I watched a friend at prayer.
From the moment her eyes
Met Yours on the Cross,
She was enraptured.What is it that passes between like souls?
The gulf between You, God,
And Your creature is unfathomable,
Yet, Your love spans the distance and dissimilarity
With the intimacy of a mother
Suckling her infant,
All giving, all gift and all grace.I watched my friend at prayer.
The world about her changed.
A holy space surrounded her,
As angels hurried to and fro,
Now bowing, now prostrate, now adoring.All prayer unites,
As earth receives its Savior-God,
As Man exercises dominion,
Freed from Sin and chains.Angels in swift flight,
Aloft on mission-wings ,
Now ascending,
Now descending.Peace on earth
To men of good will,
As Time and Eternity kiss,
Love knowing no distance.I watched my friend at prayer,
As her prayer became my prayer,
You drawing all to Yourself.
Draw me now,
And all will in turn
Run after the odor of Your ointments.©2011 Joann Nelander
Archive for sin
I Watched a Friend at Prayer
Posted in Catholic, Christian, My Journal, Poetry, Prose & Prayer with tags christianity, cross, Freed, God, Prayer, Religion & Spirituality, Savior-God, sin on November 29, 2011 by JoannaAgainst Despair – Prayer by St. Claude de Colombiere
Posted in My Journal with tags Atonement in Christianity, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Lord, mercy, Pardon, sin on September 11, 2011 by Joanna
Lord, I am in this world to show Your mercy to others.
Other people will glorify You
by making visible the power of Your grace
by their fidelity and constancy to You.
For my part I will glorify You
by making known how good You are to sinners,
that Your mercy is boundless
and that no sinner no matter how great his offences
should have reason to despair of pardon.
If I have grievously offended You, My Redeemer,
let me not offend You even more
by thinking that You are not kind enough to pardon Me.
Amen.
Cleaning Up Your Act
Posted in My Journal with tags Lent, repentance, sin on March 27, 2011 by JoannaI can only clean up your dirt,
If you give it to me.
Is it pride that stands in your way?
Think, then, of the filth in which you wallow.Being prostrate in repentance,
Is in reality a rising,
A lifting of your head,
A step up, my man!Really now, how proud can a man be,
Who is chained to their sin,
A slave in bondage to habit,
Following the crowd?Mire and muck,
What trappings are these,
But for a prince of fools?
Fall on your knees to stand up!Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011 All rights reserved
No Empty Dream
Posted in My Journal with tags Christ, christianity, forgiveness, Religion & Spirituality, sin, theology on March 23, 2011 by JoannaLamenting, I quit my case.
Sorrowing, my complaints lie with me
In dust and ashes.
The plaintiff has become defendant.I rest the case I brought against You.
What have I proven?
That I never knew You?
That I never sought You?Counterfeits sufficed to fill my belly.
There was always another dream on the horizon.
Tomorrows pretended to satisfy my emptiness.
The chase was the gambit that became the game.Before You showed me mercy,
You showed me Me
Not the Me of mirrors, but the Me of my heart,
That shrunken pigmy of diminishing proportion.Among Men, there is no forgiveness like Yours.
If judged by Men, I would be meted punishment
By the self-righteously righteous,
While the unrighteous, would applaud my vice and welcome me at the hearth,
No forgiveness necessary, where sin is no sin.As gift, the clarity of Day, dawned suddenly,
You appeared with Light as Your garment,
In Your Light I was all Darkness,
Pretense dissipated as Your Sun rose.The world appeared not as a prize but as a wonder.
Nature didn’t dictate; it served.
The heart of mothers where turned back to their children.
And You reigned as King.I would have fainted away,
Had not the Good Thief stood by Your side.
He smiled my way,
Eyes twinkling at the memory of his meeting You upon Your Cross.
Assurances asked, assurances given.
Simple eternal words.Coming full circle, I rest upon Your arm,
You lift up my head and incline to comfort me.
Mercy smiles on my repentant heart,
And plans for me a future full of hope.You Who laid the foundation of the Earth,
Plot a course for me through the Wilderness of the world.
