I recently bought a Orthodox prayer rope and have started praying the Jesus Prayer. I’ve been praying it every day for about a month now and through it am discovering a new-found intimacy wit…
Mary at the Foot of the Cross: Seeing the Passion through a Mother’s Eyes
One of the hardest things to wrap our heads around as Christians is the nature of Jesus – fully human, yet fully divine. Like the Virgin Mary we often ponder: How can this be? Not that we doubt it’…
Source: Mary at the Foot of the Cross: Seeing the Passion through a Mother’s Eyes
The incredible story of Montana’s 90-foot statue of Mary
One of the most picturesque views in Montana comes into focus when rounding the bend on eastbound Interstate 90, about 6 miles from the historic city of Butte. On the towering East Ridge overlookin…
Source: The incredible story of Montana’s 90-foot statue of Mary
“Get Down On Your Knees!”: a meditation
A short while meditating on these few words of wisdom below from a saintly priest, Fulton Sheen, who understood well the immensity of God’s love for fallen man, might open the eyes of cynics …
Catholic Hero Priest in WW II
Below is a great article from Regina Magazine about a “brawny” priest that saved many lives while risking his own life. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty sets a great example of what a Catholic priest must do in terrible times. May the priests we have today step up and defend and fight for the faith like Monsignor O’Flaherty. Sometimes it only takes one person to change the course of history.
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http://reginamag.com/nazis-nemesis/
The Nazis’ Nemesis
Ireland’s Shining Priest
by Rosa Kasper
From to 1942-43, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was the most-wanted man in Rome. During this time, he saved at least 6,500 Jews and Allied soldiers from near-certain death. O’Flaherty was a brawny man, who stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed over 200 pounds. Those who met him said his eyes twinkled behind his cheap wire-frame eyeglasses. He was known and loved by many for his authentic Irish charm and for…
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The powerful name of St. Joseph
We found this outstanding post from a Facebook friend about St. Joseph. St. Joseph, on your feast day, ora pro nobis!
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The Saints Are Told to Have A Great Devotion to Saint Joseph
ST. GERTRUDE’S VISION OF SAINT JOSEPH
Once, on the Feast of the Annunciation, St. Gertrude had a vision during which the Heavenly Mother revealed to her the glory of her spouse, St. Joseph, in order to awaken in the Saint a greater love for him and to encourage her to have confidence in his intercession. Of this vision St. Gertrude wrote:
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“I saw Heaven opened and St. Joseph sitting upon a magnificent throne. I felt myself wonderfully affected when, each time his name was mentioned, all the Saints made a profound inclination toward him, showing by the serenity and sweetness of their looks that they rejoiced with him on account of his exalted dignity.”
Jesus tells Saint Margaret of Cortona to be Devoted to Saint Joseph
Jesus Christ made known His wishes on this point to St. Margaret of Cortona, by appearing to her one day and telling her, among other things, to cultivate a special devotion to St. Joseph, who had performed the part of father towards Him with so much zeal and affection. It would be an act of inexcusable ingratitude for Christians to refuse to pay St. Joseph, through love of the God-Saviour, a tribute of honor and gratitude. As for me, O my Jesus, I will follow Thy example; I will serve him whom Thou has served; I will honor him whom Thou hast honored; I will love him whom Thou has loved with the tenderness of a son. Finally, O my sweet Jesus! by that profound humility which rendered Thy adorable person obedient to the least motion of St. Joseph, I beseech Thee to grant that Thy unworthy servant may be devoted from this moment and forever to the service of this great Saint for the sole purpose of pleasing Thee, since Thou wast the first to give an example. of affection towards him.
Signal Graces obtained through St. Joseph’s intercession
In Mary of Agreda’s City of God, we learn the following consoling revelations:
• “First, those who invoke him shall obtain from God, by his intercession, the gift of chastity, and shall not be conquered by the temptation of the senses;
• Secondly, they shall receive particular graces to deliver them from sin;
• Thirdly, they shall obtain a true devotion to the Blessed Virgin;
• Fourthly, they shall have a good and happy death, and in that all-decisive moment be defended against the assaults of Satan;
• Fifthly, they shall be delivered when expedient for them, from bodily sufferings, and shall find help in their afflictions;
• Sixthly, if married, they shall be blessed with offspring;
• Seventhly, the demons shall have extreme dread of the glorious name of St. Joseph.
