November 23, 2009

                I offer you myself Lord

                I surrender to You and ask the Holy Spirit to help me to know
                    Your will —
                    Lord forgive our sins
                    Help us to do Your will
                    Help us to know the Saving power of Your love

                The last couple of Sunday's we heard from the book of Daniel
                Now we begin the beginning of the book of Daniel
                Daniel was taken back by the Babylonian in exile —
                We see this first reading and how Daniel followed
                    his beliefs

                Written about 150BC — this book

                The book is encouraging people to be faithful to God and
                    God will bless them —

Daniel 1: 1-6, 8-20

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched on Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord let Jehoiakim king of Judah fall into his power, as well as some of the vessels belonging to the Temple of God. These he took away to Shinar, putting the vessels into the treasury of his own gods.

    From the Israelites, the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring a certain number of boys of royal or noble descent;  they had to be without any physical defect, of good appearance, versed in every branch of wisdom, well-informed, discerning, suitable for service at the royal court. Ashpenaz was to teach them to speak and write the language of the Chaldaeans. The king assigned them a daily allowance of food and wine from the royal table. They were to receive an education lasting for three years, after which they would enter the royal service. Among them were the Judaeans Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

    Daniel, who was determined not to incur pollution by food and wine from the royal table, begged the chief eunuch to spare him this defilement. God allowed Daniel to receive faithful love and sympathy from the chief eunuch. But the eunuch warned Daniel, 'I am afraid of my lord the king: he has assigned you food and drink, and if he sees you looking thinner in the face than the other boys of your age, my head will be in danger with the king because of you.' To the guard assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah by the chief eunuch, Daniel then said, 'Please allow your servants a ten days' trial, during which we are given only vegetables to eat and water to drink. You can then compare our looks with those of the boys who eat the king's food; go by what you see, and treat your servants accordingly.' The man agreed to do what they asked and put them on ten days' trial. When the ten days were over, they looked better and fatter than any of the boys who had eaten their allowance from the royal table; so the guard withdrew their allowance of food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. To these four boys God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and learning; Daniel also had the gift of interpreting every kind of vision and dream.

    When the time stipulated by the king for the boys to be presented to him came round, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king conversed with them, and among all the boys found none to equal Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they became members of the king's court, and on whatever point of wisdom or understanding he might question them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and soothsayers in his entire kingdom. Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

                Daniel had the understanding of vision and dreams —

Daniel 3: 52-56

    May you be blessed, 
        Lord, God of our ancestors, 
    be praised and extolled for ever. 
    Blessed be your glorious and holy name, 
    praised and extolled for ever. 
    May you be blessed in the Temple 
        of your sacred glory, 
    exalted and glorified above all for ever: 
    blessed on the throne of your kingdom, 
    exalted above all, glorified for ever: 
    blessed are you who fathom the abyss, 
        enthroned on the winged creatures, 
    praised and exalted above all for ever:
    blessed in the expanse of the heavens,
    exalted and glorified for ever.

                Alleluia, Alleluia

                Stay awake for you do not know when the Son of Man
                    will come

Luke 21: 1-4

Looking up, he saw rich people putting their offerings into the treasury: and he noticed a poverty-stricken widow putting in two small coins, and he said, 'I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in more than any of them; for these have all put in money they could spare, but she in her poverty has put in all she had to live on.'

 

                Woman gave everything to him

                Our readings are encouraging us to trust in God —
                    we to know that God will bless us even in
                    difficult times — poor widow had little gave
                    it away

                Daniel trusted in God and he was blessed —
                The Psalm is a praise of God —
                    3 who sang the psalm - were the 3 put
                    in the fire — they received Babylonian
                    names — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

                Help us to have this trust in God —
                Help the leaders of the Church —
                Help those in power - to use the power
                    as God wants
                Help us to live by the values of the Gospel —
                Help us to go to heaven —

                Loving God we ask You to provide for all
                    our needs

                Dear God we offer the bread and wine to You —
                    We want to be cleansed

                We love You God —
                We offer ourselves —

                God help us to be faithful
                You are holy
                You are the fountain of all holiness

                We thank You God —
                We love You God
 

Matthew 26: 26-28

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples. ‘Take it and eat,’ he said, ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them saying, ‘Drink from this, all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

                God the Father we love You
                God the Father we give ourselves to You

                God we want to die to our imperfections and
                    live more the resurrected life —
                    life in You —
                    life in unity

                We unite to the sacrifice of Jesus and give
                    ourselves to You Father

                We want to offer a pure sacrifice
 

The Our Father

    Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

 

                Oh God give us Yourself in Communion
                    You are the bridegroom of my soul
                    Oh God come to me —
                    Oh God I love You so —
                    Oh God I thirst for Thee
                    My heart pines for Thee

                Help us get it to the priests
 

Dear Friends,

          Greetings! Last year you sent me the book – Guiding Light: Focusing on the Word. It is a series of homilies by Fr. Joe Robinson. What a wonderful gift. I have used it for all my homilies and spiritual reading. It has been a blessing for me and even more – a blessing for my parish. I am very grateful for this gift.

