Why Should We Be Devoted to Our Lady and the Rosary?

In my last post, I suggested that we may want to ramp up our prayer life, and in particular, our prayers for the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, through and with the Holy Rosary.  But other than the messages noted from the major apparitions mentioned in that post, what other reasons might we have for a strong pursuit of the Rosary as a routine form of prayer?  Through Our Lady, big things can happen.  Her magnanimity, coupled with our humility, can make an incredible difference in our lives.  Consider the examples below:

St. Juan Diego’s Tilma

Nearly 500 years after Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531, on a knoll near Mexico City, the tilma of St. Juan Diego has been preserved from decay.  The image on the tilma cannot be explained by any scientific means.  This, of course, is on top of the fact that after our Lady’s appearance, over about a ten-year period of time, some 8 to 9 million people in Mexico became Catholic.

Battle of LePanto

In 1571, Pope St. Pius V called on all Catholics to pray the Rosary for the fleet of the Holy League as it entered into battle with the Ottoman navy.  As the battle began, the wind shifted and the badly outnumbered and outgunned Holy League won the battle, preserving Europe from a Muslim conquest.  (This is where the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, later changed to Our Lady of the Rosary originated.)

St. Catherine Laboure

Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine in 1830 and gave to her the image for the Miraculous Medal—a sacramental that is virtually universally known throughout the Catholic faith.  Now, nearly 200 years later, St. Catherine’s body remains incorruptible.  It has not been artificially preserved and yet it shows no decay.

Fr. Ratisbone

While wearing the Miraculous Medal to humor a Catholic friend, a Jewish convert, who later became Fr. Marie-Alphonse Ratisbone, was converted in 1842 after seeing a vision of the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal. After that occurred, he devoted his life to the conversion of the Jews,  even building the Ecce Homo Convent of the Sisters of Zion, located on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.

St. Bernadette Soubirous

Our Lady appeared in 1858 to St. Bernadette, a 14-year old French peasant girl, who by all accounts was a very ordinary person.  Since that time, approximately 7,000 recorded miraculous healings have occurred at Lourdes.  About 70 of these have been verified officially as totally inexplicable by any scientific means, but the recipients of the healing in the rest of those miracles know what occurred for them as well.

Champion, Wisconsin

In 1859 Our Lady appeared to Adele Brise at a site which lies about 30 minutes by car from present day Green Bay, as Our Lady of Good Help.  Numerous healings have occurred at that shrine as well, one of which was for the baby grandchild of a personal acquaintance of ours a few years ago. Additionally, in 1871 the largest and deadliest fire in American history burned 2,400 square miles of woodlands in the area, incinerated a dozen communities, and killed 2,500 people.  Although the surrounding area was burned and the outside of the picket fence around the property was charred, the compound at the chapel of Our Lady of Good Help was saved from the fire after Sister Adele led local citizens in prayer at the church.

Fatima, Portugal

At Fatima Our Lady appeared to three children six times over five months.  In addition to the messages she gave them for the world, a miracle, referred to as that of the dancing sun was witnessed by 60,000 to 70,000 people at the final apparition.

Other Marian Miracles and Apparitions

In addition to the apparitions and miracles recorded with respect to each of the above sites, there are other apparitions that have been noted, some of which have been approved by the bishops in whose dioceses they occurred.  As well, in a recent, informal discussion among a small group of Catholic men, including priests and laity, recorded at a home in Birmingham, one priest, an expert on Middle East religion and culture, noted that in the last few years, numerous Muslims (hundreds of thousands if I recall correctly) have been called to conversion by apparitions or locutions from the Blessed Mother and/or Jesus.

But there are many, many more personal Marian miracles and examples of guidance and graces obtained through Our Lady among the faithful.  Father Larry Richards of The Reason for Our Hope Foundation has mentioned Our Lady’s guidance for him with respect to his vocation, as have other priests we’ve known or known of over the years.  In our own lives, Our Lady has played a major role in our spirituality through her intercessions for us.  She can do the same for each and every one of us—if we ask for her intercession. 

