Reflection and Prayer Series:My ordinary days

My reflection and prayer series is about sharing reflections and Prayers which have impacted upon me and have provided food for thought. I hope that they will also nurture your soul and spirit.

My post is called:

MY ORDINARY DAYS.

There are times within the valley 
When it's difficult to praise-
Then God points me to the splendor 
Of my ordinary days.

In the valley of worry, unhappiness, stress and drearyness
may you find one aspect each day to praise God for and thank Him.
This act of gratitude will lift your spirits.

Compendium Series: Who are the angels?

60. Who are the angels? (CCC )

Compendium states:

The angels are purely spiritual creatures, incorporeal, invisible, immortal and personal beings endowed with intelligence and will.  They ceaselessly contemplate God face to face and they glorify Him.  They serve Him and are his messengers in the accomplishment of his saving mission to all.

What does this mean for me?

1. I can join my praise with them and ask them to intercede for me to God.
2. I can ask them to teach me to contemplate, since they ceaselessly contemplate God face to face and glorify Him.
3. I can thank God that I have a guardian angel who assists me.

Questions to consider:

1. What is my relationship with my guardian angel? How might I improve this relationship?
2. How might the angels assist me in my life?
3. How can I be in tune with the angels as they serve Him, and are his messengers in the accomplishment of his saving mission to all?
4. How might God want me to contribute to the accomplishment of His saving mission?

COMMUNION RITE: PART 15:‘COMMINGLING RITE’

‘COMMINGLING RITE’

Originally, the rite of commingling manifested the unity of the presbyterium of Rome with the Pope. It was a matter of ‘fermentum’: a piece of the Eucharistic Bread from the Papal Mass was carried to the priests of the churches of Rome who, because of the service that they fulfilled for their faithful, could not attend the Papal Mass. 

The present commingling originates from the first half of the 8^th century by a Syrian Pope when it was introduced into the Roman Mass.  The theology explaining it was just as the double consecration (of bread and wine) represented the death of Christ, so it was deemed necessary to symbolize the resurrection, which ensures the bread of immortality, received in communion.  This took place by reuniting the body and the blood before the communion, a kind of symbolic re-enactment of the Lord’s resurrection. 

The priest says the following prayer:

‘May the mingling of the body and blood of Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it’.  

This is a modified version of the prayer that was used and the priest says it quietly. As he says this prayer, he drops a part of the host into the chalice.

At Mass, we may not have taken that much notice of this minor rite, or we could be still giving each other the sign of peace and miss it completely.

Perhaps we can observe this rite from a different perspective and make the prayer cited above as our own also.

  

Opening Prayer Series: Seventeenth Sunday of Year

The Opening Prayer for the Seventeenth Sunday of Year A reads as follows:

Let us pray

( that we will make use of the gifts that God has given us)

God our Father and protector,

without You nothing is holy,

nothing has value.

Guide us to everalasting life 

by help us to use wisely 

the blessing you have given to the world. 

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged.

1. What gifts has God given to me?
2. How doe I presently use these gifts?
3. What gifts would I like to receive to enhance the gifts already given?
4. What is my relationship with Father God like?
5. How may I improve this relationship this coming week?
6. What are the blessings that God has given to the world?
7. How might I use these blessings more wisely this coming week?

In case we stayed lukewarm after reading/hearing last's week's gospel, the same message is reiterated,which is

'the angels will separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth'   Obviously,  there will be no advantage to anyone (except perhaps dentists!!) being placed with the wicked. We must live our lives according to the gospel so that when the end times come, we will be placed with the just.

With these three parables in today's gospel, Jesus is telling us that we must place our goal of Heaven as our top priority. We must consider it a pearl of great price and worth selling everything to buy it.  Obviously we cannot buy Heaven, but we need to consider it as the ultimate goal for our lives, and want to place all our worldly wealth in their rightful place- second not first in our lives.

