“Where most men work for degrees after their names, we work for one before our names: ‘St.’ It’s a much more difficult degree to attain. It takes a lifetime, and you don’t get your diploma until you’re dead.” – Mother Angelica
Beautiful soul, beautiful woman, beautiful day to enter into eternal life…
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Prepare for Advent, before Christmas.
“When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for His second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to His desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ ” (§524)
Its “New Years Eve” early. Make your resolutions now. I hope to start and stick with the Christmas Novena (St. Andrews Novena) Not for the squeamish. prayed 15 times every day from the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle (November 30) until Christmas, along with a few other personal things..
I couldn’t have said it better as I have been living this for many years. Glory to God….
REPENTANT SUFFERING by Mother Angelica ~
The sinner who suddenly realizes God’s love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love, feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death. The soul feels wrapped in an icy grip of fear. This is not, however, the fear of punishment, but the realization of its ingratitude towards so good and loving a God. Sorrow begins to heal the wounds made by sin and God Himself comforts the soul with the healing balm of His Mercy and Compassion.
If the sin were great, the soul, humbled by self-knowledge, remembers its weakness so as never to offend God again, but forever rejoices in His Mercy. This combination of mourning and comfort keeps the soul in a state of dependence and trust in God, who sought and found His lost sheep.
Man seeks to make up for his sins in some positive way. A thief gives away something to the poor; a man with a temper seeks to be gentle. King David realized that accomplishing some good work was pleasing to God, but he knew something it would be well for us to remember. He understood that the very suffering of his repentance was pleasing to God.
Amen
I have been under great pressure lately during this “Dark Night of the Spirit” and have placed my full trust and faith in our Lord. I have not been able to look at anything without seeing “confusion”, speak to anyone without jumping to conclusions, in my thoughts and seeing things only as I believe our Lord is asking of me. I can only see the “confusion” as total evil trying to pull me away from our Lord and into something I can not get out of. The confusion is not working. “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
Last Friday at Mass, although I KNEW our Priest had said the prayers of “Consecration of the Eucharist”, as I went to receive our Lord, he became distracted by something and never said the words “The Body of Christ”. I said Amen, anyway, at the time and only over the weekend, pondered the reason why I said Amen. Did I say it because it is habit? Or did I say Amen because I TRULY believe He is present? After receiving Him, I went back to the pew and was tossed into a deep darkness where the evil one tried to tell me, it was just me that our Lord was not present for. I began to panic. I got up and went to receive our Lord in the Precious Blood, thinking maybe if I heard the words then, would be okay. As the person in front of we went to receive Him in the Precious Blood, the cup became empty and I could not receive Him. I sat back down and began to question myself. Was He there? Did I receive Him? There was a darkness I had never seen covering me in fear. It tried to trouble me more and more and Mass was over.
As Mass ended I remembered I had to bring our Lord to the woman who used to run the Adoration Chapel before becoming to frail to perform her duty’s and thus it was handed over to me. Although I had our Lord with me on the trip to her home, that darkness was trying to pit my faith In Him against Him. I kept shaking my head and pondering the events as they took place, arriving at the woman’s home. I entered and just seeing her in her frail state was reminded I had a job to do. After sharing our Lord with her, I picked up her prayer book and opened it to a random page. The prayer and “pondering” were on how the evil one tries to distract us from truth, replacing Truth with confusion. After praying with her and reading out loud the chapter from her book, I told her the story of my experience that had just happened. After ward, informing her, that it did not matter if Father had not said the words “The Body of Christ”, as our Lord said it first, in the beginning. Our Lord was and Is present in the Eucharist, and always shall be. Be it that the Priest did not say it at that second, He came down at the consecration of the bread and wine, into the Body and Blood. He is there no matter how distracted we became.
Many other things have taken place this weekend to try and upset my love for our Lord, but in every instance, He has been right there with consolations, filling me with His joy, no matter how my lack of faith in this instance and all was and has been tested.
I was just cleaning up some dishes laying around and picked up my coffee cup from this morning. Mind you, it has the picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on it. As I looked into it with the little coffee left in the bottom, there was laying a dead fly. I couldn’t help but laugh. The dead fly representing Satan and his lies was dead. Killed by our Lord with just the slightest amount of liquid in the bottom of the mug.
That little tiny amount of faith that I had from long ago, in our Lord, came through and grew into something much greater in the love I have for Him, because He loved us first. Although I had received Him, I needed to receive Him in word also. And we need to be reminded of that, all the time. The distraction will always be there, like clanging gongs surrounding me but faith in Him and not myself, is where it needs to be put into action EVERY second, so only His peace and Glory can resound. The consolations in this place I am in, have themselves become distraction in many ways. I do not seek them anymore although they are there. I only seek Him who grants them because I truly love Him. I need to work on this and try not distracting myself, swatting at flies.
Be not afraid..
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
“Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”
-St. Padre Pio
The Rosary – So many ways to let my pondering go in beautiful directions that never cease…So many things to focus on…
After my mother passed away in 2002, I moved here to San Diego. When her estate (LOL at Estate- We were very lucky to have a roof over our heads and it was no estate) was settled, I received a package of some belongings that I had “Won” of hers in the family lottery for personal items. Funny really, I received not only her rosary that I got in a lot of trouble for playing with as a child, but also my grandmothers. Keep in mind, I have 7 other brother and sisters, whom they could have easily gone to.
