluence, from genuine progress towards human realization in the Kingdom of God. And it is the modern world that needs transforming, and it is the Church’s mission to transform.

The goals of Personalism remain timely.
John Paul II was not an accommodationist. He made his appeal to Christ.

The conception of Personalism was, we may say, the means through which Christ responded: he talked to PERSONS. The world should throw off what has become its guidelines or governing illusions: the illusion of Collectivism, and the alternative illusion of Individualism, in which it is enmeshed.

Men express the ideals of “equality” and “freedom,” — neither being fully comprehensible in themselves, but also, neither making sense when mixed.

For in both cases, “man does not live for bread alone.” The two extremes proceed alike from a materialist conception of human destiny, from which our modernity differs and stands out.

For a moment people became tired of illusions, and aware of their hunger for truth. But then, somehow, the illusions began to make their befogging recovery.

We are drifting ever outward. We have taken ourselves to sea. We are, in effect, praying for some sight of land. “Personalism” offers at least a recollection of where the headlands were.
Excerpts from David Warren

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Nov 5 Tue - The introductory and final prayer for meditation, where from?

 

Nov 5 Tue
The introductory and final prayer for meditation, where from?
Many people wonder about the origin of the introductory and final prayer used by St. Josemaría and in all the centers of Opus Dei.

There are two quotations from St. Josemaría in which he briefly refers to an earlier prayer that he adapted and enriched. One of the texts appears thus: “My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me –you cannot imagine how I needed to add these last words to the preparatory prayer! – I adore you with profound reverence...”

We place ourselves in the presence of God and ask Him for forgiveness for our miseries. Then we also ask Him for graces to make this day’s prayer fruitful. To this end, we invoke the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and the Guardian Angels. You, with me, will do the meditation. I will put it into words on your behalf (October 27, 1963).

The other text is a memory of our Father from a get-together in La Estila, in 1961:
“Father, how did the preparatory prayer for meditation come about?”
 - It is a very common text, that is used in many places. I modified it a little; above all, I added: that you see me, that you hear me. It was like a need of my soul at a time when I urgently needed to confirm myself in my faith.

What do you do when you repeat this prayer?
My Lord and my God: you place yourself in the presence of God.
I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me: you declare your faith with an affirmation born of your weakness.
I adore you with profound reverence: it is the greeting proper to the creature, adoration; everything is logical..., with a human and divine logic!
I beg your pardon for my sins: that is what I would say to you if I had offended you. If it is noble and reasonable to ask forgiveness from anyone, imagine with God!
And the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful: because we cannot accomplish anything worthwhile for eternal life if we lack the grace of Heaven. And we want our prayer to be supernatural, pleasing to God.
Then bring up the endorsements, which make up for our lack of titles:
My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord – I have a great devotion to him –, my Guardian Angel, intercede for me.
How logical is all this!

And after the preparatory prayer, which is an act of faith, that is an act of love of God, and sorrow of love, which is an act of hope.... After this preparatory prayer, which is already mental prayer, we enter, like every morning, like every afternoon, in considerations that will lead us to be better.

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Nov 4 Mon - Is there my truth, your truth?

 

Nov 4 Mon
Is there my truth, your truth?
The real Personal truth is neither mine nor yours.

In 2011, Pope Benedict addressed the young people at World Youth Day in Madrid. Here is the extract:

Many believe themselves to be gods, they think they need no roots or foundations other than themselves. They take it upon themselves to decide what is true or not, what is good and evil, what is just and unjust, who should live, and who can be sacrificed in the interests of other preferences, leaving each step to chance, with no clear path, letting themselves be led by the whim of each moment. These temptations are always lying in wait. It is important not to give in to them, because, in reality, they lead to something so evanescent, like an existence with no horizons, a liberty without God.

We, on the other hand, know well that we have been created free, in the image of God, precisely so that we might be at the forefront of the search for truth and goodness, responsible for our actions, not mere blind executives, but creative co-workers in the task of cultivating and beautifying the work of creation.

God is looking for a responsible interlocutor, someone who can dialogue with him, and love him. Through Christ, we can truly succeed, and, once established in him, we give wings to our freedom. Is that not the great reason for our joy? Isn’t this the firm ground upon which to build the civilization of love and life?

To say that we can seek the truth is not the same as saying we are already filled with truth. Since we are free, we may conform our minds and wills to falsehood, exercising our liberty to deny reality, usually in response to desires that are themselves temptations—obstacles to our clear perception of reality, necessarily involving a denial of what is true. We may, of course, be merely confused, but personal selfishness often plays a key role in our confusion.

Sometimes, we believe that everything is reducible to “my mind” and “my desires”. Yet we must conform our minds to reality, that is, prove our freedom by seeking and finding the truth—and even, when under duress.

But we must remind ourselves of this frequently since it is so easy to weaken our commitment to the truth. Yet both root ourselves in Christ and live our lives in such a way that others may ask us, “Where do YOU come from?” And should we not be able to answer, both to ourselves and to others, just as Christ did: “Come and see”?

Should we not encourage others to start with the only religion that claims its Founder has risen from the dead? With the only religion that can display both a long and contemporary history of miracles of every kind that have survived even the most rigorous examinations of modern science? In other words, why not begin with the most outrageous but, if true, the most beneficial claim?
Jeffrey Mirus

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