Lent: Day 5

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Put to the Test
Call on Christ for help when facing temptation of any kind and He will deliver you.
Luke 4:1-13

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil.

After one amazing weekend, I feel as though full of the Holy Spirit myself. Now the hard part: keeping myself focused on the Lord. This weekend was the Here I am Lord Conference in St. Charles, IL. Friday evening was a healing Mass celebrated by Fr. Stan Fortuna. It was truly a refreshing and powerful Mass. I felt a great love in my heart for Our Lord present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. It was wonderful to feel this consolation and immense love within my heart. Thank you dearest Jesus for this small grace. I needed to feel this as this holy season begins.

Saturday was filled with many wonderful talks by a great variety of persons, each with something similar yet totally different and profound! It was a very rich and wonderful experience. I only hope I will be able to digest it all and retain that which is needed. At lunch I ate with some wonderful Polish and Slovakian Religious along with a missionary Priest who gave an awe inspiring talk about what he does. He told a story that will forever change the way I view missionaries. May God bless them in their ministry and give us many many missionaries! It was a wonderful time just to sit and listen to them. They were a hoot!

It was beautiful to see the many religious present at the event and even the beauty and purity I saw in the Sisters and religious that I 'hung' around with. The Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi were giving me some of their winnings from the drawing earlier that evening so that I would 'survive' driving home in the winter storm that night. Fr. Andy and one of the Sisters from the aforementioned community came to help scrape the ice off of my windows on my car! May God reward them for their kindness! The one Sister is returning to Slovakia on Friday (although I cannot recall her name! I am hoping to find out somehow!) and I wanted to thank her for her beautiful witness that evening.

There was one thing on Saturday that was very bothersome to me, and I really need to work on. During the time for Q&A with the religious (ladies were with the women religious and men with the male religious), I had this one young lady who I am assuming may still be in her junior year of high school. When I was last at the conference, she was in the same group as me and just drove me batty! Her shirt, was rather loose fitting in the front and she was sitting on the rear part of the pew and leaning over, when right in front of her was a young man (note: this is from the last time I was there and the Q&A groups were co-ed). I was on the right of this young man, and apparently she hadn't the least idea that you could see straight down her shirt while she was leaning over! That poor young man. I was very tempted to tell her she ought to sit up as I too could see what the young man did. I didn't purely because I did not want to embarrass her and also because she would not stop talking! It suddenly seemed as though Q&A time was for her to talk about herself.

This year, the modesty issue was cleaned up and nowhere in sight. But she did take the opportunity to talk about herself and about how she was going to be an exchange student and she was hoping to be in Italy. I do have to say, the dear Sisters did not get much in the conversation! I did grab the chance to ask a question as soon as I could because I could not bear anymore to hear about her and what she was doing. I asked basically how the Sisters knew that they were called. I got one answer from one sister before one of the other sisters (in lay clothes, she was also married and became a religious after her husband passed away and her kids grew up) began to tell me about something, and because I felt that it was more or less not applicable to me, I tuned it out. Shame on me. I must have had such a rude look upon my face and now looking back, I feel awful about it. Although, I did ask the question more or less for the other young women in the group, and not so much for myself. God, forgive me of my fault.

There was also Mass on Saturday evening celebrated by Bishop Paprocki of Chicago. It was a beautiful but very crowded Mass as it was the parish's regular Saturday evening Mass. The Psalm when sung by the cantor, she had replaced every single male pronoun referring to God with either 'God' or something else that fit. It was not the only place where I heard this either. At Mass the previous night, one young lady behind me did the same thing with the prayer right after the offertory. GAH! I cannot explain the sheer aggravation I had! It was so upsetting to hear!

What is so wrong with calling God 'he'? It truly only makes sense that we call Him that in the first place! And should it really even matter? Why cannot we just pray the prayers prescribed by the Church just as they are? Why do we even feel a need to change something so minuscule as that? I do understand that God has no gender in reality, but in our human need to apply gender to things in language, it is proper to give God a male one. For one, Jesus is male. Jesus is indeed True God and True Man. I think that one is obvious. Now, the Holy Spirit, although spoken about sometimes in the female, it would be difficult to describe the Holy Spirit as female and being the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also, God is called Father all over the scriptures. Are the scriptures all wrong too? Must we go 'fix' them as well? I see really no good reason to be changing prayers and songs all willy-nilly like.

