Now is the time to pray to Pentecost Novena. What is a novena? Why should we pray it?
Here's an explanation from The Church's Most Powerful Novenas by Michael Dubruiel
Michael Dubruiel's first blog.
Now is the time to pray to Pentecost Novena. What is a novena? Why should we pray it?
Here's an explanation from The Church's Most Powerful Novenas by Michael Dubruiel
For a brief, pointed and helpful guide,
Michael Dubruiel conceived and put together the small hardbound book, Praying the Rosary. Click on the cover for more information.
The Gospels show that the gaze of Mary varied depending upon the circumstances of life. So it will be with us. Each time we pick up the holy beads to recite the Rosary, our gaze at the mystery of Christ will differ depending on where we find ourselves at that moment.
Thereafter Mary’s gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode of the finding in the Temple: “Son, why have you treated us so?” (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze, one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions, as at Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still be that of mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) [Rosarium Virginis Mariae, no. 10].
As we pray the Rosary, then, we join with Mary in contemplating Christ. With her, we remember Christ, we proclaim Him, we learn from Him, and, most importantly, as we raise our voices in prayer and our hearts in contemplation of the holy mysteries, this “compendium of the Gospel” itself, we are conformed to Him.
Pentecost 2024 is May 19
The first reading at Mass, from the Acts of the Apostles:
Today, May 8, is Fulton Sheen's birthday.
Bishop Sheen’s “Now-moment” corresponds to the thinking of the great spiritual writer Jean Pierre de Caussade. In Abandonment to Divine Providence, Fr. Caussade gives the reader a sure way of knowing the will of God at any moment—by simply confronting the present moment with all its reality. It seems simple, but if we reflect for a second most of us will find that we spend most of our lives avoiding the present moment.
A few years ago an English translation of the Father Caussade’s work appeared in the United States changing the original title to read “The Sacrament of the Present Moment.” This captures the essence of Father Caussade’s work and Bishop Sheen’s meditation that in the present time we are presented with an opportunity that is truly unique. Each moment is sacramental.
Most of us are capable of presenting ourselves with some amount of reflection as we celebrate the sacraments. If we celebrated the sacrament of Baptism as an adult certainly we came expecting to be changed by God. Each time we enter a confessional surely we have examined our conscience beforehand and are penitent expecting to be forgiven by God. Undoubtedly every time we approach the altar to receive the Eucharist we expect to encounter God. But what about the other moments of our lives?
As we awake in the morning, is our first thought of God? As we greet our brothers and sisters throughout the day do we expect that God might be present? Every moment of our lives is an opportunity to encounter God who is always present.
Spend some time reflecting on the following:
1. Go over the events of the present day and ask yourself where God might have been in each of them. Is there a consistent pattern to your day?
2. Reflect on the life of your favorite saint, and meditate on how he or she dealt with the people they met in their daily journeys. How could you imitate this saint? What enabled the saint to act in the way he or she did toward others?
3. Imagine as you leave from this time of prayer that God wishes to continue to be present to you as you go forth. How will you react to his presence in others?
PrayerLord, help me to search for you in the garden of life in the same way that St. Mary Magdalene did when she found your tomb empty. May my search be rewarded as hers was by knowledge of your abiding presence. Amen.
Michael Dubruiel's Pocket Guide to the Mass - a sample page.
Walks you through the Mass, explaining the biblical basis of prayers, the meaning behind gestures, and a brief overview of the spirituality that brings Catholics together for Eucharist each week.
Published in 2007, still in print.
An excellent resource for your parish for the Eucharistic Revival year.
More books by Michael Dubruiel
A Pocket Guide to the Mass by Michael Dubruiel: introduction
Get the most out of the Mass...
A Pocket Guide to the Mass walks you through the biblical basis of prayers, the meaning behind gestures, and a brief overview of the spirituality that brings Catholics together for Eucharist each week.
