Stir Up Our Hearts, and Sanctify this Day

Love this from Morning Prayer today! I think it ties in with what I posted last week from +Archbishop Luis Martinez from The Sanctifier.

Christ our Savior, in conquering death you brought us joy, in rising again you raised us up and filled us with the abundance of your gifts, 
-stir up our hearts, and sanctify this day through the gift of your Holy Spirit.

Amen! Alleluia!

Walking Alone with Christ

So, yeah. I read something the other day, and I continue to think about it and thought I'd share it here.  It's from Fr. Mike Schmitz, Following God. Alone.

This is what struck me the most:

"One task we all have to accomplish is to learn how to walk alone with Christ...the Christian does not have to seek out isolation, but we must learn how to embrace it when it finds us."

Because, yes, it finds us. Sometimes quite unexpectedly, and other times you can see it coming a long way off.  Either way, Jesus does not leave us orphans. He is with us. Community is wonderful, and God provides when we need it most, yet there are times in life when community eludes us. And it is these times when our hearts are stretched to trust that Jesus continues to be with us and for us. Jesus does not abandon us. The interior suffering that finds us is painful, yet can be fruitful if we open ourselves to the grace God pours out to us in our loneliness and solitude.

One of the most beautiful books I have read is When God is Silent by +Archbishop Luis Martinez.  Here is a passage from that short and helpful book:

"Let faith and love sustain you while Jesus sleeps.  

The grace of purifying and fruitful sorrow is assured by the sleep of Jesus in the soul.  As the tempest on Tiberias coincided with the sleep of the Master, so in souls the hurricane rages when Jesus sleeps.  Souls need to be tempered in the clamor of the storm. They must be shaken by the seething waves to learn the stability of love. The sky must be overcast so that in the midst of shadows they may catch sight of  the mysterious light of faith.  The very depths must be opened beneath their fragile bark, so they may know how to hope against all hope."

During times of isolation or loneliness, we may be tempted in the interior suffering to try to alleviate our sadness in ways leading us away from God.  Instead, let us trust that He is with us, and though in our sadness, His presence may seem impossible to awaken, let us trust the fruitful labor of His love in our hearts, teaching us to hope against all hope.

A blessed last day of the Easter Octave to you!

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:18

From The Breadbox Letters

An Ennobled Existence

"A happy death is a masterpiece and no masterpiece was ever perfected in a day...our death at the end of our natural existence must appear as a ravishing perfection of the many years of labor we have given over to it's mold by dying daily...Most of us die only once when we should have died a thousand times-- aye when we should have died daily. Death is a terrible thing for him who dies only when he dies; but it is a beautiful thing for him who dies before he dies...There is no other way of entering into a higher life except by dying to the lower; there is no possibility of man's enjoying an ennobled existence in Christ unless he is torn up from the old Adam."

+Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Comforter of the Afflicted and the Refuge of Sinners

Venerable Fulton Sheen+, The Mystical Body of Christ

Our Lord did not make His earthly life one prolonged transfiguration. In those few, brief moments He did reveal the glory which was really His, but at all other times He appealed through the humanity which was like unto ours. His fatigue at Jacob's well, His tears over Jerusalem, His agony in the garden, His sufferings on the Cross - all the "weakness" of His human nature - have won more souls to Him than the blazing garments and the Heavenly Voice of Thabor.

In like manner, if the life of the Church had been one triumphant, blazing transfiguration on a mountain top, apart from the woes and ills of man, she would never have been the Comforter of the Afflicted and the Refuge of Sinners. She has been called, like her Divine Head, to be a redemptress, lifting men from the shadows of sin to the tabernacles of grace where Saints are made. She is not a far-off, abstract ideal, but a Mother; and though she has been stained with dust in her long journey through the centuries, though some of her children have left her and saddened her soul, yet there is joy in her heart because of the children she has nourished; there is gladness in her eyes because of the faith she has preserved; there is understanding in her soul for she has known the frailty of our flesh, and how to nourish us back to life. And in these qualities one divines the reason why Our Blessed Lord chose, not a sinless man like John, but a weak, frail, fallen man like Peter as His first vicar, in order that, through his weakness, he and the Church of which he is the head might sympathize with the weakness of his brethren, be their Apostle of Mercy and, in the truest sense of the term, the Vicar of the Saviour and Redeemer of the world who came not to save the just, but the sinner.