My pilgrimage from sin to saint
Leads through Two Hearts bound by a Mystery uniting Heaven and Earth.Birthed anew in Baptism,
Restored again in Reconciliation,
Your grace acts on me, Your grace acts in me.
All grace that waited upon my willing.My will is now that of a child.
I follow at Your side, learning Your ways.
Your Words are my food and my fullness.
Heaven is no longer an empty dream, but a Promise.
From You lips on the Cross, piercing my heart.“Father forgive them.
They know not what they do.”Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011 All rights reserved.
Set the World Aright
Posted in My Journal with tags Christ Jesus, Great King, Jesus, Poetry, prayer prose., priest, sin on March 1, 2011 by JoannaThe world, in turmoil, convulses.
Peoples flee.
Those who know You,
Run to You.
Those, who are rushing
To the pit in despair,
Flee from You,
As from Leviathan.Show forth Your Truth and Beauty.
Stop sinners in their flight.
Smile, as the Sun from heaven,
That all men may truly see,
And all men know You, O Truth.You are a scourge
To the proud,
But to the man,
Who clearly sees himself,
For what he is, and faints.
Then, coming to his senses,
Lies prostrate in repentance;
To that man, You are Hope
And help, and healing.Your Mercy covers a multitude of sin.
Your blood, sprinkled on us,
Cries out “Sanctuary!”
O Altar, O Victim, O Priest.Christ Jesus,
You know my heart,
And yet embrace it.
Your priestly garment
Covers my nakedness.
Your Kingly Mantle identifies me,
As Child of the Great King.
My name is written on Your Thigh.
Like a mother,
You brought me forth at Your Knees,
To claim me eternally.The waters well up,
I am washed,
And carried in the current,
To ride the waves of Your Mercy
And come to rest on Your shore
For all eternity.Celebrate the Mass
Of our Redemption,
Once for all,
And for all time.
The thunder is silent.
The quaking ceases.
The clouds of darkness part.
The Sun of Justice rises,
And the course of the world
Obeys the Will of Your Father.O Christ, O Holy One,
Guide the course
Of this wayward planet.
Set the earth aright,
And welcome its people
Into Your Heart.Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander All rights reserved.
The Fall
Posted in Catholic, Christian, My Journal, Poetry, Prose & Prayer with tags Adam, christianity, darkening of the intellect, prose & poetry, Religion and Spirituality, sin, The Fall on February 11, 2011 by JoannaChains ethereal bind my soul
Confusion clouds the pathways of my reason
Who could have guessed the menace
It was over in a moment with hasty but firm decision.
Subtle flirtation turned a dance of dalliance.
Trojan welcomed without caution.
Grace dismissed with contemporary flair.Reality now comes in many colors
Shades of gray,
A balancing act to fit the season.
Nothing’s black or white,
Anymore.Who could have known the cost?
Who would have called it betrayal?
Yet, I had chosen.
I ignored the Voice,
All appetite,
And caressing desire.Somehow I knew
There would be a price to pay
But how it would feel,
And what it would be,
Floated in some mist,
Too easily brushed aside
With the feeling of shackles,
Weary old taboos;
So, Adam devoured the apple.Handle it, I could and would,
Just later…
Now, was for me.
Later, for regret.
A logical scheme.
It worked for me!The deed
And the darkness descended,
One following the other.
Night fell like a mantle on my shoulders.
Where the joy?
Where promised pleasure?
Where my once bright countenance.I lifted myself to myself,
Sad at the pillage
Visited upon my soul,
I am alone,
Alone, but for my thoughts,
Thoughts, that, too, accuse you.The world feels different today,
A bit more cloaked,
As with a secret,
But, I assure myself,
All’s well, the same.Waking in another Kingdom
I draw back the curtain:
Without, a sky stripped of it’s stars,
Within, only black,
No sun of clarity,
No heart of love.I can no longer trust
That dawn and morning light
Will follow in sure order.
Yet, somehow, I fear they might.
