Category Archives: Praying

The Hail Mary of a Protestant

19 Tuesday Oct 2021

Posted by in Praying, Spiritual Tidbits

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A little six-year-old Protestant boy had often heard his Catholic companions reciting the prayer “Hail Mary.” He liked it so much that he copied it, memorized it and would recite it every day.

“Look, Mommy, what a beautiful prayer,” he said to his mother one day.

“Never again say it,” answered the mother. “It is a superstitious prayer of Catholics who adore idols and think Mary a goddess. After all, she is a woman like any other. Come on, take this Bible and read it. It contains everything that we are bound to do and have to do.”

From that day on the little boy discontinued his daily “Hail Mary” and gave himself more time to reading the Bible instead.

One day, while reading the Gospel, he came across the passage about the Annunciation of the Angel to Our Lady. Full of joy, the little boy ran to his mother and said: “Mommy, I have found the ‘Hail Mary’ in the Bible which says: ‘Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women.’ Why do you call it a superstitious prayer?”

On another occasion he found that beautiful Salutation of St. Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary and the wonderful canticle MAGNIFICAT in which Mary foretold that “the generations would call her blessed.”

He said no more about it to his mother but started to recite the “Hail Mary” every day as before. He felt pleasure in addressing those charming words to the Mother of Jesus, our Savior.

When he was fourteen, he one day heard a discussion on Our Lady among the members of his family. Every one said that Mary was a common woman like any other woman.

The boy, after listening to their erroneous reasoning could not bear it any longer, and full of indignation, he interrupted them, saying:

“Mary is not like any other children of Adam, stained with sin. No! The Angel called her FULL OF GRACE AND BLESSED AMONGST WOMEN. Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ and consequently Mother of God.

There is no higher dignity to which a creature can be raised. The Gospel says that the generations will proclaim her blessed and you are trying to despise her and look down on her. Your spirit is not the spirit of the Gospel or of the Bible which you proclaim to be the foundation of the Christian religion.”

So deep was the impression which the boy’s talk had made that his mother many times cried out sorrowfully: “Oh my God! I fear that this son of mine will one day join the Catholic religion, the religion of Popes!”

And indeed, not very long afterwards, having made a serious study of both Protestantism and Catholicism, the boy found the latter to be the only true religion and embraced it and became one of its most ardent apostles.

Sometime after his conversion, he met his married sister who rebuked him and said indignantly: “You little know how much I love my children. Should any one of them desire to become a Catholic, I would sooner pierce his heart with a dagger than allow him to embrace the religion of the Popes!”

Her anger and temper were as furious as those of St. Paul before his conversion. However, she would change her ways, just as St. Paul did on his way to Damascus.

It so happened that one of her sons fell dangerously ill and the doctors gave up hope of recovery. Her brother then approached her and spoke to her affectionately, saying:

“My dear sister, you naturally wish to have your child cured. Very well, then, do what I ask you to do. Follow me, let us pray one ‘Hail Mary’ and promise God that, if your son recovers his health, you would seriously study the Catholic doctrine, and should you come to the conclusion that Catholicism is the only true religion, you would embrace it no matter what the sacrifices may be.”

His sister was somewhat reluctant at the beginning, but as she wished for her son’s recovery, she accepted her brother’s proposal and recited the “Hail Mary” together with him.

The next day her son was completely cured. The mother fulfilled her promise and she studied the Catholic doctrine. After long preparation she received Baptism together with her whole family, thanking her brother for being an apostle to her. The story was related during a sermon given by the Rev. Fr. Tuckwell. “Brethren,” he went on and said, “the boy who became a Catholic and converted his sister to Catholicism dedicated his whole life to the service of God.

He is the priest who is speaking to you now! What I am I owe to Our Lady.

You, too, my dear brethren, be entirely dedicated also to Our Lady and never let a day pass without saying the beautiful prayer, ‘Hail Mary’, and your Rosary.

Ask her to enlighten the minds of Protestants who are separated from the true Church of Christ founded on the Rock (Peter) and against whom the gates of hell shall never prevail.'”

A mother holds her baby in her arms, looks up to God, and knows that she, by months of suffering and patience, has co-operated with Him in making and bringing into the world a little body housing a priceless soul. A father stands above his new-born son resting in the arms of his wife, and knows as he picks him up and weighs him tenderly that he has shared with God the Father His very fatherhood; for this mite of humanity, immortal in destiny, is truly his son. Mother and father together have co-operated with God in the astonishing creation of a human being. -Fr. Daniel A. Lord, 1950’s

 Coloring Pages for your children…

Join me as I read to you this lovely article by Joseph Breig, husband and father, who wrote his thoughts about the great influence the rosary has had on his life and his family….”When I get to heaven – as I trust I shall – something very embarrassing is bound to happen. As sure as shooting; somebody who has known me rather too well for comfort on this earth is going to come up to me and say, in a loud voice enough for everybody to hear, ‘How in the world did you get in here?'”

Lovely and Graceful, these handcrafted, wire-wrapped Blessed Mother Necklaces can be blessed and worn as Sacramentals. They would make a special gift for someone! Available here.

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SSet of all 20 Children’s Saints Lives

For ages 10 and up. Great stories of the saints for youth that are easy to read; yet extremely edifying and instructing! We all need good examples how to live a good Catholic life — these books will not overwhelm or turn off those who need them most.

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Repetitive Prayers

18 Saturday Sep 2021

Posted by in Praying, Spiritual Tidbits

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From Thirsting for Prayer by Father Jacques Philippe

Besides all that has just been said, one means used to foster continual prayer, especially by religious, is to repeat short phrases, often taken from or inspired by Scripture. This is done either during the time devoted to prayer or outside it, during other activities, to keep God always in mind.

According to John Cassian, certain monks in Egypt in the fourth century used to repeat the following invocation ceaselessly: “O God, make haste to my rescue, Lord, come to my aid!” (Ps 70:1).

The beautiful book The Way of a Pilgrim spread the knowledge and practice of the “Jesus Prayer” or “prayer of the heart” in the Western world. It tells of a humble Russian peasant who was moved by the exhortation in the Letter to the Thessalonians “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17), and wondered how he could put this command into practice.

He traveled through Russia in search of a spiritual father who could teach him. A monk initiated him into the tradition of prayer that consists of ceaselessly repeating, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!,” using a simple rosary of knotted woolen thread and coordinating the recital of the prayer with the rhythm of one’s breathing, while looking into one’s heart.

Little by little, the peasant experienced the benefits: his heart was filled with peace and purified, he felt the joy of God’s presence, he received inner enlightenment about God’s love, developed compassion toward everyone, and saw the world and nature with new eyes.

This tradition goes back to the Egyptian monasticism of the first centuries and spread throughout Orthodox Christianity; in our days it is also spreading through the Western world.

More familiar to Western Catholics is the devotion of the Rosary, with its constant repetition of the Our Father and Hail Mary.

Today, simple repetition does not always get good press. Ours is a world that, having lost its sense of the most fundamental things in life, is permanently in search of novelty.

Now, it is true that repetition can become merely mechanical and routine, but it can also mean that love is being inscribed on the soul for as long as it continues.

It an intrinsic part of life: we are lucky our hearts don’t get tired of constantly beating and our breathing does not get tired of its rhythm!

Rhythm, as I said earlier, plays a fundamental role in human life. It has a calming effect; it allows energy to be used for a considerable length of time without wastage or exhaustion.

