The Unprofitable Servant: June 2013

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

End of the Road

All,
My ever-declining inclination to write coupled with drastically reduced traffic leads me to conclude it is time to put this blog out of its misery. I shouldn't even take notice of stats but I do from time to time and readership has never really returned to the levels of where they were before I went on a previous hiatus. I have nothing to tell anyone that they don't already know and the Lord does not need my blog to know what I want to say to Him. I hope that makes sense.

Please keep up the Rosary group to the extent that it exists. I continue to keep you and all of your intentions in my prayers. Please do the same for me.

In Christ,
Joyce

Friday, June 7, 2013

Prayer Before the Monstrance: Sacred Heart of Jesus

My Lord,

As I contemplate the First Sorrowful Mystery, I am reminded that while you begged Your Heavenly Father to remove the bitter cup of Your Passion, You also acquiesced to His Will and accepted the Cross. As St. Paul reminded us today, You died for the ungodly. How many times have I been ungodly?

How many times have I managed to slip out from under the cross You have asked me to carry? How often have I forgotten that while You may have willingly embraced and accepted Your Cross, You did not for one moment enjoy it. You did what You did for love of sinful, ungrateful mankind. It was that very love that enabled You to kiss the cross as You received it and to hang from it in torment and agony. Your love for us was greater than the untold suffering and pain inflicted upon You by our sins.

On this, the Feast of Your Most Sacred Heart, my petition is for You to grant me the grace that I may love you so much I will gladly endure whatever hardship, inconvenience, insult or slight You see fit to send my way. If I must undergo trials that are bitter and full of anguish, have mercy on me, my Savior, and lend me some of Your own perseverance that I might be able to bear it for love of You and the conversion of sinners.

Without You, I am nothing. Without You, I can do nothing. Do not forsake Your wretched and unprofitable servant but take her heart and inflame it with love of You so that no trial may be too great, no cross too heavy to endure.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, wounded so grievously by my sins, have mercy! Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Prayer Before the Tabernacle: Always There, Waiting

Well, Lord, here I am again. In the end, all I really have is You. I know it is necessary for me to live in the world and sometimes take part in things that hold no value in the spiritual life. You alone know how difficult it has been for me this past week as my oldest and cherished daughter married outside Your Church. I love her and I really love the man she has chosen to spend her life with but my heart is troubled that she has cast You aside. Lord, I also know that while You never stop knocking, You are not one to barge through a door uninvited. So I have taken my lead from You - never insisting, never forcing my will but simply and gently reminding that You are always there, waiting.

I attended the wedding Lord, and when a rainbow suddenly appeared in the sky above the garden where it took place, I wondered if You weren't sending me a sign to say: "It's OK. I understand and will wait for both of them." It hadn't rained Lord and I have never seen a rainbow that wasn't preceded by a storm but I thank You just the same. You know that I never felt further away from You than I did this week, even though I know You are always there, waiting.

And even though Your Most Holy Name was not mentioned or acknowledged even once during all of the speeches, toasts, etc, I know that You shed Your light and Your protection upon us all, bringing us safely through. I know that even if it seems You have been forgotten, You will not forget and will continue to bless my child and her new husband. I know You were happy to see them both when, at the last minute, they decided to attend the Mass that was said for their intention this past week. I put it in Your capable hands to light a spark that leads them to You. May my prayers be the fan that fuel the flame once it's lit.

I thank You Lord, for the blessing of seeing my child so happy and with such a patient, kind and loving young man. But You know this week has been difficult for other reasons. I do not know what the future holds in our parish but I do know that whatever it is, You are always there, waiting and it is never about the priest, my God but only You. Sometimes, we get caught up in the cult of clerical personality. This is a dangerous thing and not what You desire for the priesthood, but it happens. I will wait and give the new pastor my prayerful support. Please grant me the strength and the patience to prayerfully endure whatever the future holds, for Your sake and the sake of Your Holy Church.

Well, Lord, there are tasks to be done and people waiting to see me. Eternity would not be long enough to thank You for the many blessings You have bestowed upon my family. Lord, please bestow one more - keep knocking at the door of their hearts until they open them to You.

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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