Reenergize your time at Mass or help those who are new or returning to the Church with this quick and insightful overview. Rediscover the fullness of the Mass today!
This reflection is from the early 2000's. By Michael Dubruiel.
Rosary Walks
....
At the end of the trail I emerge upon the road lined with trees that leads back to the convent. I notice the deer's head staring at me from across the road, his ears flicking. I imagine the deer thinking that I'm following him. I walk closer to him and he doesn't move this time. Perhaps they feed him too, I think. I am now only five feet from the deer and I talk to him. He only cocks his head this way and that but doesn't flee until I turn to continue my journey. The fourth luminous mystery--the Transfiguration, an invitation to encounter Jesus in the Old Testament I think meditating on the significance of Moses and Elijah the prophet.
The sun beats down mercilessly and the tar is soft under my feet. I look back and see the deer still peering at me watching to see if I really am going in a different direction. I am, my lunch time nears its end. The maintenance worker is mowing the grass. His plumb body hangs over the sides of the seat and his beard covers his chest. As I make my way to the parking lot I notice his license plate "Rode Kill" misspelled I reason because someone must have already had "road kill" in this state of connoisseurs of varmint meat. On the side of his truck he has a bumper sticker, "I love animals...they taste real good." The fifth sorrowful mystery--the Crucifixion. In the way a sinner is attracted to the cross of salvation, I reason, perhaps this man with his desires was attracted to the environmental sisters.
So be it! Amen.
This reflection is from the early 2000's. By Michael Dubruiel.
Rosary Walks
Now I am on the trail of God's Splendid Creation as one of the sister's has entitled it on the sign that tells me the meandering path is .8 of a mile. Nature has ravaged this path also as the torrential rains have left huge piles of sand at the base of a hill that normally is very dry but now still wet weeks after the last rainfall. A deer is startled by my entrance into the forest and creates quite a stir as it flies over fallen trees and brush to make its way deeper into the forest. It is the first Luminous mystery--The Baptism of Jesus by John "I must decrease and he must increase," crosses my mind as I also think of the psalm "like a deer that yearns for running water so my soul thirsts for you my God!"
About half-way to the end of the path, the deer emerges again. Once again the sound of broken limbs under the weight of the deers landings, this time joined by squirrels scurrying in every direction. One squirrel winds his way around a tree and looks out at me with expectation of a treat--a little too tame for my liking. It is the third luminous mystery--Jesus preaching the Kingdom of God--"seek first the Kingdom of God" I think as I run past the tree where the squirrel lurches out from for some reason fearing that he will jump upon me and attack me for not having brought him any nuts. He does not and I go back to trying to seek God's dominion over me.
This reflection is from the early 2000's. By Michael Dubruiel.
Rosary Walks
....
This convent is primarily interested in the environment. Nothing wrong with that. Trees are identified throughout the property and dedicated to various sisters. No Hunting or Fishing signs dot the landscape. It all makes for a very peaceful place at least from the perspective of violent people anyway. But nature is not really peaceful as the landslide near the fourteenth station demonstrates and the illusion has sometime been given that "man" is responsible for all the ills of nature--but indeed man is not the only creature that is fallen in Christian belief, rather it is all of creation.
Next I made my way to the graveyard. It is usually the place where I notice the most activity. New graves appear almost weekly as the rapidly dwindling numbers of nuns are laid to rest. There are a few stones from the 1980's that commemorate the missing bodies of nuns who gave their bodies to science but that fad seems to have passed now. On this day there were new deep holes burrowed into the earth for the placement of new grave-markers. The ten or so prepared last year are only one from being all used up. It is now the fifth joyful mystery the Finding of Jesus in the Temple--I wonder as I often do when I visit either of these sacred places (the abandoned friary and the soon to be abandoned convent) if Christ has been lost or is this just the natural cycle of religious communities?
......
This reflection is from the early 2000's. By Michael Dubruiel.