The rhythm of repetitive prayer enables a desire, an intention, to be expressed externally through the body and at the same time to take root in the heart. It is an acceptance of reality, of the fact of having bodies, and that our human condition is part of the rhythms of nature and life.

It is openness to a deep meaning that surpasses us, going beyond the perceptions of the rational mind. It gives us access to a sort of wisdom, an intelligence of life, in a dependence on our Creator to which we consent.

Our prayer is called to become not just one activity among others but the fundamental activity of our lives, the very rhythm of our deepest existence, the breathing of our heart, so to speak.

Repetitive prayers help us achieve this, since they are our human effort, our persevering quest, in the hope that God’s grace will grant that for which we ask through our humble, untiring repetition of the same words.

In a talk on the Rosary given at Lourdes in October 1998, Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, said: If we love someone, we know that it is not enough to tell them “I love you” just once. We will want to say it again and again, and we may hope that they wish to hear it again and again.

  1. K. Chesterton argued that repetition is a characteristic of the vitality of children, who like the same stories, with the same words, time and time again, not because they are bored and unimaginative but because they delight in life.

Chesterton wrote: “Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again!’ and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead, for grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again!’ to the sun; and every evening ‘Do it again!’ to the moon.

It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes each daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old and our Father is younger than we.

The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore. Heaven may encore the bird who laid an egg .

There is nothing in the least wrong with spending our time of prayer on these repetitive prayers, especially at moments of tiredness, difficulty in mobilizing our intellectual faculties, or else when we feel impelled by the Holy Spirit toward a prayer that, in comparison with meditation, is poorer, simpler, brought back to essentials, not relying too much on intellectual discourse or the work of imagination, but favoring the work of the heart.

This repetition should be done gently, peacefully, without its becoming forced or requiring an effort (which would be counterproductive). We should be attentive to God’s presence in us, while gently merging body and spirit with the form of prayer used.

The rhythm of the repetition can favor our entering into a state of recollection. Being faithful to the humble but sincere search for God expressed in this prayer can give us, little by little, the grace to enter into a state of true contemplation and loving union with God.

The advantage of these repetitive prayers, besides their simplicity, is that they can progressively become a sort of habit (in the good sense of the word); that makes them a valuable resource for praying at many other moments of the day besides the time devoted to prayer properly so called.

It may be when we are in the car, walking, during times of insomnia, while engaged in activities or jobs that do not take up the whole of our mind, etc.

How many opportunities do we, as wives and mothers, have each day to do God’s will, not our own?? Many….many. We do not need a retreat to figure this out. A wife and a mother’s journey is laying down her life for those she loves. And we prove it each time we tend to the needs around us. We learn that most important life-lesson that the hermit in the desert is learning…..to lay down our lives for Christ.-Finer Femininity, Painting by Trent Gudmundsen

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The Role and Limits of the Mind in Prayer

05 Sunday Sep 2021

Posted by in Praying

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From Thirsting for Prayer by Father Jacques Philippe

Much the same can be said about our intellects. Reason has a fundamental role in human life and spiritual life; faith cannot do without reason. We should do all we can to understand with our intelligence what we believe, since our minds need to assimilate the content of the faith.

That is what theology is for. The more we understand what we believe, the more our faith will be light and strength for us.

Additionally, in our prayer life we will often receive lights that enlighten our intelligences in many areas: an understanding of certain aspects of the mystery of God, a more vivid perception of the person of Christ, or the meaning of human destiny, etc. We will sometimes receive wonderful, valuable lights on the meaning of a particular phrase or passage of Scripture.

Besides these general lights on the content of the faith, our minds will also receive more specific enlightenment regarding our own lives: what choice to make, how to rule our lives in given circumstances, what advice to give someone who asks for it, etc.

Each time the intelligence, the mind, is enlightened in this way, it is a precious gift, and we need to do all we can to live out our faith in an intelligent way, employing the faculties of reflection, comprehension, analysis, and the rest.

We should ask for and seek the lights that enlighten intelligence. Indeed, we cannot do without them. A lazy mind and spiritual vitality do not go together.

That said, we need also to realize that the intelligence has its limitations. It is good to understand truths about God, but we should bear in mind that everything we understand about God is still not God.

God is infinitely beyond all that our minds can image or grasp. No concept of God truly corresponds to what God is. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

The intellect can bring us nearer to God, but it does not give us access to what God truly is in Himself. Only faith can do that. At certain points in Christian life, our minds must fall silent and admit their powerlessness.

The greatest theologian in the history of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, recognized at the end of his life that everything he had written was only straw.

It is normal, then, and even necessary, that on our path as Christians, and especially in our prayer lives, the intelligence should sometimes find itself in a certain degree of darkness.

Regarding questions relating to faith, the mystery of God, or even the meaning of this or that world event or personal experience the mind sometimes is simply lost for an answer. That is disquieting since not understanding always produces a painful sense of frustration. But it is inevitable.

Then it is helpful to recall that not our intelligence but faith gives us access to God and the deep truth of our own lives, and that should be enough for us even if our intelligence is in its death throes.

These times of darkness are necessary for the mind to purify and refine it. The fact is that many things are often at work in our use of our minds, in our desire to understand, from which we need deliverance: some curiosity, a lot of pride, conceit, and desire for power (to understand is to dominate); as well as a human quest for security (to understand is to master and control).

To know everything, we must first pass through a stage of not knowing … we cannot truly grow, humanly or spiritually, without going through times when the intelligence is painfully humbled.

We should also recognize that thinking and reflecting can bring us nearer to God, they can be a path toward him, but they cannot give us God himself. Thinking of an object means holding it at a certain distance in order to master it. That is not possible with God—we cannot “think about” God in the sense of making him into an object.

It is faith, love, and adoration that place us in contact with God. The spiritual life has sometimes been over-intellectualized in the Western world.

The conclusion to which what has just been said obviously points to this: our emotions and our intellects are useful and valuable, but they cannot serve as the basis for our relationship with God or our prayer life. The only basis for that has to be faith.

When our emotions are dry and our minds are blind, faith should be enough to carry us forward. Faith is free, untrammeled. It can feed on what stirs our emotions and enlightens our minds, but it can also do without those things.

Ultimately, these considerations have one practical consequence, and it is an extremely consoling one. There are moments in our prayer lives when we are, quite simply, poor. Despite our good will and efforts, we remain arid, cold, devoid of feeling, understanding, and lights… .

At such times we tend to be discouraged and think we must be very far from God. We envy those who express delicate emotions and deep thoughts, we feel we are totally helpless, compared with what the lives of saints tell us about their fervor and mystical graces. We see ourselves as distant from God since we have neither any fervor nor any light about Him.

If that happens to you, my dear reader, then remember what I have said: It does not matter what you feel or don’t feel, what you understand or can’t understand. If your feelings or your intelligence do not give God to you, faith will.

It is enough to make a humble, sincere act of faith for you to be in contact with God from that moment, with absolute certainty. Faith, and faith alone, establishes real contact with the living presence of God. When everything else is lacking, faith is sufficient.

If we go courageously in that direction, we will end by experiencing how true it is, and how what we grasp by the act of faith is really given to us. “Be it done for you as you have believed,” Jesus says constantly in the Gospel.

In this necessary experience of passing through trials, the role of emotions and intelligence should not be denied or suppressed, but they need to be assigned the right place.

