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One Simple Prayer

By Denise Mercado

Not so fast!

The Catholic Catechism teaches that “all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (CCC1030).  This place of purification is known as Purgatory.  We pray for the souls in Purgatory to assist them in this process of purification.  Our goal is heaven where God resides.  If there is sin in our lives at the time of our death that we have not dealt with while here on earth, then we must undergo purification so we can sustain the glory of God’s presence.

Below is a beautiful, simple prayer given to us by Saint Gertrude the Great that assists souls in Purgatory.

Eternal Father, I offer you the most Precious Blood of your Divine Son, Jesus, in union with all the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, for those in my own home, and within my family.  Amen.

Tradition states that when reciting this prayer, 1,000 souls are released from Purgatory.

Where did this number come from?

Saint Gertrude the Great was born in Germany in 1256 in the same town as Martin Luther, although two centuries earlier.  She is considered one of the great mystics of the 13th century.  Upon entering the Benedictine order, Saint Gertrude received an education in many different subjects.  She was fluent in Latin and very familiar with scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers.  She wrote extensively about the Sacred Heart of Jesus and helped spread the devotion throughout the world.  At the age of 25, she experienced her first series of visions.  She wrote about her experiences in several documents, one of which is titled – Herald of Divine Love. 

Saint Gertrude had a great devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.  Through her visions and writings, she shared how the Lord assured her that the reciting of her prayer in a pious manner would ease the suffering of the holy souls in Purgatory.  However, nowhere in her writings does she speak of a specific number of souls that would be helped through this prayer.

False Promises and Indulgences

In the 19th century, the Holy See, under the authority of Pope Leo XIII issued a rule that prohibited prayers, holy cards, and other religious items that promised the release of a specific number of souls from Purgatory.  There are many ways approved by the Church to assist the souls in Purgatory.  Some of those ways include the Mass, fasting, penance, almsgiving, and a variety of prayers including the Rosary.  Saint Gertrude’s prayer is one of the prayers approved to assist the Holy Souls.  However, the Church does not allow us to specify how many souls will be saved by what we offer to God.  That is God’s decision, not ours!

It is unknown how the specific number of 1,000 souls released from Purgatory became attached to the Saint Gertrude’s prayer, especially since it is not mentioned in any of her writings.  The prayer is a beautiful, simple prayer that eases the suffering of the holy souls in Purgatory when we say the prayer with devotion and love.

More on Saint Gertrude the GREAT

Saint Gertrude was never formally canonized.  However, 300 years after her death, Rome approved a liturgical office of prayer and readings in her honor.  The abbess during her time as a Benedictine nun, was also named Gertrude.  To differentiate the two women, Pope Benedict XIV gave Saint Gertrude the title, “the Great.”  She is the only woman saint with this title.

Saint Gertrude the Great is the patroness of the West Indies.  Her feast day is November 16.  Peru celebrates her feast with great splendor and a town in Mexico was built in her honor and bears her name.

The Lesson Learned

 It is important to help the souls in Purgatory.  The Saint Gertrude prayer is one of those prayers that can assist the holy souls.  What I have learned in researching this prayer is to continue to pray the Saint Gertrude prayer everyday and to let God do what He does best in deciding who and how many will be released from Purgatory.  Let God, be God!  Amen!

Saint Gertrude the Great, pray for us!

Read all posts by Denise Mercado Filed Under: Catholic Education, Featured Tagged With: Catechism of the Catholic Church, faith, prayer, religious education

Summer Ideas for Faith and Connection

By Deanna Bartalini

This is a reprint from Catholicmom.com.

Jane Korvemaker offers five ideas to include in your summer plans to help foster faith and connection for your family. 

As summer rolls out, our familiar routines with school tend to be thrown out the window. As a child, I remember the absolute thrill of having no obligations on my plate, or at least I thought there were no obligations, much to the chagrin of my parents.

When summer activities/camps crop up, vacations with travel, and for many families, parents continually working throughout the months, it can be difficult to help build up family relationships and faith life. Here are five ideas that can be incorporated singly or more numerously into summer plans to help foster faith and connection for your family.