To be continued…

TIME FOR THE HEAVY ARTILLERY

We are in a serious battle for the souls of mankind.  Current and past private revelations show that, in spite of warnings and exhortations from Our Lady and Jesus Himself, we continue to ignore the directions we’ve been given for our salvation.  Much has been said recently about Charlie Johnston and his visits from an angel of the Lord.  Charlie, and other visionaries mentioned in Fr. Joseph Esper’s book, On the Brink, talk about the messages they’ve received, warning of a chastisement heading our way due to the obstinate refusal of the citizens of our country to live the Truth of the Gospel.  In The Flame of Love, a reporter chronicles the locutions of Elizabeth Kindelmann, a lay woman from Budapest who died in 1985, that show Our Lady’s intense concern for the salvation of souls on a worldwide basis.    

But you don’t need to take the word of these two Catholic Christians.  Just look to past, Church-approved apparitions such as Fatima and more recently, Akita and Kibeho for some warnings, exhortations and instructions from Our Lady regarding the consequences of mankind’s collective behaviors, and the need for penance and prayer, especially for the Rosary.

Fatima

As many to most Catholics may know, at Fatima in 1917, Our Lady requested that we pray the Rosary daily for peace, and that we exercise a devotion to her Immaculate Heart, including a consecration to her, and a regimen known as the “five first Saturdays,” (Confession, Mass, Communion and Rosary with 15 minutes of meditation for five first Saturdays of the month). (1)

Akita

In Japan, in 1973, Our Lady of Akita gave a warning, similar to that of Fatima, of a specific worldwide chastisement which is ugly – consistent with Scripture, and much worse than the possibility of annihilation of several nations as prophesied at Fatima.  In fact, on October 13, 1973, on the anniversary of the final apparition at Fatima, Our Lady said, “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.

The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day, recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their Confreres. The Church and altars will be vandalized. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.

The demon will rage especially against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will no longer be pardon for them." (2)

Kibeho

Between 1981 and 1989, Our Lady visited multiple people in this Rwandan community.  The messages from Our Lady are similar to Fatima and to Akita – urgent appeals for the repentance and conversion of hearts, an assessment of the moral conduct of the world, the Blessed Mother’s deep sorrow for the disobedience of all of God’s children, and the necessity of prayer and conversion before the Final Judgment, which she expresses repeatedly is coming soon.  She also talks about how suffering saves, saying; “No one will reach heaven without suffering.”   As Diane McKelva states in her blog post on Kibeho at Catholic Stand, “Nothing has changed on this earth since the Kibeho visions ended in 1989." (3)

So what is one to make of all of this?  Continuing on with the theme from my last Sojourner’s post—that of taking stock of where we are now spiritually, identifying opportunities for improvement and beginning to make changes for the better – we might conclude that there is no time like now to get closer to God.  The late Fr. Benedict Groeschel in Everyday Encounters with God which he coauthored with Bert Ghezzi, tells us that, “…at the present moment, you are completely able to steer your now into eternity, no matter what you have done in the past.” (4)  The good news is that through His Divine Mercy, the Lord is the ultimate grantor of “the second chance.”  We’ve all got a chance right now, at this very moment, to take advantage of that and make the changes we need to make.  But don’t hesitate—Mt. 24:42-51 warns that we don’t know the time or place when our “now” won’t exist any longer.

And any change in what we do as Catholics ought to take into account the assistance our Blessed Mother stands ready and willing to offer us along the way.  In fact, a consecration to Jesus through our Blessed Mother is the fastest, most direct route to follow. (5)  Here we have many good examples to follow in the saints who went before us, including St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Louis de Monfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Francis de Sales, and Pope St. John Paul II, to name a few.  St. Padre Pio had a strong devotion to Our Lady and to the Eucharist, and writings about his holy life are replete with quotes about Our Lady and about the Rosary.  Besides the one you’ve probably heard (“The Rosary is the weapon for these times.”), he’s also quoted as saying, “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.” (6)   