Sincerely,

                                     A Florida Parish Priest 

                Only 75¢ can get the book to a priest for
                    his personal spiritual development —
                    his Sunday homilies and
                    enrichment of his whole parish —

                When I sent Cardinal George Fr. Joe's homilies
                    Cycle A — he told me to send the homilies
                    to priests

                Will you help us

The Body and Blood of Christ
 

June 10, 2007

INTRODUCTION

Today we celebrate our faith in the Eucharist as the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Today’s first reading takes us back about 1850 years before Christ.  Abraham’s nephew Lot had been captured by some local tribes and Abraham set out to rescue him, which he did.  On his return, he passed by Salem, which is Jerusalem today and he was met by Melchizedek, who was both king and high priest in that area.  They didn’t believe in separation of church and state in those early days and it was not unusual for the same person to be both king and high priest.  Melchizedek offered bread and wine to Abraham.  This act of eating together signified the creation of a bond of enduring friendship and mutual protection.   Many of the early fathers in the Church saw this gesture as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist.   

St. Paul describes the institution of the Eucharist in his letter to the Corinthians.  The language he uses indicates that this is a tradition that is authentic and reliable.  He received it from the Lord and he is handing it on to the Corinthians as he has received it.  Receiving it “from the Lord” does not necessarily mean that he received it directly, but that it is an essential part of the gospel that has its origin in the teaching and the life of Jesus Christ. 

HOMILY

I want to begin by saying to all of our fathers here: “Happy Father’s Day.”  I was trying to find a joke about fathers and you know what, there aren’t very many.  There must be ten times as many jokes about mothers as there are about fathers.  Perhaps fathers aren’t as funny or perhaps men write most of the jokes.  But since I couldn’t find one about fathers I decided to tell one about mothers.  There was this young son who phoned is mother and asked how she was.  She said she was awfully weak.  Concerned, he asked why she was so weak and she said she hadn’t had anything to eat for 32 days.  He was alarmed and asked what was going on she hadn’t eaten for 32 days.  She said it was because she didn’t want to have a mouth full of food in case he would call.  How’s that for giving someone a guilt trip?  Well, in case your mother or father are still alive and you haven’t called your recently, give them a call today. Remember fathers need love and affection as much as mothers do.  They just try to be tough and don’t say they do.   

I was thinking fathers (and mothers) sometimes have a difficult job.  They have to try to convince their children that vegetables do them more good than ice cream, that turning off the TV and going to bed early is important, especially on school nights, that they need to brush their teeth, go to school, be nice to others, share their things, do their chores and do dozens of other things that children are not inclined to do.   

God the Father has the same difficult job.  He tries to convince us that we are going to be happiest when we do what he tells us to do.  One of the hard things he has to do, is to try to get us to to take on faith many things we cannot see.  He wants us to believe in him, to believe in his love (even though we do not see it at times), to believe in his Son Jesus, to believe that death is not the end of life but for those who faithfully follow Jesus but it is the beginning of eternal life.  One of the things we cannot see but have to take on faith is the Eucharist. 

We heard in today’s gospel the one miracle, other than the resurrection of Jesus, that is reported in all four gospels.  It wasn’t necessarily mentioned by all four because it was the most spectacular of Jesus miracles, but because it foreshadows the ongoing miracle of the Eucharist through which Jesus continues to feed his people with his own Body and Blood. When a child who is told to eat spinach and carrots instead of ice cream or cake which they might prefer, they may not see benefit in doing that.  We may not see anything special about this small wafer and sip from a cup that we receive in Communion.  We just have to take it on faith, a faith that is founded on one thing: the very clear words of our Lord: “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood.”  “Do this in remembrance of me.”   

I was encouraged recently when I read in the Catholic Telegraph that a recent study reported that 91% of young Catholics (ages 20-39) believe the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ at Mass.  But I was sorry to see in the same report that only 77% say they can be a good Catholic without attending church every Sunday.  It’s like saying I believe that a healthy diet and exercise are really important, but I can be healthy without it.  

Most of us nourish our bodies three or more times a day. Yet we’re going to have to leave that part of behind us some day.  What are we doing to nourish the spiritual part of us, the part of us that will live forever?  Christ gives us himself because he knows we need him.  “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”  Jesus lost a lot of his followers because of that line.  But he didn’t back down on what he said.  The Church tells us to be a good Catholic we must come to Mass at least once a week.  This is the way we Catholics observe the third commandment to keep holy the Lord’s day.  The Church encourages our full participation at Mass, which includes the reception of Communion but says we must receive the Eucharist at least once a year to be in good standing. 

When we were young and didn’t feel like eating our vegetables we did it because we had to.  Hopefully as we matured we got to the point that we saw the value of a good diet and followed it.  So the Church makes rules about Mass and about the Eucharist to help us when we don’t feel like doing what is beneficial for us, but hopefully most of us have gotten beyond that point to where we are able to be nourished in faith and joy by the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
 

Wisdom 9: 13-18

'What human being indeed can know the intentions of God?
And who can comprehend the will of the Lord?
For the reasoning of mortals is inadequate,
our attitudes of mind unstable;
for a perishable body presses down the soul,
and this tent of clay weighs down the mind with its many cares. 
It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth,
laborious to know what lies within our reach;
who, then, can discover what is in the heavens?
And who could ever have known your will, had you not given Wisdom
and sent your holy Spirit from above?
Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened
and people have been taught what pleases you,
and have been saved, by Wisdom.'

