St Benedict Prayer and the use of Sacramentals

Since a few bloggers have been posting about the dangers of the occult and the New Age Movement (see My Brush With Darkness) I thought I would post a prayer and a few links for the feast day of St. Benedict. The Catholic Church encourages the use of sacramentals  such as the St. Benedict Medal, The Scapular, Holy Water, the Crucifix, and other blessed objects. The tradition of blessing our meals or our children (and others) is also considered a sacramental. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church sacramentals are  "sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church."

We use sacramentals in our home. Our house is filled with them, actually. Blessed medals, holy water, blessed salt, oil (etc...) - we use them all. I wear the St. Benedict Cross daily and have been for years.
Sacramentals are used by priests during exorcisms and their use can also be powerfully effective when used by lay people. Though we cannot (and should never attempt to) perform solemn exorcisms, we can, and should, promote the use of sacramentals and prayers against evil in our households. Every time we pray the Saint Michael Prayer, we are doing exactly that.
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Saint Benedict Prayer:


0 glorious St. Benedict, sublime model of all virtues, pure vessel of God's grace!  Behold me, humbly kneeling at thy feet. I implore thy loving heart to pray for me before the throne of God. To thee I have recourse in all the dangers which daily surround me. Shield me against my enemies, inspire me to imitate thee in all things

May thy blessing be with me always, so that I may shun whatever God forbids and avoid the occasions of sin. Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces of which I stand so much in need, in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life. Thy heart was always so full of love, compassion. and mercy towards those who were afflicted or troubled in any way. Thou didst never dismiss without consolation and assistance any one who had recourse to thee. I therefore invoke thy powerful intercession, in the confident hope that thou wilt hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I so earnestly implore (mention it), if it be for the greater glory of God and the welfare of my soul

Help me, 0 great St. Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to be ever submissive to His holy will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven. Amen
                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Links - St. Benedict and the Medal of St. Benedict:
~ The Continual and Silent Prayer of St. Benedict
~ The Medal of St. Benedict

Links - Sacramentals
~ Introduction to Sacramentals
~ Sacramentals: What are They?

A Wonderful Post

Barb at Suffering with Joy recently wrote a post called Divine Simplicity and Truth and I highly recommend it to all who haven't read it yet.  The meditations come from Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen's book - Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Every Day of the Liturgical Year. Barb shares her thoughts on duplicity of the heart and mind and how important divine simplicity is in our relationship with God and others. Her post wasn't just good...it was excellent. Thank you, Barb.

Moira Noonan's Story

I was searching for a conversion story that I had read online last year and found interesting when I ran across Moira Noonan's story. I haven't read her book Ransomed from Darkness but you can get a general idea of what it's about from the link above. Sometimes the dangers of the occult are best pointed out by those who were involved in it.

In the Vatican Document, Jesus Christ - The Bearer of the Water of Life, we can read what the Church has to say about the New Age Movement. It helps us understand why this movement doesn't fit in with Catholicism and never will.

We are not "gods"

I read a very interesting post today on Making All Things New and highly recommend it: God and god.

I've spoken of my experiences in bookstores where I will pick up a book and immediately hear, "Put that back!"  Often, I'll notice afterward that the book is listed under New Age and was accidentally placed in the Christianity section. Some of these books are obvious in their New Age teachings such as the book Fr. Joseph mentions in his article linked above while others are far more subtle and "claim" to be Christian when they are far from it. Some will even quote from the Bible which makes them all the more dangerous.

Christianity cannot be "mixed" with any other religion. God is God and we are not gods by any means.
It's not necessary to prove this - we are surrounded with this "proof" today. The rotten fruit of our apostasy from truth Himself is written all over the face of our country and world.

It's not safe to tamper with the spiritual realm. We call upon the Lord in this area at all times and are never to depend on self. When we go off on our own spiritually, as in the area of the New Age philosophy, we leave the safe haven of the Lord's "pasture" and wander off into enemy territory without
protection. We become as sheep surrounded by a pack of wolves.