By now you probably are seeing why this post has the title that it does.  As St. Padre Pio said, “The Rosary is the weapon for these times.”  I believe that the Rosary is not only the weapon for our times but it is our heavy artillery for the spiritual battle we face individually and collectively.  Given all the warnings we’ve received over the last hundred years and continue to receive through various visionaries, a smart battle strategy would be to deploy the heavy artillery.  In the artillery we had a command that would come down to the guns, “Fire for effect.”  "Fire for Effect" is the command the forward observer gives the guns once one gun has been zeroed in on the target. All the guns then let loose, firing at the same coordinates, raining down destruction on the enemy.  Through the Rosary, we have the ability to bring destruction to our enemy the evil one.  The more weapons we employ and the more frequently we do so, the better. Our Lady, our Spiritual Forward Observer, continually encourages us to pray the Rosary daily—to “fire for effect” on the evil one.  This is a command that we dare not ignore.  

Most parishes have a group that gathers together before or after a particular Mass to pray the Rosary.  If we get up early or record it for later, EWTN has not only an early daily Mass, but also the Holy Land Rosary led by Fr. Mitch Pacwa (available on CDs and DVDs http://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/).  We can catch the Rosary on the local Catholic radio station as well, and pray along in the car.  With or without the radio program of the Rosary, one can pray the Rosary on the way to and from work.  And we don’t have to pray all five decades of a Rosary in one sitting—we can pray as much as we have time for and come back to it and complete it later.  We can pray while we’re standing in line at the store or at the airport.  The opportunities to pray the Rosary are limited only by our imagination.  As our Spiritual Mother, Our Lady loves us and wants only what’s best for us.  When Our Blessed Mother suggests that we pray the Rosary more, we ought to listen and do what she says.

Next time – more on Catholic devotion to the Rosary.    

1 – http://www.rosary-center.org/fatima.htm

2 – http://www.olrl.org/prophecy/akita.shtml

3 – http://www.catholicstand.com/lady-kibeho-listening/

4 – Everyday Encounters with God: What Our Experiences Teach Us – Groeschel and Ghezzi

5 – True Devotion to Mary – De Montfort

6 – http://www.catholicgentleman.net/2014/10/powerful-weapon-15-quotes-holy-rosary/

Pray, Hope and Don't Worry - But We May Want to Consider Making Some Changes

More and more articles are being published by a variety of reputable sources regarding the current state of the national and global economies, and some key indicators show there could be trouble ahead—(think about China’s problems, U.S. corporate stock buybacks, overall economic growth rates, etc.)  As well, it doesn’t take a cultural anthropologist or sociology pundit to point out some clearly observable cultural and societal trends here in the U.S.A. that should be troubling to all Christians—(think about abortion, recent court decisions, religious liberty, and the like.) 

We're also starting to hear about the spiritual downside (and upside) of all of these secular trends and forces.  A nation like ours, blessed as it has been, is virtually thumbing its nose at our Creator with the decisions our society has made, or at least condones, if only implicitly and passively.  We’re being reminded that we, as a nation, are not storing up wealth in heaven with what we have been doing, and some religious commentators are even suggesting that we’re ripe for a comeuppance.  That’s the bad news. 

The good news is that, in their opinion, potential spiritually salutary benefits may be had in any widespread, disruptive changes that could occur.  The nature of what these changes might involve seems to be somewhat ambiguous at best, depending upon whom you read or listen to.  So, you might be asking, “What possible good could come out of some kind of widespread, disruptive change?” What we’re being told is that it would allow each of us to do a real serious examen (see note below)—an in-depth look at the way we’ve been living--and truly confess, repent, and change our ways for the better.  In our consulting practice, my business partner and I tell our clients that all feedback is good—it’s just that some of it is harder to read and hear than the rest of it.  Each of us probably could benefit from an in-depth look at where we’re at and where we’re headed in a spiritual sense, deciding what part of that feedback we dislike the most and then doing something about it. But why wait till something outside our control happens?  Why not do the examen now and start making those changes we've known we need to make all along?