Philemon 1: 9-10, 12-17

I am rather appealing to your love, being what I am, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus. I am sending him back to you -- that is to say, sending you my own heart. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the gospel has brought me. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the gospel has brought me. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the gospel has brought me. However, I did not want to do anything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous. I suppose you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, merely so that you could have him back for ever, no longer as a slave, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, both on the natural plane and in the Lord. So if you grant me any fellowship with yourself, welcome him as you would me;

Luke 14: 25-33

Renouncing all that one holds dear

Great crowds accompanied him on his way and he turned and spoke to them. 'Anyone who comes to me without hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, cannot be my disciple. No one who does not carry his cross and come after me can be my disciple.

Renouncing possessions

'And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying, "Here is someone who started to build and was unable to finish." Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns.

September 9, 2007

INTRODUCTION: (Philemon: 9-10,12-17) When we think of slavery we think of the brutal situation of African slaves as it existed in our own country up until the middle of the 19th century. In the Roman Empire 20 centuries ago, where slavery was common, it was much different. Slaves came from nations and peoples that Rome had conquered. There were probably more white slaves than blacks. Many would have been educated or highly skilled and would have worked as musicians, scribes, craftsmen, teachers and even doctors. Slaves could be set free by their masters for good service or a slave could sometimes save up enough money to buy his or her own freedom. Today’s second reading is about a slave, Onesimus. He escaped from his master, Philemon. By law Onesimus could have been put to death for escaping. He knew Paul for Paul had converted his master, Philemon to Christ. So, in fear for his life he ran to St. Paul, who was in prison at the time, probably in Ephesus. In those days prisoners were just locked up and they were not given three square meals a day or gymnasiums to work out in or cable TV’s to entertain them. Unless a prisoner had someone to bring them food and take care of their needs, they probably would have starved to death. So, while Onesimus was with Paul, he took care of him and in the process Paul converted him to Christ. Paul thus sees himself as his spiritual father and refers to Onesimus as his own child. Paul felt an obligation to send him back to Philemon. He didn’t feel right benefiting from a gift that had not been given to him. Paul asked Philemon in the letter we hear in today’s second reading to receive Onesimus back, not as a piece of property, but as a brother in the Lord. Christianity transcends all other relationships as we hear in today’s gospel.

HOMILY: Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. St. Luke tells us he was traveling with great crowds. Jesus’ disciples and the people following him were expecting some major changes in their lives when Jesus would arrive in Jerusalem. They expected Jesus would spearhead a resistance against their Roman oppressors, drive the Roman army out of Israel and take control of their land and their lives. For almost 600 years they lived under the rule of foreign kings. Now they would have their land back and their own king. Not only would they be free but life would be really wonderful for God’s people for Jesus had unusual powers: he could heal the sick, feed the hungry, even raise the dead. No king in the history of the world would be so great! They anticipated Jesus would be their messiah and life would be fantastic. Jesus knew differently. He alone knew what was about to happen. So he told them, as he always spoke the truth, you can’t follow me unless you hate your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even your own life. You’ll have a cross to pick up if you want to be my disciple. Like a man building a tower or a king going into battle, are they prepared for what they would face, are they sure they have what it takes?

One wonders what happened to the great crowds following him. Did they begin to drift off? There’s one word in today’s gospel that really shocks us (as I’m sure it shocked those who heard him): the word “hate.” Certainly we know Jesus doesn’t want us to hate anyone. So how could Jesus tell us to “hate” even those closest to us? The oldest document we have that reports Jesus’ words is the Greek text of the gospels. Indeed, the Greek uses the verb “miseo” which means “hate.” It is from that word that we get such English words as: misanthrope and misogyny. Miseo, however, has a secondary meaning which is “to prefer or favor something or someone less.” And of course this is what Jesus means. St. Matthew helps us understand exactly what Jesus meant when he quoted Jesus in a parallel passage in his gospel, where Jesus said: “Whoever loves his father or mother, brother or sister, more than me is not worthy of me.” The only thing Jesus wants us to truly hate is sin. But Jesus statement is still very challenging in that he is telling us if we are going to follow him, he must be more important to us than everyone and everything in our lives. He must be more important to us than even our own physical life. And indeed many Christians have had to face that dilemma and have given up life in this world in order to hold on to their faith. We call them martyrs, not the kind of martyrs who are suicide bombers who want to maim and kill, but martyrs in the sense of witnesses, witnesses to love: love for Jesus and love for others. In brief, we must be willing to lose everything rather than lose Jesus, or we are not his disciple.

Jesus would make a very poor politician. He doesn’t tell us things we like to hear. He tells it like it is. He tells us it will not always be easy if we go with him. True, but I have seen over and over again, life is even harder if we try to live our lives without him. Only those who have made the decision to put Christ first know that they have really gained everything, for in Jesus is the fullness of life, the fullness of all that is good.

Too many Christians think of their faith like some kind of insurance. As long as they pay their premiums they’re protected. And they try to figure out what is the minimum they can get by with to still be covered. For example, if the rule says go to Mass every Sunday, they figure well maybe once or twice a month will be just as good. If the rule says love your neighbor, well maybe I’ll still be covered if I don’t hurt anyone even if I never do anything to help anyone. I’m sure you can think of other examples of what one theologian called “cheap grace.” The story of the tower half built is an image of our spiritual lives when they are built on half-hearted efforts. Heaven is not going to be “pie in the sky.” Heaven is the happiness of surrendering ourselves to the greatest lover in the universe.

