The Unprofitable Servant: The Day After

Friday, November 27, 2009

The Day After

As I sit here still in a coma from overindulgence of carbs, I'm laughing at the number of text messages my sister got at dinner from cooks who had an assortment of turkey disasters to relate - from the frozen- in- the- middle turkey to the person who forgot to remove the giblet bag. Too funny.

At any rate, once the guests left and I could collapse on the couch in front of the Broncos/Giants game, I was appalled to see one ad after another hawking a 4am bugle call for shoppers on the hunt for bargains. I'm not one for Black Friday shopping so the last place you'd ever see me is in line at Wal-Mart in the wee hours ready to pounce. This practice is one of the saddest I associate with the Christmas season. How many of the folks in line do YOU think will even take the time to go to Mass on Sunday or better yet, get in line for Confession on Christmas Eve? Some year I would like to get to one of these greed-fests and hand out little cards reminding people of the Reason for the Season. Until then, I'm content to do my part by refusing to participate in the commercial version of Christmas.

Before coming home to the Catholic Church some years ago, I attended an Anglo-catholic, or Episcopal, church which had a very strong outreach program for the homeless. It was the tradition to hold a breakfast on the Saturday before Christmas for all of the soup-kitchen regulars and present them with gift bags of items needed for survival on the streets. One year, I got put in charge of this which essentially means you go out and buy everything that everyone else forgot to get. It was exhausting but it pretty much changed the way I had always looked at Christmas. Sure, there were the few who probably didn't really need what was in the gift bag but a good many of the men were genuinely grateful and touched that someone remembered them. A few were in tears. The gift bag contained a change of underwear, thermal underwear, hat and gloves, toiletries and a rain poncho. It also contained a little baggie full of homemade Christmas cookies. You would think from the reaction that we were giving away 20 dollar bills.

It is said that it's better to give than to receive. What's not said is that when you give genuinely from the heart, you receive something to which nothing can compare. As Mother Teresa said, Christ is there, present in the distressing disguise of the poor, and when we minister to such people, we heed His call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned. For those who might be tempted to call me a bleeding heart liberal, allow me to share this with you.

Yesterday, I realized I had no whipped cream for the pumpkin pie so I abandoned my post in the kitchen to make a quick run to the ACME. I ran into a man I had met there a few years ago who offered to carry bags for change. I enjoyed talking to Nate as we walked to my car and one day I asked him what put him on the street. He told me it was a combination of drugs and alcohol and how much he would love to be free of both demons. He also wanted nothing more than a real job but with no address, he couldn't get the documentation he needed to get one. I did a little investigating and found out about Ready, Willing and Able - the Doe Fund that helps people like Nate get back on their feet. I asked Nate how ready he was to change his life and he assured me he was. The Doe Fund got him into rehab and then gave him a place to live and a low-paying job. When they felt he was ready, they sent him to a halfway house and found him another low-paying job. Now he's clean enough to live with his sister and while he doesn't earn enough money to be able to afford a place of his own, he isn't drinking or taking drugs and he told me he had been looking for me for months to share his good news with me. In reality, I had nothing at all to do with Nate's success. All I did was simply allow Christ to act through me in helping one of the least ones among us. I thank Him for putting Nate in my path.

Give a man a fish, you feed him for one day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

