Building the City of God

The Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, is the Prayer of the Church. As such, ordained men (deacons, priests, and bishops) and consecrated religious people (brothers, sisters, monks, and nuns) take vows to recite the various hours on a daily basis. Thus, there is never a time when someone is not saying this most blessed devotion.

For various reasons (one being my love for Holy Mother Church; two being my discernment of a secondary vocation), I have decided to pray a portion of the Divine Office each day. Last year, I began by simply reciting Morning Prayer each day. As time went on, I realized that it would be beneficial to add Evening Prayer to my daily regimen. After several months of that practice, I have begun to pray the Office of Readings and Night Prayer as well.

Although it sounds like a lot to try to fit into to my already-busy schedule (and sometimes it is), I have been utterly astonished at the abundance of grace these hours have brought into my life. My day is very structured, and thus I know what I have to accomplish at what times. Moreover, the Holy Spirit has given me great clarity as to how the Psalms, prayers, and readings (Scriptural and non-scriptural) apply to my life today. Finally, I know that I am being led into previously-unknown depths of prayer. Those are just a few of the many blessings (some of which are indescribable) that God has bestowed upon me because of my decision (upon God’s prompting) to incorporate this practice into my spirituality.

I encourage each of you to begin praying with the Church! Start small, then work your way to bigger things. I promise that you will see blessings almost immediately!

God Bless.

The readings for today’s celebration of Mass can be found here.

After reading them, praying over them, and proclaiming them during today’s liturgy, I felt the utmost need to write a brief reflection. Thus…

As usual, St. Paul’s words to the Church at Rome are meant to help them see the contrast between slavery to sin and true freedom provided by God. As I read this poignant passage, I realized the abundant grace the the Almighty granted me more than three years ago (and has increased every day since). God pulled me out of sin and away from things of which I am now ashamed; from certain spiritual death!

The Responsorial Psalm deepened my realization of just how blessed I have been. I have delighted in the law of the Lord and have experienced the freedom He provides. I have seen prosperity where I did not know it could be found. And, I have truly felt that God has been watching over my endeavors rather than allowing me to be like chaff driven away by the wind.

Yes! The Lord’s wish from today’s Gospel has been made real: I have been set ablaze for Him! Further, I have prayed that I will not keep that flame for myself; that I will faithfully pass the flame to others; that God’s glory will be forever proclaimed here on earth!

My prayer today is for each of you! I pray that your lives will be blessed in abundance, that you will turn from sin, that you will be set aflame for the Lord, and that you will go forth as missionaries to the world!

God Bless!

There are a plethora of philosophical, theological, and catechetical topics running about in my overworked brain this afternoon. I suppose I will have to give you a brief glimpse into each of them.

1. God is AMAZING! Today is an absolutely beautiful day: there are few clouds in the sky, which is a perfect shade of blue, and the temperature has receded quite a bit from the last several days. In addition to the weather, God has answered many prayers over the past 48 hours or so. I pray that He will continue that pattern (and that I will recognize those answers.)

2. St. Teresa of Avila is, without question, one of the most brilliant minds that our Church has ever known. A mere half-hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament with Interior Castle has yielded deeper prayer than I have known in weeks. This will do wonders for future classes that I might teach for my parish and diocese.

3. Speaking of courses, I am nearing completion the completion of my first attempt at teaching a survey of the history of the Catholic Church. After I finish teaching, I will put the finishing touches on the instructor’s manual and participant workbook and begin to shop for a publisher. (Any of you who read this blog ought to consider this as a follow-up to The Great Adventure course.)

4. I just found out that Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex has added me to the blogroll! I feel somewhat accomplished now. I only pray that I can continue to write regularly (and poignantly) enough that visitors know I am still alive. Thanks to C-L-S!

5. YOU CAN’T BE UNBAPTIZED…regardless of what the court in Spain says! This fellow is in for a real surprise when he reaches his particular judgment and finds out that the indelible mark is still as vivid as the day that first sacrament was celebrated. (Hat tip to Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam for the story.)

God Bless.

On my way to drop off my son at the babysitter’s this morning, I felt myself getting quite frustrated at the other drivers on the road who were “making me late.” True enough, some of those drivers may have been doing things that were ignorant or illegal. However, the greater problem (the one that caused me to get annoyed so easily) was my own funky mood!

Alas, I began to wonder why I was in such a foul mood this morning (or why I had been unmotivated to work or minister in the last couple of days). It only tood about one nanosecond for the answer to pop into my brain and heart. The only thing keeping me from being in a good mood and motivated to bring people to Christ (other than the unseasonably hot weather in my town) is my erratic, non-structured prayer life.

Quite simply, I have not been praying as much as I need to, nor have I been making time to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament on a regular basis. My lack of prayer discipline is beginning to take effect. I can feel the Enemy prowiling around, waiting to devour my soul (1 Peter 5:8) as it falls further away from the Lord.

The answer to the feelings, I have been having recently is, of course, regular prayer and Eucharistic Adoration. I made an attempt to get back on track with the first necessity this morning. Before I began my daily work, I knelt in our parish chapel and prayed from Shorter Christian Prayer (like I do almost every morning).

As I prayed, I was amazed at how quickly God answered my desperate call. In the last passage of Psalm 108 were words spoken directly to me: “Give us help against the foe: for the help of man is vain.” Yes, O Lord, I need Your help, for there is no success to be had on my own!

As these next days and weeks pass, please pray that my prayer life will be strengthened. If any of you would like to share stories about your prayer life, or make prayer requests, please feel free to leave a comment.

God Bless.

Yesterday, I was blessed to participate in a beautiful celebration of Holy Mass, and I followed that time of worship with a short time of Adoration. As I entered the chapel and knelt, I prayed that God would speak to me; that He would reveal to me a way to become closer to Him. He did so very quickly and clearly! (I guess He did so for the sake of my impatience and stubbornness of heart.)

For the past several months, I have been slowly reading and praying my way through the Book of Sirach. Chapter 17 was God’s answer to my prayer, two verses in particular. I could not have been more sure that the words in verses 25 and 26 were directed squarely at me.

“Turn to the Lord and forsake your sins; pray in his presence and lessen your offenses. Return to the Most High and turn away from iniquity, and hat abominations intensely.”

How much simpler could He make it?! In order to draw closer to the Almighty, I must seek His face in Eucharistic Adoration (”pray in his presence”) and pray to overcome temptation and sin in my life. So, that is what I did for the ensuing moments; and it is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead.

Pray that I can cleanse my life of iniquity. Pray that faithful Christians around the world might be able to do the same. Pray also that our culture will be rid of its attachment to sinfulness.

God Bless.

On this Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, I am praying for her intercession. In recent months, I have discerned that I am not very good at being aware of the subtle ways that that God comes to me. Instead of seeing God in others, or in my mundane daily works, I seem to spend more time trying to find communion with Him through meditative and contemplative prayer, through worship, or through spiritual reading.

While all of those things are wonderful ways to find that communion after which I long, I am trying to learn that I must seek Him in other, subtler ways. After all, it is near impossible to maintain all of those regular practices and be present to my family or my ministry. So, my prayer to God, through the intercession of St. Therese, is that I can “do little things with great love;” that I can find communion with Him while accomplishing the daily work to which He has called me.

Please pray for me while I learn, and pray that you might become more aware of God’s subtle presence in your life as well.

God Bless.