                Believe

                Trust

                God is the winner

                We find freedom in confessing our sins —
                    being sorry and being humble —
                    loving and serving God

                Pray constantly — our lives are a prayer —
                    we offer all we do, doing God's will
                    in love

                God come and make a home in me —

                Let us prepare a place this advent for
                    Jesus to dwell in our hearts —

                Let us prepare our hearts for God
                Holy Spirit dwell deeply in our soul —
                We love You God and we give You ourselves

                We believe

                Pray for faith to have the vision of the Father —
                Our freedom is in this we live to do God's
                    will in love

                We can miss the best things in life —
                God calls us to serve Him
                    and He will bless us even in suffering —

                Face your fears —

                Don't run from what God is calling you to
                    do —

                Living in God's will in love is our key
                    to happiness —

                The devil can press in and try to get us to
                    turn away from God's call —
                    Where are we — we are suspended in
                        a place, then, that is not God's will

                Being where God wants us makes us happy —
                    live with conviction in your heart to
                    make it happen as He wants — He will
                    bless us — the power with which we act
                    when we are doing God's will is His
                    might and He is pleased with our lives —
                    If we are on the command-resistance
                    cycle — to do what we want — or the devil
                    tempts us to do against God's will — we
                    are unhappy

                    When we serve God doing His will we are
                    happy even in suffering —

                    Why run from fear of doing God's will —
                        God put us here to do it —
                        Do God's will —
                        Both feet off the ground —

                    God is love —
                    We are here to grow in love —
                    We are here to learn about God —

                    We take our love and knowledge of God with
                        us —

                    We are here to learn to love more and more

Love God                         Love others                         Love ourselves

3 loves

                    The 3 loves Fr. Carter tells us

                    Do we seek to see through God's eyes — to
                        follow His plan — to want others to do
                        God's work and not try to possess them — or
                        not be jealous of others doing God's will —
                        or try because of an impure motive of
                        anger, jealousy, lust, envy to manipulate
                        an outcome in which we block or
                        try to block others from doing God's will —

                    Let God be God in our lives
                        Do His will
                        Pray others do His will —
                        Be team players

                    Don't give into old emotional wounds —
                        feelings that we have to try to get others
                        to make us happy —

                    God has called us to be actors —
                        not reactors —

                    To use reason and will in our actions and
                        choose according to God's will in love —

                    What good does it do a man to gain the
                        whole world and lose his soul

                    Be a Positive Thinker
                        God is on our side when we live to do
                        His will in love —

                    When we are opposed to God's will in selfishness —
                        our rebellion is like Adam and Eve who
                        wanted their will and not God's and listened
                        to the counsel of the devil —

                    When we love and act as God wants we are
                        happy even in suffering — we have
                        peace inside

                    When we do not love — when we sin
                        we are miserable and only we
                        can look at this sin and ask for
                        forgiveness

                    We rupture our relationship with God
                        and others and ourselves when we
                        choose to oppose God's will and act unlovingly

                    Let that power where we are one with
                        Christ — deep inside us be the
                        guiding light of our lives —

                    Seek for greater oneness with God

                    Be turned on with the fire of God's love
                        burning in us —

                    Knowing God's will and acting in love —
                        full steam ahead — serving Him —

                    We used to have old faucets like this

                    If we turned the handle just a little
                        a drip came out

                    But if we were turning it full force
                        a lot of water escaped —

                    When you go out of town do you ever turn
                        your water off —
                        come back and turn on the faucet and you say
                        Oh the waters off —

                    Why turn off the power in us being clogged
                        and shut off with sin — distance
                        in our relationships because of anger and
                        jealousy with God and others

                    Turn on the power —
                    Live to do God's will in love —
                    Surrender to Him
                    Seek deeper and deeper union with God —

                    To be one with God — deeper and deeper — we
                        must be truthful — want God's will —
                        not try to force things our way for an
                        impure motive

                    Think about God's will —

                    Pray to the Holy Spirit to fill you abundantly —

Holy Spirit Novena

DAILY NOVENA PRAYERS

Opening Prayer

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus, in union with Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Holy Spirit. We come to You united to the Child Jesus of Good Health and the Infant of Prague. We come to You in the perfect, sinless heart of Our Mother Mary, asking her powerful intercession, uniting ourselves to her holy tears. We come to You united to all the angels and saints, and the souls in purgatory.

Prayer for Holy Spirit

We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on us, to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, that He will descend mightily on us as He did on the Apostles at Pentecost. That the Holy Spirit will transform us from fear to fearlessness and that He will give us courage to do all the Father is asking of us to help bring about the Reign of the Sacred Heart and the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart. We pray for the Holy Spirit to descend mightily on the Jesuits and the Poor Clares on the Shepherds of Christ leaders and members and on the whole Body of Christ and the world.

Protection by the Blood of Jesus

We pray that the Blood of Jesus will be spread on us, everyone in our families, and the Shepherds of Christ Movement, that we will be able to move steadfastly ahead and be protected from the evil one.

Healing

We pray for healing in body, mind, and soul and generational healing in ourselves, in all members in our families, and in all members of the Shepherds of Christ Movement, the Jesuit Community, the Poor Clares, the Body of Christ, and the world.