"Oh how I love to help you, my dear son and daughter. Let me remove those knots for you forever. I love you."

This morning as our new little guy was sleeping (well, not so new, 7 months now!), our 4 year old was trying to untangle a set of earbuds and becoming a bit frustrated.  Feeling a full heart this morning for many reasons, I decided to offer my help as I could see my patience was a little higher than his (which isn't always the case). Plus the baby was sleeping. 

That is not a picture of the same earbuds that we untangled, but some random group of tangled cords that seem to lie in abundance about our house.  But thank God we have a lot of pictures of Jesus at our house too.  Plus I thought you might get a kick out of the industrial strength ultra duster that my husband seems to think is the way to dust our house, which is covered in dust. But I digress.

He gave me the earbuds, and I proceeded to untangle the cords with great patience.  With this great gift of patience in my heart, I began a *teaching moment*.... this one was successful though!  I told him that it only takes a little bit of patience and perseverance to untangle and remove the knots.  He agreed. We worked together diligently and within no time at all, it was untangled! This happened with no interruptions, a miracle in itself.  It was so easy, but I reminded him that sometimes tangles are not so easy, and if we let God do the work for us and with us, He always works out the knots for us.

Right after we had that one untangled, he put it on top of another group of cords and it became all mixed up again! He and I laughed about that, and he tried to get them out himself but it was not working. That's when I said, "Here, let your mom help you out."

and bam! there she was, Mary, right there with us, saying, "Oh how I love to help you, my dear son and daughter.  Let me remove those knots for you forever. I love you."

So thankful for praying a Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots, recently, so she could open up my heart in this beautiful, tangible way.

And since I haven't announced yet here at this blog that we had a new baby, here is a picture of him! He was born just after midnight on January 21, 2015 on the Feast of Saint Agnes, with Saint Sebastian's help the day before during labor. We all love him so, our dear little David:

He Has Answered My Heart

He has answered a question that has been in my heart for so long now.  He answered last night while reading, just after midnight.  And now today I learn that this is the day that John Henry Cardinal Newman died. Thank You, Jesus.  Thank you, +Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Thank you, +John Henry Cardinal Newman.

"Touch Me not," He says to St. Mary Magdalene, "I am not yet ascended to My Father..." Why might not our Lord be touched before His ascension, and how could He be touched after it? But Christ speaks, it would seem, thus (if, as before, we might venture to paraphrase His sacred words)-- "Hitherto you have only known Me after the flesh. I have lived among you as a man. You have been permitted to approach Me sensibly, to kiss and embrace My feet, to pour ointment upon My head. But all this is at an end, now that I have died and risen again in the power of the Spirit. A glorified state of existence is begun in Me, and will soon be perfected.  At present, though I bid you at one moment to handle Me as possessed of flesh and bones, I vanish like a spirit at another; though I let one follower embrace My feet, and say, 'Fear not,' I repel another with the words, 'Touch Me not.' Touch Me not, for I am fast passing for your great benefit from earth to heaven, from flesh and blood into glory, from a natural body to a spiritual body. When I am ascended, then the change will be completed.  To pass hence to the Father in My bodily presence, is to descend from the Father to you in spirit. When I am thus changed, when I am thus present to you, more really present than now, though invisibly, then you may touch Me- may touch Me, more really though invisibly, by faith, in reverence, through such outward approaches as I shall assign.  Now you but see me from time to time; when you see most of Me I am at best but 'going in and out among you.' Thou hast seen me, Mary, but couldst not hold Me; thou hast approached Me, but only to embrace My feet, or to be touched by My hand; and thou sayest, 'O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! O that I might hold  Him and not let Him go!' Henceforth this shall not be; when I am ascended, thou shalt see nothing, thou shalt have everything. Thou shalt sit down under My shadow with great delight, and My fruit shall be sweet to thy taste. Thou shalt have Me whole and entire. I will be near thee, I will be in thee; I will come into thy heart a whole Saviour, a whole Christ- in all My fullness as God and man- in the awful virtue of that Body and Blood, which has been taken into the Divine Person of the Word, and is indivisible from it, and has atoned for the sins of the world- not by external contact, not by partial possession, not by momentary approaches, not by a barren manifestation, but inward in presence, and intimate in fruition, a principle of life and a seed of immortality, that thou mayest 'bring forth fruit unto God.'"

