Prayer

Read more about the article Blessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer

Blessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer

Today is one of my favorite Sundays in the Liturgical Year – Gaudete Sunday.  The priest wears the beautiful pink vestments and we light the pink Advent candle.  This is the day we focus on rejoicing that Jesus’s coming is near.  The music is always beautiful, but today so was the silence.

Growing up, there was always a separation between the Offertory Song in which people brought up the gifts of bread and wine and the collection money (for the support of the parish), and the prayers we spoke during the Preparation of the Gifts.  In recent years, the Offertory Song continues until the priest has completed all the Preparatory prayers in silence without our participation.  Blurring things together has caused us to miss so much of what is happening and has deprived us of the moments of silence we need to truly reflect.  Today though, the music stopped and then the priest was heard saying, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.”  When we responded, “Blessed Be God Forever,” I was filled with the joy that this Sunday brings and I finally understood joy on a deeper level.

So many in our world seek happiness.  It is not wrong to be happy with our accomplishments, but when we only seek happiness in a secular way, it quickly becomes a pursuit of acquiring things and advancing our own goals and status.  Without God at the center, we only seek temporal happiness and forget to seek joy.  Joy is the state of rejoicing in the love of God.  When we stop to praise Him in spite of the vicissitudes of life, He reveals to our souls even greater depths of the love He has for us.  Thus we can experience joy even when we are not experiencing human happiness.

King David spent much time in silent contemplation and composed many Psalms praising God. He understood the connection between giving praise to God and receiving the gift of joy in return.  The Blessed Virgin Mary offered her beautiful canticle of praise, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices” (Lk 1:46) when she visited Elizabeth.  After months of silence Zachariah’s first words were “Blessed be The Lord.” (Lk 1:68)

This Advent we still have the opportunity for moments of silence, moments of prayer, and moments of praise.  We have time to make room in our hearts and invite Him in.  Thirty years ago I composed an Advent Prayer that I would like to share with you now.  May we all have a Blessed Christmas.

A Prayer to The Holy Family

Most Holy St. Joseph, my protector and guide, watch over me with the love and faithfulness you showed toward Jesus and Mary.  May I follow your example in humility and total submission to God’s will.  Teach me more and more each day to be obedient to the Will of God.

Holy Mary, Mother of God and my mother too, watch over me with your gentle care and teach me to walk in the way of holiness through charity, chastity (according to my state), obedience, and love for God’s Will.  Teach me to praise Him through all situations and to see His loving hands molding me as I endure difficulties.  Teach me to love as you love and trust as you trust.

My Beloved Jesus, who  humbled yourself to walk among us, may my contemplation of your great sacrifice cause me to love you more.  May your goodness and mercy teach me to forgive others.  Grant that I may always be as faithful to you as your Virgin Parents were.  And when I willfully lose my way through sin, hesitate not to run to me and bring me back to your fold.  My Shepherd of Goodness and Mercy, look not upon my sins, but upon my weakness and wretchedness.  Have compassion on me O God and teach me to be obedient to your patient instruction.

Holy Family, I desire to live as you lived at Nazareth – simply, humbly, and ever mindful of what is pleasing to God.  Teach me to serve God as you served Him and worry not about the problems of the day, but put my cares in our Loving Father’s hands so that I never lose my focus on Him and never cease praising Him.  Holy Family, intercede for me and bring me the graces I need to so that this prayer will come to pass.  Amen.

Continue ReadingBlessed Be God Forever:  An Advent Prayer
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Time

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 4:17)

I heard a story a long time ago that went like this:

The demons gathered together to discuss how they would steal souls.  One demon came forward and said, “I will tell people that we do not exist.”  The others thought this was a great idea.  Another came forward and said, “I will tell people that hell does not exist.”  The others applauded him for his ingenuity.  A third one came forward and said, “I will tell people there is plenty of time.”  With this all the demons jumped up ecstatic with his insights into the human psyche.

I remembered this story during a recent vacation I took with my family to see some national parks in Utah as well as the Grand Canyon.  As with many people, God speaks to me through nature.  When I gazed over the lookout at Bryce Canyon, I was amazed to see what weathering had done to the rocks and the beautiful and unique shapes I had never before seen.  I thought about how patient God is in His creation and much time it took to create this beauty.  Then I thought about my soul.  God had given me such a marvelous gift and the only gift I can give Him is to give back my soul in a beautiful condition.  Beauty takes time.  I don’t have thousands or millions of years, so I need to make every moment count.  How much do I pray every day?  How well do I live the Beatitudes?  How much honest self-reflection do I do before going to Confession?  There is definitely room for improvement.

God wasn’t finished speaking with me yet and gave me an experience for further reflection.  We planned a day trip to the Grand Canyon which is a little more than 2 ½ hours from St. George Utah.  We put our destination into Garmin (old school I know but my phone doesn’t do audible commands when it is plugged into the charger) and off we went.  We stopped for gas at Jacob’s Lake then continued on Highway 89 according to Garmin (and lack of signage on the Arizona highway).  We went up and over a two-lane mountain road with no shoulder, no guardrail, and hairpin turns.  I distinctly remember there were also no lights anywhere and wasn’t looking forward to the evening return trip.   Then we descended to the desert floor and proceeded across it, every minute getting hotter and hotter.  Finally my husband commented that we’d been on the road for 3 ½ hours and did I see any signs anywhere on the road?  Sure enough, we had missed Highway 67 way back before the mountain.  So back across the desert we went, up and over the mountain that I thankfully would not have to traverse at night, and finally after five hours of driving arrived at the Grand Canyon.