Prayer for Strength and Light

We adore You, oh Holy Spirit. Give us strength, give us light, console us. We give ourselves entirely to You. Oh Spirit of light and grace, we want to only do the will of the Father. Enlighten us that we may live always in the Father's will.

Eternal Spirit fill us with Your Divine Wisdom that we may comprehend more fully insight into Your Divine Mysteries.

Give us lights, Oh Holy Spirit that we may know God. Work within the heart, the spiritual womb of the Virgin Mary, to form us more and more into the image of Jesus.

Prayer to Be One with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

We long for You, Oh Spirit of Light, we long to know God, we want to be one with Him, our Divine God. We want to be one with the Father, know Him as a Person most intimately. We want to know the beloved One, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and live and dwell in Him at all times, every moment of our lives. We want to be one with You, Oh Spirit of Light, that You move in us in our every breath.

Prayer to Be One in Jesus

Let us experience life in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so we can say as Saint Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me...." Let us live, united to the Mass, all through the day being one in Him. Let us be able to love and know in this elevated state of oneness with our God. We long for Thee, oh beauteous God, we love You, we love You, we love You. We praise You, worship You, honor You, adore You, and thank You, our beloved God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Prayer to Dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

We seek to be one in God, to live and dwell in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, our little heaven on earth, to experience life in the all perfect, pure, sinless heart of our Mother. We want the Holy Spirit to move in us and to be united to Jesus as the Bridegroom of our souls and be a most perfect sacrifice offered to the Father at every moment as we unite in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass around the world to help in the salvation of souls.

Prayer for the Holy Spirit and His Gifts

Come Holy Spirit, come, come into our hearts, inflame all people with the fire of Your love.

Leader: Send forth Your Spirit and all will be reborn.
All:  And You will renew the face of the earth.

We pray for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we ask for perfection in our souls to make us holy, holy souls likened to God.

Dear Holy Spirit, we give ourselves to You soul and body. We ask You to give us the Spirit of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

Prayer for the Word Alive in Our Hearts

We know, dear Holy Spirit, the Word in His human nature was brought forth within the womb of the woman. We pray that His word will be brought forth in our hearts as He lives and dwells in us. We want the incarnation to go on in our lives. Dear Holy Spirit, work in us.

Little Prayers to the Holy Spirit

Dear Holy Spirit, help us not to be ignorant or indifferent or weak, help us to be strong with the love of God.

Dear Holy Spirit, please pray for our needs for us.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to respect God and to avoid sin. Help us to live in the Father's will.

Dear Holy Spirit, help us to keep Your commandments and to respect authority. Help us to love all things as You will us to love them. Help us to want to pray and always serve God with the greatest love. Help us to know the truth. Help us to have the gift of faith, hope, and love. Help us to know what is right and what is wrong.

A Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul

Oh Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most intimately.

end of Holy Spirit Novena prayers

                    The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church —

                    When I was sick with a sinus infection I
                        could hardly breathe —

                    I knew I needed breath to live —

                    Listen to these scriptures —

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Vigil of Pentecost
May 26, 2007 

If you happen to look for today’s readings anywhere, you would be very confused.  Between the Vigil Mass this afternoon and today’s feast, thirteen different readings are offered for our use.  And these thirteen readings hardly touch all the references to the Spirit in the Scriptures.  All these optional readings, some for the Vigil and some for today, tell us this is not an ordinary Sunday.  And we have a sequence, a poem about the Spirit, before the Gospel.  The only other feast that has a required sequence that I can think of is Easter.  Corpus Christi has an optional one.  The fact that there are a lot of people in church wearing red also tells us there is something special about today.  Special indeed!  It’s the third most important feast of the entire year.  Without the Holy Spirit nothing would have happened.  The apostles would have remained a frightened bunch of guys who would have been afraid of their own shadow.  They certainly wouldn’t have risked their lives to preach about the Risen Christ.  Without the Holy Spirit the gospels would not have been written.  We would probably still be worshipping plants or animals or inanimate objects as our gods if we were worshiping anything at all.   

I came across an interesting illustration that might help us understand the Holy Spirit and thus the place of Pentecost in our lives.  The Flemish artist, Rubens, like other artists of his time, had a group of aspiring artists working with him.  As he watched them at work, he would sometimes pause for a moment as he looked over their shoulders, then he would take the paint brush from the hands of his pupil and would add the finishing touches. It was those touches which brought the painting to life. After referring to this practice of Rubens, a modern scripture scholar noted that until the day of Pentecost the disciples, our Lord's pupils, (for disciple means learner) had been clumsily trying to be like their Master, "but on that day the Spirit finished the painting."  

It is a neat way of summarizing the effects of the first Pentecost.  It explains why Pentecost is spoken of as the Church's birthday, the day when the Church truly sprang to life; the day when it was made ready for its mission of taking the Good News to the ends of the earth.  Although the mighty wind, which shook the house where the disciples had gathered, soon grew still; the flames of fire which hovered over their heads, soon disappeared.  But the Holy Spirit, whose coming had been announced by wind and fire, came to stay and came to be with the Church until the end of time: to be its very soul, its life principle.   

