Happy Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
Happy
Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus! In honor of the day, I decided to create a royal-looking image of Jesus' name, since I love an excuse to play with fonts. :-)
About the Memorial
"The Holy Name of Jesus was invoked by the faithful from the very beginning of the Church. In the fourteenth century it began to be venerated with liturgical celebrations. Saint Bernardine of Siena and his disciples zealously promoted the veneration of this Name throughout Italy and Europe, and in the sixteenth century the Holy Name was introduced as a liturgical feast. In the year 1530 Pope Clement VII first permitted the Order of Friars Minor [Franciscans] to celebrate the Name of Jesus with its own proper Office."
~ From
Proper Offices of Franciscan Saints and Blesseds in the Liturgy of the Hours
Meditation
"Jesus' us-centered orientation wasn't an afterthought; we are the reason Jesus came to earth, lived, taught, healed, suffered, died, and rose again. Perhaps this is why saints throughout the ages have found in the simple name of 'Jesus' one of their favorite and most fruitful prayers. Merely invoking our Lord, repeating his name over and over again, gives rest to our souls, because that's exactly what he came to do."
~ Fr. John Bartunek,
Praising and Pondering (Luke 2:15-21)
Spiffy!
Check out the
National Association of the Holy Name Society (Confraternity of the Most Holy Names of God and Jesus), which "promotes reverence for the Sacred Names of God and Jesus Christ, obedience and loyalty to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and the personal sanctification and holiness of its members. Members are called to contribute to the evangelization mission of the Church and to make perpetual acts of reverence and love for our Lord and Savior." So lovely ... and it's associated with the Dominicans, which = doubleplus cool. :-)
Labels: domincan, franciscan, liturgy
Book review: "Hungry Souls"
Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory
by Gerard J.M. van den Aardweg (2009, TAN Books)
I finished this a couple days ago, and I
highly recommend it! Well-written, even-handed, tons of endnotes -- which add greatly to the book! -- and a substantial bibliography. It's a fascinating, sobering, compelling, and hope-inspiring read, all jammed into a short 157 pages (that includes the endnotes and bibliography).
The biggest takeaways for me -- none of which are new, simply restated in a thunks-ya-deep-in-the-heart way -- are:
1) Clear reminder of how God's mercy is limitless, and how Our Lady
and Joseph are
always there for us. Stories were mentioned of dying folks being saved in their last moments through "insight and repentance", even after leading deplorable lives.
I especially loved this account of a man's particular judgment, which he told to his daughter when he was permitted to appear to her to beg for her prayers:
"He then disclosed that on leaving this world he had seen the infinite majesty of God, the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Virgin Mary and that this vision had left him in a continually increasing and most ardent yearning to see them again. He also told [his daughter] that St. Joseph was present at his judgment, and that he had since repeatedly visited purgatory in company of the Blessed Virgin to console him, and that he often saw his guardian angel, who came to comfort him." (p. 132)
2) Even though Purgatory exists because of God's mercy, it's still
not something we should aim for ("Oh, well, I'll just hope for Purgatory!"), but rather work our butts off to avoid. The intense longing to be closer to God is the source of the Holy Souls' indescribable suffering.
3) Do
not assume that everyone who dies zips straight to heaven. Sure, you can
hope that they do, but
pray like heck for them, anyway, because chances are really good that they're in Purgatory and
they desperately need and want your prayers. Frankly, we've done a piss-poor job of remembering to pray and sacrifice for the Holy Souls (myself included), who depend on us for relief and assistance.
There's an account (pages 128-134) of a father appearing to one of his daughters to ask for her prayers because of his purgatorial sufferings. His other children didn't bother praying for him because they all assumed he was in heaven, and she alone was his only source of help. And it's not like this was a "bad" man. He'd been devoted to Our Lady, in whose honor he received the sacraments on all her feasts, and was exceedingly charitable -- not sparing any expense to help those in need. He'd even gone begging door to door to help the Little Sisters of the Poor establish a home. Yet, he was in Purgatory: "I suffer for my continual impatience, and for faults which I cannot mention." (p. 128)
If you've been wondering about whether or not it's worth the time to read this, it is. Check it out from your library or get a copy!