It must be me who changed?I lingered in this abyss,
Fearing the permanence of my loss.
No stigmatizing letter branded,
For the absence of shame,
But my wax had melted,
and molecules rearranged,
Hardening, misshapen.Drinking in the Truth,
I could not swallow
The gall of repentance.
Pride, like a master craftsmen,
Fashioned my demise
Tightening his chain about my heart.My life, my life,
It’s my life!
I raged at unseen angels.
‘Til falling back upon myself,
I licked my wounds.
I donned a mask of merriment.Then, one foot after the other,
I dressed for the world.
No one, I assured,
No one would notice
My fall from grace.Copyright Joann Nelander
Healing the Family Tree
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Archangels, christianity, deliverance, family, father, Gabriel, God, healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Michael, Prayer, Raphael, Religion and Spirituality, sin on September 29, 2010 by Joanna
Image via Wikipedia
Prayer for Healing the Family Tree
by Rev. John H. Hampsch, CMF
Heavenly Father, I come before you as your child, in great need of your help; I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg your forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask you to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behavior patterns and defects in body, mind and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders.
With your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of your divine Son, Jesus, and in the power of his Holy Spirit, I ask you, Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage. By your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of your precious Son, Jesus, I beg you to extend your blessing to me and to all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree.
I symbolically place the cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation; I ask you to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the bloodlines in my family lineage. Set your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer your divine healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members’ guardian angels to heal, protect, guide and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let your healing power be released at this very moment, and let it continue as long as your sovereignty permits.
In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an ever-deeper bonding with you, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to your Son, Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.
Why I Remain Catholic
Posted in Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, Lent, Priesthood, Religion with tags Anchoress, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, holiness, Lent, life, NPR, priest, Priesthood, Reflections, Religion, scandal, sexual abuse, sin on April 3, 2010 by JoannaToday, On Good Friday, Here’s Why I Remain Catholic
Though the ill aspects of the Catholic Church have recently been highlighted in the news, commentator Elizabeth Scalia says the good aspects have never gotten enough attention.
Published: April 02, 2010
by Elizabeth Scalia
Elizabeth Scalia is a contributing writer to First Things Magazine as the blogger known as The Anchoress.
The question has come my way several times in the past week: “How do you maintain your faith in light of news stories that bring light to the dark places that exist within your church?”
When have darkness and light been anything but co-existent? How do we recognize either without the other?
I remain within, and love, the Catholic Church because it is a church that has lived and wrestled within the mystery of the shadow lands ever since an innocent man was arrested, sentenced and crucified, while the keeper of “the keys” denied him, and his first priests ran away. Through 2,000 imperfect — sometimes glorious, sometimes heinous — years, the church has contemplated and manifested the truth that dark and light, innocence and guilt, justice and injustice all share a kinship, one that waves back and forth like wind-stirred wheat in a field, churning toward something — as yet — unknowable.
The darkness within my church is real, and it has too often gone unaddressed. The light within my church is also real, and has too often gone unappreciated. A small minority has sinned, gravely, against too many. Another minority has assisted or saved the lives of millions.
But then, my country is the most generous and compassionate nation on Earth; it is also the only country that has ever deployed nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
My government is founded upon a singular appreciation of personal liberty; some of those founders owned slaves.
My family was known for its neighborliness and its work ethic; its patriarch was a serial child molester.
Read the complete essay here.
Surprise – Sin Abounds!
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Church, Faith, Just Thinking Out Loud, Lent with tags Catholic, Christian, Church, Faith, forgiveness, grace, Just Thinking Out Loud, Lent, perfection, Reflections, romans, sin on April 2, 2010 by Joanna
It should be no surprise; Sin abounds! The human race is awash with, riddles with, mired in and drowning under, Sin. It is our natural state of being without a Savior. From the day we are born, leaving Eden, so to speak, we become the star of our universe, maybe, more like a Black Hole. We can’t help trying to draw all things to ourselves. With myiads of rationalizations and excuses to suit our ages and pretensions, the event horizon is approached and we are doomed. Sin in its rational disguises is irrational and drives us like a madman. It is the Dark, clouding out the true Sun.