Our first reading today is one of my favorites.  At the time of Ezekiel there was no understand of the Trinity nor was there any idea of individual resurrection.  Ezekiel here is referring to the nation of Israel that was at that time in Exile in Babylon.  They had given up hope of ever returning home or of ever being a nation again.  Ezekiel is telling them God would bring them back from exile and raise them up.  But here the function of God’s Spirit as a life giving Spirit is already apparent.   

Paul in the second reading tells us the Spirit has come to us, but the fullness of life the Spirit brings is still in the process of formation within us.  And the Spirit is there to help it come to be.   

Jesus in today’s gospel compares the Spirit to water.  Why water?  Because water brings life.  Without it life cannot exist. 

When most people think of the Spirit, they think of the personal gifts the Spirit brings them.  Before I studied Scripture in the Seminary, the only time I ever thought of the Spirit was when I had to pass an exam.  But that’s only one of the functions of the Spirit, the Spirit of truth, a term for the Spirit that Jesus uses.  But there are many other gifts the Spirit brings.  The Spirit helps us in our prayers, St. Paul tells us.  (Rom 8, 26)  In the letter to the Galatians St. Paul names a variety of blessings the  Spirit brings to each of us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5,22).  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have all those qualities? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the people we associate with, if all people in the world, had all these qualities.  The Spirit has a lot of work to do.   

But the Spirit is interested in more than blessing each of us personally.  The Spirit is also a source of life for the Church.  Paul tells us the Spirit gives many special gifts to the faith community so it might be well served.  Among these gifts are wisdom, faith, healing, the gift of speaking God’s word, the gift of discernment, the gift of helping others, the gift of administration and the gift of being able to council others.  (I Cor 12).  What gifts has the Spirit given us and how do we use them to serve others.  The Spirit helps people do more than pass exams.  The Spirit is the “Lord and giver of life” as we profess each week in the Creed.  The Spirit is the giver of our spiritual life which will endure forever as well as the giver of life to the Church.  There would be no Church without the Spirit.   

On this Pentecost, I pray may the Holy Spirit put the finishing touches to our small efforts, to follow Christ faithfully and to bring about a miniature Pentecost in our midst and so renew the face of the earth.

Luke 1: 37

 for nothing is impossible to God.’

 

                    Believe and trust

November 26, 2006

                        I can never live the moments of
                                this day again.

                            When I go to bed tonight they will
                                be gone forever.

                                I must treasure each moment --

                            I have right now because I
                                can never have it back again.

Acts 22: 3-6

'I am a Jew', Paul said, 'and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. It was under Gamaliel that I studied and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you all are today. I even persecuted this Way to the death and sent women as well as men to prison in chains as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify. I even received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, which I took with me when I set off to bring prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment. It happened that I was on that journey and nearly at Damascus when in the middle of the day a bright light from heaven suddenly shone round me.

                    God is calling us —

                    Let the scales drop from our eyes —
                    Pray to see through the Father's eyes —

Acts 9: 1-22

The conversion of Saul

Meanwhile Saul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he might find.

It happened that while he was travelling to Damascus and approaching the city, suddenly a light from heaven shone all round him. He fell to the ground, and then he heard a voice saying, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' he asked, and the answer came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.' The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless, for though they heard the voice they could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing at all, and they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand. For three days he was without his sight and took neither food nor drink.

There was a disciple in Damascus called Ananias, and he had a vision in which the Lord said to him, 'Ananias!' When he replied, 'Here I am, Lord,' the Lord said, 'Get up and go to Straight Street and ask at the house of Judas for someone called Saul, who comes from Tarsus. At this moment he is praying, and has seen a man called Ananias coming in and laying hands on him to give him back his sight.'

But in response, Ananias said, 'Lord, I have heard from many people about this man and all the harm he has been doing to your holy people in Jerusalem. He has come here with a warrant from the chief priests to arrest everybody who invokes your name.' The Lord replied, 'Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for my name.' Then Ananias went. He entered the house, and laid his hands on Saul and said, 'Brother Saul, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' It was as though scales fell away from his eyes and immediately he was able to see again. So he got up and was baptised, and after taking some food he regained his strength.

Saul's preaching at Damascus

After he had spent only a few days with the disciples in Damascus, he began preaching in the synagogues, 'Jesus is the Son of God.' All his hearers were amazed, and said, 'Surely, this is the man who did such damage in Jerusalem to the people who invoke this name, and who came here for the sole purpose of arresting them to have them tried by the cheif priests? Saul's power increased steadily, and he was able to throw the Jewish colony at Damascus into complete confusion by the way he demonstrated that Jesus was the Christ.

                    If you are reading this — God has called you
                        to hear His voice today —
                        Maybe we won't get knocked off a horse
                            but what we do today and the rest of our
                            lives should be living in God's will and
                            loving, being actors and not reactors —

                    Do you know the 7 deadly sins

Pride, Greed, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth

 

                    Slothfulness
 

                From October 29, 2009

                Create in me a clean heart —
                That my heart will not be set to
                    control or jealousies, slothfulness,
                    greed, lust, pride, anger

                But that my motives are pure —
                Purity in heart, oh God —
                That my goal is the will of God and
                My eyes are on Thee

                . . .