With so many graces to be obtained through his powerful intercession, let us not tarry nor hesitate in asking humbly for the protection and aid of dear St. Joseph, Terror of demons!
Obedience Leads to Grace
Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis: Book 3, Chapter 13
Of the Obedience of One in Humble Subjection, After the Example of Jesus Christ
My son, he that endeavoreth to withdraw himself from obedience, withdraweth himself from grace; and he who seeketh for himself private benefit (Matt. 16:24), loseth those which are common. He that doth not cheerfully and freely submit himself to his superior, it is a sign that his flesh is not as yet perfectly obedient unto him, but oftentimes kicketh and murmureth against him. Learn thou therefore quickly to submit thyself to thy superior, if thou desire to keep thine own flesh under the yoke. For more speedily is the outward enemy overcome, if the inward man be not laid waste. There is no worse nor more troublesome enemy to the soul than thou art unto thyself, if thou be not well in harmony with the Spirit. It is altogether necessary that thou take up a true contempt for thyself, if thou desire to prevail against flesh and blood. Because as yet thou lovest thyself too inordinately, therefore thou art afraid to resign thyself wholly to the will of others. And yet, what great matter is it, if thou, who art but dust and nothing, subject thyself to a man for God’s sake, when I, the Almighty and the Most Highest who created all things of nothing, humbly subjected Myself to man for thy sake? I became of all men the most humble and the most abject (Luke 2:7; John 13:14), that thou mightest overcome thy pride with My humility. O dust! learn to be obedient. Learn to humble thyself, thou earth and clay, and to bow thyself down under the feet of all men. Learn to break thine own wishes, and to yield thyself to all subjection.
Liturgy of the Hours
Mr. Kosloski’s post below is an excellent primer on Praying the Prayer of the Church, The Liturgy of the Hours. Thanks to Mr. Kosloski for the informative piece.
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A Beginner’s Guide to Praying the Liturgy of the Hours
I have said before, praying with a physical breviary can be challenging especially if no one is there to show you how. However, after an initial introduction to praying the Liturgy of the Hours, it becomes quite easy and is like clockwork.
Today, I will walk you through the most common prayer book lay people can pick up to pray the principal hours of the divine office: Christian Prayer. It contains: Morning, Evening & Night Prayer, with an abbreviated section for the Office of Readings and Daytime Prayer. If you only have enough time to pray one or more of those prayers, I suggest picking-up Christian Prayer.
First of all, as with any breviary, there are the all-important “ribbons.” These are extremely important and allow you to mark the correct parts of the divine office.
To begin setting the ribbons, take one of them and open to page 686 where the “Ordinary” and “Invitatory” are located. The “Ordinary” is the basic “instruction manual” for the Liturgy of the Hours and acts as a reference point if you ever get stuck.
Here we see how the common phrase “Say the Black, Do the Red” comes in handy. All the words printed in the color red are your instructions and all the words printed in black are the prayers you actually pray. There are plenty of instructions and options, so read it all very carefully. I suggest reading through the entire “Ordinary” before going any further.
The “Ordinary” also has prayers that are repeated each day such as the “Magnificat” and “Benedictus.” You pray these at Evening and Morning Prayer and are typically memorized in the monastery. Until you have them memorized, you can always turn to the “Ordinary” to find them.
After you have read the “Ordinary,” you can leave your first ribbon where it says “Invitatory.” This is composed of an antiphon and Psalm 95 and is typically prayed before Morning Prayer (or the Office of Readings). If you are praying the Invitatory on your own, you will say the correct antiphon once, pray Psalm 95 and then recite the same antiphon at the end. When with others, you will recite the antiphon after every stanza.
Before we go any further, a note about Christian Prayer. Unlike the full version of the divine office, the antiphons are only printed once at the beginning of each Psalm. That means after praying a Psalm, you will have to flip the page backwards to recite the correct antiphon. This is important to remember and will be repeated in Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, etc.
The second ribbon will be located in the front of the breviary in a section called the “Proper of Seasons.” This section of the breviary has all the prayers according to the “seasons” of the Church: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter & Ordinary Time.