Note: I didn't receive any kind of compensation for this review, nor was I asked to review it by anyone. I simply read this book and wanted to share it. :-)Labels: books, joseph, mary
A better way to pray
For ages, I've been trying -- and failing -- to remember to regularly pray the
Morning Offering, and such failure has annoyed the heck outta me. Along with that, there are a bunch of other splendid prayers that I like, but they're scattered throughout the various prayer books/booklets and holy cards we've got. (There's a great Act of Confidence in Booklet A, don't forget that short-and-sweet intercession for the Holy Souls in Book C, and wasn't there a lovely Memorare on Holy Card #2,342 ...?)
Finally, I got fed up with the forgetting and bouncing around, and figured There Had To Be A Better Way. After a bit of pondering, I decided to plow through all those sources (!) and compile the ones I wanna pray each morning and evening (after Lauds/Vespers) on one sheet of paper, with morning prayers on one side and evening on the other.
It took a whole day of flipping, side-by-side scrutinizing, analyzing, tweaking a few phrases here 'n' there so stuff was more to my liking (this is for personal prayer, after all), and forcing Husband Mike to proofread everything, but I finally mashed together my collection of daily prayers, and I'm pleased with the results. Here's what I chose:
Morning Prayers
- Morning Offering
Tweaked to include praying for the Franciscan Order.
- Guardian Angel
- St. Michael
- Act of Consecration to the Holy Family
- To Mary for the Prevention of One Mortal Sin
- For Priests
- To Joseph for the Church and Pope
- To Joseph for the Dying
- Through Mary for the Holy Souls
- Trisagion
I used the one from the Divine Mercy Chaplet: "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us, and on the whole world."
- Hail Mary and Joseph
I wrote this years ago: "Hail Mary, full of grace. Hail Joseph, son of David. Blessed art thou among all people, and blessed is thy Divine Son, Jesus. Holy Spouses, beloved of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
- Bitty Litany of Fave Saints
Mine is: "Saints Francis and Clare, pray for us. Saints Anthony, Faustina, Francis de Sales, Ignatius of Loyola, Josemaría Escrivá, Max Kolbe, Padre Pio, and Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us. Amen."
Evening Prayers
- Evening Prayer
- Examination of Conscience
- Act of Contrition
- Act of Confidence in the Holy Family
- To Joseph for Personal Intentions
- Memorare to the Holy Family
- To Mary for the Prevention of One Mortal Sin
- Protection During the Night
- To Joseph for the Dying
- Through Mary for the Holy Souls
- Trisagion
- To the Holy Family for a Happy Death
- Hail Mary and Joseph
- Bitty Litany of Fave Saints
I printed them on one half of an 8.5 x 11-inch sheet of paper, then laminated it at the local office supply store. Since I only needed half a sheet, I duplicated (with minor modifications, such as fave saints) the prayers for Husband Mike on the other half. We've got them within easy reach on our respective nightstands.
Here's The Bloop modeling the finished result:
And here's a closeup of the morning prayers:
I'm happy to report that the sheet is working splendidly. It's easy and convenient to grab the sucker and simply focus on the prayers themselves, rather than wonder what I'm forgetting, and where everything is located. And because I plopped a reminder in the evening prayers to do an Examination of Conscience, I'm doing a much better job of keeping on top of that, rather than letting it slide until just before Confession.
So, what about you? Outside of the Liturgy of the Hours, what prayers do you pray daily? What method do you use to remember to pray them?
Labels: prayer
We are "those people"
I'm tired.
Tired of seeing folks sharing articles/blog posts/tweets/whatevs in which the authors oh-so-smugly climb atop mountains and sneeringly look down at
those people.
Tired of hearing self-styled Group X'ers belittling Group Y'ers, chortling among themselves about how stupid/intolerant/petty/slothful/subpar those Group X/Y'ers are, and if they had any smackerel of sense, they'd do us all a favor and stop breathing. Or reproducing. Or at the very least, talking.
