Devotion for today: what the world needs now...is the credible witness of people enlightened by the Word of the Lord

In this, our final look at Pope Benedict XVI’s letter announcing the Year of Faith, we find a call to be a people of strong faith.

15. Having reached the end of his life, Saint Paul asks his disciple Timothy to “aim at faith” (2 Tim 2:22) with the same constancy as when he was a boy (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). We hear this invitation directed to each of us, that none of us grow lazy in the faith. It is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. Intent on gathering the signs of the times in the present of history, faith commits every one of us to become a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world. What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end.

“That the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph” (2 Th 3:1): may this Year of Faith make our relationship with Christ the Lord increasingly firm, since only in him is there the certitude for looking to the future and the guarantee of an authentic and lasting love. The words of Saint Peter shed one final ray of light on faith: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:6-9). The life of Christians knows the experience of joy as well as the experience of suffering. How many of the saints have lived in solitude! How many believers, even in our own day, are tested by God’s silence when they would rather hear his consoling voice! The trials of life, while helping us to understand the mystery of the Cross and to participate in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Col 1:24), are a prelude to the joy and hope to which faith leads: “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). We believe with firm certitude that the Lord Jesus has conquered evil and death. With this sure confidence we entrust ourselves to him: he, present in our midst, overcomes the power of the evil one (cf. Lk 11:20); and the Church, the visible community of his mercy, abides in him as a sign of definitive reconciliation with the Father.

Let us entrust this time of grace to the Mother of God, proclaimed “blessed because she believed” (Lk 1:45).

My thoughts:  In the first paragraph, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that faith is a life-long journey, something we work at every day of our lives. We don’t just say we went to Catholic School, or went to CCD, or took RCIA. Those statements involve past tense verbs – over and done. We cannot be stuck in a 12 year old’s religious understanding. St. Paul tells us that when we become men, we put away childish things. That means we must grow up, and our faith must grow with us. The challenge for us today, as people of faith, is to become a credible witness of that faith by our actions, our words and our attitude toward God. People in our world are looking for answers to loneliness, despair, depression. They have not yet heard the “consoling voice” of Christ. They do not even understand that suffering and pain can unite us to Christ in ways no day of joy can even begin to reach. In many people’s minds today, God is judgment, and yet we know He is full of mercy. How is this information going to get out, if we don’t live it, say it and bring it to others? A merciful look, a merciful word, a merciful deed can change the life of the person next to you on the subway, or in the next cubicle. Christ left the Church to men and women who would learn its ways and teach its children, who would fall in love with their faith, such a rich and precious gift, and pass that gift onto others. You cannot give away, however, what you fully don’t possess. Start today by making a plan to learn your faith this year, to find answers to your questions, to pray more and sin less, and to gain confidence in sharing the beautiful gift of the Catholic faith. Too many people are “looking for love in all the wrong places”…help them find the true source of love, which rests in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Anima Christi

 Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds conceal me.
Do not permit me to be parted from you.
From the evil foe protect me.
At the hour of my death call me.
And bid me come to you,
to praise you with all your saints
for ever and ever.
Amen.

En ego, o bone et dulcissime Iesu
Here,
O good and gentle Jesus,
I kneel before you,
and with all the fervor of my soul
I pray that you engrave within my heart
lively sentiments of faith, hope, and love,
true repentance for my sins,
and a firm purpose of amendment.
While I see and I ponder your five wounds
with great affection and sorrow in my soul,
I have before my eyes those words of yours
that David prophesied about you:
"They have pierced my hands and feet;
I can count all my bones." (Ps 22, 17)
Amen.

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers/anima-christi.cfm

 

 

 

 

Devotion for today: it is faith that enables us to see Christ

 In this passage from his letter announcing the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that “Faith without works is dead.”

14. The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity. As Saint Paul reminds us: “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). With even stronger words – which have always placed Christians under obligation – Saint James said: “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (Jas 2:14-18).

Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt. Faith and charity each require the other; in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path. Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalized or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ’s own face is seen. Through faith, we can recognize the face of the risen Lord in those who ask for our love. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). These words are a warning that must not be forgotten and a perennial invitation to return the love by which he takes care of us. It is faith that enables us to recognize Christ and it is his love that impels us to assist him whenever he becomes our neighbor along the journey of life. Supported by faith, let us look with hope at our commitment in the world, as we await “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1).

Quotes from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta:

I pray that you will understand the words of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Ask yourself “How has he loved me? Do I really love others in the same way?” Unless this love is among us, we can kill ourselves with work and it will only be work, not love. Work without love is slavery.

 

 Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.

A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.

Jesus is my God,
Jesus is my Spouse,
Jesus is my Life,
Jesus is my only Love,
Jesus is my All in All;
Jesus is my Everything."

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve those people throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give them peace and joy.

You and I, we are the Church, no? We have to share with our people. Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear. Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me.

If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive. (http://www.ewtn.com/motherteresa/words.htm)

Prayer: An Act of Charity

"O my God, I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Devotion for today: by faith, we too, live!

Today’s excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI’s letter proclaiming the Year of Faith beautifully details the many fine examples of faith-filled lives we have as examples for us to follow. It is a bit long, so I have left out my comments. No need for any additions or explanations on this one!!!

13. One thing that will be of decisive importance in this Year is retracing the history of our faith, marked as it is by the unfathomable mystery of the interweaving of holiness and sin. While the former highlights the great contribution that men and women have made to the growth and development of the community through the witness of their lives, the latter must provoke in each person a sincere and continuing work of conversion in order to experience the mercy of the Father which is held out to everyone.

During this time we will need to keep our gaze fixed upon Jesus Christ, the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb12:2): in him, all the anguish and all the longing of the human heart finds fulfillment. The joy of love, the answer to the drama of suffering and pain, the power of forgiveness in the face of an offence received and the victory of life over the emptiness of death: all this finds fulfillment in the mystery of his Incarnation, in his becoming man, in his sharing our human weakness so as to transform it by the power of his resurrection. In him who died and rose again for our salvation, the examples of faith that have marked these two thousand years of our salvation history are brought into the fullness of light.

By faith, Mary accepted the Angel’s word and believed the message that she was to become the Mother of God in the obedience of her devotion (cf. Lk 1:38). Visiting Elizabeth, she raised her hymn of praise to the Most High for the marvels he worked in those who trust him (cf. Lk 1:46-55). With joy and trepidation she gave birth to her only son, keeping her virginity intact (cf. Lk 2:6-7). Trusting in Joseph, her husband, she took Jesus to Egypt to save him from Herod’s persecution (cf. Mt 2:13-15). With the same faith, she followed the Lord in his preaching and remained with him all the way to Golgotha (cf. Jn 19:25-27). By faith, Mary tasted the fruits of Jesus’ resurrection, and treasuring every memory in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19, 51), she passed them on to the Twelve assembled with her in the Upper Room to receive the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14; 2:1-4).

By faith, the Apostles left everything to follow their Master (cf. Mk 10:28). They believed the words with which he proclaimed the Kingdom of God present and fulfilled in his person (cf. Lk 11:20). They lived in communion of life with Jesus who instructed them with his teaching, leaving them a new rule of life, by which they would be recognized as his disciples after his death (cf. Jn 13:34-35). By faith, they went out to the whole world, following the command to bring the Gospel to all creation (cf. Mk 16:15) and they fearlessly proclaimed to all the joy of the resurrection, of which they were faithful witnesses.

By faith, the disciples formed the first community, gathered around the teaching of the Apostles, in prayer, in celebration of the Eucharist, holding their possessions in common so as to meet the needs of the brethren (cf. Acts2:42-47).

By faith, the martyrs gave their lives, bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel that had transformed them and made them capable of attaining to the greatest gift of love: the forgiveness of their persecutors.