John Henry Cardinal Newman, Lectures on Justification

Called For A Greater Purpose

A life-changing realization:

"There is something wonderfully sacred that happens when a girl chooses to look past being set aside to see God's call for her to be set apart." ~Lysa TerKeurst

This is a grace. The truth is, yes, I have been set aside, many times. All of us have, at one point or another in our lives, been set aside. And it hurts. But the greater Truth is that God, my Father (*my Father!!!) has called me through and beyond that hurt, wholly His beloved daughter, for a greater purpose. What I love about Lysa's words are this: Though I cannot change or control being set aside, I can acknowledge that it has happened and then choose (this is huge!) to look past this fact and see, know, and believe God's call *for* me to be set apart.  He has chosen me, and I belong wholly to Him.  Every moment of my life, past, present, and future has been redeemed by Jesus's life saving sacrifice and resurrection from the grave. All of me and every moment of my life belongs wholly to Jesus, and He has created me completely anew as God's beloved daughter.

Yes, I have been set aside. It hurts. And in that moment, I choose to turn to You, Jesus.  Help me to turn to You in every moment, for You have redeemed all.  I know and trust as I look to You that You have created me completely anew, set apart as a beloved daughter of God, Our Father. I praise You and thank You, Father. For I am wonderfully made and made new by Jesus. In Your Holy and Saving Name Jesus, I pray and I love You. Amen+

"Rest is a communion of love between them."

"Think of a child asleep in his mother's arms: the abandon with which he gives himself to sleep can only be because he has complete trust in the arms that hold him.  He is not lying asleep on that heart because he is worn out with anxiety.  He is asleep there because it is a delight to him to be asleep there.  The mother rests, too.  She rests in his rest.  Her mind and body rest in him.   His head fits into the crook of her curved arm.  Their warmth is mingled like the warmth of two softly burning flames.  She rocks to and fro, and her rocking is unconsciously timed by his breathing.  Rest is a communion of love between them.  It is a culmination of content: on the child's part, utter trust in his mother; on the mother's part, sheer joy in the power of her love to sustain his life."

Caryll Houselander

"...let your love lead your steps to Jesus wounded, to Jesus crowned with thorns, to Jesus fastened upon the gibbet of the cross."

"Since fervor of devotion is nourished and preserved in us by a frequent return of our thoughts to the passion of Christ, anyone who wishes to keep the flame of ardor alive within himself should frequently--or rather, incessantly--contemplate in his heart Christ dying upon the cross. That is why the Lord said of old: The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest shall put firewood on it (Lev. 6:5) Listen Mother devout: your heart is the altar of God. It is here that the fire of intense love must burn always. You are to feed it every day with the wood of the cross of Christ and the commemoration of His passion. The prophet Isaiah says, You shall draw waters with joy out of the Savior's fountains (Isa 12:3); meaning that whoever wishes to obtain from God the waters of grace, the waters of devotion, the waters of tears, must draw from the fountains which are the five wounds of Christ.

