Feast of the Holy Rosary

Commemorating a different type of crusade, reminiscent of the one that engaged most of the 20th century against the spread of communism and needed today to overcome new battles of the decline of faith in the West.

The rosary book that Amy and I wrote:

Feast of St. Bruno

Founder of the Carthusians...a great English Cathusian site

Repent or Perish Luke 13:3

The Second Sorrowful Mystery: The Scourging at the Pillar

The path of faithfulness to the will of the Father is difficult. Our Lord is scourged at the pillar and endures horrible torture out of love for us. Ask Our Lady to help you pray this decade to experience sorrow for your sins that cause the Lord to suffer so greatly.

--from Praying the Rosary: With the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and & Mysteries by Michael Dubruiel and Amy Welborn.

Repent or Perish Luke 13:3

When someone experiences the love of God and converts everything seems so easy. Suddenly doing the will of the Father is not a task but a delight. Yet at some point the "felt" empowering love leaves the individual and it as though one is set free into a fog where one is not sure anymore.

The Passion of the Lord has been meditated since the inception of Christianity as the sure path of navigating these difficult waters. Trust in God, in the valley of darkness becomes the keystone of a person's faith. St. Ignatius of Loyola counseled remembering frequently the past consolations given by God during such periods--no doubt this counsel was inspired by the Psalmist who in the midst of trials would "remember" leading the rejoicing crowds into the Temple.

Following Christ is not easy. Doing the will of God requires a submission to His love as we walk our own Calvary path behind Christ. When Christianity fails to preach this hard truth it ceases to be Christianity. The suffering of the present moment is nothing compared to the glory that awaits those who trust in Him, as St. Paul counseled the early Church.

Repent or Perish Luke 13:3

The First Luminous Mystery: The Baptism of the Lord

Our Lord, though innocent, takes on our sins as He enters the water of Jordan and is baptized by John. His mission of our salvation is blessed by the Father's praise and the Spirit's descent. Ask Our Lady to help you pray this decade, pondering the light that comes from submission to the will of God.

--from Praying the Rosary: With the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and & Mysteries by Michael Dubruiel and Amy Welborn.

Repent or Perish Luke 13:3

"I must decrease, He must increase" St. John the Baptist told his disciples after his encounter with Christ. Our submission to the will of God begins with our submission to Christ--our own dying with Him and rising anew in Him at our Baptism. But the act of submission needs to happen at every moment of the day. Every second brings with it a moment of prayer--will I submit to my will against His or will I bow down to His authority and choose Him. The world may cry out "I've got to be me," but the servant of God cries out "I've got to be His." St. Paul reiterates this when he declares, "I live, no not I, but Christ."

We fear this repentance. We secretly grieve that we won't be ourselves if we submit. Something within at a very early age urges us to resist (original sin) and it does not go away quietly. So many of us are slowly perishing, spending our demise judging others, living in darkness.

The biblical notion of this state of humanity is that of something that is lost. Will we continue to cling on to the lost being or will we allow ourselves to be found by Christ--at this moment and at every moment walking in His light and overcoming the darkness of the lost?

New Shrine for Soon to be Indiana Saint

From the Indianapolis Star (photo too):

In a scene most spectators said they never expect to witness again, a new
coffin bearing the remains of a woman about to be declared a Catholic saint was
installed in a new shrine 150 years after her death.
The simple box, hand-crafted from walnut trees grown on the grounds Guerin walked as a 19th-century nun, was placed next to a display featuring three bones from her hand.
For nearly 100 years, Guerin's remains had been stored beneath the floor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, an Italianesque church here at the headquarters of the Sisters of Providence, near the village of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.

Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

We need a modern version!

From the Office of Readings:

It was through his archangel, Saint Gabriel, that the Father above made known to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary that the worthy, holy and glorious Word of the Father would come from heaven and take from her womb the real flesh of our human frailty. Though he was wealthy beyond reckoning, he still willingly chose to be poor with his blessed mother. And shortly before his passion he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. Then he prayed to his Father saying: Father, if it be possible, let this cup be taken from me.Nevertheless, he reposed his will in the will of his Father. The Father willed that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave to us and who was born for us, should through his own blood offer himself as a sacrificial victim on the altar of the cross. This was to be done not for himself through whom all things were made, but for our sins. It was intended to leave us an example of how to follow in his footsteps. And he desires all of us to be saved through him, and to receive him with pure heart and chaste body.O how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself said in the gospel: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul; and your neighbour as yourself. Therefore, let us love God and adore him with pure heart and mind. This is his particular desire when he says: True worshippers adore the Father in spirit and truth. For all who adore him must do so in the spirit of truth. Let us also direct to him our praises and prayers saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, since we must always pray and never grow slack.Furthermore, let us produce worthy fruits of penance. Let us also love our neighbours as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. For these they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve. We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather we must be simple, humble and pure. We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God’s sake. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the end. He will permanently dwell in them. They will be the Father’s children who do his work. They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Repent or Perish Luke 13:3

The First Glorious Mystery: The Resurrection of Our Lord

The disciple whom Jesus loves peers into the empty tomb and believes. Ask Our Lady to help you to pray this decade to experience the hope of those who believe in her Son's glorious resurrection.

--from Praying the Rosary: With the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and & Mysteries by Michael Dubruiel and Amy Welborn.

Repent or Perish Luke 13:3

It is a grace that many of us can only imagine the horror of peering into the emptiness. There is little doubt that most sin is an escape from having to peer into the emptiness. But the empty tomb that the Beloved Disciple peers into is in fact not empty--there are relics left behind of the shroud and cloth that covered the face of Jesus. He sees that Jesus is not there, but the cloths that covered him are still there--add to that the love that explains when there is no explanation and you have Faith.

Pope Benedict's first encyclical was on this very topic, the love that is God. Believing that God loves is the first step to true repentance, metanoia "turning in a completely different direction" away from self and toward the other--God. When we believe that God loves us, we look beyond, further than we look when we do not believe. When we do not believe that God loves us we are apt to interpret everything that happens to us in a negative way--as the worst thing that could happen to us. But when we believe that God loves us, everything is seen in a new light.

We peer into the emptiness, indeed we even dare to look at what is not there, and we believe!

For an example of how radical this is consider this reflecting a recent and horrific tragedy:

As Mary and Ben explained the day's violence to their sons, they emphasized the
importance of forgiveness and trusting in God.
"I just feel bad for the gunman," said Mary's husband, Ben, 41. "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God."
While outsiders might be surprised at the forgiveness immediately extended to Roberts, Donald Kraybill, an authority on Amish culture, said that reaction is typical.
"That theme of forgiveness really comes from the example of Jesus, who carried that spirit even to the cross," said Kraybill, a professor of Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College.
In Gospel lessons, hymns and prayer books written in German dialect, those teachings are passed down through generations in Amish settlements."I
think the Amish are much better prepared to cope with something like this than
most Americans," Kraybill said. "They see things as having a higher purpose,
there's a higher good, so they are more able to absorb and accept things in a
spirit of humility."

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press.