Tag: Catholic life

Duty of the Moment

At every moment you must be just as I would have you be; at every moment you must do just what I would have you do.

Blue Book #1

I like to use Lectio Divina when doing spiritual reading of any kind. It helps me to pick out what is for me at this moment, and with the Holy Spirit’s guidance through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I’m enlightened and guided gently and step by step. The message then is not a general message to the world out there, but becomes a very intimate request for me specifically at this moment. Then together with other readings, encounters with others, random life occurrences, and prayer… it all starts to come together.

I’m currently doing the Catechism in a year with Fr. Mike, and encountered the word pedagogy… perhaps not for the first time… but it made enough of an impact now for me to get inquisitive. It means a teaching plan. God has a divine pedagogy in guiding us, and materials such as the Blue Book can be part of it.

Another book that has come to my attention as I was preparing to restart this journey was Catherine Doherty’s ‘Grace in Every Season’. The spirit of the Madonna House, seems very much in line with the messages of the Blue Book. She emphasizes the ‘duty of the moment’ … which is something very near and dear to my heart, so I’m going to be reading it also. It’s set up in daily bits, and perfect for this type of study and reflection.

The kitchen routine of preparing food in its ordinariness is feeding the hungry in the reality of everyday life.
I hope and pray that you, now and in the coming tomorrows, will remember the holiness of little things done well over and over again for the love of God. Every task, routine or not, is of redeeming, supernatural value because we are united with Christ. We must be recollected and stay aware of this truth.

Grace in Every Season

So what does Our Blessed Mother ask of us… well, first and foremost she tells us to do whatever Jesus tells us… and in the kernel of that command is our obligation to the duty of the moment.

In todays Second Reading we hear “He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

I too seek to “go about” my own life doing good… because God is with me, and I have a lot of heavenly helps at my disposal.

Prudence



1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; “the prudent man looks where he is going.”65 “Keep sane and sober for your prayers.”

66 Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle.

67 It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation.

It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church



“If a worthwhile solution–however small–appears on the horizon, prudence will join fortitude and say, “It is not time to surrender for any reason. It is time to fight with all of your weapons at hand and to excite your energies into play.” ” –Mary’s Mantle Consecration

This has an almost prophetic tone addressing all that we are going through as a nation. Get those rosaries out and don’t stop praying.

This morning while praying my rosary, a thought popped in to my head. “Jesus came to us (the world) through Mary, and we need to go through her to be fully united with Him.” At another time I had gotten the thought that Jesus came through Mary for His first coming, comes through her for our personal reception of Him, and again will come through her for His final coming.

To be consecrated to her, simply means to be united to her in “birthing” Him to the world. These ‘end times’ that we are living through are not scary with them by our side!!! Immaculate Heart of Mary pray for us. Bring us to your Son in a fuller way. Teach us to pray and obey as you did!!!

Discipline

The Illumination of Conscience



1776 “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.”47


… 1779 It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his conscience. This requirement of interiority is all the more necessary as life often distracts us from any reflection, self-examination or introspection:

Return to your conscience, question it. . . . Turn inward, brethren, and in everything you do, see God as your witness.5
Catechism of the Catholic Church



We’ve been hearing a lot about an ‘illumination of conscience’, this is what the Lord wants for us, whether it’s coming in one fell swoop over society, we gradually come upon it, or we merely happen on to it as we draw our last breath. It will happen. This illumination like a lamp that is lit in a dark room, not only shows us the true beauty that we have been surrounded by, but will also show the dust that we’ve allowed to accumulate.

The more dust and dirt in our little room, the more anxiety and sadness we’ll experience at seeing how much has stood in our way of seeing things clearly. But God is a loving and forgiving God…He will not only show us the true beauty in our midst, He will help us clean up the messes that we’ve allowed to grow. This my friends is why we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation…Confession. We need to be willing to part with the dust (our sins) in order to embrace the true beauty before us (the Kingdom of Heaven).

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 3:2

Please watch the following video about “What You Don’t Know but Need to Know about Confession and Joy”

Wisdom

2518 The sixth beatitude proclaims, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”307 “Pure in heart” refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God’s holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity;308 chastity or sexual rectitude;309 love of truth and orthodoxy of faith.310 There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith:

The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed “so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe.“

3112519 The “pure in heart” are promised that they will see God face to face and be like him.

312 Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision of God. Even now it enables us to see according to God, to accept others as “neighbors”; it lets us perceive the human body – ours and our neighbor’s – as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine beauty.
Catechism of the Catholic Church



This faith and obedience, the two sides of the same coin is something that I learned early on in my ‘reversion’ to the fullness of the Catholic faith. I remember shortly after falling in love with the Lord anew. I was in my bedroom and had finished praying and was attempting to meditate on the days readings. So I just sat there for a while and spoke to Him. I plainly asked Him ‘so what now’? This sitting around in prayer thing still seemed pretty ‘boring’ to me at the time. I was wondering if this was it…did leading a Catholic Christian life simply mean sitting around praying all day.

His answer was so profound that even after two decades I remember it still. He told me…”you’ve prayed, now be attentive to ME and obey what I ask of you.” Well, let me tell you, my life has been anything but boring. Obeying Him has lead me on the most amazing adventures…my life to the reader may not seem very adventurous…I’m simply a homeschooling mom…but the path that lead me here was totally and completely amazing. It reminds of the following poem

This poem reflects the beautiful relationship that He wants with us.

At first, I saw God as my observer,
my judge,
keeping track of the things I did wrong,
so as to know whether I merited heaven
or hell when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognized His picture when I saw it,
but I really didn’t know Him.

But later on
when I met Christ,
it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride,
but it was a tandem bike,
and I noticed that Christ
was in the back helping me pedal.

I don’t know just when it was
that He suggested we change places,
but life has not been the same since.

When I had control,
I knew the way.
It was rather boring,
but predictable . . .
It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts,
up mountains,
and through rocky places
at breakneck speeds,
it was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said, “Pedal!”

I worried and was anxious
and asked,
“Where are you taking me?”
He laughed and didn’t answer,
and I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life
and entered into the adventure.
And when I’d say, “I’m scared,”
He’d lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed,
gifts of healing,
acceptance
and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
my Lord’s and mine.

And we were off again.
He said, “Give the gifts away;
they’re extra baggage, too much weight.”
So I did,
to the people we met,
and I found that in giving I received,
and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him,
at first,
in control of my life.
I thought He’d wreck it;
but He knows bike secrets,
knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up
and pedal
in the strangest places,
and I’m beginning to enjoy the view
and the cool breeze on my face
with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I’m sure I just can’t do anymore,
He just smiles and says . . . “Pedal.”

— author unknown

You can go to this page—> Jesus My Lord and Savior to read more about faith and obedience and how both are required.