Forgive me my rants. I do wish for union, but if the little things keep the multitudes apart, how can we say that we are one? The Church is beyond all these little things. I need very much to look beyond these and look to Our Lord. He is truly the reason for anything we do in the Church. May the Blessed Virgin Mary guide us all to come to know and lover her Son more and more. May St. Joseph protect the One, Holy, and Apostolic Catholic Church. Amen.

Lent: Day 2

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Choose life...
Have you chosen to follow Christ, even when it means accepting the cross?
Luke 9:22-25

"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

It is only the second day of lent, and already I am feeling a little worn and weary. I am realizing how difficult of a lent this will be. I was very much excited for it to start, but now that it has, I feel like I ought to do better.

For one, last night I spent 15 minutes in adoration after being unable to locate where the evening of recollection was being held at. It was difficult and I felt as though I lacked in love for Our Saviour present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I felt just terrible to be there before Him. My mind would keep drifting and my prayers were few and sparse. I imagine Mass letting out in the middle of my time there was of no help, but I felt so distant and cut off from Our Lord.
I did however have the chance to make it to Mass twice. It was wonderful to be there although I was late for the first one and the second one was in the college's sparse kneeler-less chapel for every event in the college. I have to admit that I would not let the little things deter me from loving Our Lord, but it ended up being me that felt as though I did not love enough.

The rest of the day was normal and I did not eat anything until about 6:45pm and about an hour later, I was feeling ill. I did drink water throughout the day though. The day did not seem to be fervent in anyway and I did lack in prayer that day. I truly need to work on prayer before I can pronounce myself to be stuck in a period of spiritual dryness. Please pray for me. Pray that I can pray more and keep faithful to my Lenten promises!

What is Lent?

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ!
Lent is quickly approaching dear friends in Christ! I thought it might be fun to give some definitions of what Lent is today.

The season of prayer and penance before Easter. Its purpose is to better prepare the faithful for the feast of the Resurrection, and dispose them for a more fruitful reception of the graces that Christ merited by his passion and death. In the Latin Rite, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for forty days, besides Sundays, until Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday occurs on any day from February 4 to March 11, depending on the date of Easter. Originally the period of fasting in preparation for Easter did not, as a rule, exceed two or three days. But by the time of the Council of Nicaea (325) forty days were already customary. And ever since, this length of time has been associated with Christ's forty-day fast in the desert before beginning his public life. According to the prescription of Pope Paul VI, in revising the Church's laws of fast and abstinence, "The time of Lent preserves its penitential character. The days of penitence to be observed under obligation throughout the Church are all Fridays and Ash Wednesday, that is to say the first days of Great Lent, according to the diversity of rites. Their substantial observance binds gravely" (Paenitemini, III, norm II). Besides fast and abstinence on specified days, the whole Lenten season is to be penitential, with stress on prayer, reception of the sacraments, almsgiving, and the practice of charity. (Etym. Anglo-Saxon lengten, lencten, spring, Lent.)
Source

And from the Catholic Dictionary by Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D.

Lent (LEHNT): (From Middle English lenten; Anglo-Saxon lencten: spring) The forty day liturgical season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. In the first three centuries, Lent lasted only two or three days. Later, it grew to three or four weeks. The number forty is first detected in the Canons of Nicaea (A.D. 325), Probably to recall Our Lord's forty days in the desert before His public ministry. In the East and West and throughout the centuries, the length of the fast has varied. An important dimension of the Lenten observance was the celebration of Mass by the Holy Father at what are called station churches. The present sacramentary recalls this custom and "strongly encourages the chief shepherd of the diocese to gather his people in this way." The Lenten Liturgy also highlights the present restoration of the Scrutiny Masses on the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of the season for the catechumens (now called the "elect"), who will be initiated at the Easter Vigil. CCC 540, 1095, 1438
Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., Rev. Peter M.J. Catholic Dictionary:Revised. Huntington, IN. Our Sunday Visitor. 2002. 464-465.

May God bless you all abundantly this lent as we grow closer to Christ.

Lord, Thy Will Be Done!