By faith, men and women have consecrated their lives to Christ, leaving all things behind so as to live obedience, poverty and chastity with Gospel simplicity, concrete signs of waiting for the Lord who comes without delay. By faith, countless Christians have promoted action for justice so as to put into practice the word of the Lord, who came to proclaim deliverance from oppression and a year of favour for all (cf. Lk 4:18-19).

By faith, across the centuries, men and women of all ages, whose names are written in the Book of Life (cf. Rev 7:9, 13:8), have confessed the beauty of following the Lord Jesus wherever they were called to bear witness to the fact that they were Christian: in the family, in the workplace, in public life, in the exercise of the charisms and ministries to which they were called.

 

By faith, we too live: by the living recognition of the Lord Jesus, present in our lives and in our history.

Prayer: Act of Faith

Acts of Faith are common in morning prayers, and they should be said at any time in which we feel our faith is being tested or we are enduring temptation. An Act of Faith can be as simple as "My God, I believe in you," but the following is a traditional version which generations of Catholics memorized. (http://catholicism.about.com/od/prayers/qt/Act_Faith.htm)

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; I believe that your Divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths the Holy Catholic Church teaches because You have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

Devotion for today: The Catechism of the Catholic Church: a systematic and organic synthesis of the faith

In today’s section of Pope Benedict XVI’s letter declaring the Opening of the Year of Faith, he addresses the importance of reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

11. In order to arrive at a systematic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a precious and indispensable tool. It is one of the most important fruits of the Second Vatican Council. In the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum, signed, not by accident, on the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Blessed John Paul II wrote: “this catechism will make a very important contribution to that work of renewing the whole life of the Church ... I declare it to be a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and a sure norm for teaching the faith.”

It is in this sense that that the Year of Faith will have to see a concerted effort to rediscover and study the fundamental content of the faith that receives its systematic and organic synthesis in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Here, in fact, we see the wealth of teaching that the Church has received, safeguarded and proposed in her two thousand years of history. From Sacred Scripture to the Fathers of the Church, from theological masters to the saints across the centuries, the Catechism provides a permanent record of the many ways in which the Church has meditated on the faith and made progress in doctrine so as to offer certitude to believers in their lives of faith.

In its very structure, the Catechism of the Catholic Church follows the development of the faith right up to the great themes of daily life. On page after page, we find that what is presented here is no theory, but an encounter with a Person who lives within the Church. The profession of faith is followed by an account of sacramental life, in which Christ is present, operative and continues to build his Church. Without the liturgy and the sacraments, the profession of faith would lack efficacy, because it would lack the grace which supports Christian witness. By the same criterion, the teaching of the Catechism on the moral life acquires its full meaning if placed in relationship with faith, liturgy and prayer.

12. In this Year, then, the Catechism of the Catholic Church will serve as a tool providing real support for the faith, especially for those concerned with the formation of Christians, so crucial in our cultural context. To this end, I have invited the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by agreement with the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See, to draw up a Note, providing the Church and individual believers with some guidelines on how to live this Year of Faith in the most effective and appropriate ways, at the service of belief and evangelization.

To a greater extent than in the past, faith is now being subjected to a series of questions arising from a changed mentality which, especially today, limits the field of rational certainties to that of scientific and technological discoveries. Nevertheless, the Church has never been afraid of demonstrating that there cannot be any conflict between faith and genuine science, because both, albeit via different routes, tend towards the truth.

