Prayer of Saint Bonaventure~Meditation III

"May my soul ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find thee, run to Thee

attain Thee, meditate upon Thee, speak of Thee,

and do all things to the praise and glory of Thy Name,

with humility and discretion, with love and delight, 

with ease and affection 

and with perserverence unto the end.
May Thou alone be ever my hope, my entire assurance!

 Jesus~my riches my delight my pleasure my joy

Jesus~my rest and tranquility

Jesus~my peace my sweetness

Jesus~my fragrance my sweet savor

Jesus~my food my refreshment

Jesus~my refuge my help

Jesus~my wisdom my portion

Jesus~my posession, my treasure

Jesus~in Whom my mind and my heart may ever be fixed

and firmly rooted immovably henceforth and forever."
Amen.

 Saint Bonaventure said, 

"He who wishes to go on advancing 

from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, 

should constantly meditate upon 
the passion of Jesus Christ."

O give thanks

O give thanks to the Lord

For He is good

His mercy endureth

Forever and ever.

Daniel 3:89

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

in His image and likeness

     The Month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus, who died for the salvation of all people who follow Him in sacrificial and holy love. Our heavenly Father created us in His image and likeness because of His infinite love for us. Lead by the Holy Spirit's inspiration and charity, our Holy Father asks us to join him in prayer for the world's indigenous peoples (general intention) and the people of Latin America and the Caribbean (mission prayer intention). Lord, please help us to always remember that the faces of people of all races and cultures magnificently radiate the glorious beauty of our almighty and perfect Creator. Let us join hands helping those in need to carry their burdens as we journey together towards our eternity with God.

     "Lift up your eyes on high and see who hath created these things, who bringeth out their host by number and calleth them all by their names, by the greatness of his might and strength and power not one o them was missing. Why sayest thou, O Jacob and speakest O Israel. My way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God? Knowest thou not or hast thou not heard~the Lord is the everlasting God who hath created the ends of the earth. He shall not faint nor labour, neither is there any searching out of His wisdom. It is He that giveth strength to the weary and increaseth the force and might to them that are not. Youths shall faint and labor and young men shall fall by infirmity. But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall take wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 40:26-31

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

my least brethren

     The month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our Holy Father asks us to join him in prayer for human solidarity (general prayer intention) and for seminarians and novices (mission intention). Jesus is honored by our service and love for all families, as well as for marginalized persons in our society~orphans, homeless, physically ill, mentally ill, aged and disabled. This holy work is the "vocation" of laity and religious alike. Lord, please help us to joyfully serve Jesus, Whose heart beats within the hearts of the suffering and needy.

(Baptism, Guatemala)

(Novices, Esquipulas Guatemala)

(Seminarians, Papal visit, Philadelphia)

    "For I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you covered me, sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him saying, Lord when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, thirsty and give thee drink and when did we see the a stranger and took thee in or naked and covered thee or when did we see thee sick or in prison and came to thee? And the king answering shall say to them~"Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me."

Matthew 25:35-40

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

he that eateth this bread shall live forever

     The month of April is dedicated to the Holy Eucharist, the Bread of eternal life. Our Holy Father asks us to join him in prayer for the small farmers (general prayer intention) and for the African Christians (mission prayer intention). So many of God's children, our brothers and sisters, suffer from spiritual and physical starvation and persecution. Let us never forget to imitate God's compassion in our relationships with others.

    

     "For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever."

John 6:56-59

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

selfless generosity

     March is dedicated to Saint Joseph, a simple carpenter who selflessly and generously protected and provided for Jesus and Mary. Unemployment, underemployment, malnutrition, inadequate health care, lack of education, familial discord and economic hardship, plague families worldwide. Our Holy Father asks us to join him in prayer for families in difficulty (general prayer intention) and for persecuted Christians (mission prayer intention). Lord, please help us to always reach out with selfless generosity to our brethren in need.

     "When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry and shall satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness and thy darkness shall be as the noonday. And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones and thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail."

Isaiah 58:10-11

fortified by Divine Love

      The month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family. Fortified by divine love,  Jesus, Mary and Joseph endured poverty and exile. They lived in harmony with their circumstances, nurtured by God's bountiful creation. Our Holy Father asks us to join him in prayerfully expressing our gratitude to God, by caring for the gift of His creation (general prayer intention). We are also asked to pray for the spiritual and material needs of people of Asia (mission prayer intention), where so many families suffer painful hardship. 