Morning Offering Together

This works if there are young kids and/or early risers; sometime around breakfast offer the day to the Holy Spirit together. It can be as simple as, “Holy Spirit, thank you for this day. We ask that you be with us and guide our actions today for your glory and our true happiness. Amen.”

There are many other formulations that can work for your family’s needs!

Podcasts for the Family

There are a lot of podcasts for kids out there, but which ones won’t grate on the adults also tuning in? Which promote a healthy outlook on life? There are several we’ve discovered and have enjoyed in the van and at home:

Saints Alive present dramatizations of saints’ lives. Since the lives are acted out, they are lengthier than other saint stories we’ve encountered, which gives more depth to know the saints. Though the music can sometimes overpower the dialogue (or increase too much between dialogue), the content is so great that we can handle managing the volume dial more often.

Saint Stories for Kids by Shining Light Dolls is a shorter podcast that gives a great overview of a wide variety of saints. They have more than 140 episodes; there are many saints to choose from!

While not quite a podcast, nor freely available, Cat.Chat’s Audio dramatizations are fantastic! My kids adored the stories and songs that punctuated them. They are filled with great storytelling of faith, hope, and love. They have been well worth our investment.

Wow In the World is a very entertaining podcast about science, technology, and innovation. Mindy and Guy explore and discover the world around them in outlandish stories and with their hilarious personalities.

Short and Curly is a great ethics podcast coming out of Australia. With great humor, the hosts tackle questions kids have, such as: should you kill insects?; the ethics of smartphones; and is it fair to punish the whole class? They offer great scenarios and consider the different ethical positions involved in a large number of different topics. They also provide pause points within the podcast to discuss the questions with your kids.

Music

We’ve had the occasional dance party with our kids to just let loose for a few! The kids love it, and it’s usually an aerobic workout for my husband and me (where did our energy go?!). While we are cautious about what may turn into a little torture every time we parents have to listen in, my husband and I have found these groups and artists to pass our “adults can also enjoy” test.

Check out Cat. Chat (Spotify & YouTube) or Rain for Roots (Spotify & YouTube) for some fun Catholic songs to dance to!

These fun (though non-Christian) artists are a hit in our house: Perry Gripp (Spotify & YouTube), some Weird Al (Spotify), the BNL (Spotify & a few on YouTube), or They Might Be Giants’ kids albums (YouTube; the videos are pretty great).

The Angelus

This prayer is traditionally recited at nine, noon, and six, but can be said on its own when convenient. It is a simple invitatory and response prayer based upon the Hail Mary. Its simplicity does not negate its power. The easy rhythm is quick to pick up for young and older alike.

Summer Movie (or Show) Club

This could be a great way to include their friends! Come up with dates to watch a series of movies and plan for popcorn! Start with a short prayer and press play! There are a great number to choose from, here are a few on my list: The Prince of Egypt, Thérèse, Clare & Francis (subtitled & dubbed), The Way, The Chronicles of Narnia series.

Kendra Tierney has a great list of other movies to watch as a family if you’re looking for more inspiration. As always, be sure to check the movie ratings yourself to find if it is appropriate for your family.

(Editor’s Note: Follow the blog at our sister ministry, Family Theater Productions, for information on family-friendly entertainment. Family Theater Productions also created the YouTube show, Catholic Central, to help older kids and adults learn about the faith in a fun and enlightening format.]

 

How does your family connect and foster prayer and faith over the summer?

Read all posts by Deanna Bartalini Filed Under: Creativity, Family Life, Featured Tagged With: catholic movies, catholic podcast, family movies, family time, fun, kids podcasts, prayer, summer

Our Weapon of Mass Conversion

By Denise Mercado

I’d like to share a fun story with you.

