I'll take all the help I can get
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Labels: kludges, outlook, prayer, software feature fun, tips
Providential assist on struggling with pride
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Labels: humility, prayer, pride, relevant radio, spiritual growth
Humility reminder ... five years later!
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Labels: kludges, outlook, prayer, software feature fun, tips
A Wednesday whim (on a Tuesday)
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Labels: devotions, joseph, josephite, prayer
In my defense, I AM exceedingly dense
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Labels: John 2, prayer, wedding at Cana
Priorities
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Labels: angelus, marian, prayer
"Mary's Way of the Cross"
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Labels: liturgy, marian, mary, prayer, stations of the cross
Memorials and Mario Kart
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Labels: franciscan, games, prayer, random
Fellow Catholics, A Challenge
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Labels: mary, prayer
A tour through the "Roman-Franciscan Christian Prayer". Whee!
I originally wrote and shared the following on Google+ in 2012. However, I keep finding myself referring back to it to share with folks who have questions. Because I'm getting tired of repeatedly searching it out over there, I'm including it here for easier future reference. :-D
... Oh, yeah: The pics are all from our old digital camera, so man, they look extra-grainy and lame. What a difference a quality smartphone camera makes!
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Labels: franciscan, i love my brick, liturgy, ofs, prayer
A simple way to offer up a tiny sacrifice
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Labels: prayer, sacrifice
Fast, Pray, Act
"Facing the promise of execution if they do not embrace Islam or pay tribute for being Christians, the remaining Christians in Mosul, Iraq fled before the deadline of noon on Saturday, July 19.
"... On Friday, July 18, an 1,800-year-old church was set aflame, even as the remaining Christians attempted to evacuate the city before the deadline set for them to flee or face death expired."
Source: "The Only Thing Between Us and Them is the Sword" by Todd Daniels on Persecution.org
* * *
"[My friend, Michael LaCivita,] dared not say much, but he related this from the Syrian Maronite Bishop Sleiman, a sense of things as they are: 'Flattened. Everything is just
flattened. Destroyed.' People's spirits are crushed; they have nothing, and are wholly dependent on aid; they are displaced, and in shock, and without the will to engage in the difficult work of surviving."
Source: "The ISIS Effect: 'Flattened; Everything is Gone' - UPDATED" by Elizabeth Scalia on The Anchoress
For Christians who are being persecuted for their faith in Iraq, please:
Fast and Pray
A day of fasting and prayer is being promoted via social media for this Friday, 25 July 2014. If you'd like an already-composed prayer to use,
this is a good one.
Act
DONATE to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA): "Support the brave priests, nuns and brothers -- CNEWA's partners -- who are on the ground and ready to care for the injured, the orphans and the frightened refugees."
CONTACT your elected officials and urge them to speak out. There's also a
petition on Whitehouse.gov you can sign.
SHARE the news about what's happening in Iraq -- as
the mainstream media is mostly silent (what a shock) -- and SPREAD THE WORD about the day of fasting and prayer for this Friday. The following graphic is a good one to use (click for full-sized).
Labels: humanitarian aid, persecution, politics, prayer
I can quit anytime
"Do you have many Josephite prayer books?"
"Oh, a few. ... Well, maybe several. ... OKAY, FINE, A LOT."
Don't judge me.
(We are
not even gonna discuss how many Josephite holy cards I have. NO, I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM.)
Labels: joseph, josephite, prayer
A Franciscan Pet Blessing
When a pal
finally shared pics of his newly-adopted kitteh, I remembered the lil' pet blessing* that I came up with years ago, and figured I'd share it. :-)
+ Make sign of cross** on pet's forehead.
May the Lord bless you,
protect you,
and keep you
happy, healthy, and safe with us
for the rest of your life. Amen.
- - - - -
* Of course, there are a gajillion (technical term) Franciscan pet blessings out there, and most are better. Mine simply has the distinction of bein' short and therefore easier to remember.
