Stop, Drop, and Roll!

My favorite priest applied the concept of “stop, drop, and roll” not only to physical but also spiritual fires, fires like oppression, injustice, hunger, homelessness, loneliness, and rejection. These are also supposed to be part of our “Lenten fast.” But how can we do this? First, by refusing to bypass or overlook the difficulty and stopping in our busyness to confront it. Second, by dropping from our high horses of detachment and self-absorption into the nitty-gritty of the situation. And third, by rolling up our sleeves and doing what we can to alleviate the problem. Doing what Christ is calling us to do.


Prayer: Holy Spirit, give me the courage to step forward and help those who are hurting.



Thanks to Bonnie Taylor Barry, Our Sunday Visitor

Prayer after Communion

This is a moving prayer attributed to St Padre Pio. I think it would be great to pray it if you manage to go for adoration, or even to say at Mass, after Holy Communion (print it, or something!) - I pray that you'll be blessed by it. (Thanks to Br Nicholas Lye who posed it):

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes, death, judgement, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.

Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but, the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for. Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.

With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity.

Amen.

- St Padre Pio, OFM Cap

The wings of prayer

"The Christian life is itself a constant journey of conversion and renewal in the company of the Lord, as we follow him along the path that leads through the Cross to the joy of the Resurrection ... This spiritual journey is traditionally marked by the practice of fasting, almsgiving and prayer. The Fathers of the Church teach that these three pious exercises are closely related: indeed, Saint Augustine calls fasting and almsgiving the “wings of prayer”, since they prepare our hearts to take flight and seek the things of heaven, where Christ has prepared a place for us. As this Lent begins, let us accept Christ’s invitation to follow him more closely, renew our commitment to conversion and prayer, and look forward to celebrating the Resurrection in joy and newness of life."

- Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 9 Mar 2011

The path to holiness

The Gospel emphasizes that the Lord "sees in secret", that is, he scrutinizes our hearts. The external gestures of penance are valuable if they are an expression of an inner attitude and demonstrate the firm determination to shun evil and to take the path of righteousness. This is the profound sense of Christian ascesis.

"Ascesis": the very word evokes the image of ascending to lofty heights. This necessarily entails sacrifices and renunciation. Indeed, to make the journey easier, one must be reduced to the bare essentials; to be prepared to face every hardship and overcome every obstacle in order to reach the pre-established goal. To become authentic disciples of Christ, it is necessary to deny oneself, take up one's cross and follow him (cf. Lk 9: 23). This is the arduous path to holiness that every baptized person is called to follow.

The Church has always pointed out certain useful means for taking this route. They consist above all in humble and docile adherence to God's will accompanied by ceaseless prayer; they are the typical forms of penance of Christian tradition, such as abstinence, fasting, mortification and giving up even good things legitimate in themselves; they are the concrete acts of acceptance of our neighbour that are referred to in today's Gospel with the term "giving alms". All these things are suggested once again but with greater intensity during the season of Lent, which in this regard is a "strong moment" for spiritual training and generous service to our brothers and sisters

- Pope John Paul II, Ash Wednesday homily, Feb 25, 2004

Our external actions must be accompanied by our interior efforts to come closer to God. As the Prophet Joel declared in our Ash Wednesday reading yesterday: ""Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn" (Joel 2:13).

Calls to penance in the Bible

We have only to open the Bible to see that it was never God's will to reveal Himself in any solemn encounter with mortal men without first calling them to prayer and penance. Indeed, Moses refused to give the Hebrews the tables of the Law until they had expiated their crime of idolatry and ingratitude (Cf. Ex 32:6-35).

The Prophets, too, always exhorted the Israelites to make their prayers acceptable to God by offering them in a penitential spirit. Otherwise, the Israelites would bring about their own exclusion from the plan of divine Providence.

The Prophet Joel gave one of the most deeply impressive of these prophetic utterances: "Now therefore, says the Lord, Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning ... Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's ministers, shall weep and say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people, and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them" (Joel 2.12-13, 17).

The calls to penance did not end when the Son of God became incarnate. On the contrary, they became even more insistent. At the very outset of his preaching, John the Baptist proclaimed: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt 3:2).

Jesus inaugurated His saving mission in the same way. He did not begin by revealing the principal truths of the faith. First He insisted that the soul must repent of every trace of sin that could render it impervious to the message of eternal salvation: "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Mt 4:17).

The Apostles held undeviatingly to the principles of their divine Master. When the Holy Spirit had descended on them in the form of fiery tongues, Peter expressed his invitation to the multitudes to seek rebirth in Christ and to accept the gifts of the most holy Paraclete in these words: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

- Edited from Paenitentiam Agere, the Encyclical of Pope John XXIII, on the need for the practice of interior and exterior penance, July 1, 1962

If we want God to speak to us, to be with us, we must first respond to His call to repentance. Pope John XXIII also said in the same encyclical: "Indeed, penance is that counterforce which keeps the forces of concupiscence in check and repels them" (n.10).

Think about the thing or things in your life that you need to repent of. As you pray tonight, make a firm resolution to turn away from whatever holds you back. Not just during Lent, but also after it.

What do you think?

As we begin Lent 2011

Let us begin this period of renewal,

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God
is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Amen.

May this Lenten season bring about a new you.