The painful times of “crisis” for human faculties during the spiritual journey are not intended to destroy them, but to purify and refine them, so that, when used, they are no longer a hindrance to union with God.

They need to pass through darkness in order to grow accustomed to a new, deeper perception of God and his wisdom. They must be impoverished to be enriched.

“You must have the courage and farsightedness to face all of your problems and must ask help from Him who is the source of all wisdom in the greatest and most worthy career a woman can espouse: being a real mother. The greatest joy you can find is in one day discovering that your daughters are as good as they are beautiful and your sons as pure as they are stalwart.”
Fr. Lawrence G. Lovasik. The Catholic Family Handbook
Coloring pages for your children….

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Painting by Mark Arian

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The Dispositions that Make Prayer Fruitful

29 Sunday Aug 2021

Posted by in Praying, Spiritual Tidbits

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From Thirsting for Prayer by Father Jacques Philippe

The dispositions that make prayer fruitful

Now let us tackle the question of discerning the genuineness of our prayer from a different angle: not the fruits it brings, but the way we set about praying.

A first point (which follows from what I am going to say later, but it is good to emphasize it) is that fidelity should be a principle quality of prayer. Jesus does not ask us to pray well; he asks us to pray without ceasing!

Faithfulness (if, of course, it is not just routine, but is motivated by a sincere desire to find God, please Him, and love Him) will produce all the rest. The main battle in the prayer life is perseverance.

As St. Teresa of Avila notes, the devil does all he can to get souls away from faithfulness to prayer, using every possible or imaginable excuse: it’s pointless, you’re not worthy to pray, you’re wasting your time, you’ll pray better if you put it off till tomorrow, there’s this urgent thing you really must do now, it would be a shame to miss that fantastic TV program, what are people going to think of you, etc.

St. Teresa explains that it is natural for the devil to put up a stiff fight on this point, for someone faithful to prayer is quite certainly lost to him. That person may still fall often, but after each fall he or she will have the grace to rise up again even higher than before.

In order to gain his end, the devil is quite right to use no half-measures on this point! Deceiver that he is, he knows that the souls who persevere in prayer are lost to him, that all the falls he brings about only help them, with God’s grace, to spring up again much higher than before and serve our Lord better: hence his determination on this point.

She invites us, therefore, to persevere in prayer,

no matter what happens or could happen, whatever the difficulties or nay-sayers, whether we reach our goal or perish on the way, whether we lack the courage to tackle the trials of the journey or the world collapses around us!

Prayer vivified by faith, hope, and love

The idea I am going to develop now is simple but very important, and it can provide us with some valuable markers on our personal journey, especially in dealing with the difficulties we meet in our prayer life.

It is this: our prayer will be good and fruitful if it is based on faith, hope, and love. It should be supported by the exercise of the three “theological virtues,” as they are classically called, which are given so much importance in Scripture (particularly in the teachings of St. Paul), because it is they that drive all Christian life.

Having decided to dedicate time to personal prayer, we can set about it in all sorts of different ways: meditate on a passage from Scripture; recite a psalm slowly; converse freely with our Lord; let our heart sing; say our Rosary or use some other form of repetitive prayer; just be there in front of our Lord without saying anything, in an attitude of simple availability or adoration; and so on.

We will return to these different possibilities later on; we are free to use them according to what suits us best at a given point.

What matters, however, is not what particular method we use, but to ascertain the basic dispositions of our heart when we pray. It is these inner dispositions, not a technique or particular form of prayer, that guarantee the fruitfulness of our prayer life.

What matters ultimately is that when we start to pray, when we use this or that method in order to pray, we base everything on inner dispositions of faith, hope, and love.

The gateway of faith

Prayer is essentially an act of faith. It is even the first and most natural way to express our faith.

If someone said, “I believe in God, but I don’t pray,” you could reasonably ask that person, “What God do you believe in? If the God you believe in is the God of the Bible, the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God with whom Jesus spent his nights in prayer, calling him ‘Abba!’—how could you possibly not feel the slightest desire to talk to him?”

Faith is expressed, renewed, purified, and strengthened when exercised in prayer. Even if we do not realize it (like Monsieur Jourdain in Molière’s comedy Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, who had been speaking prose all his life without realizing it), as soon as we start to pray we are making an act of faith: that God exists, that it is worthwhile speaking to Him and listening for what He will say, that He loves us, that it is a good thing to spend some of our time with Him, etc.

Every prayer contains an act of faith that is implicit but absolutely fundamental.

It is very encouraging to understand that it is this act of faith that unites us to God. “The more faith a soul has, the more he or she is united to God,” says St. John of the Cross.

What brings about union with God is not feelings or thought processes, but faith.

“Many times God allows it to be hard to pray, simply to school us in applying our wills, to teach us that the value of prayer does not depend on the amount of emotion we can whip up. So when ‘Time for prayers’ is greeted with moans and groans, it’s time to explain that saying prayers when you least want to, simply because you love God and have a kind of dry respect and a sense of obedience, is to gain the greatest merit for them. Many times the saints had trouble getting excited about prayers, but they said them, because prayers were due and their value had nothing to do with how eagerly they went about saying them.” -Mary Reed Newland

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Two Simple Steps for a Successful Day ~ New Podcast!

06 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by in by Leane Vdp, Organization Skills, Podcasts - Finer Femininity, Prayers, Praying

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NEW PODCAST!

Here is a simple outline to ensure we are carrying out our daily duties as best we can on this road we travel as Catholic women. This is my own list of what I deem the basics of a successful day. It is an ideal I strive for. You may have your own plan, and I hope you do. If this can help in any way, then I have accomplished my goal with this video.
Link to My Morning and Night Prayers.
Link to My Journals.

I have included the transcript for the video below:

I’m here to talk to you today about Two Simple Steps for a Successful Day.

I think that most ladies would like a simple outline that they can stick to each day to ensure we are carrying out our daily duties as best we can on this road we travel as Catholic women.

This is my own list of what I deem the basics of a successful day. It is an ideal I have strived for. I have successes, I have failures but at least I know this plan, it is burned into my mind so I can get back to it if I am floundering!

You may have your own plan, and I hope you do. If this can help in any way, then I have accomplished my goal with this video.

#1 ~ STAYING GROUNDED WITH PRAYER

#2 ~ STAYING GROUNDED WITH A LIST

#1 – Our Prayers. Starting with our morning prayers.

Our Morning Offering is one of the most important prayers of the day. Imagine a bunch of zeroes, let’s say 9 of them on a blackboard. How much are nine zeroes worth? One big fat zero.

Now put a one if front of them. Do they become a lot more valuable?  Yes they do. Kind of changes the picture, doesn’t it?

Our Morning Offering is like that one. All of a sudden, all our thoughts, words, actions, sufferings of the day have value. Before our Morning Offering, they are not worth as much. After our Morning Offering, they are so much more valuable.

All is used as an offering to Our Lord for our own happiness and salvation, and for those we love.

I know that we often hit the ground running…nursing a baby, helping our toddler, or our alarm didn’t’ go off and we are running to school or work late. Let’s make sure we get that Morning Offering in. It’s very important.

We should try to say our whole Morning Prayers….

And I will include a link in the comments below that may be able to help you with your Morning and Night Prayers…they are what I have said throughout the years.