The other day at Mass, our Associate Pastor, Fr. Ricardo Rosales, asked us in his homily to reflect on whether we are living each day as if it were our last day.  This is some awesome food for thought—are we living today as much as possible in our efforts to follow Jesus, showing his merciful love to everyone else with whom we interact, even those characters we don’t much care for?  Is what we’re doing directed at bringing others to the Lord?  When they see us do they see more of Jesus, or more of us, in the way we behave and talk with them?  That’s really the question before us now—are we working actively to try to stay in a state of grace, or do we simply reason that we’ll get to the confessional at some point when we’re not so busy, and make up for everything then?

But will we have time to make it to the confessional before we're called away?  A meeting I was scheduled to run this week has been postponed due to the untimely death of a young man who was to be a key participant. He died unexpectedly while participating in an outdoor sporting event this last weekend. All of us have one or more examples of something like this, but we don't think that it would happen to us or to someone we know.  So, again, why not start making the changes we need to make now, and quit putting them off?   

On the one hand, we may have some work to do, with God's grace, to better prepare ourselves to meet Him someday, whenever that day may come. On the other hand, we need not be paralyzed with anxiety about it. And it doesn’t take real or imagined disasters to cause one anxiety and worry.  No matter what sorts of challenges we run into—and we each have or will have our share of problems unique to us, regardless of general economic conditions or other major trends and forces—are we turning our problems over to God?  That is, are we praying for the grace we need to make changes that will get us closer to Christ, trusting in Jesus’ Divine Mercy and His love for us?  Or are we worrying and anxious? Consider the following Scripture passages:

Psalm 37:3-8
Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will dwell in the land, and be nourished in safety. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday. Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Do not fret; it tends only to evil.

Mt 6:25–34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  ¶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ¶ And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; ¶ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ¶ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ¶ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

     

Whether we are concerned about some big picture, future scenarios or just the routine challenges of life in what’s considered to be our “normal,” everyday existence, do we have a personal, one-on-one relationship with Jesus that involves taking time to talk with Him daily?  Do we have a routine prayer life?  The Lord wants our souls—do we want to give them to Him?

Fr. Joseph Esper suggests a couple dozen specific actions we each can take to get our souls in shape for any eventuality in this life, and to prepare for the next life, including for example:

• Get into and stay in a state of grace through frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation
• Attend Mass as often as possible, beyond just Sunday attendance
• Pray the Rosary daily
• Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet regularly
• Read the Bible daily
• And more…

The closer we can get to Our Lord, and the more we can rely on Him, the better able we will be to weather any storm that may toss our individual barques around.  We can’t know what the Lord has in store for us—but if he were to call us today, would we be ready for Him?  We should do something about it, but we should not stress about it--listen to what St. Pio tells us:

"Pray, hope, and don't worry. Anxiety doesn't help at all. Our Merciful Lord will listen to your prayer."

Indeed, we can pray ("unceasingly" as Scripture prompts us), and we can pray for God's grace to help us work earnestly on changing those behaviors that keep us from getting closer to Him.  We can commit our way to the Lord and He will act.  (Ps. 37)  And there's no time like now.

Feel free to pass this link on to others. - God bless

---

"Examen" - A formal examination of conscience, made usually daily 

Make a Difference

During his homily for the 7:00 a.m. Mass we attended at St. Bernard’s monastery, Father Francis reflected on the thoughts he had during a recent sidewalk Rosary for life that he and a group prayed.  He talked about how, at the time, he wondered, “What difference does this really make?  Cars are going by so fast and no one’s reading our posters.  No one in those cars can hear our prayers.  It just seems futile.”  But—after thinking further about it upon his return to the monastery, Father told us, he knew that it did indeed make a difference—that anytime we pray to our Lord, it makes a difference—and we should never forget that.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding marriage, a lot of us have been feeling somewhat discouraged.  Although many had suspected there was a reasonable probability of a decision like this one occurring, it was still a punch in the gut when it came to be.  There are plenty of articles, posts and interviews from clergy and other experts dissecting the decision and prognosticating the future of religious freedom in the United States.  This has left a lot of us wondering what the heck just happened, and why, after all the praying ostensibly being done prior to the SCOTUS decision, such a whacky outcome occurred.  Some may even wonder, as did Fr. Francis, what difference did it really make?