                    A clean heart create in me —
                that the dirty ways of jealousy,
                lust, anger, greed, slothfulness —
                do not be the motive for any actions —

                    It is the motive ——  to do God's will
                                                    pure
                                                    holy
                                                    for good 

 

                A man who is angry
                    and tells himself he has none is
                        like the crippled man —
                    or a blind man who cannot see —

                both cannot proceed on the journey
                    they have a handicap

                Knees are great for walking,
                What if we have a handicap —
                    A bad knee cap —

                What is the cap you wear and act
                    as if it isn't there that keeps
                    you paralyzed

                    The priest Sunday at Mass was talking
                about the blind man, Bartimaeus,
                he was begging —
                on hearing of Jesus — he began to
                    cry out
                "Jesus, son of David, have pity
                    on me" 

"And many of them scolded him
and told him to keep quiet,
but he only shouted all the louder,
‘Son of David, have pity on me.’
Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’
So they called the blind man over. ‘Courage,’
they said, ‘get up; he is calling you.’ ."  Mark 10

   

                "He threw aside his cloak" — the
                priest said

                "He threw aside his cloak is
                important the priest said"

                What do we need to die to, to be healed —
                What cloak do we lie about to
                    ourselves we need to shed

                I think of the Spiritual Exercises —
                    "Mastery of self"

 

From The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 
    by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. 

p.11

21.                     SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

    Which have as their purpose the conquest of self
    and the regulation of one's life in such a way that
    no decision is made under the influence of any
    inordinate attachment

 

                        end of October 29, 2009

 

                        From September 9, 2009

                Vain excuses
                Lukewarmness

Revelation 3: 16-19

1. 
   '...but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say to yourself: I am rich, I have made a fortune and have everything I want, never realising that you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too. I warn you, buy from me the gold that has been tested in the fire to make you truly rich, and white robes to clothe you and hide your shameful nakedness, and ointment to put on your eyes to enable you to see. I reprove and train those whom I love: so repent in real earnest.'

 

Man was made to labor

                Work was because of garden

                Slothfulness — leads to barrenness
                    NO Fruit on the vine

                Instead of the virtues
                    we worked on
                        Faith
                        Hope
                        Love

                Vices are in the soul filled
                    with Lethargy

                Unwilling spirit
                    no faith
                    no love
                    not wanting to do God's will

                Discern the spirits
                    the Holy Spirit brings joy
                    evil spirit sadness

                If our heart is not full of
                    love of God —
                    it can become full
                    of love for wrong things

                Concupiscence
                    proud
                    egotistical
                    selfish

                Not giving of oneself to the
                    calling of God —

                Doing one's will enslaved to satan
                    opposed to God's will

                Slothful, disobedient
                An unwilling spirit
                    - emptiness
                    - sadness
                    - lack of love for one's vocation in life

                We were created by God
                    to labor for His Kingdom

   

Luke 13: 6-9

He told this parable, ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to his vinedresser, “For three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.” ’

   

                WORK IS
                    GOD'S WILL

Faith                 Hope                 Love

Virtues

                If a man is not filled with
                    virtues in his heart
                    he turns to vices

                Malice in intention

                Unwilling heart

                Sadness

                What we must see is the
                    end of our life

end of September 9, 2009

 

From November 4, 2009

                Not because of an inordinate attachment —
                    jealousy, anger, dominance,
                    pride, slothfulness

                A person acting according to God's will —
                    knows God's power, his blessings
                    is in always obeying right
                    authority — God's power comes
                    to us in the structure —

                We go it alone — like a
                    ship out at sea lost in
                    the water — when we try to
                    criticize and disobey right authority
                    from God over us

                We are just rebelling against God
                    when we disobey authority from God and
                    we say
                    "I will do it my way"

                   end of November 4, 2009

 

From September 22, 2009

                    Where God calls us to serve in
                our vocation — we can actually work
                opposed to God's plan for an evil
                goal because of jealousy, lust,
                slothfulness

end of September 22, 2009
 

From September 12, 2009

                  Fr. Mike says:

                    NAME IT
                    CLAIM IT
                    DUMP IT

                  CONCUPISCENCE

                    (1) envy
                    (2) slothfulness
                    (3) jealousy
                    (4) pride
                    (5) anger
                    (6) lust
                    (7) greed

                The devil attacks authority —
                    the devil wants right authority
                    to look weak —
                    The devil wants people to
                        rise up - in combat —
                        to challenge and
                        argue with authority

                    It is like the pride of
                        Eve —

                    Eve disobeyed

                In giving our hearts to Jesus and
                    Mary - we put Jesus on
                    the throne in our hearts —

                We live a virtuous life respecting
                    right authority —

end of September 12, 2009

 

From September 5, 2008

SLOTHFULLNESS

                    A man was the only one who could
                do a job — he complained and refused
                to do his work because he was
                lazy.

                    A person can use a job and perform
                passive-aggressively — Judy was to
                do a job — she would not do it —
                her phone didn't work - she said —
                when it did work — she acted like
                she didn't understand -she said
                it couldn't be done — she made her
                boss - explain and explain until
                finally — it was with frustration for the
                boss at Church
                that Judy would not do what was
                asked of her — she tried the patience
                of the one over her and then did
                do something later that hurt the
                mission they were trying to accomplish —

                    She was manipulative, unpredictable,
                but held the records tightly trying
                to work out this passive-aggressive
                actions she had.

                    Slothfulness is laziness —
                but not doing the work hurting
                the communities and while all working hard —
                is a form of this to me.