Everything Lent

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ!
Well, with lent starting on Wednesday this week, I though I would just link up to this great resource! Pray hard and be changed this lent. Please also visit the 'Box' widgit on my sidebar to download a Lenten Journey Calendar with things for everyday during the season. God bless you all abundantly!

A Catholic Life: Everything Lent

Lord, Thy Will Be Done!

Lenten Promise and Penance

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ!
Lent is only a week away. A time that I am hoping to fortify my faith and to grow in holiness. The past 6 months have been a time full of falling away, sloth, and sin. It was 6 months before I made my last confession. It was a sad time and one that I wish never to go through again. The pain to have to face Our Lord, knowing you cannot receive Him is great and weighs heavily upon the heart. But, blessed be God in His mercy. Confession bestows great graces for those who seek Him and His forgiveness. These past 6 months have in reality undone all of the work done within me these past 7 years. I feel like I am starting over again from the very beginning. He is calling me to be renewed and to be holy. The scars of my sins will be with me for a very long time, but the pain they caused will be strength enough to fight back the next time that temptation comes to seek and destroy. By the grace of God, I will fight back. May He be praised for His compassion and mercy.

Now, this lent I am hoping to be intense. I want to live life as I have never lived it before. There are so many things that I am hoping to do and get done this Lenten Season that I will be changed within to a point where I can never go back. I have a great list already of things that I would like to do this lent, both promises and penances. I know that if I attempt to do them all, I will just have a complete overload and would fail at keeping several of them. On the other hand, many of them go hand in hand in helping completing each 'task,' if you will.

• Give up elevators
• Give up sugar (low sugar diet)
• Give up meat
• A weekly adoration hour
• Go to weekly confession
• Go to daily Mass
• Pray the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary daily
• Get to bed by 10pm (unless on duty or in meetings)
• Get up by 7am
• Read the Bible
• Read the Catechism
• Read devotional/religious/apologetics/theology book(s)
• Create one great religious work of art
  

The list as of now is quite long, but if paced well, it is possible to accomplish. Morning and Evening prayer will be a great way to keep my day focused and Mass, adoration, and confession will keep me in a state of grace and enrich my daily living. There are also many other tasks that I need to work on getting done as well, being an RA and all, but God will grant me the time I need to get what I need to get done.

I also ask that whoever reads this will pray for me as I start anew this Lent. I want to be changed totally, and lent is surely a time for this to happen. Please, also leave your intentions so that I may pray for you as well. I want to be able to help others as I engage my mission. May your lent be life changing as well! God bless you all abundantly!

Lord, Thy Will Be Done!

I Need to Learn More

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ! Greetings to you and your holy angels! Tonight, I learned that I need to learn and read more. For one, I need to do some serious scripture study. I really need to get in depth in the Old Testament and, well, just the whole Bible itself! I would love to do the Great Adventure Bible Study all over again, considering I jumped in right at the beginning of the New Testament. I certainly learned a great deal just from that part of the study.

I also need to bone-up on the catechism. I know generally a great number of things, but I would love to learn about all the nuances and deeper meaning behind a lot of teachings. I really need to read the Compendium and then from there I will start reading the actual catechism (as wonderfully an exciting read that may be...). I would also love to be able to read my huge scripture commentary. I have only been able to read a little out of it and I loved what I read. It lent great meaning to a number of passages and even many minor background details that add greatly to the richness and beauty of the scriptures.

I'd love to read up some more about apologetics and such considering the books that I have. Although it is not bad, I have been reading a great number of devotional books rather than informational books. I've decided that if my little sister can tell me who Jesse is and I cannot quite pinpoint it, I need to do some serious studying. St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for me! God bless you all abundantly!

Lord, Thy Will Be Done!

I Wish Everyday Could be Christmas

+JMJ

Dear friends in Christ! It is true! Christmas is indeed every day! Every Mass Christ is born yet again in the hands of our Holy Priests! He again humbles himself to give Himself to us in this most blessed sacrament. What a great gift we receive when we assist at Mass and receive Christ. There could be no greater joy or greater worship to God than the Mass. Angels flock in the thousands at every Mass and adore the Savior of the world, the Word made flesh. They sing their angelic hymns of worship and praise and adore the Christ child born on the altar and who sacrifices Himself for the sake of mankind. Blessed are we truly to be able to receive such a grace and blessing. O Lord, humble us to know your true greatness and majesty. May the world come to know and love your loving and merciful heart.