You should have a few other simple time slots for prayers throughout the day. Not too much and not too long. But enough to keep us and our family grounded all day long.

I usually stop midday, 3:00 to say with whoever is at home at the time our Mercy Chaplet. You could do any prayer you wish here. Maybe a Litany?  Maybe the Holy Wounds Chaplet? I have a lovely book with many different chaplets in it. You could switch it up each day if you like.  Maybe a special prayer honoring our Lords crucifixion because the hour is 3:00?

When my kids were younger we would say the Mercy Chaplet…that took 5 minutes…then I set the timer for 15 minutes for quiet time.  Then I would give them 3 choices.

They could read a spiritual book. If they were young that would mean looking at the pictures of a children’s spiritual book.

They could pray.

They could rest. And yes, sometimes they fell asleep.

It was very valuable…that quiet time with the kids. Because we lose our taste for spiritual things if we do not nourish ourselves each day. And once again, this is building a great habit with your children they can carry on throughout their lives.

So we have our Morning Prayers, our Midday prayers…then our daily rosary and our night prayers. Daily Mass if we can.

So…number one…staying grounded with prayer. Let’s keep that prayer life alive and well!

Just a note…Make sure you say simple morning and night prayers with your little people so they get in the habit of this. This is very important!

I said my own morning and night prayers by myself…hopefully before the kids got up, but not necessarily. And then I would gather the little people who weren’t old enough to say their prayers yet, I would sit down and have them kneel before me and say their prayers with them. They were simple and eventually they memorized them and could say them on their own.

This got them in the habit of morning and night prayers. Because I have met Catholics who know the necessity of saying the daily rosary and they do that. But they find the morning and night prayers daunting…because they weren’t trained as youngsters! So do that for your children…

This is the basis of a successful day! We now have the grace to do what we need to do for the rest of the day. To make the right decisions. To get our work done, To deal with any crosses, etc.

#2. STAYING GROUNDED WITH A LIST.

Make a List!

I sure notice a difference when I get back to making my list! I accomplish so much more…and I don’t forget so many things. I get myself a lovely journal-type book and then I turn to it during the day when I am floundering and getting distracted with things I don’t need to get distracted with…not talking about my family. They are one big blessed distraction…a good one and one that needs attending to.

But you know those other distractions….the ones we could do without…or that make us put off our priorities…until later…and then we’re too tired.

Making your list the night before is helpful. But if you haven’t done that, snag a few moments as early as possible the next day to write your list.

I use shortcuts to write mine down, For instance, MPR is morning prayers, NPR is night prayers, MCHAP is mercy chaplet. This makes the list writing quicker. And since I know the basics well, I know what I am talking about.

Many of the other items I write the whole thing out. I have made the mistake of doing shortcuts on the other non-basic things on my list and when going back to it, I couldn’t remember what it was I was writing down.  J

This list, which is my #2 step of a successful day, will help you with your #1 step – Staying Grounded with Prayer…because you write down your spiritual items at the top….After all they are top priority!

Morning Prayers, 3:00 prayer, Rosary, Night Prayers.

And if I go to daily Mass, I will come home, write down daily Mass and then check it off. Check these spiritual items off when you are done.

If you have accomplished those by the end of the day, you have accomplished the most important work of the day…because these very prayers will give us the grace to accomplish the other duties of the day!

And even if it is one of those days and we get nothing else accomplished…because of a child being sick, an unexpected visitor, a fridge that needs tending to because it quit working, etc, we still have those prayers, that time with God. And He will bless that! And will help us to embrace these other things that throw us off-kilter!

As you think of things throughout the day, add them to your list. But don’t overwhelm yourself. Stick to the priorities and a few other items. For me, I put down even the little things…like take out garbage. Then I can check it off and it does give one a feeling of accomplishment and it energizes me!

The most important ones need to be checked off by the end of the day….like make dinner, do laundry, make lunches, check on mother, etc. Write them down!!

And for those ones you think of during the day and don’t get to… Transfer them to the next day!

To get into these habits….Prayers, List-Making…is very valuable.

I want to show you a couple of examples of my list. Here’s one day.

Something must have come up this day because I don’t have much checked off. Maybe I just got distracted. That’s ok…I don’t beat myself up for that. I especially like to get my spiritual part of the list done.

Most of my days don’t have the night prayers checked off because I forget to check them off in the evening. And sometimes I do forget!

Here’s another day.

Now this day looks better! I can walk away from that day and say, “Wow, I was able to get a lot done and it looks good to have all those check marks!” There were some things I didn’t get done and I will transfer those to the next day,.

These habits help us to train our will. Regularity, order…it is the making of a saint. The daily little things are the important ones! Saying those short prayers with your kids every day, morning and night, is teaching them invaluable lessons about regularity and good habit-making.

I want to remind you that in the comments I have a link to my morning and night prayers.

I also have a link down there for my journals. I think using a journal for while can be quite helpful.

I have an Advent Journal, Lenten Journal, a Gratitude Journal and then a 30 Day Journal for boys and one for the girls. Those last 2 are in color and quite lovely! And those will help those children to stay on track for 30 days and carry some of those habits with them throughout life!

These are very good tools to help us on this journey of getting our lives in order. The link for those are in the comments.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am still on this journey. It is never perfect and life throws at us its curve balls. Sometimes we cause the curve balls! It’s not our failures that are the important thing…we are human, we will fail. It is how quickly we pick ourselves up!

So let’s remember the 2 basics of a successful day:

#1 Staying grounded with prayers

#2 Staying grounded with a list

Thank you for tuning in today. God bless you!

A mother should make it one of her important responsibilities to keep a clean and organized home. This is not always possible, especially at certain phases of child-bearing years, and she must be patient with circumstances and with herself. At the same time, it should be one of her priorities. -Finer Femininity 🌸

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In With God in Russia, Ciszek reflects on his daily life as a prisoner, the labor he endured while working in the mines and on construction gangs, his unwavering faith in God, and his firm devotion to his vows and vocation. Enduring brutal conditions, Ciszek risked his life to offer spiritual guidance to fellow prisoners who could easily have exposed him for their own gains. He chronicles these experiences with grace, humility, and candor, from his secret work leading mass and hearing confessions within the prison grounds, to his participation in a major gulag uprising, to his own “resurrection”—his eventual release in a prisoner exchange in October 1963 which astonished all who had feared he was dead.

Powerful and inspirational, With God in Russia captures the heroic patience, endurance, and religious conviction of a man whose life embodied the Christian ideals that sustained him…..

Captured by a Russian army during World War II and convicted of being a “Vatican spy,” Jesuit Father Walter J. Ciszek spent 23 agonizing years in Soviet prisons and the labor camps of Siberia. Only through an utter reliance on God’s will did he manage to endure the extreme hardship. He tells of the courage he found in prayer–a courage that eased the loneliness, the pain, the frustration, the anguish, the fears, the despair. For, as Ciszek relates, the solace of spiritual contemplation gave him an inner serenity upon which he was able to draw amidst the “arrogance of evil” that surrounded him. Ciszek learns to accept the inhuman work in the infamous Siberian salt mines as a labor pleasing to God. And through that experience, he was able to turn the adverse forces of circumstance into a source of positive value and a means of drawing closer to the compassionate and never-forsaking Divine Spirit.

He Leadeth Me is a book to inspire all Christians to greater faith and trust in God–even in their darkest hour. As the author asks, “What can ultimately trouble the soul that accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do his will?”