There was a young bride-to-be at her bridal shower.  One of the gifts she opened was a roasting pan.  When she opened it, she looked at her mother and said, “You know, Mom – I’ve been meaning to ask you.  Every time you make a roast you always cut the end off it before putting it in the pan.  Why do you do that?”  Her mother said, “Your grandmother taught be everything I know about cooking, and she always did that, and I never questioned it.”

With that, the young bride turned to the grandmother and asked her the same question.  The grandmother said, “My mother was the best cook in town.  Everyone loved her cooking.  So, when she taught me to do something in the kitchen, I never questioned it.  I always just did it.”

Well, luckily, 92-year-old great-grandma was at the bridal shower.  The young bride went to the great-grandma and asked the infamous question, “Why do you cut the end off of the roast before putting it in the pan?”  The Great-Grandma shrugged her shoulders and said, “Because I never had a pan big enough.”

WHY Questions are IMPORTANT!

I love this story because it helps us realize that “WHY” questions are important. They’re important because they push us to dig to find answers.  When we ask WHY questions concerning the things of God, it brings us closer to God if we are brave enough and persistent enough to get to the answer.

I recently read a book entitled, “Champions of the Rosary” by Father Donald Calloway.  Father Calloway has an amazing conversion story.  I encourage all of you to look him up on YouTube.  He had no religious upbringing and then somehow after a long series of misfortunes, finds himself in a Catholic Church watching five Filipino women pray the Rosary.  He had no idea what they were doing.

For those of you like me raised in the Catholic Church, I’ve seen both my mother and grandmother pray the rosary every day.  But I really didn’t know what they were doing or why they felt it was important to do it every day.  That WHY question led me to Father Calloway’s book.

Saint Dominic and the Rosary!

Saint Dominic is the founder of the Rosary as we know it today – five decades with meditation on mysteries of Jesus’ life.  The Rosary, as stated in Father Calloway’s book, was crafted by God over a span of time.  So, although Saint Dominic is the founder of the Rosary, the development of the Rosary existed decades before Saint Dominic.

The Rosary – Our Spiritual Sword

The Rosary is also a spiritual sword based on scripture which tells us that “the Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword….” and encourages us to “take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” (Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17)

The two main elements of the Rosary – the Hail Mary and the Our Father – are prayers found in scripture which is why the Rosary is referred to as a sword.

Prayer Beads were very important – used as early as the third century to keep track of how many prayers were said.  During the first Crusade 1069-1099, monks/priests wore prayer beads – not rosary beads – but prayers beads.  They wore these on the belt to understand the beads as a sword that is worn on the belt.  Many of us remember the nuns and priests – back in the day – that wore the rosary beads on the side.  I never knew why they wore them there – but it was to signify a sword.  These prayers are the Word of God, and the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit.

Our Weapon of Mass Conversion

There is a story of Saint Mother Teresa traveling in India by train when officials boarded the train asking if anyone had weapons.  Saint Mother Teresa reached in her pocket and took out her rosary.  This truly is a weapon – a sword.

In 1208, Saint Dominic is struggling with a heresy in southern France without any success.  His preaching was not effective.  The heresy was teaching that God would never take on human form.  Pope Innocent III initiated a 20-year military campaign to eliminate the heresy.  Finally, Saint Dominic decides to retreat and pray for help.  After three days of prayer and fasting, he receives a vision from the Blessed Mother.

Our Lady instructed Saint Dominic to take the Marian Psalter – the 150 Hail Mary’s – out of the monasteries – infuse it with sacred mysteries and meditation – and take it into the streets to become a weapon of mass conversion.

There are so many wonderful stories and detailed history in Father Calloway’s book about the Rosary.  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the WHY of the Rosary.

 

Champions of the Rosary

Champions of the Rosary – EXCELLENT book by Father Donald Calloway!

Read all posts by Denise Mercado Filed Under: Catholic Education, Featured, Mary, Prayer, Spiritual Warfare Tagged With: Catholic, prayer, rosary

6 Ways to Pray Your Way Through #Lent

By Karee Santos

stained glass Jesus on cross

With Ash Wednesday right around the corner, many of us are already pondering what Lenten resolutions we’ll choose or what resolutions we’ll suggest to our students. No resolution can succeed without prayer, however, so here’s six ways to improve your prayer life this Lent.