** I like to dip my thumb in holy water and then trace the sign of the cross.
Labels: animals, cats, franciscan, prayer, st. francis
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, the bloop
The Lord bless *YOU*!
I've always
loved this
blessing of St. Francis to Brother Leo, which is based on
Numbers 6:24-26. For fun, earlier this evening I decided to play around and make it into a graphic. What ya think?
Share and enjoy! :-)
Labels: fun, prayer, quotes, st. francis
St. Anthony Chaplet: Make it, pray it!
One of my Secular Franciscan sisters has a devotion to St. Anthony, and so I decided to make chaplet for her. I actually didn't know if such a chaplet existed beforehand, but figured I'd do a search and lo! It does indeed! Thank you, Interwebs! So I figured I'd share back with the Interwebs. Here's a picture of the chaplet I recently knotted up, along with information on how to pray it.
Make It!
I made this with
solid brown twine, and finished it with a spiffy St. Anthony medal. As for the amount of twine used, it was about 3/4ths needed for a standard 5-decade Rosary (19-1/2 to 20 feet), which works out to about 15 feet.
Pray It!
At the start of each set of beads, announce and meditate on the following
petitions. Then, on each bead recite the following:
- 1st Bead: One "Our Father"
- 2nd Bead: One "Hail Mary"
- 3rd Bead: One "Glory Be"
Petitions:
- St. Anthony, who raised the dead, pray for those Christians now in their agony, and for our dear departed.
- St. Anthony, zealous preacher of the Gospel, fortify us against the errors of the enemies of God, and pray for the Holy Father and the Church.
- St. Anthony, powerful with the Heart of Jesus, preserve us from the calamities which threaten us on account of our sins.
- St. Anthony, who drivest away devils, make us triumph over their snares.
- St. Anthony, lily of heavenly purity, purify us from the stains of the soul and preserve our bodies from all dangers.
- St. Anthony, healer of the sick, cure our diseases and preserve us in health.
- St. Anthony, guide of travelers, bring to safe harbor those who are in danger of perishing and calm the troubled waves of passion which agitate our souls.
- St. Anthony, liberator of captives, deliver us from the captivity of evil.
- St. Anthony, who restorest to young and old the use of their limbs, obtain for us the perfect use of the senses of our body and the faculties of our soul.
- St. Anthony, finder of lost things, help us to find all that we have lost in the spiritual and temporal order.
- St. Anthony, protected by Mary, avert the dangers which threaten our body and our soul.
- St. Anthony, helper of the poor, help us in our needs and give bread and work to those who ask.
- St. Anthony, we thankfully proclaim thy miraculous power, and we beseech thee to protect us all the days of our life.
At the end of the 13 sets of 3 beads, recite the
Miraculous Responsory:
If miracles thou fain would see,
lo, error, death, calamity.
The leprous stain, the demon flies,
from beds of pain the sick arise.
The hungry seas forego their prey,
the prisoner’s cruel chains give way;
while palsied limbs and chattels lost,
both young and old recovered boast.
And perils perish, plenty’s hoard,
is heaped on hunger’s famished board;
let those relate who know it well,
let Padua on her patron tell.
The hungry seas forego their prey,
the prisoner’s cruel chains give way;
while palsied limbs and chattels lost,
both young and old recovered boast.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
The hungry seas forego their prey,
the prisoner’s cruel chains give way;
while palsied limbs and chattels lost,
both young and old recovered boast.
V. Pray for us, blessed Anthony,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God,
let the votive commendation of Blessed Anthony,
Thy Confessor,
be a source of joy to Thy Church,
that she may always be fortified
with spiritual assistance,
and may deserve to possess eternal joy.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Learn More About It!
For further reading, check out the following resources:
Labels: franciscan, prayer, saints
It's Mass o'clock!