My thoughts: Many people ran out and bought the Catechism when it first appeared 20 years ago. Many people mistakenly placed it on a bookshelf and never looked at it again, much as they did with their Bibles. Well, if you are one of those people, this is the year to take it off the shelf, along with your Bible, and begin to read it. The majority of Catholics today really don’t know what their faith is about, and what they don’t know can and will hurt them. Most Catholics know the Church’s position on public issues; they basically know what they can and can’t do, and they know that being “Catholic” means practicing a different kind of “Christianity” from Protestants. If you were trying to firmly understand a person, or a political party, or the family of a new dating partner, would that be enough information to cause you to believe in them? I think not. The time is here to begin to really learn why the Church teaches what it teaches; where it gets its ideas on what is right and what is wrong; what its history and traditions are; why Catholics should love Jesus so much that Sunday Mass would not be an obligation, but a weekly chance to meet with their beloved, to feast at the greatest banquet table of all time, to receive the Bread of Life, to hear God’s love letters proclaimed to them. Enter into the world of God by grabbing your Catechism and Bible, and let God begin to speak to you. Enter into the world of Truth.

Prayer: Prayer of St. Augustine (354-430)

O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee, the life of the souls that love thee, and the strength of the wills that serve thee; help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee; so to love thee that we may fully serve thee, whom to serve is perfect freedom.

Watch, dear Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and let your angels protect those who sleep.  Tend the sick.  Refresh the weary.  Sustain the dying.  Calm the suffering.  Pity the distressed.  We ask this for the sake of your love.

Lord Jesus, our Saviour, let us come to you.
Our hearts are cold; Lord, warm them with your selfless love.
Our hearts are sinful; cleanse them with your precious blood.
Our hearts are weak; strengthen them with our joyous Spirit.
Our hearts are empty; fill them with your divine presence.
Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours; possess them always and only for yourself.

 

Devotion for today: profess with your lips and believe with your heart

Continuing with our look at Pope Benedict XVI's letter announcing the Year of Faith:

10. At this point I would like to sketch a path intended to help us understand more profoundly not only the content of the faith, but also the act by which we choose to entrust ourselves fully to God, in complete freedom. In fact, there exists a profound unity between the act by which we believe and the content to which we give our assent. Saint Paul helps us to enter into this reality when he writes: “Man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved” (Rom 10:10). The heart indicates that the first act by which one comes to faith is God’s gift and the action of grace which acts and transforms the person deep within. The example of Lydia is particularly eloquent in this regard. Saint Luke recounts that, while he was at Philippi, Paul went on the Sabbath to proclaim the Gospel to some women; among them was Lydia and “the Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by Paul” (Acts 16:14). There is an important meaning contained within this expression. Saint Luke teaches that knowing the content to be believed is not sufficient unless the heart, the authentic sacred space within the person, is opened by grace that allows the eyes to see below the surface and to understand that what has been proclaimed is the word of God. Confessing with the lips indicates in turn that faith implies public testimony and commitment. A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him. This “standing with him” points towards an understanding of the reasons for believing. Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes. The Church on the day of Pentecost demonstrates with utter clarity this public dimension of believing and proclaiming one’s faith fearlessly to every person. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes us fit for mission and strengthens our witness, making it frank and courageous.

Profession of faith is an act both personal and communitarian. It is the Church that is the primary subject of faith. In the faith of the Christian community, each individual receives baptism, an effective sign of entry into the people of believers in order to obtain salvation. As we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “ ‘I believe’ is the faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during baptism. ‘We believe’ is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. ‘I believe’ is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both ‘I believe’ and ‘we believe’.”

Evidently, knowledge of the content of faith is essential for giving one’s own assent, that is to say for adhering fully with intellect and will to what the Church proposes. Knowledge of faith opens a door into the fullness of the saving mystery revealed by God. The giving of assent implies that, when we believe, we freely accept the whole mystery of faith, because the guarantor of its truth is God who reveals himself and allows us to know his mystery of love.

On the other hand, we must not forget that in our cultural context, very many people, while not claiming to have the gift of faith, are nevertheless sincerely searching for the ultimate meaning and definitive truth of their lives and of the world. This search is an authentic “preamble” to the faith, because it guides people onto the path that leads to the mystery of God. Human reason, in fact, bears within itself a demand for “what is perennially valid and lasting”.[19] This demand constitutes a permanent summons, indelibly written into the human heart, to set out to find the One whom we would not be seeking had he not already set out to meet us.[20] To this encounter, faith invites us and it opens us in fullness.