It is Easy to Pray

17 Saturday Oct 2020

Posted by in Praying

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From An Easy Way to Become a Saint by Father Paul O’Sullivan, 1950’s

SUGGESTIONS

In order to aid those who wish to meditate, we shall now suggest some thoughts on a few important subjects that may help them. Remember what has been said: “Read a little, think a little, pray a little, apply the truths to yourself, make your resolution.”

THOUGHTS ON PRAYER

Prayer is the greatest power in the world, even the prayer of the ordinary Christian. Few, very few know how to pray, and yet it is so easy.

Because they do not know how to pray, they are losing immense graces, immense blessings every day. Thousands are going to Hell every day because they do not pray. Thousands and thousands are sad and unfortunate because they do not know how to pray.

Our morning and evening prayers, if well said, save us from countless evils and obtain for us countless blessings.

Many Catholics have not the faintest idea of the immense importance of these prayers. They have many pressing occupations, but the gravest of all their duties, the most important and urgent work of the day is morning and evening prayer. As a result of these prayers, God Himself and His Blessed Mother bless and protect us.

PRAYER IS A PLEASURE

Few enjoy prayer, for the same reason: that they have never learned to pray. The first thing we must understand clearly is that when praying we are talking to God personally, intimately, really. God is looking at us, giving us all His attention, ready to give us all we need. What an immense joy and consolation it is to realize that we are talking to God Himself.

But so many pray as if they were gramophones, talking machines, not even thinking of the words they are saying. Many say their prayers in haste! That surely is not speaking to God. St. Augustine says that God prefers the barking of dogs to prayers said hastily.

We must pray intelligently, slowly, thinking of what we are saying. Then our prayer is a pleasure, for we know that it is pleasing to God and that it is bringing us great graces.

The writer had once a long private audience with Pope [St.] Pius X. He was all alone with the Pope in his private room. The Holy Father was most gracious and kind and gave him all he asked for and even more.

Yet we have a private audience with God whenever we pray. We are all alone with Him, and He is infinitely sweet and merciful. But how few enjoy this intimate, personal converse with God. If they understood that they were actually speaking to God, they would not think it a penance to pray; they would not be so easily distracted.

The Arabs give us a lesson in prayer. When they pray to Allah, they are so wrapped up in their prayer that they think of nothing else. In fact, frequently their enemies, knowing this, choose the moment they are praying to rush on them and kill them.

GOD HEARS EVERY PRAYER

Still another most consoling thing about prayer is that God hears every prayer. Every prayer well said, as any ordinary Christian can say it, brings us back a great grace, a favor, though we may not see it. True, God does not always give us exactly what we ask, because He sees that it would not be good for us, but then He gives us something better, which He knows is good for us. Good businessmen, wise statesmen, great generals, place all their trust in prayer.

THREE CONDITIONS OF PRAYER

*We must persevere in prayer; we must storm Heaven as the Apostle tells us.

*We must pray with the fullest confidence, for the greater our confidence, the greater will be the graces we receive.

*We must pray with humility. God loves the humble and gives them what they ask in rich abundance.

(Photo of my mom teaching me my prayers)♥️🙏🏻
“The Church does not often canonize whole groups of people
And though you and I may regard mothers as martyrs, the Church will never canonize them as a class, because they do not fit her definition. Still, if ever the Church should start to canonize whole groups of people, she would certainly begin with mothers, mothers like yours and mine.

For she remembers gratefully the fact that almost every saint in heaven, whether canonized or utterly unknown by the Church on earth, is a saint because a saintly mother set the feet of her child on the road to perfection.” -Rev. Daniel A. Lord, 1950’s

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We cannot serve the flesh and the spirit; the two masters. What we are seeking to do is more important than what we seek to avoid. The positive aspects of the Kingdom are good works, piety, prayer and sanctity….

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Do you need some good reading suggestions?

Visit My Book List….

Painting by Gregory Frank Harris

Loving and Thanking God – How to Raise Good Catholic Children

14 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by in Parenting, Praying

≈ 4 Comments

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The devil trembles when, in spite of your not wanting to, you get on your knees and pray!

How to Raise Good Catholic Children, by Mary Reed Newland

Spiritual and temporal needs over with, children can turn to the joy that is simply loving God. “I love You, Blessed Jesus, and I love Your Blessed Mother.”

This must be the part He listens for the hardest. It’s really all He asks, because if love is there and a right disposition, with grace the rest will follow.

So we encourage children to say it over and over until their whole idea of God is bound inseparably to their love for Him. After the loving comes the thanking; one follows the other with ease.

“And thank You for . . .” each night a different blessing, from babies and books to lollipops and circuses — anything and everything — so that they will see that their world is full of blessings straight from the hand of God.

Gradually, as they grow older, the form of their prayers will change. If they attend parochial school and Sister recommends certain practices, we should help to put these into effect. They will learn formal prayers, prayers proper to each liturgical season, the family Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, Mass preparations, and much more.

But the approach of their prayers remains unchanged, the contrition, asking, praising, and thanksgiving are in all these, and if they understand, above all, that prayer is talking to God, the knowledge will never leave them.

Knowing all this, however, is still no guarantee that children will always want to pray. Would that all grown-ups always wanted to pray. But they don’t, and their own perversity is not always the reason.

Many times God allows it to be hard to pray, simply to school us in applying our wills, to teach us that the value of prayer does not depend on the amount of emotion we can whip up.

So when “Time for prayers” is greeted with moans and groans, it’s time to explain that saying prayers when you least want to, simply because you love God and have a kind of dry respect and a sense of obedience, is to gain the greatest merit for them.

Many times the saints had trouble getting excited about prayers, but they said them, because prayers were due and their value had nothing to do with how eagerly they went about saying them.

“But with so many people in the world praying, I get the feeling God can’t really be listening to me.” Here we can remind our children of how our Lord said that God counts even the hairs on our heads, and all the sparrows that fall.

It’s hard to understand, but we need not understand; we need only believe that every word and sigh and flick of an eyelash is watched and weighed and counted, and every word is heard as though we were the only one praying.

The morning offering can be a simple form of gathering up the day and all it will hold and giving it to God.

Our children say, “I offer You this day as a prayer of love and thanksgiving, and thank You for keeping me safe through the night. Please help me to be pure and good, and keep me safe from harm. Please help us all with our work.”

They can offer it for one or many intentions, or simply give it to Jesus and Mary and ask them to apply its merits as they wish.

The “safe through the night” isn’t meant to imply that dying in the night would be the horror of horrors, but to remind them of God’s watchfulness while we sleep and to teach that, if we have survived the night, obviously God’s will for us includes another day of work and play and prayer to be lived as best we can.

When the older children started catechism classes (we have no parochial schools in our town), Sister taught them the traditional Morning Offering; so now they like to say that. But whatever form of offering they use, the important thing is to think of it like the net that strained with many fishes but still did not break. It will hold all the good a child can say and think and do in his entire day and give him a wonderful sense of having used every minute.

Many times I have heard one or another of our children (who are really no more pious than other children) say, “There, now wiping the dishes is part of my prayers because I made my Morning Offering.”

