Sunday, July 1, 2018
Saturday, June 30, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 25 Michael Dubruiel
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
From Chapter 4 - Confess - Part 1
If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
— ROMANS
1 0 : 9
One night when a
group of believers had gathered to pray in a country where such a gathering was
forbidden by law, a cry went out when two soldiers burst through the doors.
They yelled out that they would give anyone in the room a chance to leave
before arresting those who refused to do so.A few of the gathered
immediately bolted out of the room.
If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
— ROMANS
1 0 : 9
One night when a
group of believers had gathered to pray in a country where such a gathering was
forbidden by law, a cry went out when two soldiers burst through the doors.
They yelled out that they would give anyone in the room a chance to leave
before arresting those who refused to do so.A few of the gathered
immediately bolted out of the room.
As soon as they left,the soldiers closed
the doors and said,“We are believers too, but we couldn’t trust those who were
not ready to be arrested for their faith.”Putting down their guns,they joined
the others in prayer.
When you and I hear the word confess we are apt to think of it in
terms of our sins, but the word also means to acknowledge one’s belief.The two
meanings, when it comes to Christianity,are very related. What we consider to
be sinful has a lot to do with how much we really believe in God.
People throw their beliefs about God
around quite freely these days,usually prefaced by “Oh,I don’t think God cares
about that.”
Christians believe that Jesus has
revealed God and what God is like to us. Jesus formed a group of disciples
around him and told them that God’s spirit would stay with them until the end
of time. This group was to hand down his teaching, baptize other followers,
forgive sins, and teach all that Jesus, the Son of God, had commanded them to
pass on. Peter had a special role in this group.
Jesus revealed the love of God to us by
dying for us and leaving us a memorial of his death in the Eucharist.The word memorial had a special meaning for the
Jewish people of Jesus’s time. It didn’t mean recalling the past, as it does
for us today, but rather it meant making present a past event. Thus, when we
come together at the Eucharist, we are present at Calvary and witness once
again what God is like through Jesus.
People who die for any cause care a lot.
Jesus has revealed to us that God cares a lot! God desires our salvation.
If we want to get the most out of the
Eucharist, we need to confess: We must confess belief in God, as we do in the
Creed, and confess that we are not always the greatest of followers of Jesus.
53
As soon as they left,the soldiers closed
the doors and said,“We are believers too, but we couldn’t trust those who were
not ready to be arrested for their faith.”Putting down their guns,they joined
the others in prayer.
When you and I hear the word confess we are apt to think of it in
terms of our sins, but the word also means to acknowledge one’s belief.The two
meanings, when it comes to Christianity,are very related. What we consider to
be sinful has a lot to do with how much we really believe in God.
People throw their beliefs about God
around quite freely these days,usually prefaced by “Oh,I don’t think God cares
about that.”
Christians believe that Jesus has
revealed God and what God is like to us. Jesus formed a group of disciples
around him and told them that God’s spirit would stay with them until the end
of time. This group was to hand down his teaching, baptize other followers,
forgive sins, and teach all that Jesus, the Son of God, had commanded them to
pass on. Peter had a special role in this group.
Jesus revealed the love of God to us by
dying for us and leaving us a memorial of his death in the Eucharist.The word memorial had a special meaning for the
Jewish people of Jesus’s time. It didn’t mean recalling the past, as it does
for us today, but rather it meant making present a past event. Thus, when we
come together at the Eucharist, we are present at Calvary and witness once
again what God is like through Jesus.
People who die for any cause care a lot.
Jesus has revealed to us that God cares a lot! God desires our salvation.
If we want to get the most out of the
Eucharist, we need to confess: We must confess belief in God, as we do in the
Creed, and confess that we are not always the greatest of followers of Jesus.
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Friday, June 29, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 24 Michael Dubruiel
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
From Chapter 3 - Adore. Part 11
F U R T H E R H E L P S
1. Keep Your Focus on Jesus
When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, Our Lord rebuked the
devil saying, “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall
you serve’”(Matthew 4:10).
When you are tempted to worship anything
else, no matter how lofty it might seem, call to mind this incident from Our
Lord’s life.
2. Learn from the Blessed Virgin
Mary
When the Blessed Virgin Mary was called “Blessed among
women” by her cousin Elisabeth she responded with “My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” (Luke 1:46–47). She pointed to God
and worshiped only him.