The real surprise in life is that where sin abounds grace abounds all the more! It can be stated that God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. Romans 5:20.
Our Savior comes still today to save us. Being “churched” does not perfect us; God does, in His own time. If we open our hearts in repentance, Jesus gives us His forgiveness and cancels the debt against us. Perfect comes later, sometimes, much later.
The euphemistic blessing, “May you live in interesting times.” is said to be the least severe of three curses, the others being:
- “May you come to the attention of those in authority.”
“May you find what you are looking for.”
Fortunately, for us, the Living, we live in glorious times. Sin abounds and we are saved! God for His part has done the work, we need but claim the Victory. The offer is always at hand in nail-pierced hands. Grace abounds all the more! Alleluia!
Must Read: Why I Remain A Catholic
by Elizabeth Scalia The Anchoress
When We Were Dead In Sin
Posted in Catholic, Christ, Christian, Lent, Lenten Reading with tags Catholic, Christ, Christian, cross, Jesus, Lent, Lenten Reading, Reflections, savior, sin, St. Basil on March 30, 2010 by JoannaFrom the book On the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil, bishop
By one death and resurrection the world was saved
When mankind was estranged from him by disobedience, God our Saviour made a plan for raising us from our fall and restoring us to friendship with himself. According to this plan Christ came in the flesh, he showed us the gospel way of life, he suffered, died on the cross, was buried and rose from the dead. He did this so that we could be saved by imitation of him, and recover our original status as sons of God by adoption. Read more »
Tears For the Feet of Jesus
Posted in Art, Lent, Lenten Reading, Music, The Cross with tags Art, faults, Lent, Lenten Reading, mercy, Music, sin, tears, The Cross, Timeless Treasures, vengence on March 30, 2010 by JoannaDrop, drop, slow tears, and bathe those beauteous feet,
which brought from heaven the news and Prince of Peace.Cease not, wet eyes, his mercies to entreat;
to cry for vengeance sin doth never cease.In your deep floods drown all my faults and fears;
nor let his eye see sin, but through my tears.Words: Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650)
Gardening and the Soul – 101
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Culture, Culture of Death, Faith, Just Thinking Out Loud, Lent, My Journal, Nature with tags Catholic, Christian, confession, counterfeit, Culture, Culture of Death, Faith, From My Solitude, Garden, gardening, Just Thinking Out Loud, Lent, life, My Journal, Nature, sin, soul, spring, weeds on March 2, 2010 by Joanna
Lent means that spring is just around the corner. Looking at my garden, it was obvious that it was in need of some serious tender loving care. All I had the energy for was to uproot a few of the hundreds of weeds, but I did begin. Immediately, a thought interrupted my picking. “Many souls are dead and don’t even know it.” Surprised by the seriousness of the pronouncement, I turned to the Lord, “Why is that, Lord?”
“Look at the weeds you’re uprooting; they look healthy and well, don’t they? Yet, you know they’re counterfeits; you root them up. Many people no longer know what’s good for them. They opened their soil to the world and allowed the world to decide what grew in them; no questions asked!
Empty places invite weeds. Weeds take the place of authentic, productive life. Soon they choke out the good by sheer numbers and their greedy appetites. Weeds look pretty good for a while. It isn’t until you miss the flowers and the fruit, that you notice something has gone awry. In life, people are like gardens. Some are dying but still look good. Sin like weeds is deceptive. People are kept busy and entertained by counterfeit life. Yet they are loosing ground to the world. They are losing the reward of their time and effort. Their work and play have no eternal end, just transitory vigor and flash. It’s really death wrapped in greenery.
This morning I weeded my entire garden. I also went to confession.