It seems to me that those who are drawn into New Age teachings are desperately searching for personal  power in a world that overwhelms them. We don't need "personal" power, we need the power of Christ
in our lives. The disciples of Jesus were powerless until the Holy Spirit came upon them. The power they received was a gift from God, it did not come from themselves. They had no power without God.

And by the way, crystals are just "pretty" rocks.
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Today's Mass readings:


Reading 1 Hos 2:16, 17c-18, 21-22

Thus says the LORD:
I will allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there as in the days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt.

On that day, says the LORD,
She shall call me "My husband,"
and never again "My baal."

I will espouse you to me forever:
I will espouse you in right and in justice,
in love and in mercy;
I will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the LORD.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. (8a) The Lord is gracious and merciful.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.

Gospel Mt 9:18-26

While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward,
knelt down before him, and said,
"My daughter has just died.
But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live."
Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples.
A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him
and touched the tassel on his cloak.
She said to herself, "If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured."
Jesus turned around and saw her, and said,
"Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you."
And from that hour the woman was cured.

When Jesus arrived at the official's house
and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion,
he said, "Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping."
And they ridiculed him.
When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
And news of this spread throughout all that land.

It Begins at Home

Faith starts in the home. If we truly care about our children then we must truly give them a firm foundation to stand on. What's firmer than a rock? Christ needs to be welcomed back into the hearts and homes of America (and the rest of the world for that matter). It all begins at home. It's not enough to send your child to CCD or Mass and not attend yourself. I mention this because it used to drive my former pastor crazy. People were constantly "dumping" their children at CCD and not attending Mass themselves or the family gathering sessions for faith formation. He was right, too. We'd see a number of folks dropping their children off  and walking over to Bagel Alley next door. No matter how many times he'd stress the importance of example they'd continue to do it. It frustrated him to no end. Not everyone did this of course but quite a significant number. The 9:00 AM Mass was deliberately lined up so that families could all attend Mass together and then walk over to the center for CCD for the kids and Bible Study for the adults. The church should have been packed, one would think, but it never was. And at one point Randy and I were the only two people attending the Bible Study class. 

They eventually made the family gathering sessions mandatory because barely anyone was showing up. Some folks thought this was over the top but how else could the priests and religious education teachers prepare the children for the Sacraments? As the head of Religious Ed. use to tell my mom and I all the time (when we were cleaning the center), "The parents need the classes almost as much as the children, if not worse."

I understand that we live in a very secular age and that this "secularization" of society has been catchy. Sort of like a virus that gets passed from person to person. But there's a cure for this virus and it begins in the home. 

Randy and I are far from being perfect parents but we are genuinely striving to give our child a firm foundation to stand on. Sometimes it feels as if we are constantly pushing against  waves of anti-Catholic sentiment or trying to swim through the morass of "junk" this secular society continues to toss at everyone but thankfully we can turn to the God who "walks on water" and trust Him to steer us in the right direction.

So how can families bring God back into their homes?

I thought this article gives a wonderful example on how to do this: The Domestic Church: 7 Steps to a Proper Catholic Home.

Prayer Request

Please pray for Liz and her son. Her little boy's cancer has returned and they are devastated. I am pleading for prayers for the entire family.

Let Go

Every once in a while I'll come across an amazing book that grips my heart from the moment I open it. One of these "treasures" is a short book called LET GO ,by Fenelon, an archbishop from the seventeenth century. I couldn't put this book down. It's right up there with Practice of the Presence of God  (Br Lawrence of the Resurrection). I'd like to recommend this book to those who are struggling and having trouble "letting go and letting God".  The book is so good that I keep going back to it again and again. Here are some "gems" from the book:

"Whatever spiritual knowledge or feelings we may have, they are all a delusion if they do not lead us to the real and constant practice of dying to self. And it is true we do not die without suffering. Nor is it possible to be considered truly dead while there is any part of us which is yet alive. This spiritual death is undeniably painful. It cuts 'swift and deep into our innermost thoughts and desires with all their parts, exposing us for what we really are.' The great Physician who sees in us what we cannot see, knows exactly where to place the knife. He cuts away that which we are most reluctant to give up."