1.  Make a daily prayer date with God. Best friends talk every day, so use the days of Lent to renew and deepen your friendship with God. If you don’t pray every day, pick a specific time and commit to spending just five minutes telling God what’s in your heart. If you already have a habit of daily prayer, add five more minutes to your regular time. For example, if you normally pray ten minutes a day, make it fifteen minutes a day for Lent. Scheduling prayer for the same time every day will help you keep your commitment. You wouldn’t break a standing date with your husband, or your mom, or your best friend, unless you absolutely had to. So try to make and keep that daily prayer date with God.

2. Add a rosary to your day. St. Louis de Montfort said that praying the rosary was like giving a bouquet of roses to the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, make your mother happy this Lent. Saying an entire set of mysteries takes 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how fast you recite the prayers. If that’s too much time, just say the fifth Sorrowful Mystery — one Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, and one Glory Be while meditating on Our Lord’s crucifixion. Say it with your spouse and your kids, and include your whole family in this beautiful tradition of prayer.

3. Make a morning offering. Offer your entire day to God, and he will bless you for it. First thing in the morning, connect with him and ask for his support and consolation throughout the day. You can recite this exquisite formal prayer, penned by St. Ignatius of Loyola: Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more. But you can also go a simpler route and create your own morning offering. Our family likes to say, “God please help me to do what you want today.” It takes just a few moments and can bring so much peace to your day.

4. Ask for God’s help more than usual. Sometimes when we feel stressed or overwhelmed, we forget to call on God’s strength. Mini-crises hit us more than once a day, on average, and they give us ample opportunity to request divine assistance. Even if your schedule is too harried to carve out specific times for prayer, you can choose a one-sentence prayer (also called an aspiration) to reach out to God throughout the day. Many people use the Jesus prayer, which is “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.” Other possibilities are “God, make haste to help me” or “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

5. Keep a prayer journal. If you decide to make Lenten resolutions, it’s a good idea to keep track of how well you’re doing. Writing down your success (or your failure!) is a great way to ensure accountability. So at the end of the day, you can note down in a journal whether you kept your resolutions that day or not. It will give you extra impetus to stay on track through the whole 40 days of the season.

6. Go to weekly confession. The Church encourages us to go to confession especially during Lent. Many people go at least once, but you don’t have to stop there. Going to weekly confession during Lent will bring you an avalanche of graces. Telling the priest about your progress with your Lenten resolutions will enhance your ability to persevere. Take the whole family with you on Saturday afternoons, and everyone can benefit from this powerful sacrament.

May God bless you during this holy season of Lent! And if you have other ideas for improving prayer life during Lent, please let us know in the comments!

Copyr. Karee Santos, 2014. Image courtesy of Pixabay.

 

Read all posts by Karee Santos Filed Under: General, Liturgical, Prayer Tagged With: confession, Lent, prayer, resolutions, rosary

9 Questions for Lent

By William O'Leary

As you journey through Lent consider reflecting on these questions:

 

1.  When I wake up on Easter Sunday morning, how will I be different?

2.  Is there a habit or sin in my life that repeatedly gets in the way of loving God with my whole heart or loving my neighbor as myself? How do I address that habit?

3.  Is there anyone in my life from whom I need to ask forgiveness or pursue reconciliation?

4.  What practical steps am I taking to carve out time for daily prayer?

5.  What spiritual discipline can I continue to improve upon?

6.  What are some things in my life that I tell myself I need but I don’t? Can I give one or two of them up (at least for the remainder of Lent)?

7.  How is what I’m doing this Lent helping me draw closer to Christ?

8.  What can I tell myself even when it’s hard to deny myself?

9.  What 2 virtues do I want to focus on this Lent (e.g., patience, charity, kindness, gentleness, temperance, etc.)

 

Even NOW, says the Lord, RETURN to me with your WHOLE heart….