As an English major I appreciate a good metaphor and I think that’s why God picked this experience.  We can easily take the wrong road in life.  Sometimes we listen to the wrong people and sometimes we are so focused on where we want to go, convinced that we know better, that we miss the gentle urging of the Holy Spirit.  Of course God allows U-turns in life, which means we can eventually arrive where He wants us to end up, but the further we persist in going “our way” the less time we have to appreciate the beauty of the destination.  How much good do we neglect to do when we are doing things “our way”?  How many times do we fail to see God showing us how much He loves us?  How much heartache, worry, and general grumpiness can we avoid if we focus on doing His Will?

On the third breathtaking sunset God gave me on that trip, I stopped to say an Our Father.  No agenda or prayer list of wants, just an Our Father to tell Him I loved Him and to be fully present to Him in that moment.  As I immersed myself in Him, He responded by writing “I love you” in the sky.

If you look carefully you can see the "I," an upside down heart, and a "U."
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Read more about the article What is Lent?

What is Lent?

From the Question Box: Why do Catholics have Lent and why do you fast?

Scripture tells us: “There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven: a time for giving birth, a time for dying; a time for planting, a time for uprooting what has been planted.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)  We look to nature and the patterns that God created to understand the rhythms and cycles in nature and in our lives.  These cycles have a spiritual element as well as a physical element.  Just as God created cycles with day and night, the seasons, birth–life–death, our spiritual journey has a cycle as well.  God gave a time to plant and a time to harvest, and He also gives us a time for spiritual planting and spiritual harvesting.  Thus the cycle of Lent precedes Easter.

In our journey to become closer to God, we are often as consistent as the waves on the beach; the tide comes in, the tide goes out.  We experience the push and pull of having worldly demands as well as spiritual demands on our time.  There is a continual battle between our wants and our needs.  The gift of the seasons of the Church (and I mean all Christianity here) is therefore another sign of God’s great mercy and compassion for us.  He gives us the seasons in the Church to focus on different aspects of our spiritual progress.  Just as He gives us day to work and night to rest, He gives us Lent to really focus on drawing nearer to Him.

Lent maintains the Biblical patterns God set forth in Scripture.  Moses fasted for 40 days when he was with the Lord receiving the 10 Commandments (Ex 34:28). The forty days of Lent repeat the pattern of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert in which He fasted and prayed at the beginning of His public ministry (Lk 4:2-4). Lent is the time of spiritual planting through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. 

 Jesus instructs his disciples how to fast in a way that is pleasing to God: “When you fast . . . wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others you are fasting . . . and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” (Mt 6:16-18) Jesus models for us the incredible power of fasting when the disciples fail to cast out a demon and turn to Jesus who casts it out and explains, “This kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:20)  In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke gives numerous examples of the disciples fasting to know the Will of God (Acts 13:2), for spiritual strength before a great undertaking (Acts 13:3-4), and for spiritual growth and wisdom (Acts 14:23).  While Catholics often fast throughout the year, the Church calls us to be united in our fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Lenten prayer amplifies our spiritual growth by looking deeply at Jesus’ suffering starting at Gethsemane.  Contemplating His sacrifice makes us grow in gratitude for the gift of salvation and grow in our understanding of His love for us.  One of the most important Lenten practices to assist us in this is the Stations of the Cross.  The community comes together, usually on Fridays, and meditates on the Gospel passages that center around Jesus’s walk to Calvary and His crucifixion and death. In this contemplation we are touched at the core of our being by the depth of His Love, and we are encouraged to see the need to become holier ourselves — because God calls each of us to be holy. – “Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2) “Thus He chose us in Christ before the world was made to be holy and faultless before Him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4) 

When we desire to become holier, we examine the areas of our lives in which we fall short.  Realizing that we cannot do this alone, we ask for His assistance and enter into prayer that will lead us to these graces.  We also offer up little sacrifices such as abstaining from meat (the Orthodox Church does this as well).  These practices increase our sensitivity to the needs of those in our world who need our service in order to experience the love of God in their lives.

The third tool of Lenten practice is almsgiving.  In looking to serve the needs of the poor, we are responding to His call.  What He desires from us is mercy and compassion.  Focusing on the needs of others and bringing the love of Christ to them through our ministry is how we also meet Christ.  In seeking to bless others, Our Lord in turn blesses us; in sharing His love with others, He increases His love in us; in being the face of Christ to others, we encounter Christ in them.  The measure we measure with is measured back to us.  “Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.” (Luke 6: 38)  By reaching out to others in love, we live our Christian faith, grow in love, and are better prepared to receive the graces and gifts of the Resurrection.

The joy of the Resurrection is as necessary in our spiritual cycle as eating is to the farmer.   Just as God does not ask the farmer to toil without ever being able to harvest his crop, He does not ask us to continually focus only on Our Lord’s sacrifice. The joy of the Resurrection is a spiritual joy, a gift that God gives us.  The Easter season lasts 7 weeks and culminates in the Feast of Pentecost.  This spiritual joy which blossoms from our labor nourishes and strengthens us to continue our journey. 

The Resurrection is central to the Christian faith and sets it apart from all other religions.  In no other religion does God Himself die for His people.  In no other religion does God then resurrect Himself.  It is this celebration which Catholics relive at every Mass.  The Lenten and Easter seasons deepen our connection to and involvement in the Mass and ultimately lead us to a deeper relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith.

Continue ReadingWhat is Lent?

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