 

"Therefore let your love lead your steps to Jesus wounded, to Jesus crowned with thorns, to Jesus fastened upon the gibbet of the cross. Not only see in His hands the print of the nails, with the apostle Thomas, not only put your finger into the place of the nails, not only put your hand into His side, but enter with your whole being through the door of his side into Jesus' heart itself. There transformed into Christ by your burning love for the Crucified, pierced by the nails of the fear of God, wounded by the spear of super-abounding love, transfixed by the sword of intimate compassion, seek nothing, desire nothing, wish for no consolation, other than to be able to die with Christ on the cross. Then you may cry out with the apostle Paul: With Christ, I am nailed to the cross. It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 19-20)."

 

Saint Bonaventure 

On the Perfection of Life Addressed to the Sisters, The Works of Bonaventure

"Where love is, there is freedom..."

"Love exists only where there is freedom. To be forced to love is hell; to be free in love is heaven. Where love is, there is freedom.  Since the child is the flower of love, it is earth's sacrament of  freedom. As the cradles come back into the world, freedom will  come back. This freedom will consist not in throwing off restraint,  which is license, but in the increase of new centers of freedom. In  each child God whispers a new secret to the world; adds a new  dimension of immortality to creation; and makes the clinging  hearts of husband and wife feel a little freer, as they look into that  strange and mutual hope which has come to them from God."

+Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Three to Get Married

Fruit of praying St. Thomas' Prayer for Ordering a Life Wisely

So, I had this wonderful grace today. As I looked around seeing all that needs to be done, which usually overwhelms me, I realized something. Paradoxically, I think it's the fruit of praying St. Thomas Aquinas' prayer for ordering a life wisely. It's a paradox because my life feels very far from ordered right now. But God revealed to me that He loves me and is pouring out His grace on all of us right in the middle, and really through our messy life (in a physical and spiritual sense). When I looked around, suddenly all of this:

-legos built and unbuilt (not fun to step on)
-A pile of toy nerf guns confiscated yesterday on which I stubbed my toe really bad in the dark this morning (ouch!)
-dust (lots and lots of it)
-a hot wheels race car set at the bottom of the stairs (why there?)
-train set somewhere, or so I've heard
-dirty kleenex (I know! gross, it's not me)
-food on the floor (we don't have a dog, working on Chris in this matter)
-dirty (and also clean, unfolded) laundry taking over (literally overflowing)
-piles of papers with printed out prayers/articles I like
-prayer books
-piles of kids' school projects, homework, forms that need to be filled out
-childrens' books on the nightstands, on the floors, on the beds, on the counters, on the stairs (not fun to slip on), on the kitchen counters
-my books in all the same places as the childrens' books
-unsent Christmas cards that I didn't have an address for (I give up on this one)
-unsent school pictures (working on that one too!)
-dirty dishes
-coats, blankets, socks, shoes, mittens, etc...
-Christmas tree still up
-Nativity sets still out
-Superhero birthday decorations still hanging up
-Pink flower birthday decorations still hanging up
-wonderful school books laying around haphazardly in the living room that when used teach God's beauty in all parts of our life and studies
-a violin with music scattered around
-a very dusty piano that needs tuning
-unmade beds
-and much much more believe it or not

made me realize something beautiful. My messy life, and that of my family, is the evidence that there are 7 beautiful souls living in this house, learning to love God and each other, and that despite the fact that it feels and looks so "disordered", it is in fact ordered. Ordered to the love of God, the love He has for each one of us, and the love we have for Him.

Thank You Jesus! Amen.

"this is heavy. but we are also strong."

Beautiful, beautiful post over at mothering spirit.  Read it all here.

A professor from grad school used to remind us that the measure of maturity was the extent to which one could live with ambiguity. Why do I still find myself stuck marveling in adulthood how often I have to hold paradox in trembling tension? It grates at me not to resolve the unresolvable.

Maturity means growing into the space where the world does not make sense and yet we agree to live there. Because it can still be good. Because there is no other option. Because we are always asked to carry more than we think we can.

continue here.