Rosary Walks
I spend my lunch time taking a walk at one of two places--one an active convent with beautiful grounds that include several nature trails and the other an abandoned Capuchin Friary where Solanus Casey once lived. Both offer me a variety of places to stop and reflect on the meaning of the mysteries of the rosary in the lived lives of both places--usually at the cemetery where I pause and reflect that surely one or two or more saints are buried who will join their prayers to mine.
Yesterday was a rather eventful day. I was at the convent and noticed police tape blocking the entrance to a path down a hill that includes a grotto of the resurrection and a downward path of the Stations of the Cross. A short walk under the tape and I discovered the reason why--a wall had tumbled down as the result of all the rain that we've had in this part of the country this Spring--a landslide. I think I was up the second joyful mystery--the visitation. I wondered what this act of nature might signify? I noticed that the display of the stations had not really been affected by the landslide but that the resurrection grotto had--it was as though the "removed stone" had been placed back at the entrance. I thought of the preoccupation of the women walking to the tomb "who will remove the stone?" and thought that this probably was the worry now of some of the nuns at the convent but probably only a few.
O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.
Catherine of Siena is in The Loyola Kids Book of Saints by Amy Welborn.
I. Saints are People Who Love Children St. Nicholas,St. John Bosco, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla
Saints Are People Who Love Their Families St. Monica,St. Cyril and St. Methodius, St. Therese of Lisieux,Blessed Frederic Ozanam,
Saints Are People Who Surprise OthersSt. Simeon Stylites,St. Celestine V,St. Joan of Arc,St. Catherine of Siena
Saints Are People Who Create St. Hildegard of Bingen,Blessed Fra Angelico,St. John of the Cross,Blessed Miguel Pro
Saints Are People Who Teach Us New Ways to Pray St. Benedict,St. Dominic de Guzman,St. Teresa of Avila,St. Louis de Monfort
Saints Are People Who See Beyond the Everyday St. Juan Diego, St. Frances of Rome, St. Bernadette Soubirous, Blessed Padre Pio
Saints Are People Who Travel From Home St. Boniface, St. Peter Claver, St. Francis Xavier, St. Francis Solano, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini
Saints Are People Who Are Strong Leaders St. Helena, St. Leo the Great, St. Wenceslaus, St. John Neumann
Saints Are People Who Tell The Truth St. Polycarp, St. Thomas Becket, St. Thomas More, Blessed Titus Brandsma
Saints Are People Who Help Us Understand God St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Jerome, St. Patrick, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Edith Stein
Saints Are People Who Change Their Lives for God St. Ambrose, St. Gregory the Great, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Camillus de Lellis, St. Katharine Drexel
Saints Are People Who Are Brave St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, St. George, St. Margaret Clitherow, St. Isaac Jogues, The Carmelite Nuns of Compiegne, St. Maximilian Kolbe
Saints Are People Who Help the Poor and Sick St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Martin de Porres, Blessed Joseph de Veuster
Saints Are People Who Help In Ordinary Ways St. Christopher, St. Blaise, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Bernard of Montjoux
The How-to Book of the Mass by Michael Dubruiel not only provides the who, what, where, when, and why of the most time-honored traditions of the Catholic Church, but also the how. All in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format.
The How-to Book of the Mass by Michael Dubruiel not only provides the who, what, where, when, and why of the most time-honored traditions of the Catholic Church, but also the how. All in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format.
The Road to Emmaus:
As we look at the various parts of the Mass, we will pause to meditate on this story from Luke's Gospel. I expect that you will come to finnd in this Gospel story an excellent tool to help you refocus yourself on Christ at the various moments of every Mass you attend. I have written this book with all Catholics in mind. Whether young or old, male or female, liberal or conservative — In Christ we are one, at Mass we are one, one Body: Jesus'.
