A Prayer to One's Guardian Angel
O my good Angel, whom God, by His Divine mercy, hath appointed to be my guardian, enlighten and protect me, direct and govern me (this day). Amen.
LET'S GO BACK TO THE BUSINESS OF THE SALVATION OF SOULS!
A blessed Good Friday to all!
I'm hoping that everyone is having a blessed Easter Triduum.
I just came back from the Good Friday service at my local parish, a parish that has celebrated the "Novus Ordo" Mass exclusively since Pope Paul VI promulgated it in late 1969 (or was that 1970?).
WHAT ABOUT THE SALVATION OF SOULS?
Jesus suffered great agony in the Garden of Gethsemane:
He knew that He would suffer horribly and die a disgraceful death, but what must have troubled Him the most was the knowledge that so many people, who He loved with Infinite Love, would reject Him and even mock His Sacrifice. We must take very seriously the Great Commission, "to baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of The Son, and of the Holy Ghost".
I was glancing at my Latin/English Missal to see if I needed to add or change anything in my mind and heart. I was rather surprised at how close some of the many prayers were. They even had a cantor for "let us kneel"/"let us rise" and the ensuing prayer. Then the priest said the prayer that follows the cantor.
I almost became tearful however at how we never once prayed for the conversion of anyone back to the Catholic Faith. We did not even pray for the poor Jews that actually told Pontius Pilate that rather than having God for their ruler, "... we have no other king than Caesar." We did not even mention schismatics or heretics.
This Easter Triduum has already been hard for me this year.
For the first time (that I can recall) since BEFORE becoming a Catholic in 1996, I missed going to Church for Maundy Thursday. That was (almost) all my own fault. The way things went I was physically too tired and I lost track of the time. However, I think all I really needed was more resolve and determination to get there.
One thing holding me back is that, due to COVID, the Bishop won't allow his priests to distribute Communion on the tongue. Since I can only receive Spiritual Communion I find that to be another reason that tends to deter me from going to Mass unless it is a Day of Obligation here in Canada during COVID.
BUT LET US ALL REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERINGS. Offer all up to God in union with the Passion of Our Lord. Nothing comes our way unless it is either willed or allowed by God.
In nomine
Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.
Amen.
Pater noster, qui
es in caelis,
Sanctificetur
nomen tuum.
Adveniat
regnum tuum.
Fiat
voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.
Panem
nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie,
et
dimitte nobis debita nostra
sicut et
nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne
nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
Glória Patri
et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper
et in sæ´cula sæculórum.
Amen.
In nomine
Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.
Amen.
Prayer to my Guardian Angel:
Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God’s love commits me here,
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.
COVID-19: DON'T SUFFER IN VAIN. SUFFER WITH JESUS
This post goes against all that the world teaches and much of what we always believe.
I say "intellectual" because I firmly believe this, but ... does the word "hypocrite" sound familiar to anyone?
As I journey through Lent I try to daily follow the Way of the Cross in my Latin-English Missal.
The opening prayer includes this important line:
Grant that, while I trace this path of sighs and tears ... I MAY BE READY TO EMBRACE WITH JOY ALL THE SUFFERINGS AND HUMILIATIONS OF THIS LIFE AND PILGRAMAGE.
All the sufferings and humiliations:
- Being denied access to the sacraments
- Being denied the company of our loved ones
- Having to suffer with COVID now and maybe for a long time after
- Dying without our loved ones around us, with no familiar funeral arrangements
- Marriage celebrations, etc. being greatly curtailed
- Having to wear uncomfortable masks and having to keep our distance from one another
- Not being able to pop into a store to get any supplies we need or desire
Why should anyone embrace apparent "evils" with joy?
According to our Catholic Faith EVERYTHING comes from God. There is no such thing as chance or randomness. Even the hairs of your head have been numbered, as in God knows and creates all things.
Therefore all that happens to us is for our own good and is a part of God's plan for the universe He created.
Whenever we resist pain or suffering we are, in reality, resisting God's love!
From one of my favourite books, now available online, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence :
Nothing happens in the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must he taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. 'Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives' is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, 'and God intervenes everywhere.'
****************************************************************************************************
When I see a Christian grief-stricken at the trials God sends him I say to myself: Here is a man who is grieved at his own happiness. He is asking God to be delivered from something he ought to be thanking Him for. I am quite sure that nothing more advantageous could happen to him than what causes him so much grief.
****************************************************************************************************
So what do we do as we suffer?
Offer each and every moment up to God and beg Him to join our pains with the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
PERPETUAL ADORATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT!
I just found this and I want everyone, including myself, to visit it as often as possible:
PRAISE BE TO JESUS CHRIST!!
Remember to
1)Focus on God's presence (both with you in your house and here in the Most Holy Sacrament) and
2)Raise up to God Almighty your intentions and prayers for special people (family, friends, the Pope).
At this time please also pray for guidance in our response to this COVID-19 crisis, and that The Church will lead the way to healing rather than simply following government regulations.
[ Could this crisis be from Our Father in heaven as a response to both the immorality in our culture AND the idolatry in the Vatican? ]
Reg
+JMJ
AUGUST 15 -- FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Today we celebrate one of the oldest Christian feasts, the very fact that the the Blessed Virgin's body was taken into heaven to be united with her soul and to reign in heaven with her king, Jesus Christ.
In 1950 this was declared to be a DOGMA, a belief that is required of everyone. If you do not believe it you are outside of Christ's Body, the Catholic Church.
Your can read it here: Pius XII (1950 MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS)
or your can hear it by watching this video:
WHO'S MORE POWERFUL, SATAN OR THE VIRGIN MARY?
I would like to have written this, but it is a very well put together article, so here's the link:
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-satan-more-powerful-than-mary
From the article:
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-satan-more-powerful-than-mary
From the article:
So this raises the question: who’s more powerful, the Virgin Mary in heaven or the devil in hell?Strangely, some Protestants seem to believe it’s Satan. Of course, this is rarely something that Protestant Christians consciously or explicitly profess, but consider some of the objections to Catholics praying to Mary. We’re told, for example, that Mary can’thear our prayers because she’s a finite creature, and so she can’t hear everyone’s prayers at once, and she can’t understand the different prayers uttered in different languages. Michael Hobart Seymour (1800-1874), an anti-Catholic polemicist, put the objection neatly:
It seems difficult to understand how she or any saint in heaven can know the wishes, the thoughts, the devotion, the prayers of the millions, who are praying to them in so many different parts of the world at the same time. If she or they were omnipresent—if omnipresent as the Godhead, all would be easy to conceive, all would be intelligible; but as they are no more than finite creatures in heaven, this cannot be.
We find the same argument used today. In A Woman Rides the Beast, for example, Dave Hunt objected to the line, “Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us” from the Salve Regina on the grounds that “Mary would have to be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (qualities of God alone) in order to extend mercy to all mankind.”
So Mary and the saints, being “finite creatures in heaven,” are too limited and weak to hear your prayers. Satan, on the other hand . . .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)