"You have been asking for comfort and peace. But you do not understand that you have been lead to the brink of the fountain and are refusing to drink."


"Though it sounds strange to say it I am rejoicing that God has reduced you to a state of weakness. Your ego can neither be convinced nor forced into submission by any other means; it is always finding secret lines of supply from your own courage; it is discovering impenetrable retreats in your own cleverness."


"I beg you not to listen to self. Self-love whispers in one ear and God in the other."


"You can always tell when self is speaking. Self always wants to entertain itself and never feels sufficiently well attended to."


I came across this book by accident but I'm glad it fell into my hands. I have a hard copy of the book but  
read the samples from my Kindle too since there are a few translations of it. I recommend the version put out by Whitaker House to begin with because it's clear, concise, and easy to read.

If the Shoe Fits...

I loved the readings for Mass, Wednesday the 4th.  "How fitting!" I couldn't help but think. "Both the readings from the Old Testament and the New!"

And then I wondered, "Are people REALLY hearing them and letting them sink deeply into their hearts or do they imagine that they do not apply to each of us who live in this day and age?"

I decided to post these readings.


Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts,
be with you as you claim!
Hate evil and love good,
and let justice prevail at the gate;
Then it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts,
will have pity on the remnant of Joseph.

I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the LORD,
I take no pleasure in your solemnities;
Your cereal offerings I will not accept,
nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings.
Away with your noisy songs!
I will not listen to the melodies of your harps.
But if you would offer me burnt offerings,
then let justice surge like water,
and goodness like an unfailing stream.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 50:7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 16bc-17

R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Hear, my people, and I will speak;
Israel, I will testify against you;
God, your God, am I."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"For mine are all the animals of the forests,
beasts by the thousand on my mountains.
I know all the birds of the air,
and whatever stirs in the plains, belongs to me."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"If I were hungry, I should not tell you,
for mine are the world and its fullness.
Do I eat the flesh of strong bulls,
or is the blood of goats my drink?"
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?"
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Gospel Mt 8:28-34

When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes,
two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him.
They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.
They cried out, "What have you to do with us, Son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?"
Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding.
The demons pleaded with him,
"If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine."
And he said to them, "Go then!"
They came out and entered the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
where they drowned.
The swineherds ran away,
and when they came to the town they reported everything,
including what had happened to the demoniacs.
Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.
                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


America reminds me of this town in the Gospel reading that begged the Lord to "leave their district".  We have systematically removed God from almost every area of our lives here in the U.S.

But then again, we didn't beg Him to leave...

We booted Him out.

Celebrate Yesterday?

Celebrate what? Our bondage to sin? The 4th of July. Independence Day. I love my country but it's hard to celebrate freedom when you can clearly see its enslavement to sin. I will celebrate when the people of this country are free, not while they are in bondage and can't even see it. America has no idea just how far it has fallen. There must be a widespread return to the Lord. We are presuming upon His mercy without the necessary repentance to obtain that mercy. We aren't talking about small human faults here...we are talking about grave sin and deep internal rot. So, am I supposed to rejoice and celebrate a nation so hardened by sin that what was once clearly understood as evil has not only become the norm but is thought of as "right" and "good" by millions?
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"O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes. Mourn as for an only child with bitter wailing, For sudden upon us comes the destroyer." Jer. 6:26

"But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears so as not to hear. And they made their hearts diamond-hard...."  Zec. 7:11

"Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I heal them."  Mt 13:15

"Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, over the destruction which overwhelms the
virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound.   Jer.  Ch. 14:17


"Give ear, listen humbly,
    for the Lord speaks.
  Give glory to the Lord, your God,
    before it grows dark;
  Before your feet stumble
     on darkening mountains;
  Before the light you look for turns to 
      darkness,
    changes into black clouds.
  If you do not listen to this in your pride,
     I will weep in secret many tears;
  My eyes will run with tears
    for the Lord's flock, led away to exile." Jer. 13:15-17

Mother, Father, Child...and Jesus

Today, Randy, Michaela and I all went to Adoration together. It was wonderful! After the three of us walked out, Michaela exclaimed, "My soul feels so much lighter!"