Serendipity alert! Some nifty lil' bits led to my finding this delightful post,
It's 5:00 Somewhere:
Bit the First:
While browsing around a spiffy Catholic bookstore with a pal this Saturday, I came across
The New Revised Jesus, Mary, Joseph Novena Manual. Which I (of course) bought, being the prayer book junkie that I am. (And let's not even talk about holy cards, m'kay?)
Bit the Second:
Thanks to the booklet, not only did I learn about the
Confraternity of the Precious Blood (publishers of said booklet), I also discovered the existence of the World Mass Clock, of which there's a bitty picture on page 17. While it's one thing to know, in a nebulous kinda' way, that Mass is being celebrated somehwere around the world, this image (and accompanying prayer) is a helpful heads-up. No, it doesn't provide a precise, "This-Is-EXACTLY-The-Time-When-Mass-Is-Celebrated!!" thingy, but it's a good visual aid, giving folks a
basic timeframe for where Mass is being offered at any given time.
Bit the Third:
After wanting to use a larger image for daily reference, today I
tweeted a question about where to find a good, World Mass Clock graphic. (Bonus points if the graphic was more current. For example, the one in the booklet lists Persia and Siam instead of Iran and Thailand.)
I got antsy, though, and shortly thereafter searched on "world mass clock" ... which brought me right to the
It's 5:00 Somewhere post. Which linked to a nice, big World Mass Clock image. And the post itself just so happened to have been written
today.
Awesome.
Labels: liturgy, mass, prayer, sacraments, spiffy
On a vacation from God
We were on vacation last week, and while it wasn't anything grandiose, it was a big ball o' fun. Sipped margaritas while poolside (well, that was just me; Husband Mike doesn't like 'em), nibbled on snacky noms, ate at a place that has The Best Rotisserie Chicken Ev-ar, unwound in a hot tub, slept in, meandered leisurely about ... in other words, we had a faboo time.
Then yesterday, when browsing in my feed reader, the article,
Should I relax my "Rule of Life" during the holidays? – Part I of II, jumped out and proceeded to soundly box my ears. This part in particular gave me a good thumpin' (emphasis added):
"Vacation is meant to provide necessary rest from and rejuvenation for the normal, meaningful, but draining activities of daily life; it is not meant to separate us from God or be [a] pause on our journey towards deeper communion with him. Vacation must never be an excuse to pray less ..."
Oh, sure, we had a wonderful week, but ...
Did I remember to pray daily, during the abundant free time I had?
No.
How about quick check-ins with God through the day?
Um ...
Noon Angelus, at least?
Completely slipped my mind.
So, no Lauds or Vespers, then?
Hey,
you try packing the
one volume Roman-Franciscan LOTH in an overnight bag! I needed that room for my swimsuit and flip-flops! (Note: I'm terrible about regularly praying the LOTH when
not on vacation, so this was a further FAIL on my part.)
On the plus side: On the way to our destination, I did remember to heartily thank God for our being able to afford a vacation, and again remembered to say thanks to Him while floating about in the water. When we passed by a parish during our leisurely meandering, we popped in and prayed a bit before the tabernacle. I also knotted up some Rosaries and a prayer rope. And of course, we didn't miss Mass! (We were back in town by then anyway, but even if we hadn't been, that's what
MassTimes.org is for!)
Still, my overall
attitude was that of a kid barreling outta the building on the last day of school. Woohoo! See ya when I get back, God! I'll bring ya a snowglobe!
It's frustrating to admit that I'm still treating, to some degree, my relationship with Him as an
obligation. And not only that, but one I'm willing to let slip a bit. Doubleplus wrong.
::sigh::
Looking forward to the second part of
Father John's article. I've got some summer-school studyin' to do.
Update: Part II from Father John is now available.