Read all posts by William O'Leary Filed Under: Featured, Liturgical, Prayer Tagged With: Grow in Virtue, Lent, prayer

Pray without ceasing?

By Deanna Bartalini

Prayer is necessary

I think most of us will agree that a prayer life is a good and necessary part of our spiritual life. St. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and that can be difficult for many of us to understand, let alone do in the intense world many of us occupy these days. As catechists and parents, we want to instill a love of prayer in those we teach, so they can see the beauty of it themselves.

There’s a book for that!

How Our Family Prays Each Day: A Read-Aloud Story for Catholic Families by Gregory K. Popcak; Illustrated by Jacob Flores-Popcak, published by Ave Maria Press is a read-aloud picture book. In it, Marty and his family talk about all the ways they pray each day. It shows typical family situations  – siblings not getting along, mealtimes, going to Church, sports practice – and how to incorporate prayer into them.

The book makes the point that prayer is not reserved for Sunday Mass, but can take place all the time.

I read this book to my pre-school grandchildren, and they loved it. (The suggested age range is 4-8.) The illustrations are bold, there is the right amount of text on each page and following the pelican added to the fun of reading and talking about the book.

How can you use this book?

Read it to your class, making sure you hold it up so they can see the pictures. Then, talk about ways they can pray every day in their own life. There is a note for parents in the book as well to give you some tips and pointers. It also reveals why a pelican is the family pet!

 

 

Read all posts by Deanna Bartalini Filed Under: Elementary School, Family Life, Featured, Prayer Tagged With: book, book review, prayer, pre-school, religious education, resources

Parent Meetings and Evangelization

By Deanna Bartalini

Can evangelization happen at a parent meeting?

Parent meetings are often looked at by DREs and parents as difficult and a waste of time. One year I decided to change my focus, shift my attitude and see what would happen.

There is usually one meeting at the beginning of the year where I go over the plans for the year, and the schedule and meet new families.  And then there are the sacrament preparation meetings, one for Penance/Communion class and the other for the Confirmation class.  I don’t like these meetings.  I didn’t like attending them when I was a parent and I dislike holding them as the director of said programs.  Why?  Because the parents and I are at cross purposes before we even see each other.  Their interest in the meeting is to get the facts about the sacraments:  dates, times, dress, and photo information. And how long will the service be and do we have to come to the rehearsal?  And in the case of Penance and Communion, well, do we really need to talk about Penance at all? That’s not a big deal like First Communion.

I, of course, spend weeks thinking and praying and searching for all the right things to include in this meeting.  I look at it as a chance to share the faith, to give adults an update, to once and for all find the perfect blend of professing the truth with such love that everyone begins to go to Mass every Sunday and has a conversion experience.  Is it any wonder I have trouble planning the meeting?

The meeting is important since, in many cases, it’s the first time I am meeting the parents and probably the last time we will be together for this long a period of time.  But even more so, it’s an opportunity to reach out in love and invite people to take another look at their faith, at Jesus, and the Church.  How do I engage the parents so that they desire more?  First, I must stop thinking it is all up to me.  It is God who will invite them into a deeper relationship.  I need to allow him to use me.  Only then will evangelization be possible.

Yes, there can be evangelization

I had decided ahead of time that my primary focus would be on presenting the sacrament of Penance and less on Holy Communion. In an ideal world, I would have two meetings, but I can’t.

I began by welcoming the group and telling them about myself.  Then we began talking about the sacraments and why they are important.  I brought out the point that in our relationships with our spouses, children, family, and friends, we verbalize it when we have done something wrong and apologize.  If we didn’t, it would be difficult to stay in the relationship with a good attitude.  I drew out from that analogy that it is the same with God.  We cannot harm our relationship with Him and then act as if we did nothing wrong.  We talked about venial and mortal sin, the difference between the two and why confessing even venial sins is important. I find that there is a huge disconnect on that point, even with clergy saying that only serious or mortal sins need to be confessed.  While technically that is true, if you are constantly committing a certain sin, such as losing patience with your children, if it turns into constant yelling, your children cowering, and your husband not wanting to come at night, well, it has become serious.