Recently Cardinal George Pell, told the participants at a conference in Ireland that we are “are entering a new phase of political struggle which can only be fought by lay people.” Some pundits blame Church leadership over the last few decades for the catechesis or lack thereof that has led to the culture we now face and the resulting struggle that it has created.  Whatever the reason, the fact is that in the here and now, we all have a job to do, clergy, religious and laity alike, and it’s going to take more than committed, orthodox bishops and priests to address the mess we presently find ourselves in.  It’s up to all of us to make a difference.

But how can an ordinary lay person make a difference, given all that we’re facing in this secularized culture—isn’t it like trying to drain the ocean with a measuring cup?  It may feel like that at times, but we need to remember that Jesus told us, “…with God all things are possible.” (Mt 19:26).  How can an ordinary lay person make a difference?  Here are some ideas we might prayerfully consider:

·       Beef up our daily prayer.  Prayer is speaking with God, developing a relationship with Him.  We don’t develop strong relationships with other created beings without dialoguing with them, and we won’t develop a strong relationship with the Creator without dialoging with Him.

·       Pray the Rosary.  As part of our prayer regimen, we ought to be including a Rosary a day.  None other than St. Padre Pio said, “The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.”  It was true then and it is true now.

·       Mass intentions.  Request that one or more Masses be said for our special intentions for the country.

·       Get involved in parish ministries.  Many parishes have a variety of ministries in which we can play a part, ranging from supporting liturgical celebrations, to men’s and to women’s ministries, and to pro-life and evangelization ministries, to name a few.   

·       Contact our bishops.  We may want to ask them to support a nationwide day of prayer or Rosary for our nation—it worked at the battle of LePanto, didn’t it?  The current head of the USCCB, Abp. Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D. can be reached at chancery@archlou.org

·       Contact our senators and representatives.  We should encourage them to sponsor and pass legislation that protects religious liberty.

·       Evangelize by our actions.  We can show others charity in our interactions with them and let them see God’s merciful love in our interactions with them and with other people.

·       Don’t be afraid to speak the truth.  At the very least, we all need to pray for the fortitude to speak up when positions are raised by others that run counter to our Catholic Christian beliefs.  It may be uncomfortable, but who would we rather offend—our Creator in eternity, by not speaking out, or other created beings in this short life here on earth?

As Christians, we face an increasingly likely future of religious persecution, given the legislative and judicial temperament of the country.  Consider as just one example the bakers fined $135,000 recently.  Yet it seems that many Catholics and other Christians are oblivious to this possibility.  Either that, or they believe it’s something that someone else will address—no need for them personally to get involved.  But there is a very real need for each and every one of us to get involved, and there is no time like the present to begin doing so. 

And something else to remember is that despair and discouragement don’t come from God—they’re from the evil one.  He wants us to think that it doesn’t matter what we do, that all hope is lost and that the secular, relativist, atheistic agenda is winning.  That’s why we must heed St. Paul’s advice: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22). 

What kind of legacy do we want to leave our children and grandchildren?  We CAN and must make a difference. 

  

Prescription for Stress Reduction

Recently, I attended a webinar in which the presenter discussed the effects of stress in our lives, citing various statistics about heart muscle regeneration, chemicals our body releases, neurotransmitters, etc.   As it happens, I’d been reading a book recommended during a homily by Fr. Miguel on EWTN recently, Be Healed, written by Dr. Bob Schuchts from the John Paul II Healing Center.  In it Schuchts tells us that many experts believe 90% to 95% of all physical illnesses are caused by stress.   In fact, he cites resources that link unresolved anger and bitterness to an increased probability of many forms of cancer, arthritis, digestive problems, and heart and immune system issues, just to name a few.   The general message here (stress is bad for us) probably isn’t news to anyone, but the approach suggested by the webinar presenter for dealing with stress is something that you may find interesting—I know I did.