Usually I go to Adoration alone because Randy works and Michaela is at school for most of the year, but during the summer I plan on taking her once a week. She didn't pray the entire time but that's okay. I brought some children's books on The Holy Family, The Holy Spirit, and the Saints with us for her to read after she was finished praying. I understand that it is hard for a child to pray quietly for a long period of time. After our visit before the Blessed Sacrament we let her light two candles. She must have a soft spot for St. Anthony because she always heads for him first every time.


Tomorrow we are going to the Shrine of St. Joseph the Worker. We'll go to Confession while we are there and visit the store too. Since moving out of the city going to Confession has been much more difficult because most of the churches around here only have Confession on Saturdays and I work that day. The Shrine has Confession every day but it's about an hour away from where we live now. They also have Adoration both before and after Mass. 


Michaela knows about my experience before the Living Rays of the Heart of Jesus so she is aware that even though she cannot "see" these rays with her eyes they are there - cleansing her soul and drawing her closer to Christ.  


I rarely see children at Adoration (she was the only one there) but I am determined to teach her the importance of this very special Gift while she is still young. Whether she prays, reads, or just sits quietly in the Presence of the Lord I know those Living Rays are piercing her soul and that this will make a great difference in her life both now and when she is older.


God is good.

Okay! Okay! 11 REAL Facts About Myself!

I've been accused of cheating on a meme by two of my fellow bloggers. One wears a kilt, the other likes rocking the boat so the pressure is definitely on to complete it. They threatened to sic the Blogmonster on me if I didn't comply, so here goes:

Here's my photo. Pardon my appearance - I had just awakened and am quite prickly before my morning coffee. As you can see, my most recent dye job didn't take and those stiff, wiry, gray hairs are still waving for attention like little banners in the wind (see Hair Anthem).

11 facts about myself:

1. I don't "cut the cheese" like Victor does, but I DO draw cartoons like a certain fiend I know. As a matter of fact, I love to doodle but am too embarrassed to put up any pictures because they are not much better than my speling.

2. My parents owned a bookstore when I was a kid but it went out of business after they turned it into a Christian bookstore. Says a lot about our country, doesn't it? And it was the only one in the city.

3. I eat sprouted grain breads, tabbouleh, green drinks, and lots of other weird stuff. Once I ate so many dandelion greens that a flower sprouted out of my ear. I ate that too.

4. You know that post I did about our septic tank a while back? We had it emptied only to find out that it was the neighbors "stuff" blowing in the wind all along. I offered it up.

5. I type with one finger which is why I cheated on the meme in the first place.

6. Not only do I have six gray hairs on my head - there is a stubborn, tough little bugger that keeps trying to grow out of my chin. This gained me entrance to the "Old Hags Club" along with Vicky and Puff. Feel free to join. These are the requirements:
~Must be at least forty (or close to it).
~ Must have a few strange wiry hairs growing in unusual places on the body such as the cheek, or one sprouting out of the chin that needs to be plucked (if one remembers because early Alzheimer's is another condition for membership).
~ Must look like a hag with dark circles under the eyes at least 7 days out of the week.
 
(Kindly,  Puff has offered a few of hers for those who don't meet the second requirement.)

7. I really do laugh at inappropriate times. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry. There are some things I take very seriously though and my faith is one of them. 

8. I deliberately take breaks from the serious posts because if I didn't I would and do cry at what I see around me. These are not tears of joy.