St. John of the Cross - from The Spiritual Canticle

VI
THE BRIDE

Oh! who can heal me?
Give me at once Yourself,
Send me no more
A messenger
Who cannot tell me what I wish.

VII
All they who serve are telling me
Of Your unnumbered graces;
And all wound me more and more,
And something leaves me dying,
I know not what, of which they are darkly speaking.

VIII
But how you persevere, O life,
Not living where you live;
The arrows bring death
Which you receive
From your conceptions of the Beloved.

IX
Why, after wounding
This heart, have You not healed it?
And why, after stealing it,
Have You thus abandoned it,
And not carried away the stolen prey?

X
Quench my troubles,
For no one else can soothe them;
And let my eyes behold You,
For You are their light,
And I will keep them for You alone.

XI
Reveal Your presence,
And let the vision and Your beauty kill me,
Behold the malady
Of love is incurable
Except in Your presence and before Your face.

XII
O crystal well!
Oh that on Your silvered surface
You would mirror forth at once
Those eyes desired
Which are outlined in my heart!

XIII
Turn them away, O my Beloved!
I am on the wing:

St. John of the Cross, from The Spiritual Canticle

Let us fall into the hands of the Lord

Sirach Chapter 2:

My child, when you come to serve the Lord,

prepare yourself for trials.

 

Be sincere of heart and steadfast,

and do not be impetuous in time of adversity.

 

Cling to him, do not leave him,

that you may prosper in your last days.

 

Accept whatever happens to you;

in periods of humiliation be patient.

 

For in fire gold is tested,

and the chosen, in the crucible of humiliation.

 

Trust in God, and he will help you;

make your ways straight and hope in him.

 

You that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy,

do not stray lest you fall.

 

You that fear the Lord, trust in him,

and your reward will not be lost.

 

You that fear the LORD, hope for good things,

for lasting joy and mercy.

 

Consider the generations long past and see:

has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?

Has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken?

has anyone called upon him and been ignored?

 

For the Lord is compassionate and merciful;

forgives sins and saves in time of trouble.

 

Woe to timid hearts and drooping hands,

to the sinner who walks a double path!

 

Woe to the faint of heart! For they do not trust,

and therefore have no shelter!

 

Woe to you that have lost hope!

what will you do at the Lord’s visitation?

 

Those who fear the Lord do not disobey his words;

those who love him keep his ways.

 

Those who fear the Lord seek to please him;

those who love him are filled with his law.

 

Those who fear the Lord prepare their hearts

and humble themselves before him.

 

Let us fall into the hands of the Lord

and not into the hands of mortals,

 

For equal to his majesty is his mercy;

and equal to his name are his works.

I love You, O my God

"I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally....My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath."
- Saint John Vianney

Before You

 

Before You

Before You,

it all seemed superficial.

Life seemed easy, yet restless.

My heart was walled.

My heart was careful,

seemingly broken beyond repair.

My heart was beyond bother,

relying on a strength that could not stand,

carrying a false hope in that which could not last.

Then I saw You, Jesus and now I know You.

You have revealed Your Love to me,

and my perception has changed.

You plunge into the depths with me.

You never abandon me.

Life is harder, yet Your yoke is easy,

Your burden light.

You tear down the walls in my heart.

You give me boldness and a new,

pure humility,

knowing Your Power,

giving strength to my weakness.

You bind up my wounds with Your Holy Touch.

Your Strength is ever present.

Your Hope is true. Your Love is eternal.

And I realize it was always You,

that there never was a before You.

You never change. You never left.

You have always been my Love, my Life, my Breath.

 

I Love You, Jesus.

Amen.

 

 

"The humble and hidden presence of the Lord in Mary, in the Church and in each soul, radiates light and hope to the world."