"O God of the heavens, 

creator of the waters and Lord of the whole creation, 

hear me a poor wretch, 

making supplication to Thee 

and presuming of Thy mercy.

Judith 9:17

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

Morning Offering/Ofrenda Matutina

 

Rest

How tranquil is our daily prayer and work

when we enjoy the rest that God gives us each week.

"The seventh day is the day of the Sabbath,

That is the rest of the Lord thy God."

 Deuteronomy 5:14

"And he said to them-the sabbath was made for man 

and not man for the sabbath. 

Therefore the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath also."

Mark 2:27-28

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

Lent 3 ~ Good Works ~ Alms Giving

   Lent is a beautiful time of growing closer to Christ by giving of ourselves through the good works of prayer, fasting and alms giving. In these ways, we aspire to imitate Our Blessed Lord in the way that he gave Himself, without reservation,  to all of us. Fear is the greatest obstacle to generosity. Holy Scriptures teach us that love casts out all fear.

     While visiting Guatemala, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the people there. Their life is a life of poverty by our country's standards. What amazed and humbled me was the freedom with which people gave of their time, work and goods. They did not hold back. There was no measuring of how much was given nor was there an expectation of anything in return. Giving to those in need came easily.
     It is said that the higher one's income, the more difficult it is to be generous. Are material possessions too much to lose? Why is it so difficult to share? Why are prayers of petition more desperate and fervent than prayers of thanksgiving? What is so frightening about giving away material possessions? Elaborate household alarm systems and expensive storage of never used items underscore the anxiety attached to protecting material goods. What is so scary about losing what is so easily lost? The despair associated with holding on to things is evenly matched with the despondency of not having enough. All of this occurs with the full awareness of nearby poverty. 
     A dear friend is a contemplative nun. She owns nothing. Her peaceful smile is ever present. She fears nothing, not even death. Her only concern is that she is not giving Jesus enough love.
     May this Lent's alms giving take away our fear and fill us with the love of Christ.

Prayer

Fasting

Alms Giving

Gratitude=Recognizing Miracles

          We pray for God to work miracles expecting the Almighty to serve us by complying with our demands. We don't get what we asked for. Then we believe that He has abandoned us. We have it backwards. We miss the point. We overlook His miracles. Our focus on material poverty blinds us to the wealth of Divine miracles that are daily showered upon us. Yet, if we carefully consider all aspects of life's events, we learn that Jesus continually blesses us with multitudes of miracles in response to our prayers. Our Father loves us so much that he only wants our best. We forget how much He loves our obedience. Obedience is a powerful expression of love. We forget that God's love for the broken hearted is immeasurable.  We deny ourselves the joy of surrendering to His Holy and Perfect Will. Like our Crosses, God chooses specific miracles for us. So often, our Cross is the sweetest of  His love filled gifts. That's where gratitude comes in. Without gratitude our petition is self centered, not Jesus centered. Gratitude opens our hearts and minds to God's beautiful Holy miracles. May the Holy Spirit fill us with the grace to recognize and obey God's Divine will for us.

 "And we know that to them that love God, 

all things work together unto good, 

to such as, according to his purpose, 
are called to be saints."

Romans 8:28

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

Prayer and Fasting~Lent 4

     Generosity is a natural outcome of prayer and fasting. Alms giving, as well as offering time and service, stem from a holy root of self denial. The focus is gracefully removed from satisfying the whims of the appetite. There is a heightened awareness of the needs of others. Hunger shifts from the need to feed the self to a holy inclination to provide for our neighbor. Greed releases its grip in favor of a willingness to serve. The unreasonable fear of not having enough is supernaturally lifted. Giving without measuring is pleasing to the heart. Material possessions and social status are all too frequently an avenue of ensnarement by the evil one.  Prayer and fasting miraculously transform the craving for applause into a yearning for a closeness to the Heart of Jesus.

"And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face. That thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee. Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither rust nor moth doth consume and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also." 

Matthew 6:16-21

Douay Rheims Roman Catholic Bible

Please see: "About Fasting"

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