This Is How

Minute Meditations Forgiveness is Healing No single act can relieve the corrosive aftereffects of anger more than an honest act of forgiveness. To be sure, forgiving is hard, especially when the offender isn't sorry. Only one thing is harder: not forgiving. — from Fighting Mad St. Romuald (950?-1027)   After a wasted youth, Romuald saw his father kill a relative in a duel over property. In horror he fled to a monastery near Ravenna in Italy. After three years some of the monks found him to be uncomfortably holy and eased him out. He spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding monasteries and hermitages. He longed to give his life to Christ in martyrdom, and got the pope's permission to preach the gospel in Hungary. But he was struck with illness as soon as he arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried to proceed. During another period of his life, he suffered great spiritual dryness. One day as he was praying Psalm 31 ("I will give you understanding and I will instruct you"), he was given an extraordinary light and spirit which never left him. At the next monastery where he stayed, he was accused of a scandalous crime by a young nobleman he had rebuked for a dissolute life. Amazingly, his fellow monks believed the accusation. He was given a severe penance, forbidden to offer Mass and excommunicated, an unjust sentence he endured in silence for six months. The most famous of the monasteries he founded was that of the Camaldoli (Campus Maldoli, name of the owner) in Tuscany. Here he founded the Order of the Camaldolese Benedictines, uniting a monastic and hermit life. His father later became a monk, wavered and was kept faithful by the encouragement of his son.   Stories: A Polish duke had a son in the monastery where Romuald was living. On behalf of his father, the son presented Romuald with a fine horse. Romuald exchanged it for a donkey, saying that he felt closer to Jesus Christ on such a mount. Comment: Christ is a gentle leader, but he calls us to total holiness. Now and then men and women are raised up to challenge us by the absoluteness of their dedication, the vigor of their spirit, the depth of their conversion. The fact that we cannot duplicate their lives does not change the call to us to be totally open to God in our own particular circumstances.   Saint of the Day Lives, Lessons and Feast By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.     Presence Even as I seek to prepare the way of the Lord this Advent, I know that God is already with me.  I pause to bring myself to an awareness of God's presence. Freedom Lord, you created me to live in freedom. Mostly I take this gift for granted. Inspire me to live in the freedom you intended, with a heart untroubled and with complete trust in You. Consciousness At this moment Lord I turn my thoughts to You. I will leave aside my chores and preoccupations. I will take rest and refreshment in your presence Lord. The Word of God Reading 1 sir 48:1-14 Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits; By the Lord's word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is equal to yours? You brought a dead man back to life from the nether world, by the will of the LORD. You sent kings down to destruction, and easily broke their power into pieces. You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness. You heard threats at Sinai, at Horeb avenging judgments. You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance, and a prophet as your successor. You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob. Blessed is he who shall have seen you And who falls asleep in your friendship. For we live only in our life, but after death our name will not be such. O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind! Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit, wrought many marvels by his mere word. During his lifetime he feared no one, nor was any man able to intimidate his will. Nothing was beyond his power; beneath him flesh was brought back into life. In life he performed wonders, and after death, marvelous deeds. Responsorial Psalm ps 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7 R. (12a) Rejoice in the Lord, you just! The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many isles be glad. Clouds and darkness are round about him, justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne. R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just! Fire goes before him and consumes his foes round about. His lightnings illumine the world; the earth sees and trembles. R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just! The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his justice, and all peoples see his glory. R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just! All who worship graven things are put to shame, who glory in the things of nought; all gods are prostrate before him. R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just! Gospel mt 6:7-15 Jesus said to his disciples: "In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This is how you are to pray: 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." Conversation Jesus, You always welcomed little children when you walked on this earth. Teach me to have a childlike trust in you. To live in the knowledge that You will never abandon me. Conclusion Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.   