Why go to Confession?

I showed a video, Confession Explained from the Diocese of Richmond.  Parents took notes, wrote down the links mentioned in the video, and had questions.  I also reminded them to approach Penance as something joyful, as an event for the family to participate in together.  I gave examples from my own family life and let them know that it is a healing sacrament to receive forgiveness, mercy, and grace, not judgment or condemnation.  I used this quote from Pope Francis, “Going to confession is not like going to the dry cleaners to have a stain removed. No! It is going to meet the Father …” (Pope Francis, during his Jan. 23 daily Mass at the Vatican) to help make my point of why we need confession.

We wrapped up Penance and discussed Communion.  We finished up with all the logistics, and I gave out information about what we’d covered, including the prayers their children need to learn.

After the meeting, a few parents approached me by asking more questions or thanking me for the review since they’d forgotten most of it.  This meeting was different, and as I thought about why I think it came down to two main reasons; I very consciously relaxed and let the Spirit fill and guide me, I approached it from the perspective that this might be threatening to some parents and so I stopped making them the “bad guys” and proceeded with the thought they are trying to do their best for their children.

Read all posts by Deanna Bartalini Filed Under: DRE, Featured Tagged With: DRE, leadership, parent meeting, prayer, sacraments

Imaginative Prayer

By Deanna Bartalini

I am part of the core team for the middle school youth group in my parish.  Every Monday we come together to play, snack, pray, and hopefully learn something about the faith.  When it was my turn to plan the night, knowing that the theme was prayer, I chose to teach how to pray with the scriptures using imaginative prayer which St. Ignatius of Loyola taught.  Here is the outline of the night:

  1. Scripture Charades:  break up into teams, with five or six on each team.  Give each team a different scripture passage and five minutes to figure out what they want to do.   Have each group stand up in front of the group and act it out; group that guesses it first goes next.
  • Here are some possible passages to use:  Jesus washing the Disciples feet, John 13;  Jesus Calls the Apostles to him, Matthew 4; Jesus heals a Blind Man, Mark 8; Jesus makes Peter the leader of the Church, Matthew 16; Jesus calms the storm, Luke 8. Print out the entire passage in case the group is not familiar with the story.  Note:  This took about 20 minutes with six groups.
  1. Opening Prayer
  2. Give the group the overview of the night: We are going to learn about St. Ignatius and way he taught people to pray.  Talk about St. Ignatius of Loyola and show some pictures of him.
  3. Explain what Imaginative Prayer is to the group: In this type of prayer, we read a Gospel passage and enter into it, putting ourselves into the story.  We think about what we can see, hear, smell, touch and maybe even taste.  We think about our reaction to what Jesus is saying or doing.
  4. Practice with the group using a familiar story. I used Jesus’ birth.    Ask these types of questions:  what do you see, smell, hear?  Who is with you?  Are you a shepherd, wise man, angel? Why?
  5. After you talk through the process and students respond, use a Gospel passage. I used Matthew 14:22-33, The Walking on Water.  Have the group spread out, sit in a relaxed position and close their eyes.  Read the passage slowly and with feeling.  When you are done reading, wait a few moments before having them open their eyes.  Discuss where they saw themselves in the passage, why and what it meant to them.   Questions: Where did you put yourself in the passage?  What did you notice from that point of view?  Why did you choose that person/perspective?  When you saw Jesus, how did you feel?  What did you learn about Jesus, yourself, others by doing this?
  6. Closing Prayer Time: Set up a table set up with tea light candles in the shape of a cross, one candle per student.  Play “Lord I need You” by Matt Maher while each student comes forward to light a candle, praying silently for a specific intention.  With just candles and low lights, talk about why prayer is necessary and important.

