The Unprofitable Servant: The Mystery of The Kingdom

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Mystery of The Kingdom

Right after my return to the Catholic faith, I discovered that the shrine a few blocks away offered not only daily Mass, confession and adoration, but that the Rosary was prayed each night followed by Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. That is where I came to love these prayers and the great mysteries attached to them. The priest always bowed his head at the words "sacrament of your Body and Blood" and I find myself doing likewise.

V. You have given them Bread from heaven
R. Having within it all sweetness

Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial
of your suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your Body
and Blood help us to experience the salvation you won for us, and the peace of
the kingdom; where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God,
forever and ever.
R. Amen.

I sometimes wonder what an atheist or non-Christian would think if he ventured into church during Benediction. And I think that if he could see the love with which the priest elevates the Monstrance containing the Sacred Host, he might be moved to consider what it is about this ritual that would cause such devotion and reverence. And I think that if our posture and our expression reflected the awe of having so sacred a Mystery in our midst, a non-believer could not just walk away, unthinking and unmoved.

I once heard this said by an atheist of the way Catholics nonchalantly receive the Eucharist:

"If I believed what you believe, I would crawl on my hands and knees to the altar".

How many can't even manage to fold their hands or bow their heads, let alone crawl?

My Jesus, Mercy! Mary, Pray for Us!

(Photo used courtesy of St. Therese of Carmel.org)

9 comments:

MannyFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:19 PM
I have to tell this story, which will show once again how silly and ignorant I am. I've been stopping by to a local Eucharist Adoration chapel to pray for about a year or a bit more now. I've been watching people get on the floor in reverence. I genuflect when I cross myself and pass through to a seat but never actually gotten on the floor. Only a little over a week ago did it suddenly dawn on me that inside that thing (now I know it's called a monstrance) is a consecrated host, and therefore Christ. That's Christ himself! I just never thought about it before. I never realized. It just dawned on me suddenly. Well since then I get down on my knees and bow my head in the aisle too before I leave. Suddenly that's become the holiest devotional icon for me, more so than even being in church. I get shivers when i'm there before it.
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Mary ChristineMarch 1, 2011 at 10:11 AM
When I signed up for a regular hour at the Adoration Chapel, I was given instructions. I am grateful for that. I really hadn't behaved well prior to being given instructions. So, I cringe when I see someone not acting right - because I know I have done the same. When I knew better, I did better, and I suppose they will too.
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JulieMarch 1, 2011 at 1:42 PM
My husband is an atheist. The child of non-practicing Methodists, he has always considered my Catholicism mildly exotic and has always been supportive of me. He will make sure I get to mass and chauffeur me to my adoration hours when the roads are iffy. He waits at Starbucks until I'm ready to be picked up again.
I once tried to explain adoration to him and he burst out, "Oh, is it something like the eternal flame then?"
I have a wild crazy thought that if I could just get him into a chair at adoration,(he could read a book--not any of his Ayn Rand collection, please) the Lord could maybe soften him up a little.
I'm afraid to push the thing. But there's so much at stake, you know.
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KellyMarch 1, 2011 at 5:46 PM
Julie, at least he isn't hostile, that's saying something! We can all add him to our prayer (right everybody? it's a great idea that Joyce has about turning off the car radio!)

and Manny-it's a wonderful thing that you recognized the Lord!
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TLWMarch 1, 2011 at 5:55 PM
Well, Julie, short of that, I'm sure you already spend your time before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament praying for your husband's conversion. My husband is not an atheist. He goes to Mass every Sunday and most holy days of obligation, but he thinks he is above confession, adoration, etc.I have tried and tried to institute family Rosary, even if it's just a decade a night, to no avail. Yet for the past few years, the only books he has read were written by St. Augustine. I'm hoping that while I pray to St. Joseph for him to have a more fervent belief, St. Augustine will go to work on him as well. I will keep your husband in my prayers, too .

Manny, the monstrance is the reliquary, if you will, that holds the Sacred Host. Maybe I'll do an "Adoration" post for those who would like to become an adorer but are unsure of what to do, etc.
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KellyMarch 2, 2011 at 7:37 AM
St.A!! Our fave in this house. He dragged my poor Bob back to faith. (lovingly, of course). Fantastic that he is reading him. A smart guy, huh? My synapses sizzle when I go at Confessions, though I go at it about once a year. :)
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meMarch 2, 2011 at 2:00 PM
I'll say a prayer for Julie's husband.
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Mathew WuebbenJanuary 10, 2012 at 12:53 PM
This is remarkable! How great would it be for atheists let alone our fellow Catholics to be drawn to Christ as you have described!
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TLWJanuary 10, 2012 at 5:55 PM
Welcome Matthew!
That is what we pray for and will continue to pray for daily - that others may believe and love Him as we do.
God Bless
Joyce
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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

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Mystery of The Kingdom

9 comments:

Mary, Queen of Peace

St Michael the Archangel

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St. Teresa Benedicta of The Cross