Based on psychological and physiological research, the webinar presenter suggested in a nutshell that we would all benefit by cultivating a stronger awareness of the positive elements of our lives and taking occasional breaks throughout the day to recharge mentally.  More specifically, her formula for success includes:

1. Start the day quietly reflecting on what you are thankful for (10 to 20 minutes)
2. Take a break—disengage and unplug—mid-morning to quietly meditate for a couple of minutes
3. At noon, do the same—disengage and unplug—for about five minutes
4. Midafternoon—same drill as in the morning—disengage and unplug—to quietly meditate for a couple of minutes
5. End the day with a reflection on all that you have to be thankful for

Does this process of starting and ending the day in thanksgiving, together with some pauses to reflect during the day, look suspiciously familiar to you?  It’s not unlike the Divine Office, which has been prayed in one form or another in the Catholic Church since about the 12^th century by the clergy and religious, as well as some laity, who stop throughout the day to recite the prayers.  Now admittedly, it might be difficult for many of us in the laity to be able to take the time required during our work days to pray the entire Liturgy of the Hours, but we all can find some time at the start and end of the day, and perhaps during the day, for short periods of prayer.

For example, at a less intense level than praying the Divine Office, in Consoling the Heart of Jesus, Fr. Michael Gaitley suggests getting into a prayer routine that includes at a minimum, a morning offering prayer, which includes offering thanks to our Eternal Father for all that He’s done for us, (including His gift of our small share of suffering), pausing at the 3:00 o’clock hour for reflection on our Lord’s passion and Divine Mercy, and closing out the evening with an examen process that includes a prayer of thanksgiving as well. 

Consider also the current advice from many Christians, including Catholic Christians, to develop an “attitude of gratitude” if one wants to improve their life.  In fact, besides recommending that we take some time out each day to read the Gospel, inserting ourselves into the scenes as we meditate on them, St. Josemaría Escrivá continually exhorts us through his writings to be grateful to God for all things.   

More recently, in an interview posted at EWTN, therapist Eric Gudan states that,

 “Gratitude is a positive moral affect. In other words, it is a pleasant feeling arising from the good action another has done to you, from judging that it has been good for you…A growing number of studies have linked gratitude with higher general feelings of happiness and have found that more grateful persons are more satisfied with life. This includes people who may not necessarily feel grateful, but attempt to arrive at the virtue by mental exercises such as thinking about the gifts that they received…

…one way of confronting depression is seeing the power that negative attitudes have upon our experience of the world and our relationships, affecting our behaviors and ultimately even our brain chemistry…Depressed persons generally have a negative attitude…This negative attitude becomes a filter that focuses and amplifies all the bad things that happen...Gratitude, on the other hand, is the uplifting feeling resulting from the recognition that another person has done something good for us. Instead of a negative self-focus, gratitude has a positive other-focus.

We have been created to love and be loved. There is a way to consider every person you come into contact with as a gift, an opportunity to love in order to become the person you were made to be.  In addition, any love that you have experienced through another person is a gift. Thus, with this attitude, there is always something to be grateful for.”

So, the bottom line in all of this would seem to be that developing a healthy prayer life, asking for the grace daily to maintain an attitude of thanks and praise, and consciously being thankful to God for all things will lead to a better life—and it really does work!

As a sidebar to this post, at the end of the webinar referred to above, the host asked me specifically if I had any questions.  I told him, “No—no questions really, but rather a comment:  It occurs to me that what you’re suggesting in a secular context is something that we believers have been doing through daily prayer for a very long time.”  At this, there was some commotion and background noise, throat clearing, etc., followed by a short pause, ending with the host’s non sequitur, “Well…I go for walks,” together with silence from the presenter… J

Resources:

Blog post re: the Divine Office from Ian at Aquinas and More store, Ft. Collins, CO

http://www.aquinasandmore.com/catholic-articles/breviary-divine-office-or-liturgy-of-the-hours/article/73/sort/relevance/productsperpage/12/layout/grid/currentpage/1/keywords/liturgy%20of%20the%20hours%20or%20breviary

