Steps to Take as You Follow Christ
Ask—Do I reverence God?
Seek—Find a way to adore God today, be it in the Eucharist or
in the secrecy of your room, or anywhere. When you see the
shape of the cross, say the prayer that St. Francis instructed his
brothers and sisters to say, “We adore you O Christ. . .”
Knock—Meditate on Hebrews 12:28–29. What does it mean to
offer acceptable worship to God? How is the kingdom we are
offered by Christ unshakeable?
Transform Your Life—Make you life one of reverence toward
God at all times. Let your focus be on remaining in God’s presence,
rather than judging and criticizing those around you.
Friday, September 26, 2014
On Following Christ
Novena to St. Therese - Day 4- September 26
The Novena to St. Therese continues. It's included in this pocket-sized book.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his Apostles to stay where they were and to "wait for the gift" that the Father had promised: the Holy Spirit. The Apostles did as the Lord commanded them. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Nine days passed; then, they received the gift of the Holy spirit, as had been promised. May we stay together with the church, awaiting in faith with Our Blessed Mother, as we trust entirely in God, who loves us more than we can ever know.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Novena to St. Therese - Day 2
The Novena to St. Therese continues. It's included in this pocket-sized book.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his Apostles to stay where they were and to "wait for the gift" that the Father had promised: the Holy Spirit. The Apostles did as the Lord commanded them. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Nine days passed; then, they received the gift of the Holy spirit, as had been promised. May we stay together with the church, awaiting in faith with Our Blessed Mother, as we trust entirely in God, who loves us more than we can ever know.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Novena to St. Therese - begins September 23
The Novena to St. Therese begins today. It's included in this pocket-sized book.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his Apostles to stay where they were and to "wait for the gift" that the Father had promised: the Holy Spirit. The Apostles did as the Lord commanded them. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Nine days passed; then, they received the gift of the Holy spirit, as had been promised. May we stay together with the church, awaiting in faith with Our Blessed Mother, as we trust entirely in God, who loves us more than we can ever know.
Monday, September 22, 2014
All in God's Time by Michael Dubruiel
The Greeks had two words for time, chronos for chronological
time (clock and calendar time) and kairos for the “right” or
“opportune” time. Jesus often made the distinction to his disciples,
who thought more in terms of chronological time than of
God’s time. When Peter first declared his intent to the Lord, it
was not yet time; the kairos moment—God’s time—did not
come until Peter had witnessed to the truth of the gospel in
Rome.
When the Jews celebrate Passover, the celebration begins
with a question: “Why is this night different?” In this way they
enter into God’s time—when God intervened, did something to
change the very course of history. On the night before he died,
Jesus took bread and wine and declared it his body and blood.
“Do this in memory of me.” Once again it was kairos time, God’s
time, just as it is every time we interrupt the daily grind of
chronological time to enter God’s time in the Mass.
Everything happens when God wants it to happen. Following
Christ is a matter of surrendering to God’s time, of leaving
behind our own plans in order to be led by Christ. Our goals and
plans are always secondary to what God intends for us.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Following Christ
Steps to Take as You Follow Christ
Ask—Do I reverence God?
Seek—Find a way to adore God today, be it in the Eucharist or
in the secrecy of your room, or anywhere. When you see the
shape of the cross, say the prayer that St. Francis instructed his
brothers and sisters to say, “We adore you O Christ. . .”
Knock—Meditate on Hebrews 12:28–29. What does it mean to
offer acceptable worship to God? How is the kingdom we are
offered by Christ unshakeable?
Transform Your Life—Make you life one of reverence toward
God at all times. Let your focus be on remaining in God’s presence,
rather than judging and criticizing those around you.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Steps to Take as you follow Christ
Steps to Take as You Follow ChristAsk— What do I do with God’s spirit?Seek—From a prayer posture, concentrate on your breathing. Asyou inhale, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, to animateyour every action to do his will. As you exhale, breathe the namefrom the core of your being: Jesus. Continue to meditate on him.Knock—Meditate on Galatians 6:7–9. Reflect on the differencebetween a living person and a corpse. Are most of your actions,actions of sowing in the flesh or sowing to the spirit? Ask Godfor patience that you might endure in all things by sowing to thespirit.Transform Your Life—Make it a habit to pray the prayer ofJesus from the cross whenever you find yourself tempted to dosomething that you know is not of God: “Father, into your handsI commend my Spirit.” This prayer that Jesus has given us is thekey to moving from sowing in the flesh to sowing to the spirit.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Christian Meditation
When St. Peter heard that Jesus was going somewhere, he wanted
to follow the Lord. Jesus refused, and told the apostle that he
would follow later. Peter protested: He was willing to lay down
his life for Jesus (again something that he ultimately would do
later). Then Jesus dropped a bombshell: That very night, Peter
would deny him three times.
The final battle to following Jesus is the battle of self. No matter
how pure our motives may seem, until we trust in God more
than we trust in ourselves, we are doomed to fail. To truly follow
Jesus, we must unite ourselves with him and trust him totally.
Monday, September 15, 2014
The Rosary for Our Lady of Sorrows
Today is another Marian feast - Our Lady of Sorrows - a good day to pray the Rosary. Michael Dubruiel conceived and put together the small hardbound book, Praying the Rosary. Click on the cover for more information.
Our Lady of Sorrows by Michael Dubruiel
In northern Ohio there is a church dedicated to Our Lady
of Sorrows; in the basement is a room containing signs of
weakness that have been left behind by those who have experienced
the power of God at that shrine. Among whiskey bottles,
cigarettes, crutches, and leg braces is a mat that once
carried a paralyzed man there—who left empowered by God
to walk again.
I suspect that the most powerful stories of healing, however,
come from those who were unable to leave anything behind.
Their weakness, whatever it was, remained with them; however,
they had been empowered to carry their weakness in the power
of God. This type of healing often goes unnoticed. Even so, it is
the greater healing, because it enables us to share in the cross of
Christ, to embrace our weakness in the power of God. For the
follower of Christ, weakness need not mean defeat!
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Exaltation of the Holy Cross September 14
St. Francis of Assisi taught his followers to reverence Christ andhis cross wherever they might find themselves. The prayer attributedto St. Francis that begins, “Lord, make me a channel of yourpeace,” was in fact not composed by St. Francis; it was misappliedto him in a prayer book. The true prayer of St. Francis was onehe taught his friars to pray whenever they would pass a Churchor the sign of the cross made by two branches in a tree. They wereto prostrate themselves toward the church or the cross and pray,“We adore you Christ and we praise you present here and in allthe Churches throughout the world, because by your holy crossyou have redeemed the world.”
The cross reminds us of the true Christ, the one in theGospels who was constantly misjudged by the religious figuresof his day. If we are not careful, he will be misjudged by us as well.We need to worship him alone.
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