 
“Life is too short to spend it doing things that don’t get you where you want to go. For instance, if it’s important to you to read aloud to your kids, but you find yourself rarely doing that, you’ll feel the disconnect and it will discourage you. You’ll feel off track and out of sorts, but might not be able to put your finger on why.
Spend some time thinking about what you DO want in your life. Then make those choices each day. When you live intentionally and with purpose, it will make a tremendous difference in your life and the lives of those you love.” – Charlotte Siems

 

When my children were young I loved to read to them stories, poems and nursery rhymes! They knew those rhymes inside and out and it was such a happy pastime! I did yearn, at times, for little ditties that had more meaning…….So I decided to write a book myself for the generation after me….especially thinking of my grandchildren, but for all Catholic children everywhere!

These books give us some lovely rhymes that can, and should, be committed to heart by your children. Not only will they provide all the benefits of reading and memorizing, but they will supply some simple reflections that will turn those little minds to what is most important in their life….their Catholic Faith…. Available here.

 

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    The Rosary and the Bargain

    06 Tuesday Oct 2020

    Posted by in Praying, The Rosary

    ≈ 2 Comments

    Happy Feast of the Holy Rosary!

    The surest and easiest way to heaven is taking Our Lady’s hand and letting her guide and direct our footsteps. She is the “vehicle” to help us up the laborious climb to the top of the mountain!

    Do something special this week to remind your children of her very important role!

    And don’t forget the daily Rosary!

    12122466_736962259742656_177630410861677038_n-1by Joseph A. Breig

    When I get to heaven – as I trust I shall – something very embarrassing is bound to happen. As sure as shooting; somebody who has known me rather too well for comfort on this earth is going to come up to me and say, in a loud voice enough for everybody to hear, “How in the world did you get in here?”

    I am not going to answer in words. I am simply going to pull a rosary out of my pocket and dangle it in front of my questioner. That will be my reply; and it will be perfectly true. It will also be true for my family, which I have every reason to hope will be there with me. We will all pull our rosaries out of our pockets and wave them.

    I think that we will wave them for all eternity; or at least wear them around our necks for everybody to see. It will save a lot of explaining, and it will give credit where credit is due.

    I am not humble enough for public confession of my sins: besides, it would be scandalous; and the readers would be writing to the editor denouncing him for printing such shocking stuff.

    I will simply say this: there is a period of my life that I want to forget; and I would still be in it if it weren’t for the rosary.

    The rosary is the rope by which I climbed hand over hand out of the pit into which I had fallen.

    I started climbing out after I discovered one basic rule for any kind of success in life. The way to get something done is to do it. I will never forget how that realization suddenly popped into my head and transformed me.

    Ever since then, I have been getting things done, simply by doing them. And the thing that taught me that lesson was the rosary. I do not remember how or why or when I started saying the rosary daily. But I do remember that doing it was the hardest thing I ever did in my life.

    When people say to me now that they just can’t seem to get at it, I chuckle. They’re telling me! They complain about the irregularity of their lives, about visitors dropping in, and whatnot. And I chuckle again.

    When I started saying the daily rosary, I was a reporter for a Hearst newspaper in the big city. It was not in the least unusual for me to be out on a story half the night, or three-quarters of the night, or all night.

    At any moment during the day, the city editor might answer the telephone, look across the desk at me, and order me to high-ball by automobile, or train or other conveyance to some city or town or crossroads 100, 500, 1000 miles distant.

    At any hour of the night, I might be awakened by the telephone and told to dash into the office, or dash somewhere else. As for social and other affairs, I had more than my share of them. But I had discovered that the way to get something done is to do it. I had learned that the way to get the rosary said is to say it. And I said it – and I don’t think anybody ever said it harder.

    Meditation? It came as naturally to me as eating glass or swallowing swords. Praying? It was hard, sweaty, ditch-digging heavy labor for me. I was going it alone then; and the going was all uphill. It was all mountain climbing.

    More than once, I awoke in the wee hours of the night, still on my knees, with the upper half of my body sprawled over the bed, and the rosary still clutched in my fingers at the second or third decade.
    But the way to get something done was to do it; and I wouldn’t allow myself to crawl into bed until the rosary was finished.

    I tell all this only in order that the reader may know that I am not one to whom prayer came easily. You say that it is hard for you; I answer that it was hard for me.

    Then suddenly, somewhere along the line, I met Father Patrick Peyton, and discovered an additional rule for success. I discovered that whereas it was exceedingly difficult for me to say the rosary alone, it was as easy as rolling off a log to say it with my family.

    We were one of the early families in Father Peyton’s Family Rosary Crusade; and what he gave to us when he talked us into it, we wouldn’t trade today for all the Fords and Lincolns in Henry Fords factory for the next thousand years.

    I state a simple fact; and you needn’t take it just from me. Ask my wife. Ask the children. Ask the neighbors. Ask our visitors. They’ll all tell you the same thing: that ever since we started the daily family Rosary, and kept it up, our house has been one of the happiest and healthiest homes in the world.

    To use a popular jive expression, the place simply jumps with joy. And there were times when it didn’t. There were a great many times when it didn’t. There was a time when the doctor told us we might as well make up our minds to sell our home for whatever we could get and go to Florida, with or without a job, if we didn’t want to see our children dying one by one before our eyes.

    He said they simply couldn’t stand the climate in which we were living; and they’d be better off living on bananas under a tree in the south than suffering what they were suffering in the north.

    The rosary changed all that; and today our youngsters, everyone of them, can whip their weight in wildcats; and would do it at the drop of a hat if there were any Wildcats in sight.

    But that is the least of the blessings that have come to us from the family Rosary. I remember vividly my first conversation with Father Peyton, long before he became world famous as the originator of the family hour on the radio, in which the greatest stars of Broadway and Hollywood donate their talents to popularize the slogan, “The family that prays together, stays together.”

    Father Peyton, knitting his brows in the way he has, and speaking in that wonderful Irish brogue which I won’t try to reproduce, told me that, when he was first ordained, he planned to start a crusade for daily mass, communion and the rosary.

    The longer he prayed and puzzled over it, the more he became convinced that if he asked for everything at first, he’d get nothing; whereas if he could get people to say the rosary, the rosary would lead them to the other things.
    Today I can testify that, in our case at least, he was perfectly right. We have learned that the rosary, if you will just say it, takes care of the full spiritual development of the family.

    I would say this – that by far the easiest and least troublesome way of rearing a family of which you can be proud is to institute the family rosary in your home, and keep it up.

    It knits the family together with bonds 10,000 times stronger than any that can be forged by merely natural means.

    I think that I’ve heard all the objections to the family rosary. Fully half the fathers and mothers who have talked with me about it have shrugged their shoulders helplessly and said that there simply doesn’t seem to be any time of the day when all the members of the family can be brought together in prayer.

    The answer to that, of course, is exceedingly simple. If you can’t get all the members of the family together, say the rosary with the members who are present.

    Sooner or later, something will happen to make it possible for the others to join in.

    The rosary is like that. Give it a chance, and it’ll take care of the problems. The Mother of God can have whatever she wants from her divine Son; and one of the things she wants is Rosary Families.

    Mothers have said to me that the smaller members of the family won’t behave during the rosary. What of it? The smaller members of our family won’t behave either.

    Between them, our two-year-old Jimmy and eight month old Regina put on something resembling a three ring circus while we are saying the rosary. We don’t interfere. It’s our business to say to say the rosary; it’s theirs to have a circus. God made them that way; and if He doesn’t mind, why should we? We pray above and between their shouts and gurgles, and it works out very well.
    I have also heard people say that the antics of the smaller children interfere with their meditations. They interfered with mine, too, until I learned to include the youngsters in the meditation.