 Talking points for #’s 3, 5 and 7

#3  Talk about St. Ignatius very briefly:  was a soldier, a bit of a  flirt, liked to have fun, fought in war, cannonball to the legs, very vain, had legs broken and reset so they would look good; long recovery with nothing to do except read holy books, lives of saints and the Bible; had a conversion and realized he was living his life for all the wrong things.  Went off lived in a cave for a year, never cut his nails or hair, eventually formed a group of men who went about teaching and preaching, Jesuits.  Ignatius was very practical.  One way he suggested to pray was Imaginative Prayer.  We enter into the Gospel and see ourselves there, with Jesus in the story.

#5 It’s a cool evening and Mary and Joseph have finally found shelter, we say they were in a stable, but it probably was more like a small cave.  It offered protection and privacy.  They were very tired after travelling to Bethlehem from Nazareth.  Mary was going to have her baby, her son, who would be the savior of the world.  She gave birth and wrapped Jesus in a blanket.  Jesus was a beautiful little boy, perfect with lots of hair and sweet blue eyes.  He hardly cried as Mary laid him down so they could sleep.

Joseph watched over them, thanking God all was well.  He breathed a deep sigh of relief and closed his eyes.

Joseph stirred and opened his eyes.  What does he see?

Ever so quietly, shepherds had come to see the baby Jesus after an angel came and told them the good news that he was born.  A multitude of heavenly angels saying Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rest.  Gently Joseph wakes up Mary and she picks Jesus up, showing her son to the shepherds.

Other soon come to Jesus, they bring food and drink for Mary and Joseph.  One day, three Kings come to visit.  They bring gifts for Jesus.  Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Mary is a bit confused as to why a baby would need these, but accepts them with grace.

Finally all the visitors stop and the Holy Family has time to rest before the next journey.

#7  Prayer: where we sit and focus on God, maybe read the Sunday readings and put ourselves in the Gospel; maybe it’s praying a rosary; maybe on a Friday you can go to Adoration.  We can’t treat God like a once in a while thing, or we’ll forget about him.  Or if we only reach out when we need him; what do we think about people who do that to us?

 

Read all posts by Deanna Bartalini Filed Under: Catechetics Tagged With: middle school, prayer, scripture, St. Ignatius

Interview with Carrell Jamilano about The Alluring Voice of God

By Lisa Mladinich

Wow, did I need THAT.

Talking with Carrell Jamilano is like being on a beautiful retreat and feeling the fresh breezes of the Holy Spirit lifting my heart.

Join us for a conversation that will refresh and equip you to help yourself, your ministry, and the beautiful young adults in your life to grow closer to God, right here, right now.

Click the cover of Carrell’s fantastic new book to watch our interview!

 

 

Carrell Jamilano is a spiritual director and speaker known for her compassionate accompaniment of directees and captivating presentations. She served as a television co-host for Shalom World’s program, “WOMAN: Strong Faith, True Beauty,” and has appeared as a guest on SiriusXM radio, Catholic TV Network, and CFN Live! 

Her writingshave been published with Liguorian, Life Teen International, and The Upper Room. Carrell was featured by ThePress-Enterprise in their “Inland Rising Star” series for her spiritual direction ministerial work and has over 16 years of experience serving youth and young adults. Carrell received her master’s degree in Pastoral Theology and is the founder and creator of CatholicSpiritualDirector.com, a game-changing resource for topics on prayer, discernment, and spirituality.

She recently authored her first book, “The Alluring Voice of God: Forming Daily Encounters,” offering readers guidance on how to better hear God’s voice in their everyday life.

Find Carrell Jamilano, here:

https://www.catholicspiritualdirector.com

Order The Alluring Voice of God, here:

https://www.liguori.org/the-alluring-voice-of-god.html

Read all posts by Lisa Mladinich Filed Under: Book Reviews, Campus Ministry, Catholic Spirituality, Featured, General, High School, Homeschooling, Interview, Interviews, Lisa's Updates, Podcast, Resources, Youth Ministry Tagged With: Carrell Jamilano, prayer, spiritual direction, spiritual dryness, The Alluring Voice of God, young adult ministry, Youth Ministry

5 Ways to Wait with Purpose

By Jeannie Ewing

Advent is a perfect liturgical season to apply what we have learned and understand about the spirituality of waiting – its purpose and gift for us from God. Because taking a lofty spiritual concept can be difficult to break down in terms of practical application to everyday living, it’s important to understand particular steps that can assist us in using our seasons of waiting with intention.