Labels: prayer, reflections
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
I don't know about you, but I'm one of those people who needs to use her imagination in prayer and meditation. For me, it's a great focusing aid and helps me ride herd on my strayin' thoughts. As St. Ignatius of Loyola describes it in his
Spiritual Exercises:
"Here it is to be noted that, in a visible contemplation or meditation -- as, for instance, when one contemplates Christ our Lord, Who is visible -- the composition will be to see with the sight of the imagination the corporeal place where the thing is found which I want to contemplate. I say the corporeal place, as for instance, a Temple or Mountain where Jesus Christ or Our Lady is found, according to what I want to contemplate." ("First Exercise")
In other words, use your imagination to create as real and vivid an image as possible while contemplating stuff like Jesus teaching in the temple, or Elizabeth greeting Mary. I'm always looking for ways to do this, and I thought I'd share one that I came up with the other day. It was triggered by the following passage in
The Blessed Eucharist: Our Greatest Treasure:
"A holy nun who had suffered very much in this life appeared after her death to one of her sisters in religion. She told her that she would willingly return to the world and undergo once more all the pains she had suffered here on earth, provided she could say but one Hail Mary, because by that one prayer, her glory and joy would be increased by one degree for all eternity. (P. Michael a St. Catherine, Lib. III, Tract. 16)" (pp. 95-96)
The author used the anecdote to illustrate his point that, if the blessed in Heaven are willing to do so much for
one Hail Mary, what more would they do for one Communion? And I got that, but what really stuck with me was the "one Hail Mary". One Hail Mary ... why don't I pray it more often? There's no reason to limit it to the confines of the Rosary or Angelus. It's such a short, simple prayer, and it's certainly a better thing to have in my head than the usual banal chatter careening about in there. And it's a beautiful way to tell our Blessed Mother how much I love her, which I really should do more often.
So, as I settled into bed that night, I imagined ...
... an endless garden in which there grew all the species and hybrids of roses in existence, whose perfume filled the air. The grass was bright green, the sky was deep blue, and trees of every kind dotted the landscape, as did pools and lakes and flowing rivers of varying sizes. The sun shone brightly, but didn't scorch or blind. Birds called from the trees and water and sky, fish flashed through the streams, and animals played peaceably among the roses.
In the garden's center was a trellis whose size dwarfed
the baldacchino in St. Peter's Basilica, with roses climbing, cascading, and sticking out all over. The trellis towered over a large, white marble dais, veined in gold, silver, and bronze. On the dais sat a polished, high-backed cedar bench whose entire surface was carved with roses, animals, birds, and fish. A plush, amethyst cushion covered the seat. The armrests on each side of the bench curved gently inward, giving it a crescent-shaped appearance.
Sitting on the bench were Mary and Joseph -- he, with his right arm around her; she, resting her head on his shoulder.
The young couple were dressed in royal splendor -- flowing, gold-embroidered robes and mantles. Mary's dress was ruby, her veil and mantle sapphire. Joseph's robe was emerald and his mantle jasper. The matching embroidery on their clothes was of the Sacred Heart, which was depicted in varying sizes. Both wore gold crowns with the Sacred Heart as points.
Vases and bowls and containers of all shapes, colors, materials, and sizes covered the dais and surrounded the bench, and roses were arranged in all of them. Those roses represented all the Hail Marys I'd prayed throughout my life, but the containers were not full by any means.
I imagined myself as I was as at age 9. I wore a simple, pink dress, and I stood barefoot before the Holy Spouses, holding a long-stemmed red rose. As I prayed a Hail Mary, I presented to Our Lady the rose, which she delightedly accepted. Joseph laughed with joy at her happiness. I prayed another Hail Mary and gave her another rose, which had appeared in my hands. With each Hail Mary, a new rose appeared for me to give, and the rose that Mary had been holding re-appeared in one of the vases and bowls and containers.
As I now pray the Hail Mary, not only do I pray it for the usual reasons, but I seek also to fill the dais to overflowing with roses before I die. Not so much to increase my degree of glory or joy in heaven, but simply to make Mary and Joseph as happy as I can, while I can.
"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying."
(Robert Herrick, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time")
Labels: joseph, mary, prayer, reflections