    Now, while saying the Joyful Mysteries, I look at Regina, cooing and bouncing in her crib, and I think, “Why, Christ was just like that once! He cooed and gurgled too, and waved his arms, and kicked his legs, and rolled over on his stomach, then worked like a Trojan to get turned to his back again.”
    Or if the baby is sitting on her mother’s lap, I look at them and realize that the Christ child sat in Mary’s lap too, and clutched at her garments, and tried to pull Himself upright, and swung His hands at her face, and laughed when she smiled at Him.

    I think of the fact that He, too, had to be fed; that although He held the universe in the palm of His hand and kept the planets on their courses. He depended on his mother for everything.
    Perhaps we are saying the Sorrowful Mysteries. If so, sometimes I look at Jimmy and think how I would feel if he were crucified in front of my eyes. Then I know something about what Mary felt.

    I know something, too, about the infinite love of God which caused Him to send His only Son to die for us.

    Could I send one of my sons to die in agony for someone who had insulted me? I think of that; and then I am better able to thank God for the redemption.
    If we are saying the Glorious Mysteries, I consider often what a moment it will be when all the family rises from the grave and is reunited, nevermore to be parted; when we are all together to stay together, in perfect happiness, forever.

    If the happy family is a thing of rollicking joy – and it is – then what must a perfectly happy family in heaven be like! It is very well worth looking forward to. It is very well worth the trouble of saying the daily rosary.
    Ten or fifteen minutes a day is what it takes; and eternity is what it purchases. I wasn’t born yesterday; and I’m not passing up a bargain like that.

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    “Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself…do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but always rise up with fresh courage.”
    Introduction the the Devout Life― St. Francis de Sales

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    I used this book when my children were young. It was a valuable tool in helping them to incorporate True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort into their little lives…. “PREFACE: This Marian program has but one purpose, to imbue the little ones with a genuine devotion to Mary. It is a copying of Mary- a way of life. It is the De Montfort Method simplified for young minds.” Available here. (afflink)

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    A sermon for your day!

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    Beautiful Handcrafted Rosaries and Rosary Bracelets at my Meadows of Grace Shoppe!

    Wire wrapping is one of the oldest techniques for making jewelry or rosaries by hand.

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    Frequently, in this approach, a wire is bent into a loop or other decorative shape and then the wire is wrapped around itself to finish the wire component making that loop or decorative shape permanent.

    Because of this technique for wrapping wire around itself this craft is called wire wrapping.

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    Seventh & Eighth Letters Written by Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Presence of God – 17th Century

    12 Saturday Sep 2020

    Posted by in Peace....Leaving Worry Behind, Praying, Spiritual Tidbits

    ≈ 2 Comments

    Seventh Letter (Written by Brother Lawrence)

    Live and Die with God

    Worship God with Confidence, Love and Humility

    I pity and sympathize with you much. It will be of great importance if you can spend the remainder of your life worshiping God, and leave the care of your affairs to Him.

    He requires no great things of us: a little remembrance of Him from time to time, a little adoration, sometimes to pray for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, and sometimes to give Him thanks for the favors He has given you.

    He gives you favors in the midst of your troubles. Console yourself with Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him even at your meals and when you are with others. The least little remembrance will always be acceptable to Him.

    You need not cry very loud, for He is nearer to us than we are aware.

    It is not necessary to always be at church to be with God. We may make a silent speech with our heart, where we can retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility and love.

    Everyone is capable of such intimate conversation with God, some more, some less. He knows what we can do. Let us begin then.

    Perhaps He expects but one generous and charitable resolution from us. Have courage. We have but little time to live. You are nearly 64, and I am almost 80. Let us live and die with God.

    Suffering will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him, and the greatest pleasures will be a cruel punishment to us without Him.

    May He be praised and blessed. Amen. Worship Him, beg His grace, offer Him your heart from time to time in the midst of all your work–every moment if you can.

    Do not always follow certain rules or set forms of devotion, but act with a general confidence in God, with love and humility.

    You may be assured of my poor prayers, and that I am their servant, and yours particularly.

    Eighth Letter (Written by Brother Lawrence)

    Confess Your Sins and Faults, and Humble Yourself

     How to Address Wandering Thoughts 

    You are telling me nothing new. You are not the only one who is troubled with wandering thoughts. Our mind naturally roves about. As the will is mistress of all our faculties, she must recall such wandering thoughts and carry them to God as their last end.

    The mind is not sufficiently focused when we first engage in devotion and worship. The mind develops certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation which are difficult to overcome, and commonly draw us even against our wills to the things of the earth.

    I believe one remedy for this is to confess our sins and faults, and humble ourselves before God.

    I do not advise you to use many words in prayer. Many words and long discourses are often the times when wandering thoughts occur. Use few words and be willing to be silent and still in prayer and devotion before God, like a mute or paralytic beggar at a rich man’s gate.

    Let it be your business to keep your mind within the presence of the Lord.

    If your mind sometimes wanders and withdraws itself from Him, do not become anxious. Trouble, anxiety and rumination tend to distract the mind, rather than allowing one to gather oneself and refocus.

    Our wills must bring our minds back into tranquility. If you persevere in this manner, God will have pity on you.

    One way to refocus the mind easily in the time of prayer and preserve it in tranquility is to prevent it from wandering too far at other times. Keep your mind strictly in the presence of God, and be accustomed to think of Him often. You will then find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to refocus it from its wanderings.

    I have told you already in detail within my former letters of the advantages we may draw from this practice of the presence of God. Let us pursue this practice seriously and pray for one another.

    Foster Joy and Optimism….Insist upon joy and optimism as opposed to the sadness and discouragement which sometimes seem so natural. Do this by briefly changing your occupation and busying yourself with thoughts, readings and conversations which make the mind happy and elevate it. -Fr. Irala, Achieving Peace of Heart https://amzn.to/39e9tvq (afflink)

    Painting by Albert Lynche, 1860

    In the words of this humble seventeenth-century lay Carmelite, “We must trust God once and for all and abandon ourselves to Him alone.” This difficult task necessarily requires perseverance and continual conversation with God in all activities great and small: “speaking humbly and talking lovingly with Him at all times, at every moment, without rule or system…” In reading these conversations, letters, and spiritual maxims, we learn the key to endless joy.

    In short, this little spiritual classic — in its fresh, contemporary English translation — renders the simple wisdom of Brother Lawrence accessible to every Christian who yearns for the fullness of life….
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    My Morning and Night Prayers – Sharing With You….

    19 Wednesday Aug 2020

    Posted by in by Leane Vdp, Prayers, Praying

    ≈ 5 Comments

    A Throwback Thursday post….

    I am going to share with you something close to my heart, rather personal, and that I do every day….

    It is my Morning and Night prayers.

    Someone wrote to me about a year ago and asked what I say for morning and night prayers and it made me think that not everyone has a guideline for this sort of thing.

    Through the years and my own research…good prayer books, wise mentors, etc., I have come up with some basic prayers that I say for morning and night prayers that I think could be helpful to some.

    Please know that this is just a guideline….the most important being the Morning Offering (in the morning) and the Examination of Conscience and Act of Contrition (in the evening). Everything else is optional, can be changed, tweaked, etc. Most of you already have your morning and night prayers in place, so you may just want to snag a couple of prayers or ideas….