Following Mary’s example, we should seek
to “decrease” in order that God may “increase” as we adore him above all.
3. Foster an Attitude of Adoration
St. Paul told the Thessalonians to “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God
49
in Christ Jesus for you”(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18).When we
foster this attitude our hearts will be focused on adoring God at every moment
of our lives.
4. Developing a Eucharistic
Spirituality
A concrete way to prefer the love of Christ throughout the
day when faced with countless other “loves” is to hear the words Jesus spoke to
Peter addressed to yourself: “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15).
5. A Prayer for Today
Recite this prayer of St. Teresa of Ávila often:
Let nothing
trouble you, let nothing make you afraid.
All things pass
away.
God never
changes.
Patience obtains
everything.
God alone is
enough.
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Thursday, June 28, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 23 Michael Dubruiel
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
From Chapter 3 - Adore. Part 10
Bless the
Lord, fire and heat, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever. Bless
the Lord, winter cold and summer heat, sing praise to him and highly exalt him
for ever. Bless the Lord, dews and snows, sing praise to him and highly exalt
him for ever. Bless the Lord, nights and days, sing praise to him and highly
exalt him for ever. Bless the Lord,light and darkness,sing praise to him and
highly exalt him for ever.Bless the Lord,ice and cold,sing praise to him and
highly exalt him for ever. Bless the Lord, frosts and snows, sing praise to him
and highly exalt him for ever. Bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds, sing
praise to him and highly exalt him for ever. Let the
47
earth bless the Lord; let it sing praise to him and highly
exalt him for ever.”
— DANIEL 3
: 4 4 – 5 2
There has been
many a winter morning when I was scraping snow and ice from my car when the
words of this prayer have come to my lips, often, I must confess, rather
sarcastically.
Too often we
forget that God has a plan that doesn’t quite match up to ours. If our plans
and possessions dominate us, we can become very ungrateful in life and perhaps
even feel cursed. Yet if we die to ourselves and adore God, giving thanks to
God in all things, even when we are standing in the flames, or freezing in the
ice and snow, we’ll find that God has a reason and purpose for everything. As
St.Teresa of Ávila said,“There is no such thing as bad weather. All weather is
good because it is God’s.”
T H
A N K G O D A H
E A D O F T I M E
There is an
American friar whose cause for sainthood is currently before Rome. His name is
Father Solanus Casey; he was a Capuchin Friar who ministered in Detroit, New
York, and Huntington, Indiana. He died over forty years ago. I often walk the
grounds of the former friary where he served in Huntington and think about his
ministry. Born of Irish immigrants, he was sent to German seminaries where the
priests taught him in German how to speak Latin. He didn’t fare too well — who
would?
Eventually he
was ordained but not allowed to preach doctrinal sermons or hear confessions.
In a time when there was more of a caste system in religious life he was given
a “brothers’ job” as porter. People sought him out near and far.They found
great wisdom in his words, and great miracles of healing were recorded after
his prayer and touch. Many were converted.
In many ways,
it would seem that he would have had much to be bitter about. He was obviously
one of the most gifted friars in the community, but he was treated as one who
had little to offer.
48
Yet he was not bitter, and his advice to people who
requested prayer and healing is interesting. He told them to “thank God ahead
of time”— as an act of faith.He often also had them enroll in a Mass
association as a way of giving thanks to God.
This is a beautiful message for us: to
thank God in all things, to be thankful for everything that life brings to us
even if to all appearances it doesn’t seem there is anything to be thankful
for, and to thank God ahead of time,trusting that in God’s time good will come
from it all.
The Eucharist is all about “giving
thanks,” and how much you and I can do so at any given moment is dependent upon
how deeply we are adoring and worshiping God.Offering God our sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving will help us to get the most from the Eucharist.
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Wednesday, June 27, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 22 Michael Dubruiel
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 22
From Chapter 3 - Adore. Part 9
P R
O B L E M S V E R S U S B L E S S I N G S
A prayer that is
recited by those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours on every major feast day of
the Church is an example of the kind of thanksgiving that should be the prayer
of all believers. It is called the Benedicite,
after the many times that the word “Bless” is used in it. In this case “Bless”
is another way of saying “give thanks and praise.” The setting is found in the
book of Daniel,where three young men are placed in a fiery furnace,something
I’m sure even the most faithful among us would be tempted
46
to think of as a “big problem.” As they enter the fiery
furnace to what would seem like a certain death,one of them,Azariah,prays:
Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and worthy of
praise; and thy name is glorified for ever. For thou art just in all that thou
hast done to us, and all thy works are true and thy ways right, and all thy
judgments are truth.Thou hast executed true judgments in all that thou hast
brought upon us and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers, for in truth
and justice thou hast brought all this upon us because of our sins. For we have
sinfully and lawlessly departed from thee, and have sinned in all things and
have not obeyed thy commandments; we have not observed them or done them, as
thou hast commanded us that it might go well with us.
