Holy Father Pope Francis Announces Jubilee Year of Mercy

The following is an excerpt from Pope Francis' homily:

Dear brothers and sisters, I have often thought about how the Church might make clear its mission of being a witness to mercy. It is journey that begins with a spiritual conversion. For this reason, I have decided to call an extraordinary Jubilee that is to have the mercy of God at its center. It shall be a Holy Year of Mercy. We want to live this Year in the light of the Lord's words: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (cf. Lk 6:36)”

This Holy Year will begin on this coming Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and will end on November 20, 2016, the Sunday dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe – and living face of the Father’s mercy. I entrust the organization of this Jubilee to the Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelization, that [the dicastery] might animate it as a new stage in the journey of the Church on its mission to bring to every person the Gospel of mercy

I am convinced that the whole Church will find in this Jubilee the joy needed to rediscover and make fruitful the mercy of God, with which all of us are called to give consolation to every man and woman of our time. From this moment, we entrust this Holy Year to the Mother of Mercy, that she might turn her gaze upon us and watch over our journey.

You can read it all HERE

Invocations to the Precious Blood

Precious Blood of Jesus, shed in the circumcision, make me chaste of mind, heart and body.

Precious Blood, oozing in the Agony of Jesus from every pore, grant me to love above all things the holy and adorable will of God.

Precious Blood, flowing abundantly in the scourging at the pillar, inspire me with a keen sorrow 

for my sins and a love of suffering.

Precious Blood, falling in profusion from the crown of thorns, grant me a love of humiliations.

Precious Blood, shed so profusely in the crucifixion of our Lord, make me die entirely to self-love.

Precious Blood, shed to the very last drop by the opening of His Sacred Heart, give me that generous love that sacrifices all to God.

Precious Blood, sacred price of my redemption, apply to me Thine infinite merits.

Precious Blood, that dost arrest the effects of divine justice, upon sinners, convert them all, but particularly those who are dear to me.

Divine Blood of my Jesus, I adore Thee from the depths of my heart; I ardently invoke Thee for Thou art my salvation and by Thee I hope to obtain the joys of paradise.

Flowers from the Garden of the Precious Blood.

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

O Virgin Mary,

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament,

glory of the Christian people, 

joy of the universal Church,

salvation of the world;

pray for us,

and awaken in all faithful devotion to the Holy Eucharist

so that they may render themselves worthy to receive it daily.

Flowers from the Garden of the Precious Blood.

Christ in the Tabernacle

I have not seen your face today.

Where were you?

A hundred others came to pray. 

Where were you?

From out My prison I have gazed

at thousands who have, kneeling praised.

I wanted you.

You had not time?__Oh! so you said.

While My sad Heart in silence bled.

Among Your friends long hours you spent.

While I__ My loving Heart was rent,

in solitude.

I do not like to be alone.

I want you

much more than all the friends you own,

I want you.

Tomorrow you will surely come.

Remember, I am helpless, dumb__

Uncomforted.

Ah! Could you not one moment spare?

-From Flowers from the Garden of the Precious Blood

Pope Francis to Open Worldwide Day of Adoration and Confession

VATICAN CITY — On March 13-14, the Vatican is hoping churches worldwide will participate in an initiative to stay open for 24 hours to underline the need for prayer, contemplation of the Eucharist and a chance to go to confession.

Pope Francis will open the Lenten initiative, called “24 Hours for the Lord” by presiding at a penitential celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica on March 13.

Following the conclusion of this service, a number of churches throughout Rome will remain open for 24 hours, with confessors available as well as Eucharistic adoration.

The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, which is organizing the initiative, has invited dioceses, parishes and communities around the world to adapt the initiative to their local situations and needs. It has produced a poster to help with the event, as well as a pastoral booklet in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Polish.

The resource “will enable all people, be they near or distant from the Church, to reflect upon and celebrate the great gift of God’s mercy and forgiveness,” the pontifical council says. To download the poster and acquire this pastoral aid, please go to NovaEvangelizatio.va.      

Read the rest HERE

Another Good Examination of Conscience

This one comes from Father John A. Kane. I will share the ones not often found in other Examination of Conscience books or booklets.  It is taken from his How to Make a Good Confession and published by Sophia Institute Press.  I highly recommend this little book.

1.  Have I been ungrateful to God for His benefits?

2.  Do I try to hide from God because I love my sin or because I do not have strength of will to make sacrifices for His sake?

3.  Have I failed to give God the respect, the love, and the simplicity of a child toward his Father?

4.  Am I unwilling to cast out and destroy everything that makes my soul unworthy to be the dwelling place of the three divine Persons?