Lord, Thy Will Be Done!

Art

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ! Greetings yet once again. Today I am rather distraught by modern art. No, not contemporary art. That stuff can get kinda weird. Modern art is stuff like cubism, expressionism, surrealism, and a few others. Yes, I know those styles can also get kinda weird as well. Anyways, I am distraught because I am supposed to paint/draw a expressionist landscape or interior. I wanted to do the inside of a lovely Cathedral, but they are all pretty far away. Then I wanted to do the chapel at Corpus Christi Monastery, but I don't have any good photos for reference. So, I came up with a library or huge study to work on. My only issue with this would be making the numerous books defined, but also have some emotional weight to them. I made some nice oil pastel drawings of certain parts of my idea, but I will have a handful to work with when it comes to the hundreds of books I am going to have to put in there. I liked the sketches very much and would love to carry them over, but it will take lots of work to get it to how I am imagining it to look.

Expressionism is hard. Arg. Sculpture was so much easier to work with when dealing with Modern Art movements. Now painting and drawing, on the other hand, is a whole new ball park. St. Luke, patron of artists, pray for me!

Blogger Ate my HTML

+JMJ

I just wanted to play around a bit and now it won't accept my old blog's HTML... it was fine before I started goofing around. Now suddenly there is an error that was not there a minute ago?
Well, there goes my way cool looking blog with all it's cool grey-ness and graphics. Guess this is my project for this year: Learn HTML so I can actually make a cool looking blog that works. Darn the graphic designer in me!

In other news, I'm going to bed early tonight. I am currently going on 4.5 hours of sleep and I am pretty surprised I am still up and functioning. Perhaps I can wake up somewhat early and get some school work done and maybe even some leisurely reading! Sigh... The cold isn't too bad though. I thought that the 2 degrees we had this evening about 5:15pm was lovely weather for sitting outside to eat some canned peaches. It is times like these when I really can appreciate the joys of long johns. Thank you Ukraine for your many wonderful lessons!

And in sports tonight, I have nothing sports related to say. Yeah, the Bears lost... Colts won. Okay, that's nice. Instead, I bring news about Catholic Stuff happening on campus. Praised be Jesus Christ that I will actually be able to participate and do many things this semester. One of which will be Mass with Cardinal George and the new Bishop of Joliet, Bishop Sartain, on Thursday, February 13th. I am quite looking forward to it. It will be at St. Vincent DePaul Parish at DePaul University, Chicago. I am quite curious as to what the church looks like. I guess that will be one more thing before I head off to bed tonight. And speaking of which, it is getting to be late, so I will leave things off here for now. God bless you all abundantly!

Lord, Thy Will Be Done!

The Wonders of the Mass

+JMJ

Praised be Jesus Christ! To the few that still read or occasionally stop by to see if I have actually written anything, hello! Forgive my long hiatus. School, work, and other things tend to get the better of me and my time. Today, I wanted to share some of the great insight from a recent reading of the very short The Wonders of the Mass by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, O.P. Fr. O'Sullivan has written a number of beautiful short books, one of which is one of my favorites, All About the Angels. The Wonders of the Mass is more or less a 'pamphlet' rather than a book considering it has only 42 pages and is about 6 inches tall, but it is still an awe-inspiring book.

Fr. O'Sullivan writes so simply and eloquently about the many graces available just by fully participating in the Mass and it is the highest form of praise both on earth and in heaven! Although I had heard this a number of times before, he goes slightly more in depth with the multitude of angels present at every Mass and how they bow down to the priest who gives us from his hands Our Lord and Savior. The book also spoke most highly of priests and the wonderful things they give to us. May God bless our holy priests! There is just so much said in the short 42 pages that just sets your heart on fire for love of the Mass. It is amazing how many little things there are in the Mass that many do not notice nor care to look into that could bring them closer to Christ and help them to understand the awesome power of the Mass.

I pray that we may all be able to love and understand the beauty and the power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God Bless you all abundantly!

Lord, Thy Will Be Done!