The fifth week of Lent ( March 9 - 15, 2008 )

Last Monday we started the fifth week of Lent . I'm asking forgiveness with this occasion to my Lord and Saviour Jesus , for all my weakness , for being so long away from prayers and meditations .

The Fifth Sunday of Lent brings us closer toward the Passion and death of Jesus. In John's Gospel, we hear the story of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus is not there when his dear friend, Lazarus dies, but after meeting with Lazarus' grief-stricken sisters and himself weeping, he stands at the door of the tomb. "Lazarus, come out!" Jesus commands. The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face. Jesus then told the people, "Untie him and let him go."

Saturday is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated early this year so it would not conflict with Holy Week ( and never is too late to start the novena for the Blessed Saint Joseph ) .

If I experience myself somewhat "at war" with myself, then these are very important days to keep deliberately asking our Lord to help me. It is also a great time to begin to prepare to renew the baptismal promises at Easter. We can reject the unloving choices we've made . If we have developed the habit of naming a desire the first thing each morning, and carrying on a conversation with our Lord in the brief background moments of the day, we are already comfortable with letting the Word or the Season interact with the concrete events of the week. This way of finding intimacy with our Lord, through our daily interaction - even in a very busy life - is so appropriate for the Fifth Week of Lent. We can discover areas that are still resistant to God's grace. We can ask for help to practice new ways of being free, or new ways of loving. We can find ways to make financial sacrifices to give to the poor this week.

Each night this week, we can give heartfelt thanks. The closer we get to celebrating Holy Week and the events that brought us our salvation, each of us can express our gratitude, realizing this was all for me.

May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

Happy New Year and a very blessed Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

I shall start my first post on the new year 2008 with the same word Holy Father John Paul II said with the occasion of Solemnity of Mary , Mother fo God and World Day of Peace ( 1 January 2002 ) :
"Entering the new year, let us ask this holy Mother Mary , Mother of God to bless us. Let us ask Her to give us Jesus, our full Blessing, in whom the Father blessed all history once and for all, making it become the history of salvation " .

The first day of the New Year is a splendid opportunity to reflect on the marvel of the Word Made Flesh, and the woman He took His flesh from when He came among us. Is the moment to meditate upon Mary as the Mother of God , upon the most holy maternity .


Following the holy Fathers we teach with one voice that the Son [of God] and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be confessed as one and the same [Person], that he is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, very God and very man, of a reasonable soul and [human] body consisting, consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood; made in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; begotten of his Father before the worlds according to his Godhead; but in these last days for us men and for our salvation born [into the world] of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God according to his manhood. This one and the same Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son [of God] must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united], and that without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union, but rather the peculiar property of each nature being preserved and being united in one Person and subsistence, not separated or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophets of old time have spoken concerning him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us, and as the Creed of the Fathers hath delivered to us.
from The Definition of the Council of Chalcedon, (451AD)

Many non Catholics ( or non-Othodoxs) seem to have a major problem with the Virgin Mary , true Mother of God . It is a problem that goes far beyond theological reason and debate. In some quarters there seems to be a major antipathy, almost hatred, directed at one of the key figures in the Redemption of mankind . But the answer is only in the scriptural basis of the Unity of God, the eternity of the Word and the Incarnation , only this is sufficient in itself to arrive at the conclusion that Mary is the Mother of God.

Let us therefore praise the Holy Mother of God , Mother of the Incarnation , let us pray to Mary , Mother of Jesus , true God and Redeemer of the World .

Hail, Mother and Virgin,
Eternal Temple of the Godhead,
Venerable Treasure of Creation,
crown of virginity,
support of the true faith,
on which the Church is founded throughout the world.

Mother of God,
who contained the infinite God
under your heart,
whom no space can contain:
through you the most Holy Trinity is revealed,
adored, and glorified,
demons are vanquished,
satan cast down from heaven into hell
and our fallen nature again assumed into heaven.

Through you the human race,
held captive in the bonds of idolatry,
arrives at the knowledge of Truth.
What more shall I say of you? Hail,
through whom kings rule,
through whom the Only-Begotten Son of God
has become the Star of Light
to those sitting in darkness
and in the shadow of death.