This gospel could also be helpful to those of us who have a tendency to hoard. We need to sit down and sort out what is good and what we need as compared to what used to be good and no longer has any use to us.

We need to do this with our physical environment as well as our emotional and spiritual environment.

When we let go of our attachments either on a material, emotional or spiritual level, then there is room for something new  to come in.  Let us not however throw out the baby with the bath water in our 'spring clean'.  We need to use wisdom and discernment to know what to respectfully hold and to use. Both new and old are both good in themselves.  It is up to use to make sure that we keep them in their rightful place.

During this week, let us keep this gospel in mind, and live our lives as justly as we can. Let us keep our goal of Heaven firmly in our minds and hearts since Heaven is our ultimate goal.

 

Reflection and Prayer Series: Following Jesus the Light of the World

My reflection and prayer series is about sharing reflections and Prayers which have impacted upon me and have provided food for thought. I hope that they will also nurture your soul and spirit.

My post is called:

FOLLOWING JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

Light comes 

not through study alone 

or constant yearning

but by one small step of obedience.


May Your Word be a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path this coming week. (Ps119:105)

Following Jesus Series: The Riches of God's Children Part 2

This series called 'Following Jesus' is primarily written with young children in mind.   However, a parent, grandparent or interested adult will be most helpful in accompanying them. God calls us His children and He wants us to become once again like little children- not childish but childlike.  So with this in mind, whether we are a young child or an adult, this series may assist you in some way to follow Jesus.

How we follow Jesus our leader?

Today's post continues to explore how rich we are as God's Children.

In the Old Testament, God chose a poor shepherd body named David to be the king of His Chosen People.  God sent His servant Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint him as king.   This story in scripture can be found in  1 Kings 16:12-13). A great change took place in David when he was anointed king. 

When we received the sacrament of Baptism, a greater change occurred in us since God called us to be His children. When we are baptized and become God's children, we receive in God's own life and love.This great gift of sanctifying grace made us adopted children of God. We became holy and pleasing to Him.  The Holy Spirit came to live in us.

The gift of sanctifying graces was won for us by Jesus, the Son of God.  This gift gives us the right to go to Heaven to be with God, our Father.However, the gift of sanctifying grace is one of the gifts.  The second gift is actual grace, which God gives to us to help us live as His children. Actual grace gives light to our mind so that we know what is right and pleasing to God.  Actual grace gives strength to our will so that we are able to act as children of God.

God our Father, does not make us accept the help of actual grace.  However, we cannot reach heaven without this help. Do you accept the help of actual grace? Can you think of a time when you did accept it and when you did not accept it?

All this may sound complicated. So let me simplify it for you.

If we think of a vine, then

• the sap which gives life to the vine is something like sanctifying grace which we received at Baptism.
• the sun which makes the vine strong is something like actual grace.

So let us finish this post with a prayer-song of thanks.

With all my heart I thank You Lord, for sanctifying grace

Because this gift makes Your children and I shall see Your Face.

 It's only right that I should pray and offer all I do, 

To show how much I love this gift that makes my soul like You.

Next week we explore what happens when we are tempted not to live as God's children and how we can prepare for this Battle.

Compendium Series: God's creation

59. What did God create? (CCC 325-327)

Compendium states:

Sacred Scripture says “ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” ( Genesis 1:1)  The Church in her profession of faith proclaims that God is the Creator of everything, visible and invisible, of all spiritual and corporal beings, that is, of angels and of the visible world and in a special way, of man.

What does this mean for me?

1. I can thank God for being Creator and I can thank God that I am in relationship with Him as a created being made in his own image and likeness.

2. When I am struggling to forgive someone, I can remind myself that God is the creator of everything- including this person whom I may find irksome, troublesome or rude.

 Questions to consider:

1. How often do I consider the invisible world and what part do spiritual beings such as the angels have in my life?
2. What difference would it be to consider someone in my life with whom I have a troublesome relationship, (eg family, work employees etc) to consider him/her as someone created by God the Father?