Tag Archives: Christian

Knight of the Immaculata

by

A wonderful and profound way to celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception: consider the Prayer of Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a means of spiritual renewal.

Prayer of Total Consecration
By St. Maximilian Kolbe

Immaculata, Queen of heaven and earth, refuge of sinners and our most loving Mother, God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to you. I, N…, a repentant sinner, cast myself at your feet humbly imploring you to take me with all that I am and have, wholly to yourself as your possession and property. Please make of me, of all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases you.

If it pleases you, use all that I am and have without reserve, wholly to accomplish what was said of you: “She will crush your head,” and, “You alone have destroyed all heresies in the world.” Let me be a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing your glory to the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For wherever you enter you obtain the grace of conversion and growth in holiness, since it is through your hands that all graces come to us from the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.


V. Allow me to praise you, O sacred Virgin.
R. Give me strength against your enemies.

Commentary on consecration prayer

Advent Reflection

by

As this Dec. 7th, the 68th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, causes us to reflect on war and suffering, the Church has us read:

Isaiah 35: 1-10

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
They will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
Then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water;
The abode where jackals lurk
will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.
A highway will be there,
called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it,
nor fools go astray on it.
No lion will be there,
nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.
It is for those with a journey to make,
and on it the redeemed will walk.
Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.


Isaiah sees each man’s part, “Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak. Say to those whose hearts are frightened, ‘Be strong, fear not! Here is your God’ ” With Isaiah, Pope Benedict XVI sees every man’s participation in this coming of peace, this becoming of each and every man and woman. Benedict sees the vocation of all as integral in their fulfillment and God’s destiny for His people.

St. Augustin wrote:

The garden of the Lord, brethren, includes – yes, it truly includes – includes not only the roses of martyrs but also the lilies of virgins, and the ivy of married people, and the violets of widows. There is absolutely no kind of human beings, my dearly beloved, who need to despair of their vocation; Christ suffered for all. It was very truly written about him: who wishes all men to be saved, and to come to the acknowledgement of the truth.

In Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict quotes Pope Paul V in  Populorum Progressio:

“ Progress, in its origin and essence, is first and foremost a vocation: “in the design 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. If development were concerned with merely technical aspects of human life, and not with the meaning of man’s pilgrimage through history in company with his fellow human beings, nor with identifying the goal of that journey, then the Church would not be entitled to speak on it.”

Further, Pope Benedict challenges every woman/man, every generation,

“Love in truth — caritas in veritate — is a great challenge for the Church in a world that is becoming progressively and pervasively globalized. The risk for our time is that the de facto interdependence of people and nations is not matched by ethical interaction of consciences and minds that would give rise to truly human development. Only in charity, illumined by the light of reason and faith, is it possible to pursue development goals that possess a more humane and humanizing value.

Benedict goes on to say:

“Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom (Jn 8:32) and of the possibility of integral human development. For this reason the Church searches for truth, proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it wherever it is manifested. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce.”

Benedict with Isaiah calls us to a journey and a service to truth which sets us free, despite the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nations.

Please Pray With Me

by

A Prayer Request:

Hello to all:

Update on David:  As most of you know, the petscan was negative, which was truly good news.  This means the cancer has not metastasized into any of his major organs.  So, today was the next step – surgery – to remove more tissue from the site and then determine if the lymph nodes are affected.   Surgery took 4 ½ hours and was supposed to take two.  They had to call in a plastic surgeon to help close the wound, due to the size and placement on his back.  They ended up taking biopsies from four different lymph nodes – so he has dressings and stitches and gauze pads all over his back, under his arm pits, and on either side of his neck.  He is a mess!   We left the house at 6:15 a.m. and got home at about 4:45 p.m.  – so it was a long day.

The good news:  The lymph nodes were benign in the preliminary labs.  Final labs will not be in for a few more days, but the surgeon was confident that they are clean “for now.”

The bad news:  Because the initial site was so deep, they are still going to refer him to an oncologist and he will probably have to go through chemo.  Unlike other cancers, melanoma can crop up at any time and in any place (including internal organs) – even years down the line.  There isn’t that “5 year rule” with melanoma.   With other cancers, if you are cancer free for five years, you’re “cured.”  There is no “cure” for this.  He will always have to be checked closely and will have to be diligent whenever there are any external signs.   With the internal signs, sometimes you don’t know until it’s too late.  So the surgeon was not Mr. Sunshine.  He was very cautious and totally neutral.  It was very hard to read him.  The only optimistic thing he said was that Melanoma, unlike other cancers, can often be surgically removed – even from internal organs – without spreading.  So, he said it is one of those cancers where you “never give up hope.”

We will see the oncologist next week.  I will be anxious to hear what they say.    Overall, we feel good and we feel optimistic … but I know David is scared about the chemo and I didn’t leave today feeling like “this is over.”   He is in good spirits and fairly doped up on vicadin at the moment.  In fact, he’s sort of dancing (rather stiffly) to Earth Wind & Fire in the living room with Thomas at the moment.  I just had to yell at him to sit down and be still.   Gees.  What a dummy.

Tonight we have spent a lot of time on the phone to Kaiser dealing with the bleeding.  The major site just keeps soaking through and we aren’t sure what that means.  I’m supposed to be watching for signs of shock, but they don’t want us messing with the bandages.  So, I have a feeling we will have to go back in tomorrow to have it looked at, just to make sure everything is o.k.   He is obviously not in shock at the moment.   Then again… it could be a long night.

For now… all is well!!!

XOXOXOXO

Thanks for your care and concern,