9. When I was healed of the Myasthenia Gravis the Lord also healed my toenail fungus and a large  sebacious cyst on my head. In three days it was gone. And, yes, I'm serious. I was too embarrassed to mention it at the time :)

10. I am a watchman for those of you who know what this is. I didn't ask for this job but neither could I refuse it after all I've been given. I have a lot to be grateful for.

11. My daughter is a miracle baby.

And for good measure:

12. That white highlighting on my blog is driving me nuts. Kind of like my hair. I'm leaving it because I don't feel like removing it....yawn.

Self-discipline

So it's like this folks:

Randy "punished" our puppy, Milo, for peeing on the rug by sending him to his crate a few times after finding the "evidence". Never say dogs aren't smart - yesterday, Milo lifted his leg on the rug and then quietly walked into his crate and "punished" himself.

Yep, it's a dog's world out there and my home is their giant toilet.

Discernment of Spirits

Something that I would find rather amusing if it wasn't so pitiful:

I was watching a video given by a priest on "discernment of spirits" according to St. Ignatius' guidelines. Not long into the video the priest basically insinuated that satan and the demonic world didn't really exist and that it is not a necessary aspect in discernment of spirits.

Really?

Maybe he should have a little talk with Fr. Gabriele Amorth on that one.

On a brighter note: I easily discerned this spirit.

The Mystical Body of Christ

This is what the Mystical Body of Christ, of which we are a part, looks like right now....

Yes, this is what it looks like. It's time to "wake up".

About the Miraculous Picture of Jesus I Posted

One of the posts on my blog that people seem most interested in is the miraculous picture of Jesus I posted. It gets numerous views every single day. Recently, at Mass, I ran into the friend who gave me this picture and she gave me more information on it. Plus, yesterday, I found the printed page she had given me years ago which explains the circumstances behind the photo.

Luisa Piccaretta  was a Catholic mystic and you can read more about the Cause of the Beatification of Luisa Piccarretta at http://www.padrebucci.com/id4.html, along with other information about Luisa, including her connection with St. Padre Pio (no, I can't remove the Padre part...lol). Thanks to my friend, who painstakingly translated much of Luisa's writing, I have had the opportunity to read quite a bit about "The Little Daughter of the Divine Will". 

The picture was taken during a retreat on living in the Divine Will. Here is the story behind the photo:

At the end of three days of talks about the Divine Will, given by Fr. Gustavo (who has a number of her original writings) in Leon Guananjuato, Mexico, in closing, he celebrated the Holy Mass on May 25th, 1998 to thank the Divine Volition. After Holy Communion, the new children of the Divine Will pronounced their solemn consecration (their promise to live in the Divine Will of God).

One of the sisters was taking photographs. When she received her developed photographs she discovered what you now see, sharp and clear, without any touch up, of the photograph of Jesus, which shows Him with a beautiful smile. 

"I am the Divine Teacher, the Teacher of the Divine Will, and the souls who live in my Volition are my SMILE." (A locution received by the person who took the photo.)

If you carefully observe the region of Jesus' chest, you will see the silhouette of Fr. Gustavo, dressed with the priestly vestments when celebrating the Holy Mass, when he was raising his arms in the moment of the elevation of the Most Holy Sacrament at the Consecration.

                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My friend also left me another "explanation" of this picture - "this is from Vol 12, Jan 7, 1921"

“My beloved daughter, after the great sorrow which creatures are giving Me in these sad times, to the extent of making Me cry – and because this is the crying of  God, it resounds in Heaven and on earth - a smile will take over, which will fill Heaven and earth with gladness. This smile will arise on my lips when I see the first fruits - the children of my Will - living not in the human sphere, but in the divine sphere."

                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting. We all know it's about living in the Divine Will. This was the purpose of our creation. I'll more than likely post about this again at a future date. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Luisa Piccarreta and some poor translations of her works over the years. Hopefully, in time, we will come to a better understanding of Luisa's life and "mission" here on earth.