More in-depth discussion of Divine Office from EWTN

https://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/breviary.htm

Laudate App for iPhones/iPads – access to Divine Office

https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/laudate/id499428207?mt=8

Magnificat website – morning and evening readings and daily Mass readings

https://www.magnificat.net/english/index.asp

Article from ETWN about gratitude’s salutary effects on depression

http://www.ewtn.com/library/HUMANITY/zgratitude.HTM

But Do Speak to One Another

My last post, “Quiet, Please,” struck a nerve among some readers.  Responses to me privately ranged from “Thanks,” to “I’ve been thinking the same thing,” to “Really? How do we engage people so they stay in the parish if we don’t talk to them?” and many others falling at various points somewhere along this continuum. For that reason, we might want to take a look at the other side of the coin, so to speak.  But first, for anyone who didn’t see the last post, the point was that if we truly understood, respect and revere the Real Presence of our Lord and Savior in the tabernacle, we wouldn’t be socializing with friends and family in the sacred space.  Socializing would be done outside the sanctuary and nave, in the gathering space or elsewhere on the church campus.

Now saying all that does not mean that we should be glum-bums and sourpusses in our personal interaction with our neighbors either.  The peace and joy of being followers of Christ, of having personal relationships with him, should be evident to others when we interact with them.  As St. Paul tells us, “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 14:17)  We need to show that peace and joy in the Holy Spirit in the way we act toward one another as we welcome them and greet them. 

“Oh yeah,” you might say—“that’s what the hospitality ministers are for.”  True, that’s part of their ministry, but it’s something we all ought to be doing to create a stronger sense of community in the Risen Christ.  Shaun McAfee, a convert to Catholicism, tells us:

“New parishioners and [visitors]…want to be acknowledged…want interaction…want to find a place to return to each week.  More importantly, they need to be inspired by the lay members of the parish to do something in the Church and be happy doing it as well.  This is contagious…The first few times I attended Mass, nobody gave me a single look or gesture or greeting until the sign of peace…” Filling Our Father’s House, Sophia Press, 2014, p. 84

What are some tangible behaviors that might illustrate McAfee’s point?  Well, at a minimum, such behaviors might involve not trying to avoid someone, but making an effort to actually greet someone. But more than that, we ought to be greeting people around us with a warm smile, a handshake, a “Good morning,” quietly spoken to let them know they are welcome and that it’s good to have them here with us. 

In other words, what are we doing to let them know that they matter and are important members of the body of Christ and our parish?  Do we run the After-Mass-Dash as soon as we leave the sanctuary, or do we take a few minutes to chat with people either in the gathering space or over coffee and donuts?  Do we search out new faces and introduce ourselves to them, striking up a brief conversation, and if we find that they are new to the parish, welcoming them and pointing them in the right direction for registering as members?  Grace McKinnon, Catholic author and speaker, relates an incident that occurred in a shopping center parking lot where she met a young lady she’d seen in church the previous Sunday.  Ms. McKinnon introduced herself and told the young woman that she hoped she’d see her at the parish bible study program.  They chatted briefly—later the young woman approached her at the parish and told Grace that, on the very day Grace greeted her and invited her to get involved, she had been contemplating suicide.  Now, years later, she is a member of a religious order.

Of course, that’s a pretty unusual situation—or is it?  Do we take the opportunity to acknowledge the folks we see around the church when we run into them out in public?  Are we open to letting the Holy Spirit use us as instruments of His will, to bring others to Him?  How is the Holy Spirit calling each one of us to assist in the work of the Kingdom of God?  Are we paying attention to His call?  Or are we self-absorbed, focusing inward instead of outward toward our brothers and sisters?

