Tag Archives: My Journal

Three Revelations and My Prayer

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“When you awake, enter at once into My Heart, and when you are in it, offer My Father all your actions united to the pulsations of My Heart . . . If  engaged in work of no value in itself, if she bathes it in My Blood or unites it to the work I Myself did during My mortal life, it will greatly profit souls . . . more, perhaps, than if she had preached to the whole world. You will be able to save many souls that way.” Our Lord to Sr. Josefa Menendez (1890-1923)


When you awake in the morning, let your first act be to salute My Heart, and to offer Me your own . . . Whoever shall breathe a sigh toward Me from the bottom of his heart when he awakes in the morning and shall ask Me to work all his works in him throughout the day, will draw Me to him . . . For never does a man breathe a sigh of longing aspiration toward Me without drawing Me nearer to him than I was before.” Our Lord to St. Mechtilde (1241-1298)


“It is not merely by praying that souls are saved, but through the actions of even the most ordinary lives lived for God . . . Offer Me everything united to My life on earth.
. . . Offer Me all the crosses of the world. There are so many, and few think of offering them to Me in expiation for sins . . .”

Our Lord to Gabrielle Bossis (874-1950)


My prayer for this day:

Here I am Lord.  My heart is all “Fiat.”  Draw me and hide me in Your Heart.   Bathe all my desires, my thoughts, my doings in Your Blood, that united to the beating of Your Most Sacred Heart, they may bear fruit to Your service and Your glory.  Even my sighs, embraced by Your Holy Spirit, will flower  infinitely beyond the power of the dust and ashes that I am. Amen

Lent – Everyday, a Second Chance

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crucificionicon2Everyday begins with God’s mercy. Everyday is a new beginning.  As we open our eyes on this day, we begin again.  As long as we are living and breathing this side of the Judgment, the sun comes up on our second chance.

Lent is the trumpeter sounding before the Final Trumpet of our lives.  The noise of cacophony is interrupted with a clarion call “Repent.”

“For He says: ‘In an acceptable time. I heard you, and on the Day of Salvation I helped you.’ Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the Day of Salvation.”2 Cor 6:2

Death March – a Homily Worth Sharing

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The death penalty is being debated in New Mexico.  “It’s quite a debate” according to my pastor who finds irony in the fact that this debate rages while the death penalty is in fact “the most common penalty”  known to man. “Every single one of us is under a sentence. We are born, so to speak, with a noose around our necks.”

“Our death is an absolute certainty..no second chances, no reincarnation!…  ‘Human beings die once, and then the Judgment.’ Hebrews 9:27 ”  What our pastor finds absolute madness, “insanity to the highest degree,” is that most people on this “Death March” to the grave, never ever stop to consider their end.  “If we die in a state of grace, we shall live for all eternity.  If we die in mortal sin, we shall be damned for all eternity.”  No do-overs!

“The only guarantee of dying a holy death is living a holy life,” Monsignor Raun concluded.

Lent “Forgiving the Living”

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“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

“Remember, O man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return”

A Lenten reflection on “Forgiving the Living” a phrase used by Immaculee Ilibagiza in her own story:

Left To Tell, Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Most of us struggle to forgive, finding it difficult to put aside our bumps and bruises.  We savor our wounds as though they give us pleasure. We are a strange lot.

Imagine, if you can, living with the memory of genocide.  Not a genocide across the world from you, but surrounding you; a genocide that includes your mother and father, your brothers, friends and all your neighbors in one way or another.  Imagine a genocide you can smell and touch and that touches you, that calls your name, hunts you and haunts you.

For thousands in the world today, that is the reality.  For one particular soul, Immaculee Ilabigiza, the author of  Left to Tell, this reality has sprouted wings.  She flies high above her small village in Rwanda living forgiveness, not as a half-hearted effort, but as a mission.  A dream, that she believes was given her by God, opened her heart to the world.  Her touch is one of grace and healing.  Immaculee was left behind to let us know that in order to truly be alive to Life, we can and must forgive by the living grace of God.

Lenten alms and charity

More – O Happy Day – Ordination Video

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Update: O HappyDay:


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Procession of the Cross


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The Candidate for the Sacred Priesthood –  Jeffrey Neil Steenson


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Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan

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Calling and Presentation of the Candidate for the Priesthood  Jeffrey Neill Steenson


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Prostration and Litany of the Saints

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Ordained and Invested


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Kiss of Peace


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Greeting by Rev. Fr. Scott Mansield

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Presentation of the Gifts by the Steenson Family


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Eucharist


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A Few Words

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Recessional  – Rev. Fr. Jeffrey Neill Steenson


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Recessional and Blessing by Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan

Thanks Be To God!


Before Entering the Frey

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Good Morning, Everyone!

Before the day sounds through the rafters of my mind like bats in the belfry, before entering the fray myself, I’m making room for another voice:

My Imitation of Christ, Book III, Chapter I by Thomas a’ Kempis:

The Inward Conversation of Christ with the Faithful Soul

I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me.”Blessed is the soul who hears the Lord speaking within her, who receives the word of consolation from His lips. Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world. Blessed indeed are the ears that listen, not to the voice which sounds without, but to the truth which teaches within. Blessed are the eyes which are closed to exterior things and are fixed upon those which are interior. Blessed are they who penetrate inwardly, who try daily to prepare themselves more and more to understand mysteries. Blessed are they who long to give their time to God, and who cut themselves off from the hindrances of the world. Consider these things, my soul, and close the door of your senses, so that you can hear what the Lord your God speaks within you. “I am your salvation,” says your Beloved. “I am your peace and your life. Remain with Me and you will find peace. Dismiss all passing things and seek the eternal. What are all temporal things but snares? And what help will all creatures be able to give you if you are deserted by the Creator?” Leave all these things, therefore, and make yourself pleasing and faithful to your Creator so that you may attain to true happiness.

My favorite line:

“Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world.”