— DANIEL 3
: 3 – 7
It is a prayer
of thanksgiving, sounding very much like a Eucharistic Prayer that is prayed at
the Mass we attend.Those trying to exterminate the three men, hearing the
prayer, stoke up the flames, and the three pray a prayer that includes the
following:
Bless the
Lord, fire and heat, sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever. Bless
the Lord, winter cold and summer heat, sing praise to him and highly exalt him
for ever. Bless the Lord, dews and snows, sing praise to him and highly exalt
him for ever. Bless the Lord, nights and days, sing praise to him and highly
exalt him for ever. Bless the Lord,light and darkness,sing praise to him and
highly exalt him for ever.Bless the Lord,ice and cold,sing praise to him and
highly exalt him for ever. Bless the Lord, frosts and snows, sing praise to him
and highly exalt him for ever. Bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds, sing
praise to him and highly exalt him for ever. Let the
47
earth bless the Lord; let it sing praise to him and highly
exalt him for ever.”
— DANIEL 3
: 4 4 – 5 2
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Tuesday, June 26, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 21 Michael Dubruiel
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
From Chapter 3 - Adore. Part 8
ADORING GOD WITH PRAISE
AND THANKSGIVING
One of my
favorite quotes is from the journals of Father Alexander Schmemann: “God, when
creating the world, did not solve problems or pose them.He created what He
could call ‘very good.’ God created the world, but the devil transformed the
world and man and life into a ‘problem.’ ”10 If we want to adore God
with praise and thanksgiving we are going to have to learn to stop seeing
everything as a “problem” or “interruption” and begin to be open to seeing
God’s goodness and interventions even in the most unlikely of places.
Many of the
most horrific sins ever committed by human beings happen because people see
problems where they should see blessings. If we do not adore God above all, we
risk doing horrible things as we serve whatever else we have put in God’s
place.
H ELP FROM THE FATHERS
OF THE C HURCH
Human beings are created for the purpose of praising God.The
Lord demands nothing else in the same manner that he requires praise and
thanksgiving of us.For that reason he made rational beings and distinguished us
from animals by our power of speech so that we might praise and glorify him
continually.
— S T. J OHN C
HRYSOSTOM
H ELP FROM THE FATHERS
OF THE C HURCH
Human beings are created for the purpose of praising God.The
Lord demands nothing else in the same manner that he requires praise and
thanksgiving of us.For that reason he made rational beings and distinguished us
from animals by our power of speech so that we might praise and glorify him
continually.
— S T. J OHN C
HRYSOSTOM
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Monday, June 25, 2018
How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist - part 20 Michael Dubruiel
From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel
From Chapter 3 - Adore. Part 7
B E
I N G L
O V E D B Y J E
S U S
In Mark 10:21 in the account of the rich young man, Mark
tells us that Jesus,“looking upon him loved him, and said to him,‘You lack one
thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; and come, follow me.’ ”
Notice that because Christ loves the rich
young man,he points out what the young man lacks. It is out of love that Jesus
tells him to get rid of all his possessions.
Christ’s love will reveal similar
deficiencies in us. Our Lord looks upon us and recognizes what we really need.
However, we often come to him with our own ideas about what we need. If
we prefer our own ideas to the love of Christ, we too will join the rich young
man who walks away sad, “for his possessions were many.” We may possess the
world, but without Christ it is nothing!
L O V I N G J E S U S
In John 8:42, Jesus is engaged in a heated argument with those
who oppose him. He says to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he
sent me.” We know, therefore, that Jesus is God, and we should prefer nothing
to God and his love, which Jesus has revealed to us perfectly.
How do we know if we truly love Our Lord?
He addresses this in John 14:23-24: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with
him.He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear
is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” We love Our Lord by doing what he
commands us to do.
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