Hope does not disappoint.  It has been an amazing week, with ups and downs, but through it all, the Holy Spirit so evident and working in mysterious ways in each of our lives and in the life of the Church at large.  I want to share with you one of the most beautiful teachings of our new Pope Francis, given in 2008, as His Eminence Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ, at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec (source The Sacred Page, translation from Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam).  My heart is filled with gratitude for our new Papa, a humble, holy, and wise man.  Let us pray for him together.  You will want to read the entire catechesis, but here are a few of my favorite exerpts, showing both the Eucharistic and Marian heart of our new Pope Francis (emphasis from Michael Barber at The Sacred Page).

First, Mary as a Model of the Covenant, and how she helps us live the Eucharistic Mystery:

Desire and self-offering are the two anticipatory attitudes that convert the Church and also each faithful soul into “new wineskins.” By desire and self-offering we become, like Mary, vessels suitable for the Word to take on flesh within us. The humble and hidden presence of the Lord in Mary, in the Church and in each soul, radiates light and hope to the world. John Paul expresses this beautifully, speaking of the Visitation:

“‘And blessed art thou that hast believed’ (Lk 1:45): Mary has anticipated, in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Eucharistic faith of the Church. When, in the Visitation, she carries within her the Word made flesh, she becomes, in a way, a ‘tabernacle’ – the first ‘tabernacle’ in history – where the Son of God, still invisible to the eyes of men, is offered for the adoration by Elizabeth, as ‘radiating’ light through the eyes and the voice of Mary.”

Mary, therefore, is a model of the Covenant, between the Lord and His bride the Church, between God and each man. Model of a Covenant that is company of Love, confident and fruitful abandonment and fullness of hope that irradiates joy. All of these virtues become music in the Magnificat of which John Paul II gives us a beautiful Eucharistic vision:

“In the Magnificat, after all, is present the eschatological tension of the Eucharist. Each time the Son of God is presented under the ‘poverty’ of the sacramental species, bread and wine, the world has within it the germ of the new history, in which ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seat’ and ‘hath exalted the humble.’ (cf. Lk 1:52). Mary sings of the ‘new heaven’ and the ‘new earth’ that are anticipated in the Eucharist and, in a certain sense, allows a glimpse into its programmed ‘design.’ Given that the Magnificat expresses the spirituality of Mary, nothing helps us live better the Eucharistic Mystery than this spirituality. The Eucharist has been given to us for our life, as that of Mary’s, all one Magnificat!” 

And, the great personal joy of receiving the Eucharist as Mary receives:

Throughout this catechesis, as we contemplate in Mary the mystery of the Covenant, it has been gradually revealed to us the riches of the Eucharist and of the Church. In our Mother all becomes concrete and “possible.” In her school the ineffable mysteries of God are given a maternal face and tone and they become comprehensible to the faith filled with Love which, as God’s faithful people, we profess to Mary. The conclusions to be drawn for the personal spiritual life, I believe, each of us must select from among those in which one finds the greatest joy, as Saint Ignatius asserted in the Spiritual Exercises. Uniting the Eucharist and the sacramental communion with Mary is something that we do intuitively, and deepening our understanding of this is something which does us all good.

For this we might ask the Grace of receiving Communion as Mary received the Word and allow it to take on flesh anew in me; the grace to receive the Eucharist from the hands of the Church using ours as a paten (meaning “manger”), aware it is our Lady who places it there and entrusts us with same; the grace of singing with Mary the Magnificat in that moment of silence that follows Communion; the grace of anticipating in the Eucharist all that will be our day or week, with all the good and positive offered jointly with the bread, and all that suffering and passion offered jointly with the wine; the grace of believing and placing with Love all our hope in that premise and token of salvation we already have in each Eucharist, to later conform our life in the image of that which we receive. Thus, each of may derive benefit from that upon which we have meditated.