I also received a medallion. Leather on one side with the photo to the right, on the other side, sewn together with ribbon. I often looked at it intently as a child. I knew it was our Holy Mother and Infant Savior, but I could never figure out who the second child was, until recently. But, that is a story for another time. If your wondering, it is Saint John The Baptist.
Unfortunately, for a long time, praying the rosary for me, is a difficult task. Not because I don’t like it. I believe it is filled with so much beauty, wonder and spiritual bliss, but rather I find my concentration on our Lord and our Holy Mother difficult to keep during the prayer. I struggle constantly, with placing MY everyday life, with theirs, and seeing things from their perspective, in my life. I don’t try to do it, it just happens that way. I feel a deeper need to toss aside MY life events, and focus intently on what our Holy Family, must have endured. What I have learned to do, is have my bible in hand, reading the corresponding scripture, as I am praying. It tends to hold my attention better, then without.
I never prayed the rosary as a child. Actually, I believe I was taught how to pay it in Catholic grade school, but never prayed it at home or on my own. It wasn’t until last year that I started praying the rosary. With of course, my mother & grandmothers rosary’s. I have to say, it took me a while to learn it. LOL I also thought in the beginning if I didn’t pray it correctly, mixing up the Mysteries, or forgetting a Glory Be, it wouldn’t count. HA! What nonsense! Even in the times I was learning, so much in regards to our Lords passion became apparent to me. So much beauty of the LOVE and bond our Holy Mother had for her infant son and through His Life, Death and Resurrection. In between my failings to concentrate, I have shed many tears. For a long time, wailing out loud, tears streaming down my face was common, on Friday nights, during the Sorrowful Mysteries.
Every time I pray it, its as if a tiny glimpse of our Lords life, is revealed. Just a split second flash, that makes me feel as if I am there. There for the birth of our Lord. There in the garden before His death. There as the post He was tide to for scourging. There as the Roman guards are twisting the thorns together making the crown. I can see the robe they placed on Him and feel the pain in His back and chest as they place it on, sticking to the blood all over his body. Knowing any contact from even a breeze would be painful. I can see as the Romans ripped it off His body and thus pulling off more flesh, where His blood became coagulated and began to heal into the threads of the material. I can see Him covered in a mixture of dirt, blood and sand from falling, moving me to tears as Veronica wipes His face. Wishing I could do the same, just to bring Him that simple coolness, simple mercy from the cloth, while he burned in pain.
I could get carried away in this post. In the first week I started praying the Rosary, there was another glimpse of “Something” I visioned. Two faces of smoke. They were not happy faces. They were in agony. They were just gray, smoke, round faces. I could see them, like a smoke ring from a cigarette, close up at first but vanishing quickly into the darkness of the vision, holding their form but being overtaken in the dark. As if they were falling quickly, out of site and disappeared into it. They didn’t lose form or dissipate, they just went away. I never seen that again, in any vision since.
The best place to start to pray, I have found, is EWTN. Not only do they have the website to teach you, but also recite it ON TV throughout the day. Here is the link on HOW TO PRAY THE ROSARY. Learn it, pray it, ponder it 🙂
Taken from EWTN
Beads of the Sacred Heart
As there is nothing so ingenious as love, several great saints in their great eagerness to make, each day, numerous acts of their favorite virtues according to the various inspirations of grace, have Invented several kinds of chaplets composed of acts of these virtues. After their example, the beads of the Sacred Heart has been formed. It is composed of five large beads and thirty-three small ones in honor thirty-three years Our Lord spent on earth.
Instead of the Creed the following prayer may be said.
Soul of Jesus Christ, sanctify me.
Heart of Jesus, inflame me with love. Body of Jesus Christ, save me
Blood of Jesus Christ, inebriate me.
Water our of the Side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy Wounds, hide me. Let me not be separated from Thee. Defend me from the malignant enemy. At the hour of death, call me And bid me to come unto Thee That with the Saints, I may praise Thee For all eternity.
Amen.
Before each large bead say:
Jesus most meek, make my heart like unto Thine.
On each large bead say:
We adore Thee, O Jesus, who hast been afflicted in the Garden of Gethsemani and who still in our time art outraged in the Blessed Sacrament by the impious conduct of men. O most amiable Saviour, we recognize that Thou alone art Holy, Thou alone art Lord, Thou alone art Most High.
On each small bead say:
I adore Thee, O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, inflame my heart with the divine love with which Thine Own is all on fire.
At the end of the beads say an Our Father and a Hail Mary, and the following prayer:
O Lord Jesus Christ, who by an ineffable miracle of love, hast deigned to give Thy Heart to men to serve as their nourishment, in order thereby to gain their hearts, graciously hear our humble prayers, and pardon us for the sins of which we confess ourselves guilty before Thee. Cast an eye of compassion and mercy upon those towards whom Thou dost condescend to direct the affections of Thine amiable Heart. And since we desire to honor Thee in the adorable Mystery of the Altar to the utmost of our power and to render Thee most pleasing homage and for that intention, weep for and detest from the bottom of our hearts all the outrages, contempt, mockery, sacrileges, and other acts of impiety which ungrateful men in every part of the world have committed against Thee, enkindle therefore in our hearts this divine love with which Thine Own is inflamed, and inspire us with sentiments like unto Thine, in order that we may be able worthily to praise for all praise for all eternity the love with which this Sacred Heart burns for us. This is our prayer to Thee who livest and reignest with the Father, in unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen
Read more here
Peg Pondering Again 