Our Lady of Fatima for Today
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Faith, Fathers of the Church, Mary, Spiritual with tags apparitions, Catholic, chastity, Christian, conversion, Faith, Fathers of the Church, Fatima, Francisco, Jacinta, Lucia, Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, peace, Portugal, Rosary, sin, Son, Spiritual, Thoughts from the Quiet, visions, war on May 13, 2009 by JoannaOn May 13, 1917, the Blessed Vrgin Mary, who we now honor as Our Lady of Fatima, our Lady of the Rosary, appeared for the first time to the three seers, Francisco, Jacinta & Lucia at the Cova Da Iria, Fatima, Portugal. She asked that the Rosary be said to obtain peace for the world and to end the war.
The world still needs the peace that Our Lady promises in answer to this powerful prayer. If war was the punishment for unrepented sin in 1917, what do we risk today by abortion ,euthanasia, and unchaste lives? Mercy is still God’s choice if we would but choose Him and begin to live a lifestyle of holiness. He is still sending His own Mother to help us and form us for her Son.
Desire of the Heart
Posted in Catholic, Christian, In a nutshell, Lent, Lenten Reading, Religion, Scripture, Spiritual, Spiritual Things with tags Catholic, Christian, God.unpardonable, homily, In a nutshell, Lent, Lenten Reading, meditation, Reflections, Religion, Scripture, sermon, sin, Spiritual, Spiritual Things, truth on March 31, 2009 by JoannaGod honors a person’s search for Truth. He looks deep into the heart and knows the will. The unpardonable sin is final rejection of God. God honors our will. He is also merciful and hears the prayers of others on our behalf. (from a homily by Fr. S.M)
“If, today, you hear His voice, harden not your heart.” Hebrews 4:7
Our Lady of Kibeho – Continued
Posted in Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, Culture, Gospel, Mother of God, People, Religion, Spiritual, Spiritual Things, The Cross with tags Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, Communion of Saints, Culture, forgiveness, Gospel, Kibeho, Lady, love, meditation, mercy, Mother of God, Our Lady of Kibeho, Peace Place, penitent, People, Prayer, Pro-life, reconciliation, Reflections, Religion, Rwanda, sin, sinner, Spiritual, Spiritual Things, The Cross, truth, voice on March 30, 2009 by JoannaIn a recent post, I wrote about the vengeance of Jesus. He took Satan and Sin to task on the Cross with the shedding of His Blood, not the blood of others. The God-Man suffered the punishment due our sins. All sin leads to lies, betrayal, murder, and war. Sin percolates and then escalates. It is as though the force of our sins hides beneath the surface of our daily existence and when its ready to show its ugly face, it appears as a slum, a dysfunctional society, a dysfunctional family or a war. Sin with its pride, lust, sloth, greed,envy and the like, ultimately brings havoc in its wake. However, it can be stopped. We know and have the remedy. Like the discovery of a vaccine or cure, it only has to be made known and available, applied and administered. There’s the rub. We are an important part of the remedy. The Good News of Jesus is here and at hand! Where are the penitents?
Monsignor recently gave a sermon in which he spoke of a conversation between a repentant prostitute and St. Francis De Sales. The Saint heard the confession of the woman. It was heartfelt and thorough, leaving out nothing of her past life. Afterwards she asked the Saint, “Now that you have heard my confession, what do you call me? Without hesitation, St. Francis de Sales said, “I call you a saint.” He went on to say that no matter how others saw her or what they called her, God saw her as she now was; as if her past sins never happened. The woman told the story again and again throughout her life. The Saint’s response of the mercy, love and pardon of God came back to her again and again, and strengthened her whenever she was tempted to return to her past way of life.
I tell that story because Rwanda is a nation soaked in the blood of its own people. Finding a way into a future full of hope rests on the Good News of Jesus Christ. Mother Mary as Our Lady of Kibeho predicted the catastrophes that would befall their nation. She also showed them the way back to unity and wholeness. In her numerous apparitions, she showed them that the Mother of God lived with them, cared for them and prayed for them. Her healing presence among them was constant and intimate. Her message is always the same, “Jesus.”
Jesus have mercy on me a sinner.