Amen .
( prayer of ~~ Saint Cyril of Alexandria ~~ )

Today we're starting the second week of Christmas and this second week of the Christmas Season can be a great help for our daily connections with our Lord. On Tuesday we have the full and wonderful Solemnity in honor of Mary, in her role as Mother of God. We can ask her to be our guide all week as we desire to grow closer to her Son. We can read Pope Benedict's words for the World Day of Prayer for Peace and ponder them from time to time this week.

As we go through our daily, and often very busy lives in these days after Christmas, we can continue a sense of this brief season by continuing to ask that our Lord come to us in the ways we still need light and healing and peace. For some of us, this will be an easy prayer this week Waiting faithfully can continue into the Christmas Season.

A special grace to ask for this week would be the gift of celebrating our Lord's presence with us. We can ask for it every morning, as we get going and we can enter into brief conversations with our Lord, in the background, as we encounter some of the places in our life in which we can see more hope, more of an opportunity for peace. This week, we might hold up each member of our family, close friends and neighbors, and those we might work with, seeing and celebrating how our Lord is manifest in them. For some of us, there may be real epiphany moments, when we see what we haven't been seeing, feel what we haven't been feeling or experience a call we haven't felt before. Being watchful for and open to these special post-Christmas moments of grace is very important.

Tuesday, January 1 is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Mother of God. It is also marks the Naming of the Child, Jesus, a special day for the Society of Jesus and it is the World Day of Prayer for Peace. Wednesday is the Memorial of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church. Friday is the Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Saturday is the Memorial of Saint John Neumann.

May you all have a blessed week and I hope that everybody

Blessings for everyone through the Holy Family Feast ( 30 December )

I'm back after one week Christmas holiday and gladly I wish you all passing through my humble journal : a very blessed and happy Holy Family Feast .



The Feast of the Holy Family is not just about the Holy Family, but about our own families. The main purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family as the model for all Christian families. Our family life becomes sanctified when we live the life of the Church within our homes. This is called the "domestic church" or the "church in miniature." St. John Chrysostom urged all Christians to make each home a "family church," and in doing so, we sanctify the family unit. Just how does one live out the Church in the family? The best way is by making Christ and his Church the center of family and individual life. Ways to do this include: reading scripture regularly, praying, attending Mass weekly, imitating the actions of the Holy Family, and so forth, all done together. In addition to cultivating positive actions, the Church understands that various actions and behaviors are contrary to God's Divine plan for the family, and these should be avoided. These include abortion, contraception, gay marriage, fetal stem-cell research, divorce, spousal abuse, child abuse, and co-habitation. In the Catholic Church, a marriage must be open to children. Anything artificial that prevents this is wrong. Also, poverty, lack of health care, and other social justice concerns must be addressed by faithful Christians because of the negative effect these conditions have on the family unit.

St. Paul gives us some advice on family life in Colossians 3:12-21:

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged (RSV).

The Holy Family feast is a good time to remember the family unit and pray for our human and spiritual families. We also may take this feast to reflect on the value and sanctity of the family unit, and to evaluate our own family life. What ways may it be improved? What would Jesus, Mary, and Joseph do? Finally, we can use this feast to ask ourselves what are we doing to promote the family within our own cultures, neighborhoods, and communities.

Let us pray
[for peace in our families]



Father,
help us to live as the Holy Family,
united in respect and love.
Bring us to the joy and peace of your eternal home.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Jesus, our most loving redeemer,
You came to enlighten the world
with your teaching and example.
You willed to spend the greater part of Your life
in humble obedience to Mary and Joseph
in the poor home of Nazareth.
In this way, You sanctified that family,
which was to be an example for all Christian families.

Graciously accept our family,
which we dedicate and consecrate to You this day.
Be pleased to protect, guard, and keep it
in holy fear, in peace,
and in the harmony of Christian charity.
By conforming ourselves to the Divine model
of Your family,
may we attain to eternal happiness.
( taken from New St. Joseph People's Prayer Book )

Heavenly Father,
we are reminded by the Second Vatican Council
that our family is a domestic Church
where family prayer and mutual affection
pay you special worship.
Help us to be a family of love,
support, forgiveness and courage.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

This third week of Advent, our daily prayer continues to allow us to become much more concrete about naming our desires and preparing the way for the Lord . A week of recognizing ourselves, and recognizing our need for a Savior is a wonderful way to prepare. We can only turn to our God and trust in the safety we find accepting our God as the only god of our lives if we first can name the place in which we are in danger, with the choices we are making. We can surrender our fear of being put to shame by humbly coming face to face with who we can sometimes be. The depths of gratitude and joy come when we can experience the tenderness with which our Lord keeps taking us back.