So, no, in my opinion—we shouldn’t be using the sacred space of the sanctuary where the Real Presence dwells as a social club, but yes—we should be acknowledging and getting to know one another better, encouraging participation in the parish and building a stronger sense of community.  Too paraphrase a line from Ecclesiastes 3:1, there’s a time and a place for everything.   Carrying on chit chat in the sanctuary is not okay; quiet, brief acknowledgements and greetings without interrupting others’ private prayers is simply good etiquette that sits at the threshold of lay evangelization.  Evangelization requires us to step out of ourselves, once we’ve stepped out of the sanctuary and get better acquainted with one another.

Quiet, Please

This piece has been a while in the making—Maggie and I have noticed and talked about what we, at least, perceive to be an increasing lack of respect being shown in church before Mass.  Just today a friend of mine described his displeasure with the pre-Mass hubbub recently when he was trying to engage in some quiet prayer to prepare for the liturgy.  The antics he described going on around him before Mass unfortunately are not the exception in some parishes, but have become the rule—guys catching up on sports events, ladies catching up on family events, you name it—a wide variety of kibitzing, with even louder discussions echoing into the sanctuary and nave from the narthex or gathering space outside.

As Catholics, we speak often of “The Church,” as well as of “the church,” where the Big “C” Church is the mystical Body of Christ, founded by Christ—those of us on earth, the souls in purgatory and those in heaven.  The small “c” church, the edifice, is the facility in which we pray and worship—the house of worship.  In our Catholic churches, we have located near or within the sanctuary¹—the area including the altar and places for the clergy—a tabernacle which houses the Real Presence of Jesus Christ—the Holy Eucharist—His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came down from heaven to suffer the most horrific torture and ignominious death so that He might redeem us sinners; God, the utmost Perfection, Love and Infinite Good, is there with us, physically.  Those aren’t just wafers in the tabernacle—it’s Jesus, the Messiah, for crying out loud.  (For more information, take a look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1373 – 1381.)

Now, how would most of us likely behave in front of some high profile dignitary, such as His Holiness, Pope Francis, or some secular leader?  If they invited us in for an audience, would we be idly chatting with the people next to us about how the kids’ soccer season is going, where we got our hair done, or what’s for dinner?  For most of us the answer would be a resounding “No!”  It’s not polite, and it doesn’t accord them the dignity and respect owed to them.  In a word, it’s boorish, at best, if not just plain insulting.  So why does it often feel like we’re seated at Sports Authority Stadium when we arrive early for some Masses?   

Perhaps it’s because we’ve forgotten about the actual, Real Presence of Christ being in our midst.  Or maybe it’s due to the joy we feel at seeing a friend or family member and relishing the opportunity to catch up with them socially.  There probably are any number of reasons we might cite collectively for this kind of behavior, but they’re just excuses—excuses for not maintaining dignified, respectful attitudes and behaviors.  Some folks get it, though.  At St. Mary’s Cathedral in Nebraska, the faithful quietly kneel or sit and pray before Mass—no socializing—and after Mass, 99% of them return to their knees for silent prayers of Thanksgiving after the recession out.  In another parish within our own diocese, the lights prior to Mass are dimmed and only brought up to full strength upon the procession in.  At Our Lady of Guadalupe in Colorado Springs, and Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Littleton (Latin Mass), the Holy Rosary is recited before Mass.  In all of these examples, there is an air of reverence and one feels the presence of God in the church with a small “c.” 

It is not the introverted accountant in me suggesting this.  Mass takes up only about an hour a week—we can catch up with friends and family at the after-Mass social gathering for coffee and donuts—let’s let one another have some quiet time before Mass to prepare to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior, showing respect to Jesus and to our neighbors. 

1 - Sanctuary, a holy place where God is present. In the wilderness, this was the tent of meeting or the tabernacle; in the time of Solomon, it was the temple at Jerusalem. There were, however, degrees of holiness in the temple. A few steps up from the court was the holy place, which was separated from the court by a hanging curtain. Only priests were allowed in the holy place. A few more steps and a curtain separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest was allowed. Sometimes the entire temple is called the sanctuary; at other times “sanctuary” means only the Holy of Holies Buchanan, G. W. (2011). In M. A. Powell (Ed.), The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated) (Third Edition., p. 919). New York: HarperCollins.