My thoughts: “A Christian may never think of an act of faith as a private act.” I think there is some confusion on this point in our society today. It is not enough to lock ourselves in our rooms, pray to God, attend Mass on Sundays, give money to the poor, and then say and do things in the world which are counter to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict tells us: “Confessing with the lips indicates in turn that faith implies public testimony and commitment. A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him.” In Sunday’s gospel, Jesus asks the young man to give up everything and come follow Him. The young man couldn’t do it, and went away sad. Are we willing to give up our pride, our fear of rejection or scorn, our need to fit in and be accepted, to practice our faith in public, and to state the truth on issues, even if it means taking some heat for it? Start the year of faith by reminding yourself of what it truly means to be a follower of Christ. He is asking you today to give up everything to come and follow Him. Can you honestly say no?

Prayer: of St. Teresa of Avila (yesterday was her feast day)

Let nothing trouble you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing.

God never changes,

Patience obtains all things.

He who possesses God lacks nothing,

God alone suffices.

Devotion for today: profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction

Devotion for today: profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction

We continue with our study of Pope Benedict XVI’s Letter announcing the Year of Faith:

9. We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope. It will also be a good opportunity to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, which is “the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; ... and also the source from which all its power flows.” At the same time, we make it our prayer that believers’ witness of life may grow in credibility. To rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived and prayed, and to reflect on the act of faith, is a task that every believer must make his own, especially in the course of this Year.

Not without reason, Christians in the early centuries were required to learn the creed from memory. It served them as a daily prayer not to forget the commitment they had undertaken in baptism. With words rich in meaning, Saint Augustine speaks of this in a homily on the redditio symboli, the handing over of the creed: “the symbol of the holy mystery that you have all received together and that today you have recited one by one, are the words on which the faith of Mother Church is firmly built above the stable foundation that is Christ the Lord. You have received it and recited it, but in your minds and hearts you must keep it ever present, you must repeat it in your beds, recall it in the public squares and not forget it during meals: even when your body is asleep, you must watch over it with your hearts.”

My thoughts: Pope Benedict XVI is asking us to let our faith permeate our entire being. He calls us to profess it, celebrate it, live it and pray it. A good place to start is to very slowly say the Apostle’s Creed, meditating on what it is we, as Catholics, say we believe. If we don’t truly know our faith, we cannot hand it on to future generations, and that responsibility is ours, and ours alone.

Prayer: The Apostles Creed

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary:

4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died and buried: He descended into hell:

5. The third day he rose again from the dead:

6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:

7. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead:

8. I believe in the Holy Spirit:

9. I believe in the holy Catholic Church: the communion of saints:

10. The forgiveness of sins:

1l. The resurrection of the body:

12. And life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

Devotion for today: Truth or consequences

Proverbs 12:5-28

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁵ The thoughts of the righteous are just,
But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
⁶ The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,
But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.
⁷ The wicked are overthrown and are no more,
But the house of the righteous will stand.
⁸ A man will be praised according to his insight,
But one of perverse mind will be despised.
⁹ Better is he who is lightly esteemed and has a servant
Than he who honors himself and lacks bread.
¹⁰ A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal,
But even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.
¹¹ He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,
But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense.
¹² The wicked man desires the booty of evil men,
But the root of the righteous yields fruit.
^13]An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips,
But the righteous will escape from trouble.
¹⁴ A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his^]words,
And the deeds of a man’s hands will return to him.
¹⁵ The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
¹⁶ A fool’s anger is known at once,
But a prudent man conceals dishonor.
¹⁷ He who speaks truth tells what is right,
But a false witness, deceit.
¹⁸ There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword,
But the tongue of the wise brings healing.
¹⁹ Truthful lips will be established forever,
But a lying tongue is only for a moment.
²⁰ Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,
But counselors of peace have joy.
²¹ No harm befalls the righteous,
But the wicked are filled with trouble.