5.  Have I grumbled against God's will?

6.  Do I refuse to accept troubles that come to me as a means of salvation?

7.  Do I trouble others with my grievances?

8.  Have I ignored Christ's voice within my soul when He has asked me for some sacrifice?

9.  Do I lack peace of soul because I don't trust God?

10.  Have I been too proud to accept well-merited correction, even from my confessor?

11.  Do I rely solely on myself and not on God?

12.  Do I rely solely on myself and not on God?

13.  Do I neglect my duties as a creature to my Creator?

14.  Do I have an exaggerated fear of death?  Do I trustfully abandon my past to God's mercy and my future to His love?

15.  Have I abandoned the Catholic Faith?

16.  Have I joined a non-Catholic church?

17.  Have I refused to believe any truths of the Faith or any teachings of the Church?

18.  Did I fail to profess or defend the Faith when required to do so?

19.  Did I read materials or associate with people who  might endanger my faith?

20.  Have I attended or taken part in the marriage of a Catholic in a wedding not approved by the Church.

21.  Have I been unfaithful to daily prayer?

22.  Have I received Holy Communion without reverence?  Have I neglected to make a proper thanksgiving after receiving?

23.  Do I neglect to read Scripture?

24.  Do I let my religious practices annoy others?

25.  Do I neglect to try to correct myself, remembering that I should always strive for perfection?

26. Have I evaded an opportunity to enlighten someone on religious truth?

27.  Do I use God's name carelessly, in anger, or in surprise?

28.  Am I disrespectful, impolite, or discourteous toward my family?

29.  Do I mistreat belittle, or abuse my children?

30.  Am I disrespectful toward the elderly?

31.  Do I endanger my health by eating too little or sleeping too little?

32.  Am I too concerned about my health or my appearance?

33.  Have I attributed bad motives to others, when I could not be certain of their motives?

34. Have I used harsh or abusive language toward another?

35.  Am I rude, impolite, or inconsiderate?

36.  As a husband or wife, have I failed prudently to make an effort to prevent the sins of my spouse?

37.  Have I neglected my duty of preventing those in my charge from committing sin, or correcting them after they have failed?

39.  Am I dating someone who is civilly divorced but is still bound by a valid marriage?

40.  Do I waste money or spend it extravagantly?

41.  Do I waste goods or food?

42.  Have I been stingy with my time, money and talents?

43.  Have I criticized anyone uncharitably?

44.  Am I greedy?

45.  Am I selfish?

46.  Do I indulge in self-pity?

48.  Am I proud?

49.  Am I vain?

50. Do I desire to be praised?

51.  Do I show off?

52.  Have I exaggerated my success?

53.  Have I minimized or explained away my failures?

54.  In my spirituality, do I seek mere personal excellence?

55.  Am I touchy and hypersensitive?

56.  Do I magnify the least oversight or thoughtlessness into an insult or deliberate slight?

57. Am I envious of someone's possessions, talents, or blessings?

Ida, Night and Christian Martyrs

Spoiler Alert.

The annual Academy awards brought interest in the foreign film Ida. I must admit that the movie had been sitting in our Netflix queue for awhile before we finally felt a push to watch it.

It has been my experience that European movies with Catholic themes have not treated Catholicism with much reverence or respect. Maybe it is the culture, but I have found that a movie such as the one on Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Vision, offended my sensibilities. An example is the common occurrence of men and and women, more specifically, nuns and priests, kissing each other full on the mouth. Therefore, before watching Ida, I checked out Steven D. Greydanus' review. You can watch the quick review here.

Short summary, this movie is about a young sister about to take her vows.  She contacts her only living relative, an aunt and soon learns that she was in fact a Jewish girl.  She and her very promiscuous aunt, a Communist prosecutor, go on a journey to find out what happened to Ida's family.

They find out the very horrific fact that her family had been murdered.  She alone survived the killing. The aunt finds out her son had also been murdered.  And, the movie continued.

The movie itself was very interesting from the beginning.  Based on what I could find by Catholic reviews, I trusted that the movie would not offend.  But offend it did.   I could understand why the aunt went to men for comfort or why she drank.  It wasn't surprising that she ended up taking her own life.  But what I really had trouble with was that this young nun, sheltered practically her whole life in a convent, leaves the convent as she is about to take her vows and starts experiencing life.  She dresses in her dead aunt's high heels and tight dress, she goes to a nightclub and she ends up losing her virginity to an admirer.  At the end, she leaves the man, puts her habit back on and apparently goes back to the convent.

I am not sure why I chose to read Elie Wiesel's Night during Lent.  It is a difficult and dark book to read.  What it very troubling is the loss of faith and the loss of hope by the writer.  He was a young and self-described devout Jewish teen when his family was forced from their home and taken to the concentrations camps.

It is the lack of courage by the Jews, the trust they have in the tormentors, they way they turn on each other, and Wiesel's anger with God that makes this book a poor read.  I was hoping that in the middle of their suffering and persecution, he would have held on to hope.  But the anger, the rebellion towards God was just too much.  I am not through with the book yet (almost done) so I hope by the end of the book, I would have been wrong about Wiesel.