This Advent, try to be sincere in your effort to wait with purpose. Turn to God with these five ways of entering into dialogue with him as only a guideline to understand more deeply what he is asking of you or telling you in your time of waiting.

A brief preface of these five steps is this: You may enter into the first few cyclically for months or even years before you reach the prepare phase. This is because preparation often requires a very refined and fine-tuned faith in which God will chisel and prune you in order to move you closer to a specific call or mission.

Listen

We can never expect to glean clarity in our uncertainty or holy tension if we don’t regularly enter into the sanctuary of our own hearts, nestled in silence. Solitude is absolutely imperative for us to hear God speak to our hearts.

Though it’s difficult to do in my current state as a wife and mother to three young daughters, I create a sacred space every day to enter into the heart of God through silence. This is how I begin my daily prayers and devotions. I gather my prayer journal, daily inspirational flip calendar, liturgical companion Magnificat, and seasonal devotions, if applicable. Then I breathe and gaze at an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus mounted above our holy water font in the living room.

Listening means we turn our ears toward another. We must eliminate every distraction possible if we are to effectively hear that “still, small voice” within.

Ponder

Sometimes God is silent when we seek him in solitude, but there are occasions when he will give you a bold message. Prepare yourself for all sorts of surprises led by the Holy Spirit! When you read Scripture, and a particular word or phrase or passage really jolts or sears your heart, pay attention. Write it down and mull it over for a few moments.

Ask some questions about it. For example, while I was writing Waiting with Purpose, the words “wait” or “be still” or “trust in the Lord” came to me frequently during the listening and pondering stages of prayer. I kept asking God what he wanted to teach me and wrote down the thoughts that inspired the book.

Pray

After you formulate some questions, bring them directly to the Lord in conversation. Pour your heart out to him – your fears and doubts, your anxiety or concerns, your excitement or restlessness. Give him everything that flows forth as you delve more deeply into your own heart in search of his.

You are conversing with the Divine, so there’s no need for format or formulae here. It’s just your heart language speaking to God’s heart.

This stage will likely lead you back to listening, pondering, asking more questions, and praying again. You will likely engage in this process for quite some time before advancing to the last two.

Prepare

Over time, you might discern that God is asking something specific of you. Everyone’s mission will look different, of course. But the point is that you receive a divine assignment, based on the pattern of listening to and speaking with God.

If and when this happens, you will need to find a good spiritual director if you haven’t already. This person needs to be objective in matters of guiding you more deeply into accepting your holy assignment and discovering what that means. Think of St. Teresa of Calcutta whom Jesus asked to found an order serving the “poorest of the poor.” Or St. Teresa of Avila who heard the Lord tell her to reform the Carmelite order.

God asks some people today to become overseas missionaries, write books, enter into a specific vocation, found a non-profit, lead a parish ministry, and so on. Regardless of the assignment, know that he has something specific in mind for you. Be attentive and vigilant like the wise virgins who kept their oil ready for the Bridegroom’s arrival.

Act

Again, you will need a spiritual director to guide you before you actually go forth to begin your mission or ministry. The point is to be ready for whatever God asks of you. It seems as if waiting lingers forever, but once God acts in your life, he moves quickly. This isn’t always the case, but you will find that timing is such an important piece to your waiting experience.

This post is an abridged version of Chapter 6 in my book, Waiting with Purpose: Persevering When God Says “Not Yet.”

Text (c) Jeannie Ewing 2018, all rights reserved. Photo by Maxime Lelièvre on Unsplash

Read all posts by Jeannie Ewing Filed Under: Catechetics, Catholic Spirituality, Culture, Featured, Prayer, Scripture Tagged With: bible, listening, prayer

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