Father, may the coming celebration of the birth of Your Son bring us Your saving help and prepare us for Eternal Life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Join me in Christmas Novena ( started on December 16 )

On December 16 started Christmas Novena ( read more on my other journal )


Oh, how I love Thee, Lord of Heaven above!
Too well hast Thou deserved to gain my love;
Sweet Jesus, I would die for love of Thee,
For Thou didst not disdain to die for me.

I leave Thee, faithless world,-----farewell! depart!
This lovely Babe has loved and won my heart.
I love Thee, loving God, Who from above
Didst come on earth, a Babe, to gain my love.

Thou tremblest, darling Child, and yet I see
Thy heart is all on fire with love for me:
Love makes Thee thus a Child, my Saviour dear;
Love only brought Thee down to suffer here;

Love conquered Thee, Great God, love tied Thy hands,
A captive here for me, in swathing-bands;
And love, strong love, awaits Thy latest breath,
To make Thee die for me a cruel death

( St. Alphonsus Liguori Christmas Hymn )

God Bless you all abundantely , now and forever !

Today is the third Monday of Advent and the Feast of Saint Lazarus of Bethany

read more about on my other journal


Christ, Thou who knowest all things,
Thou hast asked to learn where the tomb of Lazarus is,
And arriving there, Thou hast raised him up on the fourth day,
O All-powerful One,
Taking pity, Merciful One,
On the tears of Mary and Martha.

The Master, checking the lamentations of Mary and Martha,
Immediately stilled them when He raised up their brother.
It was possible, then, to see marvel of marvels,
How the lifeless suddenly was seen to be alive.
For when His voice descended,
It caused the bolts of the gate of Hades
To shake; and it broke down the bars of the door of Death;
And on the fourth day, He raised up the dead; as the Merciful One,
He took pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.

Let us all, with love, hurry to Bethany to see Christ there,
Weeping for his friend.
For wishing all things to be ordained by law,
He controls all things in His dual nature.
He suffers as son of David; as Son of God,
He redeems the whole world from all the evil of the serpent,
And on the fourth day, He raised up Lazarus, taking pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.

Together sustained by faith,
The two announced to Christ and God the death
Of their brother, saying,
“Hasten, come, Thou who art always present in all places,
For Lazarus whom Thou dost love is ill: if Thou come near,
Death will vanish, and Thy friend will be saved from corruption,
And the Jews will see that Thou, the Merciful One,
Hast taken pity on
The tears of May and Martha.”

The Creator of all spoke on behalf of the disciples, saying:
“Friends and companions, our friend has fallen asleep.”
He was secretly teaching them in advance,
Because He knows and care for all things,
“Let us go, then, let us advance and see the unusual tomb,
And let us cause the mourning of Mary and Martha to cease
As I raise up Lazarus from the tomb,
And as the Merciful One take pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.”

When the heard these words, the apostles
As with one voice cried out to the Lord,
“Sleep exists for man for his safety
And not at all for his destruction.”
And so He spoke to them openly: “He is dead.
As mortal I am away from him; but as God, I know all things.
If we truly arrive at the opportune time,
I shall resurrect the dead, and cause to cease
The tears of Mary and Martha.”

They all, then, arrived together,
When Mary and her sister came to meet them, crying bitterly,
“Lord, where wert Thou? For he whom Thou lovest has departed,
And lo, he is not here.”
As they cried out these words, He, himself, wept.
But he asked, “Where is the tomb of my friend? Now
I am going to release him from the chains of Hades,
Since as the only lover of mankind, I take pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.”

When they arrived at the tomb,
He who is in the bosom of His Father, called out:
“Thou hast sent me into the world
That I might bring life to the dead.
I have come, then, to raise up Lazarus
And to reveal to the Jews that I am going to arise from my tomb
On the third day, I who after the fourth day resurrect my friend And now
take pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.”

In order that He might bring an end to the mourning of Martha,
The Savior of all spoke to her and addressed
These divine words to her:
“I exist as the Light of the world
And the resurrection of all from the dead;
It was for this end that I appeared in order to resurrect Adam
And the descendants of Adam
And on the fourth day to resurrect Lazarus
Taking pity, as a Merciful One, on
The tears of Mary and Martha.”