Finally, there is the almost daily reporting of Christians being killed simply for professing a faith in Jesus Christ.  They die with Jesus on their lips.  They give me hope.

Ash Wednesday - Meditation

The following is from Holy Hours by Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, S.S.C.C..

 Jesus: "Alas! There is still worse:  some among them have become wretched apostates, who have for me nothing but hate...They have betrayed Me for a creature, for they have preferred to Me wealth, pleasures, a position,...all things which tomorrow will be changed into a handful of ashes in a tomb...and then there will be the hour of terrible and eternal justice!... And these are My children, brought to life by My power and by My blood, who behave thus!..."

..."Weep, O weep with Me, My fervent friends, zealous apostles!... Is there not in your home, at your own hearth, one of those ungrateful ones?...Perhaps it is a son, a brother, a husband, a father who is far, very far from the altar of his First Communion. The Holy Hour is an act of reparation for their sins, and this reparation will be the beginning of their salvation.  Courage! ... let us save those dear ones in spite of themselves...And as they do not weep, let us weep in their stead; let us pray for them."

This Lent...

How can we make this Lenten journey more spiritually fulfilling?

The following are 33 suggestions that you can use, one for each year that our dear suffering Lord was alive.

These are taken from my spiritual journal.

The purpose or goal is to grow more in selfless love and less in self-love.

THIS LENT I WILL...

1.  Consult God in everything with the simplicity of a child like St. Augustine did.

2.  Listen daily and at every moment to God's small voice and do not let noise keep me from hearing Him speak to me.

3.  Keep a holy and interior silence by keeping my thoughts, opinions, juicy news, gossipy stories to myself.  I will especially try to keep this silence during times of adversity.

4.  Perform acts of mercy and charity when the situation presents itself and not going out of my way to look for opportunities in order to know I am doing God's will.

5.  Avoid those things that keep me from hearing the Holy Spirit's guidance such as:  talking, TV, computer, iPad, worrying, thinking about things that do not concern me.

6.  Give my full attention to the moment at hand, be it a duty, activity or someone talking to me.  I will pray close attention to the present moment.

7.  Leave all in God's capable hands.

8.  Never talk bad about another person.

9.  Fast at least once a week, not only from food, but drinks (other than water) and frivolous entertainment.

10.  Let others speak.  I will give them my undivided attention without interrupting them with my own thoughts and opinions.

11.  Be kind and merciful.

12.  Not be curious.  I will not ask unnecessary questions.

13.  Conquer my desire to say no when asked to do something for someone.

14.  Stop giving advice especially when someone hasn't even asked me for my advice, and especially not if I haven't prayed about it first.

15.  Say at least 40 aspirations daily, especially to our suffering Lord and his sorrowful mother.

16.  Do what I don't want to do, joyfully.

17.  Make sacrifices and mortifications for those who are suffering persecution.

18.  Imitate our lady's virtues:  meekness, silence, humility, gentleness, acceptance, calmness

19.  Stop being so hard on myself when I commit the same sins.  I will trust in God's mercy and love.  

20.  Refrain from asking anyone for favors.

21.  Accept what comes my way, be it good or bad and I will trust that God knows what is best for me.

22. Conquer my knee-jerk reaction to respond defensively when I am criticized or corrected and will remain silent.

23.  Respect my family more and criticize their faults less.

24.  Imitate St. Benedict Menni's virtues of:  Praying, working, suffering, forbearing, loving and keeping silence.

25.  Remember that it is humility and obedience that make us saints.

26.  Not using humor as an excuse to belittle someone, especially family and friends.

27.  Not be distracted when praying.

28.  Spend at least 15 minutes of quality time really reading the Gospels and the writings of St. Paul.

29.  Use the social networks to share the Good News and to give God praise.

30.  Not spend money unless it is necessary.  Instead, I will donate the alms to those who are in need, especially the persecuted Christians.

31.  Try very hard to conquer my pride.

32.  Be patient especially with those who seem to vex me.

33.  Be kind, gentle and patient with my family.

Our Lady of Lourdes Prayers

Picture source

First Prayer

Blessed, Immaculate Virgin, by your

appearance in the Grotto of Lourdes,

many have been cured of their

infirmities, both spiritual and physical.

Mother of Mercy, healer of the sick,

comforter of the afflicted, you know my

needs and my sufferings.  

Look upon me with compassion.  

I come to you with confidence in your maternal intercession.

Obtain for me, from your Divine Son,

O loving Mother, this special request...

(Mention your needs here)

Our Lady of Lourdes, prayer for me.

Amen.

Oblate Missions

Second Prayer

O glorious Mother of God,

so powerful under your special title of

Our Lady of Lourdes,

to you we raise our hearts and hands 

to implore your powerful intercession

in obtaining from the gracious Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces

necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare 

and for the special favor we so earnestly seek.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

Association of the Miraculous Medal