                    When I took voice lessons in
                college I didn't practice
                sometimes — my teacher let me
                talk many times during the lesson
                about other things and it didn't
                show up I didn't practice —

                    My organ teacher, my voice
                teacher later and me as a piano
                teacher were not like this — our
                choir instructor never did anything
                but very serious practice —

                    I taught adults college math —
                I never did anything, but what was
                intended — teach Math —

                    Also to the college students - college
                age —

                    Now I have seen excuses - one
                may not want to obey - or do the
                work - so they become ill, how can
                you question this?

                    One semester some guy's
                grandma out of town died a lot of times —
                A person can make themselves sick -
                to disobey or avoid something they
                just want another way     

                . . .

Cardinal Newman said

                    "... everyone who breathes, high and low,
                    educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman,
                    has a mission, has a work. We are not sent
                    into this world for nothing; we are not born at
                    random. . . God sees every one of us;
                    He creates every soul, He lodges it in
                    a body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs,
                    He deigns to need, every one of us.
                    He has an end for each of us... we are
                    placed in our different ranks and stations, not to
                    get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to
                    labor in them for Him, as He rejoiced to do His work,
                    we must rejoice in ours also."
                                    (Discourses addressed to mixed congregations)

end of September 5, 2008

                From July 8, 2009

                Death/Resurrection

                God gives us a sharing in His life
                in baptism and Jesus feeds this life
                with Himself in the Eucharist —

                    God calls us
                    and it is our response to His call —
                    God calls us to be holy —

                (Jesus) He took on flesh —
                He walked the earth —
                He suffered telling people the
                    truth —

                He dealt with human men with
                    pride and anger, hatred, lust,
                    selfishness, slothfulness,
                    greed, gluttony

                        end of July 8, 2009

From January 10, 2008

end of January 10, 2008

From January 10, 2008

    A person engaging in vindictive games of slothfulness,
withholding valuable information is
trying to control others for some
selfish, punitive action to block
normal living and play their rules of
dysfunction, isolation and in a
normal loving center. They can be the
card that watches 52 fall behind them
as they keep the place in constant
confusion and disharmony doing the work
of satan. Causing permanent damage
to a company while playing games to
manipulate for control and punitive hatred —
need to control and watch others suffer.

    People in advanced stages as these
may need serious physiological counseling
for where others, who were normal and loving,
tried to withstand this dark, controlling,
behaviors — the constant anger —
rageful and suppressed (using passive-
aggressive games) can be like their
families when young — when others
were learning, they were learning
manipulation, isolation, control — not
the give and take in loving relationships — necessary
to settle conflict, have compromise and
show love, joy, laughter — They were surviving
a war and learned survival tactics not needed
today, but they will not get rid of them.

end of January 16, 2008

 

From February 23, 2009

                    Man has tendencies toward
                evil —

                    Blaming others

                    Concupiscence of the flesh

                Seeking dominance for dominance
                    sake

                Jealousy, lust, envy, slothfulness
                    pride, anger

                Selfishness

                Focus on self — not loving others

                Tension between men and women

                Men wanting dominance over
                    women

                Mary appears at Fatima a messenger
                    from God —

                    She tells us Jesus wants His
                Sacred Heart venerated next to Mary's
                Immaculate Heart —

                    Now we are the poor banished
                children of Adam and Eve conceived
                with original sin except for Mary

                    And God sends Mary conceived
                without sin to bear the God-made-Man
                to save a fallen race

                    The offense of original sin
                was against Deity and Jesus, the
                Son of God, the Lamb of God,
                comes the sacrifice to
                pay for that sin — Jesus lived, died
                and rose.

                    The Mass is the sacrifice of
                Calvary — sacramentally made
                present —

                    Jesus remains with us this day
                through the consecrated hands of
                our priests.

                    The priest is another Christ to
                us.

                    Jesus, the Chief Priest and Victim —           
                We unite to the holy sacrifice of the
                Mass to help bring down grace
                for the world.

                        end of February 23, 2009

From February 21, 2005

                            Quit the relationships
                       that you have that dominate
                       and hurt and then lie to
                       yourself how you act and to
                       your superiors.

                            I am a God of justice and
                       I judge justly.

                            Slothfulness is wrong.

                            Pray every day — hourly to
                       live a holy life —

                            Pray to live your vocation.
                       Pray to be holy and productive —
                       Pray to be joyful —
                       Pray to interact purely —
                       Pray for faith to do the
                            work — I call you to —

end of February 21, 2005

                        From January 1, 2008

end of January 1, 2008

                    God has a plan —
                    Let's see through the eyes of God —
                    Be filled with His life more and more
                    And live to do God's will in love —

                    Not give into the emotions of our wounded
                        child of the past —

                    Not plug up our ears to God

                    Not get in a comfortable cubby hole that
                        really is a trap in which we
                        quit growing in deeper life in Him

                    Go guys —

                    Follow Jesus who is the Teacher
                        who came to this earth to teach us
                            how to live
                        who died for our sins
                        who rose on the 3rd day —

                    Follow Jesus

                    Beg to be filled with the Holy Spirit counseling
                        us on the Father's will for us —
                        being full of life and love

                    God is love and
                    In Him there is no darkness

Deuteronomy 30: 19-20