I hope to help you rediscover the Mass as a vehicle for letting go of all that can seem to separate you in life, and to replace what seem like distractions with the deep, meaning-filled events of your daily life. Rediscover the Mass as a way to open the wounds, the scars, the needs that Jesus can heal, and to encounter the very Lord Himself, so you might leave every Mass with His peace and a deep sense of unity with God and your fellow man.
A sample page:
The How-to Book of the Mass by Michael Dubruiel not only provides the who, what, where, when, and why of the most time-honored traditions of the Catholic Church, but also the how. All in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format.
When the apostles spied Jesus walking on the water, they were overcome with fear.
Peter asked our Lord if it were really Him or a ghost. Our Lord told the apostles not to fear. Peter, now having regained his composure, asked if he might join Jesus for His evening walk on the water. Jesus told him to come out of the boat. And Peter did. And Peter walked on the water, too. For a few moments. Then he took account of how strong the winds were, and he sank like a rock.
This morning when I went to Mass It was thundering outside. I wondered whether I had remembered to shut the windows at home and in my car. I thought about all the electrical appliances, the trees in our yard, and I wondered whether lightening had struck anywhere near our home. All the while, the priest was preaching his homily. Do you think I encountered the living Jesus at that moment?
Other times It is my one-year-old son, Michael Jacob. or five-year-old son, Joseph. who are vying for my attention. They can make listening and praying difficult. But on the other hand, they often help me to notice everything in a new light. Their pointing out everything they see and asking "What is it?" has been a great aid in the formation of this book. Whatever the distractions of the day, I know that too often I am caught up with the winds and not with Jesus. If you are like me, then this book will help you. The Mass is our opportunity to meet Jesus, to listen to Him and to receive Him. There is a story in the Gospel of Luke that provides a summary of the Mass. It is the account of how the Risen Lord Jesus made Himself known to several of His disciples as they were making their way to a town called Emmaus.
The How-to Book of the Mass by Michael Dubruiel not only provides the who, what, where, when, and why of the most time-honored traditions of the Catholic Church, but also the how. All in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format.
My son Joseph walked into the room while I was putting together the material for this chapter. When he walked in I was having a difficult time coming up with a good illustration for what “living in thanksgiving” means in the concrete and I wasn’t thankful that he was bothering me. Then it struck me that the point of living in thanksgiving is simply that what I might otherwise perceive as an interruption becomes an intervention, once I adore God above all things.
God had sent Joseph into my room. This hit me when I sent him away and he said “Thank you,” as he went off. For a period of his young life he had the habit of saying “thank you,” not after he had been given something that he was appreciative of but rather when he had been told to do something, I think he thought that “thank you”meant “okay.”Yet this is exactly what living in thanksgiving is, saying “thank you” to whatever God presents to us in the daily events of our lives.
“ L I V I N G I N T H A N K S G I V I N G ”
Living in thanksgiving literally means always having gratitude on your lips.
The late great Orthodox liturgist Alexander Schmemann felt that the meaning of “thanksgiving”— the literal translation of the Greek word Eucharist — had been lost on modern people. We tend to limit giving thanks to only those things that we receive that we perceive as good.Yet Schmemann argues that for the early church “giving thanks” was something the Christian did because the Kingdom of God had been restored in Jesus Christ.
Our very inclusion in Christ is reason enough to give thanks; the fact that God has spoken to us in the Word is another reason to give thanks; the fact that Christ has saved us and shares his Body and Blood with us is another reason to give thanks; and the fact that Christ has given us a mission is yet another reason to give him thanks! In fact,you will recognize that at the point in the celebration of the Eucharist that each of these things is mentioned, we express our thanks, either as a congregation, when we say, “Thanks be to God,” or through the presider, when he says to God, “We give you thanks.”
Because of what Christ has done for us we now have a vantage point in life that those who do not know Christ do not have.The liturgy is a mystery of light, and we are on the mountaintop of the Transfiguration and know that Jesus rises from the dead — that he is victorious over our enemies. Therefore, as St. Paul tells the Thessalonians, we can “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).