And, finally, on going forth to be light of the world and salt of the earth:

It is the incommensurable, unreturnable nature of the gift that has been transmitted to us which compels the Lord to sanctify the Church in an indefectible manner, as He did with His Mother, in such a way that it is assured this gift can be both received and transmitted “for the life of the world.” the mystery of the Covenant that makes the Church all-holy is a mystery of [both] service and of Life.  It should never cease to amaze us this definite aperture to the Trinitarian life itself is given and is poured forth not just for some but for the life of the world. This is the case even if not all know it or take advantage of the fruit of the incomprehensible Liberty of the Uno and Triune God whose self-giving is total and for all.

In uniting to Christ, instead of sealing itself off, the People of the new Covenant are converted into a “sacrament” for all humanity, sign and instrument of salvation, in a work of Christ, into a light of the world and salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-16), for the redemption of all. The mission of the Church continues that of Christ: “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.” (Jn 20:21). Therefore, the Church receives the spiritual strength necessary to accomplish its mission of perpetuating in the Eucharist the sacrifice of the Cross and being in communion with the body and the blood of Christ. So, the Eucharist is the source and, at the same time, the summit of all evangelization, given that its objective is the communion of men with Christ and, in Him, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit.

 

H/T Father Andrew for posting the article on twitter.

Cross posted at Community of Catholic Bloggers

Hope

+JMJ+

The world desperately needs hope.  Hope that only Christ can give.  He is the way, the truth and the life, and the only way to the Father is through Him.  My first major conversion of heart occurred in college when a dear friend Andrea brought the light of Christ to me straight from the boldness, and humility, of her own heart.  The light of Christ living in her and in her family showed me Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.  The love they had for eachother and for others, and particularly me, was life-changing.  We met while working together as freshmen, and I am so thankful to God for that particular grace.  She invited me to Church with her, and when I was 19, I was baptized.  I am so glad she loved me enough to invite me and to continue to invite me.  Although my heart is constantly being converted as I realize my identity in Christ as a daughter of God, it was that first conversion where God found me, His prodigal daughter, His lost sheep.  His love came to me through another person, through that friendship with Andrea. 

Thank You Jesus for Andrea, for her family and especially for You, living in our hearts.  Thank you for finding me and bringing me home to Our Father.  Let Your love shine through me and my family; may we bring Your light into the darkness.  Mary, Mother of Hope, teach us to live as you, with boldness and humility, always pointing to Jesus, proceeding in haste, and always magnifying His Glory.  My spirit rejoices in You God, my Savior. In the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.

Daniel's Prayer

Daniel pouring out his heart to God for himself and his people in exile (exile- to be placed physically where your heart is spiritually: far away from God):

Daniel 9: 3-19

I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.  I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confessed, "Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.  We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.  Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.  O Lord, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.  BUt yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!  Yet, we rebelled against you and paid no heed to your command, O Lord, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants and prophets.  Because all Israel transgressed your law and went astray, not heeding your voice, the sworn malediction, recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, was poured out over us for our sins.  You carried out the threats you spoke against us and against those who governed us, by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that has ever occurred under heaven.  As it is written, in the law of Moses, this calamity came full upon us.  As we did not appease the Lord, our God, by turning back from our wickedness and recognizing his constancy, so the Lord kept watch over the calamity and brought it upon us.  You, O Lord, our God, are just in all that you have done, for we did not listen to your voice.

Now, O Lord, our God, who led your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and made a name for yourself even to this day, we have sinned, we are guilty.  O Lord, in keeping with all your just deeds, let your anger and your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain.  On account of our sins and the crimes of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become the reproach of all our neighbors.  Hear, therefore, O God, the prayer and petition of your servant; and for your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary.  Give ear, O my God, and listen; open your eyes and see our ruins and the city which bears your name.  When we present our petition before you, we rely not on our just deeds, but on your great mercy.  O Lord, hear! O Lord, pardon! O Lord, be attentive and act without delay, for your own sake, O my God, because this city and your people bear your name!

Amen!


Draw our hearts to You O Lord.  Keep us safe in the shadow of Your wings.  Let Your mercy be on us O Lord, as we place our trust in You. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

Confession