The Unprofitable Servant: Spiritual Riches

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Spiritual Riches

I'm quite sure my readers are sick of hearing me complain that I can no longer get to early-morning Mass before work, but at least during Lent, I have somewhat of a reprieve. A nearby parish, staffed by some very humble and generous Augustinian priests offers evening Mass during Lent Monday thru Thursday. I break my neck to get home, get dinner for the family, and bolt out the door. Evening prayer precedes and then a simple Mass with brief homily takes place afterward.

Mass takes place in the lower church, which resembles so many "fixed basements" that we so often see in South Philly row-homes. Minimal furnishings but still comfortably and suitably appointed. No frills, to say the least.

Last night, after nearly giving myself a coronary to walk against the howling wind to rush there, I hurried to my usual pew and genuflected without looking up. When I knelt down at my pew, I looked up and realized the Monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament had been placed upon the altar. The priest was starting the Rosary and then the Litany of St Gianna Molla was distributed to be prayed following Mass. Apparently, the parish has a pro-life group that meets one evening a month for Adoration, Rosary and Mass, followed by confessions. Talk about good fortune!

Tonight, after nearly giving myself a double coronary to get there in time, I was again pleasantly surprised, this time to learn that on Thursday evenings, a novena to St Nicholas of Tolentine is prayed immediately following the Mass for the intention of the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

My prayer life has been turned upside down a bit, at least during the week, because the routine that was mine for the past five years or so is no more, at least for now. Rather than continue to beat myself up and complain unceasingly over something beyond my control, I've simply decided to make the most of everything I can do, which quite frankly, should have already been my approach. This means taking on menial tasks at work that are not my responsibility but provide an opportunity to practice humility and some measure of mortification. I try to regard the snoring that takes place next to me every night as music from Heaven. I must confess to having failed miserably thus far but there is ample time to keep trying. I try to exert great effort to demonstrate patience with people at work who, through no fault of theirs, possess habits that drive a curmudgeon like me to distraction.

Earlier this week, I received a call, quite out of the blue, that I have been identified as a potential match as a bone marrow donor for a young man who is battling leukemia and is about the same age as my oldest daughter. I nearly forgot that about 20 years ago, I took part in a drive to try to find a match for a young woman in my neighborhood who was deathly ill and needed a transplant. Sadly, she died before a match was found. I got a letter once, about 10 years ago, telling me I might be a potential match for someone else but then a closer match was found and I was off the hook. This time, it seems like more of a possibility I could be the one who is the closest match. I've already submitted to a lengthy interview and other paperwork and have consented to further testing. My concern is that if this comes to fruition, it might happen around the time of my daughter's wedding. I did ask that if this works out, we could do everything possible to avoid having this coincide with the wedding.

There are two methods for donation. One takes place under anesthesia and the other doesn't and involves daily injections for four days that have some unpleasant side effects, followed by a 4-6 hour process called plasma phoresis. Part of me is hoping that if donation does happen, it happens during Lent. I know it's selfish on my part, but how many opportunities do any of us get to do something to directly give life to someone else who is not part of our family? What joy to be able to offer a little bit of suffering to give someone a new lease on life!

Of course, after all of this, I might not be a match at all. As God wills.

Can I ask that in your charity, we pray for this young man, whoever and wherever he is, that God may see fit to provide the cure he needs? If you're part of our on-line Rosary community, please offer this as one of your intentions.

8 comments:

KellyFebruary 21, 2013 at 9:39 PM
Wow, I was laughing so much at you having double coronaries and wanting the snoring to start sounding musical, that I didn't see the bone marrow transplant coming!
Well, I wasn't really laughing about the coronaries. You just painted a funny picture.
Of course I will pray. You are a better man than me.
The church you are describing is most definitely not the one I first thought. :) Sounds lovely. I'm so glad you found it.
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AllisonFebruary 22, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Will absolutely be praying!
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PatriciaFebruary 22, 2013 at 9:20 PM
Joyce, I think it is so wonderful that you might actually get to be a bone marrow donor for that young man. I have always wanted to do that...maybe save a child who has leukemia. I suppose I should get into the registry, if I am to have a chance to do such a thing. Anyway, I hope you do get chosen..but not at the time of the wedding :)

And..sounds like your Lent is off to a great start...your heart is so much in the right place, and that is what Our Lord truly looks at. Even though you are rushing about with your "coronaries," you are making such a valiant effort. I can just imagine the beautiful smile Jesus gave you when you
rushed into your pew without realizing He was exposed in the monstrance. I've done that before too! Thanks for being an inspiration.

I'm going to link to your rosary sign-up to see if we can get some more participants. I don't have a huge following, but maybe I have some readers who haven't come across your invitation yet. I hope so. It would be so awesome to cover the entire 20 mysteries. I've been enjoying praying my decade each night. It's so special to be united with others in prayer. Have a great weekend! xoxo
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MannyFebruary 22, 2013 at 10:53 PM
Certainly praying for that young man.

You had me laughing on the snoring. My wife was complaining for the past year and that coupled with chronic sinus infections had me go to an ENT doctor. He diagnosed it that I've picked up a winter allergy. Nose spray and antihistomine seems to have worked. You might have your husband try that. Also those nose strips seem to mitigate the snoring too.

Good you found that parish.
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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

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Spiritual Riches

8 comments:

Mary, Queen of Peace

St Michael the Archangel

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St. Teresa Benedicta of The Cross