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Mary, Queen of Peace

Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, hope and comfort of dejected and desolate souls, through that sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thine only Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the cross; through that filial tenderness and pure love He had for thee, grieving in thy grief, whilst from His cross He recommended thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, St. John, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities; have compassion on my anxieties and cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries, of every kind whatsoever. Thou art the Mother of Mercies, the sweet comforter and only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the desolate and afflicted. Cast, therefore, an eye of pity on a miserable, forlorn child of Eve, and hear my prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself encompassed by a multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, wither can I fly for more secure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Attend, therefore, I beseech thee, with an ear of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request. I ask it, through the bowels of mercy of thy dear Son; Through that love and condescension wherewith He embraced our nature, when, in compliance with the divine Will, thou gavest thy consent, and whom, after the expiration of nine months thou didst bring forth from the chaste enclosure of thy womb, to visit the world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through that anguish of mind wherewith thy beloved Son, our dear Saviour, was overwhelmed on the Mount of Olives, when He besought His eternal Father to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future passion. I ask it, through the threefold repetition of His prayers in the garden, whence afterwards, with dolorous steps and mournful tears, thou didst accompany Him to the doleful theatre of His death and sufferings. I ask it, through the welts and bruises of His virginal flesh, occasioned by the cords and whips wherewith He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless garment, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through the scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and unjust sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with heavenly patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence and resignation; His sadness and grief of heart. I ask it, through the blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head, when struck with the sceptre of a reed and pierced with His crown of thorns. I ask it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet were fastened with gross nails to the tree of the cross. I ask it, through His vehement thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His dereliction on the cross when He exclaimed, "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" I ask it, through His mercy extended to the good thief, and through His recommending His precious soul and spirit into the hands of His eternal Father before He expired, saying, "It is consummated." I ask it, through the blood mixed with water, which issued from His Sacred Side when pierced with a lance, and whence a flood of grace and mercy has flowed to us. I ask it, through His immaculate life, bitter passion and ignominious death on the cross, at which nature itself was thrown into convulsions, by the bursting of rocks, rending of the veil of the Temple, the earthquake, and the darkness of the sun and moon. I ask it, through His descent into hell, where He confronted the Saints of the old law with His presence, and led the captivity captive. I ask it, through His glorious victory over death, when He arose again to life on the third day, and through the joy which His appearance for forty days after gave thee, His blessed Mother, His Apostles, and the rest of His Disciples; when in thine and their presence He miraculously ascended into heaven. I ask it, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, infused into the hearts of His Disciples, when He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues, and by which they were inspired with zeal in the conversion of the world, when they went to preach the gospel. I ask it, through the awful appearance of thy Son, at the last dreadful day, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world, by fire. I ask it, through the compassion He bore thee in His life, and the unspeakable joy thou didst feel at thine assumption into heaven, where thou art eternally absorbed in the sweet contemplation of His divine perfections. O glorious and ever blessed Virgin! comfort the heart of thy supplicant, by obtaining for me, (Mention your prayer intention here...) And as I am persuaded my Divine Saviour doth honour thee as His beloved Mother, to whom He refuses nothing, because thou asketh nothing contrary to His honour, so let me speedily experience the efficacy of thy powerful intercession, according to the tenderness of thy maternal affection, and His filial loving heart, who mercifully granteth the requests and complieth with the desires of those that love and fear Him. Wherefore, O most blessed Virgin, beside the object of my present petition, and whatever else I may stand in need of, obtain for me also of thy dear Son, our Lord and our God, a lively faith, firm hope, perfect charity, true contrition of heart, unfeigned tears of compunction, sincere confession, condign satisfaction, abstinence from sin, love of God and my neighbour, contempt of the world, patience to suffer affronts and ignominies, nay, even, if necessary, an opprobrious death itself, for love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Obtain likewise for me, O sacred Mother of God, perseverance in good works, performance of good resolutions, mortification of self-will, a pious conversation through life, and, at my last moments, strong and sincere repentance, accompanied by such a lively and attentive presence of mind, as may enable me to receive the last Sacrament of the Church worthily, and die in thy friendship and favour. Lastly, obtain through thy Son, I beseech thee, for the souls of my parents, brethren, relatives and benefactors, both living and dead, life everlasting, from the only Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Lord God Almighty, to Whom be all power now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God;
may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

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God Bless You!

The Unprofitable Servant

Friday, November 27, 2009

The Day After

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Mary, Queen of Peace

St Michael the Archangel

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St. Teresa Benedicta of The Cross