Dark Days Ahead
Posted in Catholic, Christ, Church, Culture, Gospel, Just Thinking Out Loud, Lent, Lenten Reading, My Journal, The Cross with tags Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, cross, Culture, dark, darkness, From My Solitude, God, Gospel, hour, Jesus, Just Thinking Out Loud, law, Lent, lenten, Lenten Reading, meditation, My Journal, readings, Religion, self-righteous, sin, Spiritual, The Cross, Thoughts from the Quiet, tragedy, violation, war on March 27, 2009 by JoannaThe Lenten readings are growing darker as Jesus approaches His hour
In Wisdom 2, we read:
The wicked said among themselves,
thinking not aright…
“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD.
The Gospel of John, too, sounds an ominous note:
“Jesus moved about within Galilee; he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near…But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.” John 7:1,10
Why did things have to go this way. Why the rejection? Why the Cross? And while we’re questioning; why do they sour for us?
Today, Fr. Michael, faced with these questions, asked one of his own (I’m paraphrasing.) Who made us judge and jury? Who confirmed us in our righteousness; which is, if honest, our self-righteousness?”
The Gospel of Light treads a path through every darkness and Darkness, itself. Without the stuff of darkness, weakness, war, tragedy and desperate dilemma, we go unchallenged, self-satisfied. We pursue our dreams and go willy-nilly, perhaps, even, to our own dissolution, seeing only the darkness around us, and none within. What we don’t like of Gospel or Church, we ignore or eliminate from our daily lives. “Let us condemn him to a shameful death.”
Until the unthinkable forces itself upon us and our decisions, we are content not to think but to ride the fence. The problems remain out there with “them.” If we do take a stand and speak the Gospel truth, we find what Jesus found: rejection and betrayal, even from within our families, the cruelest blow. It might not be explicit. It may be that no one has time to visit. Perhaps, the grand-kids are withheld and holidays less joyful. How doesn’t matter so much as that it happens. We are left on our Cross.
What to do? Look first to yourself. Question your ways and your motives. Repent, is the Gospel word for it. Then pray and wait. Wait upon God; first of all with praise and adoration, thanksgiving, and finally with petition. Place all the rest, loves ones and world, in the Tabernacle with the Lamb who was Slain and still lives. Then go on; “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.” This is the Way until the end of the world and the coming of the Day.
From the Office of Readings – for Friday of fourth week of Lent from Easter Letter of Athanasias:
How fine a thing it is to move from festival to festival, from prayer to prayer, from holy day to holy day. The time is now at hand when we enter on a new beginning: the proclamation of the blessed Passover, in which the Lord was sacrificed.
Meditation from Br. Lawrence of the Resurrection
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Culture, In a nutshell, Lent, Lenten Reading, My Journal, Religion, Spiritual, Spiritual Things with tags Br. Lawrence, Catholic, Christian, conversation, Culture, heart, holiness, In a nutshell, infidelity, Lent, Lenten Reading, My Journal, ordinary, practice, purity, Reflections, Religion, simplicity, sin, Spiritual, Spiritual Things, suffering, temptation, weariness on March 26, 2009 by JoannaSpiritual Maxims, Page 36
The holiest, most ordinary, and most necessary practice of the spiritual life is that of the presence of God. It is to take delight in and become accustomed to His divine company, speaking humbly and conversing lovingly with Him all the time, at every moment, without rule or measure, especially in times of temptation, suffering, aridity, weariness, even infidelity and sin. We must continually apply ourselves, so that all our actions, without exception, become a kind of brief conversation with God, not in a contrived manner, but coming from the purity and simplicity of our hearts.
Making the Connection – My Rosary, My Weapon
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Defending Life, Lent, Mary, Mother of God, Religion, Rosary, Spiritual Things with tags Bolshevik., Catholic, children, Christian, Church, Defending Life, Faith, heaven, Lent, martyrs, Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Fatima, prediction, prophecy, Reflections, Religion, Rosary, Russia, sin, Spiritual Things, Ukraine, warning, weapon, WW II on February 21, 2009 by JoannaThe Anchoress had an encounter with Mystery. Seems the little children of Fatima, Jacinta and Francisco, now beatified by John Paul II, want to get the word out; the Rosary is our weapon!
