Month: April 2017

“He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
-John 20:22

Meditation

We’re still in the glow of the Resurrection. Indeed, in the mind of the Church, the Easter Season is longer than the Lenten Season. Easter lasts
for 50 days while Lent only lasts for 40 days. The Church certainly believes
in rejoicing!

During these 50 days we are called to enter into a special prayer. We are called to prayer for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives in a very real and personal way. To make this a reality, we would like to suggest two things:

First, pray the novena to the Holy Spirit from Ascension Thursday
to Pentecost.

Second, pray a prayer to the Holy Spirit every day. The two most common
of the Veni Creator Spiritus. The other is a very short prayer that you can actually say easily throughout the day:

Come Holy Spirit and fill the heart of thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your spirit and they shall be created and you will renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray that through us God will help to renew the earth. Thank you
and my God bless you.

Prayer for Easter
Come Holy Spirit and fill the heart of thy faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your spirit and they shall be created
and you will renew the face of the earth.

“For he has risen, as he said.”
-Matthew 28:6

Meditation

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He is alive. He is the living word. You can have union with him – today and every day. Now you continue the journey. In the spiritual life you either go forward or backward. There is no standing still. We pray that you chose to go forward.

To do so, we highly recommend that you take 3 spiritual masters for your guide. The first is Brother Lawrence who wrote “The Practice of the Presence of God.” Put it into practice and you will be a spiritual giant.

The next two are the patron saints of Paradisus Dei. The first is Don Bosco. Get his book “Give me souls.” It is Steve Bollman’s favorite saint story.

Next, take St. Therese who wrote “The Story of a Soul”. It is on everyone’s short list of must read spiritual classics.

Prayer for Easter
Come Holy Spirit and fill the heart of thy faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your spirit and they shall be created
and you will renew the face of the earth.

“In my distress I cry to the Lord, that he may answer me.”
-Psalm 120:1

Meditation

Last week we saw that we can change our distractions into a pathway to
an encounter with Christ. Now we need to tackle another challenge in the spiritual life.

It’s called dryness. There are times when you won’t seem to be getting anything out of your prayers. Suddenly the Scriptures no longer seem to speak to you. During Eucharistic Adoration you can hardly stay awake. During Mass, you can’t concentrate on anything. Everyone will face
these moments.

The first thing we need is flexibility. If you’ve been reading Scripture every day and suddenly it is no longer speaking to you, pick up a great spiritual book. It could be a saint’s reflections on Scripture or an autobiography or another great book. You could also switch to the Rosary, which is simply asking Our Lady to help you meditate on the mysteries of Christ’s life containing in Scripture. There are a number of resources, so go to good trusted resources and allow yourself some flexibility.

Prayer for Lent
O gracious Master, infuse in our hearts the spotless light of Your Divine Wisdom and open the eyes of our mind that we may understand the teachings of Your Gospel. Instill in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments, so that having curbed all carnal desires, we may lead a spiritual life, both thinking and doing everything to please You. For You, O Christ, our God, are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies; and to You we render glory, together with Your eternal Father, and with Your all holy, life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.

“And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills
by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.”
-Matthew 14:23

Meditation

One challenge that everyone faces with daily prayer is distractions.

To battle distractions, we need to recognize two different types of distractions – internal and external. External ones are the ones that come from the outside. The biggest one today is all of our technology. Simple answer – leave it outside of your prayer time. Or if you are using prayers on your phone – put it in the airplane mode before you begin your prayer.

The internal ones are more difficult to battle. These are all the internal things that pass through your mind while you are trying to pray. The best advice we’ve heard about internal distractions is to turn them into prayer. So if you’re trying to pray and you keep thinking about something major in your job, simply use that as an opportunity to ask God to help you with that issue. It could be something with your wife or children, your finances or a temptation, all of them can be an opportunity to take that specific issue to prayer asking for God’s help. Suddenly, your distractions have become a pathway to prayer.

Prayer for Lent
O gracious Master, infuse in our hearts the spotless light of Your Divine Wisdom and open the eyes of our mind that we may understand the teachings of Your Gospel. Instill in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments, so that having curbed all carnal desires, we may lead a spiritual life, both thinking and doing everything to please You. For You, O Christ, our God, are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies; and to You we render glory, together with Your eternal Father, and with Your all holy, life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.