Tired of dealing with folks who scream "TOLERANCE!!!" ... but only for those whose worldviews/morals/nail polish sync up with what they deem tolerable.
(See also, "Any color, as long as it's black".)
Tired of people claiming they're just being "straightforward" and "direct", when in reality, they're rude, insulting, and bristling with animosity.
Here's a thought.
Instead of indulging ourselves in those moments when we're tempted to feel ...
...
morally superior ...
("I'm sooo much more compassionate and open-minded than
those people. If they'd just STFU, we'd have a utopia.")
...
spiritually superior ...
("I talk to God nonstop every day and can recite the entire Bible from memory and I know for sure that Jesus was a democrat/republican/cattle rancher/vegan, because how could he possibly be anything
but one?")
...
physically superior ...
("I bench pressed 75 lbs. today, ran 10 miles, and have an optimal BMI, whereas you're a gigumbous bowl of flab who can barely lift a forkful of slop without wheezing. And you're ugly.")
...
intellectually superior ...
("I know soooo much more about Topic X than you do, you stupid rube. You don't have any clue what you're talking about. Let me enumerate the ways in which you're a living FAIL.")
...and
emotionally superior ...
("I'm
way more in tune with the emotions of everyone and everything around me, including plants, and I have more empathy in my left nostril than all of you Group Y'ers combined!")
... we
stop, grab hold of those feelings of superiority, and bash 'em against the rocks until they're good 'n' pulverized.
And then we pray, "Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner."
Labels: reflections
Missal toe rule
Well, here we are. After lotsa fun giving thanks, we've reached the end of my week full of Thankful Thursdays! Yes, it's ...
Thankful (Thurs)DAY #7:
Today, the 3 things I'm thankful for are:
1) The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. God knew that, left to my own devices, I'd quickly devolve into a big amoebic blob of spiritual schlepitude, so He gave me my Franciscan vocation. Which quite helpfully comes with a Rule of life, keeping me from getting lost on the journey. (And boxing me about the ears as needed. Which is, to say,
a lot.)
What the Rule means to me is best described this way: In the
Little House on the Prairie book series, there's a scene in
Little House in the Big Woods where Laura talks about a horrifically nasty blizzard and how, to ensure they don't get lost in the snow when going from the house and barn, they string a lifeline between the two buildings. As long as they hang onto the line, they'll make it safely to their destination. Let go, and it's highly likely they'll lose their way in the blinding snow and wander off to their deaths. The Rule is my lifeline, and as long as I hold on, I have hope that I'll safely make it to our "ultimate encounter with the Father". (Art. 19)
2) All 10 toes in working order. They're not much to look at, and in fact, I don't like looking at ANYone's toes, no matter how prettified.
::shudder:: But, you can't deny their usefulness. Thanks to those tiny packages of tendons, bones, joints, nerves, and muscles, I can stand, walk, run, jump, skip, tiptoe, and even pirouette. (Yeah, so that last one ain't that likely.) They've helped me stay steady on rocking boats, test the temperature in pools, reeeeaaaach up to that annoyingly high top shelf in the linen closet (though I can never
quite make it), and proactively smack a smooch on Husband Mike. They're also handy for when you wanna pick up a pencil on the floor without stooping down. Go, toes!
3) The revised English translation of the Roman Missal. Now with MORE AWESOME! (Literally.) After all this waiting,
we can finally revel in saying stuff like, "And with your spirit", "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" (my fave), and "consubstantial with the Father". Sure, we bumbled along at today's Mass, and a sizable chunk of folks never even
bothered to look at the reference cards, resulting in a jarring cacophony of the old text and revised text. But, still. Change takes time, and we'll get there eventually. It's worth the effort, because these updates are like a turbocharged set of toes, helping us to reeeeaaaach up higher than before.
Your turn! What 3 things are you thankful for today? :-D
Labels: gratitude, reflections, thankful thursday, thankfulness