Meditation: Matthew 6:7-15 View NAB Reading at USCCB.org Subscriber? Login to view archives. Saint Romuald, Abbot Our Father ... (Matthew 6:9) Truly, there's no greater prayer. The Lord's Prayer gets right to the heart of who God is—our Father—even as it gives voice to our deep dependence on him. What a privilege it is to join countless saints in praying these words that Jesus himself has taught us! Yet, as much as we enjoy saying this prayer, God takes even greater joy in answering us. It's easy, given all the reverence surrounding the Lord's Prayer, to lose sight of the fact that it's meant to be just the beginning of a conversation. No prayer—and certainly not this beautiful one—is supposed to be a monologue. The purpose of prayer is always to open a dialogue with the One who created us. What if the next time you prayed the Our Father, you gave God a chance to respond? In fact, why not try this right now? Take a deep breath, quiet yourself, and try to fix your mind on your heavenly Father. Take a few moments to pray the Lord's prayer slowly and meditatively. Then, be still, and invite him to continue the conversation. Maybe he would say something like this: "My child, every time you turn to me and say, Father, my heart is warmed with love, and I answer by calling you my son, my daughter. Sometimes, you don't think you're worthy of that title, but I do. Remember, I have chosen to give you an inheritance in my kingdom. I treasure you so much, in fact, that I sent my Son, Jesus, to bring you home to me! "My child, will you work alongside me and build my kingdom today? Will you stretch out your hands to tell your neighbors that I am their Father? I promise to give you everything you need—all your daily bread—as you take up this calling. I promise to set you apart for my work by washing away your sins and protecting you from the evil one. I will always be with you, my child, not just today but every day. So come, follow me. Let's go out into the world together and bring my love to your brothers and sisters." "Father, open my ears to hear your voice."   Sirach 48:1-14; Psalm 97:1-7   my2cents: Allow me to translate today's 5minutos: "A family of the east of Europe decided to emigrate to America.  Their family and friends gathered to say goodbye and as a farewell gift, gave them bread and cheese.  They were poor like them and couldn't offer anything more.  The family gathered enough bread and cheese so last the crossing.  They travelled on an old boat reclused in an old cabin during the voyage to not waste their savings.  All their meals consisted of bread and cheese.  On the eve of the landing, the smallest child, a nine year old boy, pleaded uncessantly to his father to let him go buy an apple, he was sick of so much bread and cheese.  The father after scolding him, reluctantly, gave him some change to go up to the deck and buy an apple.  And he ordered him to come back immediately to the cabin.  The boy went out, the time passed and he wouldn't return, his father worried by the tardy, went to look for him.  He looked for him in the dining room of the boat and to his surprise saw him eating a succulent dinner.  Thinking of the expense, undignantly he started to reprimand him.  The boy got up and said "Father, everything is free.  We could have eaten every day.  The food is included with the trip."  Like in the story of the bread and cheese, many christians run the risk of enclosing themselves in their devotions: their rosary, their novenas, their group...and not find out that their is a free meal and more important to the christian life than all the devotions; the Body of Christ.  "If you do not eat my flesh and do not drink my blood you do not have eternal life".   After reading the first Holy Scripture today, I looked up some information on Elisha, because I was amazed by the line that he did many wondrous deeds in life and after death.  Some of the things he did in life is that he made a poisonous stew edible for all the people, and fed 100 men with just a few loaves of bread.  Interestingly they say life came after death, and there are times when the dead were brought back to life.  Then it was interesting to hear the Lord's prayer, and to read "give us this day our daily bread".  The bread of life eternal.  I see the Catholic Church in every protestant denomination, even though they don't see themselves in the Catholic Church, the mother of all Christians.  As I spoke with my sister and brother in law in bible study, they thought I said they didn't have "truth" and I said "I never said that, I said the Holy Spirit is in every Church (denomination)..." and then I said "but what I did say is that the Catholic is the one with the true Blood and Body of Christ".  No arguement, there was alot of palanca (prayer leverage) for those moments by my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I knew the Holy Spirit was there, Jesus.  You know, yesterday I said there was corruption in morality in our nation.  What does it say about the world we live?  They are times much like that of Jesus when He walked the earth as a man.  It means now we can make difference like Him.  We can turn the poisonous stew into good.  We can do miracles.  The world wants a change, and you are alive to make it happen.  Change from what?  Bad to good?  Yeah, holiness.  But what is Holiness?   Jesus.  Jesus alive through your bones and flesh.   Thanks Be To GOD  adrian Subscribe to the Going4th mailing list.

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