Indeed, it is! If you remember, the apparitions at Fatima occurred immediately before the Bolshevik Revolution. Russia had little world power. No one saw it as a menace when the Blessed Virgin Mary gave us her prophetic message, that WW I would soon end but a far worse war would follow if our Lady’s warning was not heeded and Russia consecrated to her Immaculate Heart:
- You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.
The whole world is still at risk and in error. Those who faced down the enemies of Faith have clung to their rosaries. In Ukraine, blood and beads battled for the soul of that country. The Ukrainian Bishop of Lutsk, Markijam Trofimiak, wrote: A Monument to Heroism in Ukraine. He recounts:
Once at a symposium, I was asked: “Should it ever be decided to erect a monument in the Ukraine to the person who has made the greatest contribution to safeguarding the faith in this land, to whom would it be justly dedicated?”. I pondered awhile before answering. In a flash, the faces of well-known priests who survived the concentration camps, Soviet prisons and years of physical and moral terror passed before my eyes. The witness to faith of these priests surpasses what we are accustomed to call “heroism”. Although remembering their undeniable merits, I answered: “The monument would have to be dedicated to an elderly woman with the Rosary in her hands“.
LENT for the Soul
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Culture, Defending Life, Lent, Lexio Divina, Mary, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Religion, Spiritual Things with tags Catholic, Christian, Church, Culture, Defending Life, Faith, family .community, fasting, Jesus, Lent, Lexio Divina, Mary, neighbor, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Prayer, Religion, Scripture, sin, Spiritual Things on February 20, 2009 by JoannaMessage From Pope Benedict XVI for LENT 2009
“He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2)
“The practice of fasting is very present in the first Christian community. The Church Fathers, too, speak of the force of fasting to bridle sin, especially the lusts of the “old Adam,” and open in the heart of the believer a path to God. Moreover, fasting is a practice that is encountered frequently and recommended by the saints of every age. Saint Peter Chrysologus writes: “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself.”
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Dear brothers and sisters, it is good to see how the ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us, as the Servant of God Pope John Paul II wrote, to make the complete gift of self to God (Encyclical Veritatis splendor.) May every family and Christian community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order to cast aside all that distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbor. I am thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass. With this interior disposition, let us enter the penitential spirit of Lent. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Causa nostrae laetitiae (Cause of our joy,) accompany and support us in the effort to free our heart from slavery to sin, making it evermore a “living tabernacle of God.”
The Problem of Evil
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Culture, Defending Life, Imitation of Christ, Just Thinking Out Loud, My Journal, Religion with tags Catholic, Christian, corruption, Culture, Defending Life, evil, Imitation of Christ, Just Thinking Out Loud, knowledge, moral, My Journal, Religion, sin on February 16, 2009 by JoannaThese verses from Chapter 51 of Imitation of Christ speak to my prayer vs world experiences and fluctuations:
“My Son, thou art not always able to continue in very fervent desire after virtues, nor to stand fast in the loftier region of contemplation; but thou must of necessity sometimes descend to lower things because of thine original corruption, and bear about the burden of corruptible life, though unwillingly and with weariness. So long as thou wear a mortal body, thou shalt feel weariness and heaviness of heart. Therefore thou ought to groan often in the flesh because of the burden of the flesh, inasmuch as thou canst not give thyself to spiritual studies and divine contemplation unceasingly.”
“At such a time it is expedient for thee to flee to humble and external works, and to renew thyself with good actions; to wait for My coming and heavenly visitation with sure confidence; to bear thy exile and drought of mind with patience, until thou be visited by Me again, and be freed from all anxieties. For I will cause thee to forget thy labors, and altogether to enjoy eternal peace. I will spread open before thee the pleasant pastures of the Scriptures, that with enlarged heart thou may begin to run in the way of My commandments. And thou shalt say, ‘The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.‘”