    A Note About the Morning Offering and the Evening Examen of Conscience:

    Our Morning and Night Prayers are so important! They are like the Bookends that hold up the rest of the day. There are other prayers I/we as a family say each day, but these Morning and Night prayers are vital.

    What about that Morning Offering? Why would you even make your bed or brush your teeth before saying it? Do you realize that when you say that offering you are giving everything you think, say and do in the day and offering it as a prayer and a sacrifice to be used for yours and your loved ones benefit? Next time, think before you decide to delve into your day’s work. Did I say my Morning Offering?? Even if you have to say the rest of your prayers a little later, get that Morning Offering in!

    It’s like our priest says, if you write a bunch of 000’s on a board what does it equal? Nothing.

    Now….put a 1 in front of them….kind of changes the value, doesn’t it?

    And that is just what a Morning Offering does for us! It is the 1 before the 0’s!

    What about at night….Do we take a moment to ask God’s forgiveness for those sins we may have committed that day or for things we should have done but didn’t (sins of omission)?

    This is very important…it is a tallying up of the day and asking God’s forgiveness so we can gather strength for the next day. It also helps us when it comes time to go to Confession. If we keep up with this, we can think of our sins more clearly.

    We also don’t know if we will die in the night. Things happen. We’ve seen it. We want to be prepared, right?

    Just lately one of my girls said their night prayers are so loooong. I questioned her. She asks blessings for many people and feels like she has to name them all. Being a sensitive soul, she just can’t leave out ANYONE!

    Now, I understand that…and I feel the same way. But I explained to her that she can mention the ones that are most in need at the time and ask Our Lady (who she is consecrated to) to take care of all the rest of her loved ones she cares for. That is what Our Lady does. She knows who to distribute these prayers to…for us! She knows more than we do!

    So….the following are the prayers I say in the morning and in the evening.. They are just suggestions. It is important you do not take on too much but say them well. Quantity is not the important thing here.

    MORNING PRAYERS

    Traditional Morning Offering:

    O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for the intentions of Thy Sacred Heart, the salvation of souls, reparation for sins, and in union of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishop, the apostleship of prayer and for those recommended by Our Holy Father the Pope for this month.

    Prayer to St. Joseph: (over 1900 years old)

    Oh St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, our Lord; so that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer you my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers. Oh St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach Him while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us.
    Amen.

    Memorare:

    Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided.

    Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

    Amen.

    Spiritual Communion…Read this post if you want to be inspired about this powerful prayer!

    O My Jesus,
    I believe that Thou art in the Blessed Sacrament.

    I love Thee above all things,
    and I long for Thee in my soul.
    Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally,
    come at least spiritually into my heart. As though You have already come, I unite myself entirely to Thee. Never permit me to be separated from Thee.

    (Take some time here to meditate. Just a minute or two.)

    I add these personal petitions at this time, you could add a short list of your own:

    For the gift of loving You above all things, to do Your will in all things, for a spirit of self-sacrifice, to be poor in spirit and detached from the things of this world, to love my husband as the Blessed Mother loved St. Joseph, for patience, humility, charity, faith, purity and final perseverance.

    Come Holy Ghost Prayer: (very important, we need His wisdom and guidance throughout the day). Read The Holy Ghost, Our Greatest Friend to help you realize the importance of the Holy Ghost in your life.

    Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. … O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of the Holy Ghost,, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

    Eternal Rest Prayer: (for our dearly departed)

    Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them, May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

    3 Hail Mary’s (To learn more about the 3 Hail Mary’s listen to this sermon.)

    Now, say your 3 Hail Mary’s. You can offer them for purity, or for whatever. I have a special intention(s) for each of the three. Or you can just say the 3 Hail Marys. They are powerful…don’t forget them!

    Morning Prayer:

    O God we thank thee that Thou has protected us during the past night and has protected us from a sudden and unexpected death. Please give us Thy grace that we may not offend Thee this day but that we may faithfully do Thy holy Will in all things. Amen.

    Prayer for those who will die this day:

    O Most Merciful Jesus, lover of souls, I pray Thee by the agony of Thy most Sacred Heart and by the sorrows of Thy Immaculate Mother, cleanse in Thine own Blood, the sinners of the whole world who are in their agony and will die this day. Amen. Agonizing Heart of Jesus, have mercy on the dying.

    St. Raphael, Pray for us.

    (St. Raphael is the patron of happy meetings, he guides us in our vocations, he is the help of the sick and the protector of travelers.)

    NIGHT PRAYERS

    Act of Faith

    O My God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in Three Divine Persons, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I believe that Thy Divine Son became Man, and died for our sins, that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.

    Act of Hope

    O my God, relying on Thy almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I
    hope to obtain the pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and Life Everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.

    Act of Charity

    O my God, , I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

    Examination of Conscience

    Spend just a few moments recalling the sins you committed during the day….and also your omissions (the things you should’ve done but didn’t).

    Act of Contrition

    O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

    Other Prayers:

    O God we thank Thee for all the benefits and blessings which Thou hast given us this day. We offer Thee the good that we have done with Thy grace and the hardships that we have sustained.

    O Angel of God, to whose holy care I am committed, enlighten, defend and protect me this night from all sin and danger. Amen.

    PRAYER FOR THE HOME

    (I have married children and siblings I care about so when I say this prayer, I put “these habitations” in place of “this habitation”.)

    Visit, We beseech Thee, O Lord, this habitation, and drive far from it all the snares of the enemy; let Thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace; and may Thy blessing be upon us forever. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

    Prayer to Jesus, Mary and Joseph:

    Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, let my soul depart in peace with you.

    Prayer for Peace:

    O God from whom are holy desires, just works and right counsels, give to Thy servants that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be disposed to obey Thy commandments and the fear of our enemies being removed, our times, by Thy protection, may be peaceful. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ Who liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.

    Every morning, we may be tempted to put off our prayers until “later” or skip them altogether because we have much to do and action is where it is at. If we allow the devil to win in this very first struggle of the day, he will win many more of the battles throughout the day. Our Morning Prayers, whether they be said while nursing a baby or changing a diaper, need to be a priority and the very foundation of our daily life. -Finer Femininity

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    Revised under Pope Pius XII, this official collection (raccolta) of the Church’s prayers and devotions was published in English in 1957. It includes a timely supplement of additional prayers for many urgent needs all of which were composed under the same pontiff. Many of the more commonly used prayers and devotions are followed by the Latin text, thus providing the perfect aid for teachers and parents anxious to keep the Church’s language both alive and spiritually efficacious. These eight hundred prayers touch practically every spiritual and physical need, and every personal and societal hope. They are the confidently suppliant voice of the Catholic Church in her maternal zeal, joy and agony, nobility and militancy.

    * Prayers and Devotions 1958 Edition Reprint

    * Red Bonded Leather Hardcover

    This unique book of powerful prayers and devotions, compiled by Joan Carroll Cruz, includes wonderful promises made by Our Lord or Our Lady, most of which were revealed to famous Saints, including: St. Faustina, St. Gertrude, and St. Catherine Laboure. Author Joan Carroll Cruz has carefully selected and compiled devotions to Our Lady, the Infant Jesus, Precious Blood, Sacred Heart, Divine Mercy, St. Michael, and more in one place so that your daily prayer can be more powerful and more fruitful than ever before.