Typically it has special antiphons and prayers for the hours prayed on Sundays throughout the year. During seasons such as Lent, there are specific readings and prayers for each day.
For now, you can place the ribbon on page 344. You will see that it says, “Fourth Week of Lent” and “Monday, Morning Prayer” at the top of the page. In order to figure out what week it is, go to USCCB.org and click on their calendar. Alternatively, you can order your own wall liturgical calendar that says what day it is.
This is an important part of the breviary as when you reach the next Sunday, it says what “Psalter” you are currently in:
You will see that it reads “Psalter, Week IV” below “Fourth Sunday of Lent.” This indicates where to put your third ribbon.
This third ribbon is located in the middle of the breviary and for our purposes is located on page 937. You will see that it reads, “Monday, Week IV” and is where we want to be. If you ever get confused on which “Psalter” you are supposed to be in, go back to the “Proper of Seasons” and the correct Sunday will tell you.
The fourth ribbon should be located at the current day for “Night Prayer.” Which is much easier to understand, as it only has a single cycle that is repeated each week. For today, it is located on page 1041.
The fifth ribbon can be placed in the “Proper of Saints,” which contains the special prayers and antiphons for specific saint days. All you need to know is the calendar date to know where to put the ribbon. Today it is located on March 7th, the Memorial of Perpetua and Felicity.
Once you have all of the ribbons in place, you can start praying every day and go through it one page at a time. If you ever get lost or confused, go to the “Ordinary” and it will tell you what to do.
If you don’t know where to set your ribbons, you can alternatively go to divineoffice.org and they have the page numbers provided for you.
At first it can be quite confusing, but after several weeks of praying it goes much smoother. After several years of praying, it is like riding a bike. If you have any trouble, I am more than happy to help as well.
Praying in this manner, while more difficult than opening up an app, is very beneficial. In an age where everything is available at the touch of our finger, it is healthy to learn the “art” of praying the divine office.
Next week, I will open up the four volume set and we will take another look at praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
Men’s Holy League
For those of you in our home state of Michigan please consider attending the Holy League at Assumption Grotto in Detroit. These events are helping change the face of Catholicism by bringing more men back to the Church and becoming better Catholics. If your Church doesn’t have one, please talk to your Priest about starting one.
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http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2016/03/new-mens-holy-league-in-detroit.html
New: Men’s Holy League in Detroit, Michigan – Every Second Saturday of the Month
David Clayton
I was pleased to hear from an NLM reader who told me of the Holy League that has just begin meeting at Assumption Grotto in Detroit every second Saturday. (The church is located at 13770 Gratiot Avenue.) The structured Holy Hour for men at 6.30 pm will be followed by Holy Mass (EF), after Mass there is coffee and fraternity.
They met for the first time this past Saturday and I heard it was a great success, with over 50 attending. It will continue each month through the year.
Through Adoration, Confession, the Rosary, and fraternity, the Holy League looks to strengthen men spiritually during these troubling times. It looks to the model prayer by which the virtue and chivalry of men was strengthened when Europe was under threat from Islam in the 16th century and which contributed so much to the great victory at the Battle of Lepanto. The 21st century Holy Leagues have begun under the patronage of Cardinal Burke.
Incidentally, it strikes me that this model of forming people who are capable of engaging with the modern world virtuously and courageously is very much in harmony with that described by Pope Benedict XVI as a method of evangelizing the culture as part of the New Evangelization. In his little paper on the subject, written in 2001, he describes how each of us must first pray, and then, through grace, be transformed in Christ. The pattern of prayer which he describes is a liturgically centered piety, a balance of liturgical and para-liturgical prayer and devotions prayed with others, and personal prayer. It is only the transformed person who is capable of communicating indirectly, through the noble and beautiful way he behaves and interacts with others, that which is embodied in Christ. We persuade others not by telling them, but by showing them who we are. We can transform the world (to use the heading on the Holy League flyer above) if we are first transformed ourselves.
Light the Beacons
From Dowry – a Catholic periodical by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (N°29, Spring 2016) “Light the Beacons” – A Homily pronounced by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP at the …
Source: Light the Beacons
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