- Had a GREAT morning with the faculty of Montgomery Catholic schools yesterday. Thanks to Tom Riello for inviting me.
- My topic was inspired partly by the occasion (teacher in-service), partly by some of my usual hobbyhorses and partly by Sunday’s Scripture readings. Basically: How to keep going and stay focused? Let Christ fill you and lead you. Well, how
do we do that? By first starting with the prayer of the Church – the prayers and devotional life that have evolved over the Church’s history and the Eucharist. (Translation: Words We Pray).
- The Scripture passages I highlighted were:
Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. (2 Tim 1:8)
This was from the 2nd reading on Sunday, and was the over all theme of the talk. Life is hard. Teaching is hard. We are here with what we’ve been created with (nature) and know that God promises us strength to fulfill his will (grace). How do we do that? How do we bear our share of the hardship for the gospel and where do we find God’s grace?
Abram went as the LORD directed him. (Gn. 12:4)
From the first reading from Sunday. Called by God, Abram did as the Lord directed him. This is our paradigm, as well. But how do we know in what way the Lord is directing us? We first trust that he has not left us alone to figure that out – he has left us the Church, which we believe is the Body of Christ, and the prayers, practices, spirituality and theology of which is what Jesus promised, guided by the Holy Spirit.
So we begin with prayer. The prayer of the Church – both popular traditional prayers and, of course, the Liturgy of the Hours. Paul writes that we do not know how to pray as we ought. That means, in part, that we are like Job standing in the whirlwind, understanding at last how little we understand. When our prayer begins with the prayer of the Church, we are allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit, and humbly entering into the space where we can be taught how to pray and what to pray for. We also find that we are not alone, as we join our prayers to millions who have joined their hearts to these words over the centuries.
Lord, it is good for us to be here.
Of course, from Sunday’s Gospel, the narrative of the Transfiguration.
This part of the talk focused on the Eucharist as the source of our strength and I really emphasized the nature of humility here, as well in the other talk. I spoke of St. Francis – on the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis – and the role of humility in his spirituality. Many associate St. Francis with poverty, and rightly, so, but the fundamental type of poverty he spoke of was the poverty of Christ, expressed in Philippians 2. Francis nowhere encouraged all people everywhere to embrace voluntary material poverty. Instead, he said, and more importantly, lived, the truth that the poverty of Christ is centered on the emptying of the will, and allowing one to be totally led by the Father’s will. Bringing that attitude to Mass makes a difference, and impacts how much grace can build on our nature, to help us bear the hardship of the Gospel.
I ended with my dependable 7th grade text, and with Flannery:
Thousands and thousands of people upon the stage of life are adjusting themselves to their roles in this drama — this drama which is real life. Old men are there and old women, youths and maidens, and even little children. From all parts of the world they come and from all walks of life — kings and queens, merchants and laborers, teachers and students, bankers and beggars, religious of all orders, cardinals, bishops and parish priests, and leading them all the Vicar of Christ on earth. All are quietly taking their places, for all re actors in the sublime mystery drama of our redemption.
We, too, have our own parts to play in this living drama. And there is no rehearsal. We begin now, on Septuagesima, following as faithfully as we can the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which comes to us particularly in the Mass and the sacraments.
Oh. I am sending you a rather garish looking book called A Short Breviary which I meant to get to you when you came into the Church but which has just come. I have a 1949 edition of it but this is a later one, supposed to be improved but I don’t think it is. Anyway, don’t think I am suggesting that you read the office every day. It’s just a good thing to know about, I say Prime in the morning and sometimes I say Compline at night but usually I don’t, But anyway I like parts of my prayers to stay the same and part to change. So many prayer books are so awful, but if you stick with the liturgy, you are safe.
And…t
his morning, I was all efficient and made some Chicken Cacciatore (Michael Chiarello’s recipe, doubled). More to come….
Oh, I didn’t sell all the books I had taken, so if you want some..go to the bookstore. Start thinking Easter, First Communion, Confirmation and Mother’s Day!
The link is showing Habit of Being instead of A Short Breviary.
Thank you so much for this – very encouraging for me in particular at this time of feeling less than.
I especially agree with the part about prayer: praying with the Church. Can’t tell you how often daily/Sunday liturgy speaks to ME, or how often the Magnificat magazine knows what is on my heart.
Humility is my Lenten word as it keeps coming up, several times daily, for me during this season so thanks for the note on that.
As usual, all good stuff here ;).
On page 34 of the Enchiridion of Indulgences, number 55 is the easiest partial Indulgence…ie…making and saying the sign of the cross devoutly….(out loud is not mandatory). Do it for yourself with certainty or for the dead by way of hope. I do them daily at least eleven per hour ( often far more…partials can be repeated per day usually ). I do them in Lent for war victims and for 11 females from the newspapers who died early largely from murder with the hope that they reached Purgatory but need to exit there into Heaven….in hope regardless of their religion ( they become Catholic by reaching purgatory through God’s judgement). Thus you can do them in hope for the victims of ISIS, the victims of 9/11, victims of fire or crime in your town.
Indulgenced prayers are neglected by nearly everyone due to memory of the exact prayers involved. The pronounced and done sign of the cross solves that problem entirely. You reach a red light on the road…say and do one for a Somalia child dying this month from famine. Do this til death and your own plenary becomes waaaay certain…ie a Catholic in grace who has always had a practice of prayer receives a death bed plenary without the last sacrament in virtue of that long standing habit of “some prayers”…( number 28/ norm 18…Enchiridion).