When the command was given with a nod of His head,
Hades was made to totter,
And also the power of Death and the arrogance of the Devil.
With the sound of His voice,
He raised up from the depths of the earth
The one who was four days dead.
When they saw this, Abraham and all the righteous cried out:
“Now, take courage, since the resurrection of all has come.
He has delivered from the bonds of death
The one whom He loves, as He, the Merciful One, takes pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.”

Hades, now a prisoner, sees himself despoiled of this Lazarus,
Whom a short time ago he held enchained below;
For when the King of angels came against him,
The strength of demons was destroyed;
And the serpent who trails over the earth on his stomach,
Now, pierced in the mouth by the Wooden Spear, appears as dead.
But Adam rejoices when he sees Christ,
In His goodness, take pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.

Rising from the tomb, the friend reveals his eyes
And hands bound by a cloth;
They release him — those who have their hearts
Bound by the ill will of slander,
Those who, as they plug up their ears like the adder,
Prepare their hands for most wicked slaughter,
That they may pour out
The harmless and innocent blood of the One
Who raises up the dead, and checks
The tears of Mary and Martha.

Having heard the words of the children,
Which came from pure hearts and innocent lips,
They were all filled with fear
Saying to one another, “Who is this man?”
O madness and complete stupidity!
A short time ago they saw raised from the dead
A corpse who had become fetid,
And they do not know who resurrected him,
And who destroyed with His voice the power of Hades,
And in accord with His merciful nature checked
The tears of Mary and Martha!

O Thy unspeakable compassion, all merciful Jesus!
Who didst consent to come for me and to me,
How didst Thou calmly ride upon the ass
And advance into the city of God-slayers?
Foreseeing their terrible lack of faith, Thou didst command them
To release the bonds of Lazarus, that they might see
The One whom in a short time they wish to put to death
With no pity for
The tears of Mary and Martha.

O Savior, all came with palms on the occasion of Thy arrival,
Crying, “Hosanna!” to Thee,
Now all of us bring hymns to Thee out of piteous mouths,
As we wave the branches of our spirit and cry out:
“O Thou, truly among those on high, save the world
Which Thou hast created, Lord,
And blot out our sins, just as formerly Thou hast dried
The tears of Mary and Martha.

O Lover of mankind, the Holy Church holds a high festival,
Faithfully calling together her children;
It meets Thee with palms and spreads out garments of joy
So that, with Thy disciples and with Thy friend,
Thou mayest advance and legislate a deep peace for Thy servants,
And release them from oppression, as formerly Thou hast checked
The tears of Mary and Martha.

Incline Thy ear, O God of the universe, and hear our prayers,
And snatch us from the bonds of death,
For our enemies who always surround us, visibly and invisibly,
Threaten to have us put to death, and besides,
To deprive us of our faith.
Arise, and quickly let all be destroyed and let them know
That Thou art our God and dost pity us as Thou didst have pity on
The tears of Mary and Martha.

Let us, who are dead because of our sins, and who dwell in the tomb
Because of our knowledge of evil,
Imitate the sisters of faithful Lazarus as we cry to Christ
With tears, in faith and in love:
“Save us, Thou who didst will to become man.
And resurrect us from the tomb of our sins, Thou, alone immortal,
Through the prayers of Thy friend, Lazarus,
Whom Thou didst raise up, O Lord, in checking
The tears of Mary and Martha.”

Let us depart the mere material world, which is always in a state of flux,
And hasten to meet Christ the Savior in Bethany.
Let us then dine with Him
And with his friend Lazarus and the apostles
So that we may, by their prayers, be delivered from our past sins.
If we cleanse every stain from our hearts, we shall see perfectly
His divine resurrection, which He offered to us when He took away
The tears of Mary and Martha.

—St. Romanos the Melodist 6th century

Tomorrow is the Third Sunday of Advent , may God bless you all

Nine days until Christmas !
Now, as we approach the third Sunday of Advent 8 only one day and we shall lite the third candle , we must remind us that Advent truly is a beginning and a preparation. It is a beginning that, like all true beginnings, we make from nothing .
It is a soul preparation for great joy and light of Christmas .


Lord,
let Your glory dawn to take away our darkness.
May we be revealed as the children of Light
at the coming of Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Lord ,
Let me be a child of Your light
and feel the fire of Your love
and the glory of Your words.
Most of all, let me be grateful to You
For the greatest gift of Christmas .
Amen

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.