Thursday of Adoration and Reparation for Priests

By

on January 10, 2013 7:24 AM |

Why art Thou left alone in this Most Holy Sacrament? Where are Thy adorers and Thy friends? Has Thy Church failed to announce Thy Gospel to the world, and to make Thy presence known? Why art Thou so ignored, forsaken, and left alone in Thy tabernacles, without honour and with no one to thank Thee for the gift of Thy real presence? Why is the world kept in the dark concerning Thee in this Most Holy Sacrament, when Thou art all that this world needs, and all that souls desire?

Lord Jesus Christ,
I adore Thee who art truly present here,
with all the love of my heart.
Thou who art here for me so that I may be here for Thee,
give Thou Thyself to me
so that I may give myself to Thee.

Let nothing separate me from Thee,
and let all things work together
to bring me to Thee in faith, in hope, in love,
and in adoration.

Let me believe in Thee for those who do not believe in Thee;
hope in Thee for those who do not hope in Thee;
love Thee for those who do not love Thee;
and adore Thee for those who do not adore Thee,
especially for those of Thy priests who find themselves far from Thee,
in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Go Thou in search of them, O Jesus,
and send Thy Holy Angels out to find them wherever they may be;
and bring them back to Thee
who awaitest their return to Thy altars
and to Thy Heart
in this Most Holy Sacrament. Amen.

Regnum Christi

The Awesome Presence

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Thursday after Epiphany

Luke 4:14-22

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, welcome into the temple of my soul. I know that you will root up and tear down, heal and sanctify, making there a holy and righteous place that has always been intended for you. Only you have the power to unlock the sanctuary of my heart; only you build what will last forever. I trustfully open my entire self to you now, so that your words can shape my thoughts, so that your love can penetrate my heart, so that no disorder of soul may remain in me.

Petition: Lord, grant me a greater reverence for you.

1. He Returned in the Power of the Spirit: The Spirit appears in the world to unite heaven’s plan to that of earth, and it does so here with every move of Christ. Christ’s whole mission is nothing other than the fulfillment of the passage he reads. Our vocation in life is nothing other than fulfilling our baptismal commission by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord shows himself, therefore, to be no one-man show. He, the Son, is sent and works in communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and from here all his fruitfulness and power flows. Our mission must truly make us feel “sent.” It compels us to bear fruit through acts of obedience and love. Heaven seeks to deliver its plan to me in this prayer. May I be attentive to all that the Holy Spirit prompts me to do.

2. “He Unrolled the Scroll…. ‘Today This Passage Is Fulfilled in Your Hearing’”: Man is given a response to the eternal question found in Revelation 5:2: "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” Contemplate this solemn moment when the Word reveals himself among men: Many could read from the scroll, but only one was worthy to unlock its salvific power. Many could recite the texts, but only one could set them ablaze in their hearts. Many could preach with fascination, but only one could satisfy their hunger for the fullness of truth. Our words are an empty breath without Christ’s voice; our labors are to no end, if our actions are not Christ’s. Only one person by right can change the human heart, and we in truth can only be apostles when Christ is the one who moves our hand.

3. All Were Amazed at the Words That Came from His Mouth: The precise nature of these words is not revealed to us here, as if to mean that the person of Christ himself is the revelation. Christ, in the totality of his person, comes to lighten our burdens and lift our spirits in a way no teaching, no miraculous event, no cure left to itself ever could. Divine providence has secured for us many goods in life, but all goods fail us if they do not come with Christ in all the power and intimacy that is God-among-us.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, I seek to revere you and honor you as the center of my life. I work now with a holy ambition to ensure your throne is firmly established in my heart. Teach me to let nothing usurp what belongs to you in my life. Let me not build a life of empty self-sufficiency, lest I lose the experiences of your power and grace I could have.

Resolution: I will visit our Lord in the Eucharist today for the sake of honoring him for his greatness and thanking him for his active presence in my life.

“Who Is This But Joseph’s Son?”

by Food For Thought on January 10, 2013 ·

In the Gospel, we encounter the Nazarenes who after hearing Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah said, “Who is this but Joseph’s son?” They could not believe that this son of a carpenter was teaching them. It seems that crab mentality also existed in Nazareth during the time of Jesus. His own town mates could not accept him first because of their pride. A foreigner would have been easily praised and accepted. Second, they were too selfish – they did not agree that God’s benefits should be shared with others most especially with the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed.

In the first reading, St. John talked about loving God and our brothers and sisters. According to him, we cannot love God if we don’t love our brothers and sisters. But how can we love others if we have pride and selfishness in us? We want to be the first, the best, the most powerful, the most popular – in short, to be at the top to be admired and praised. And if we are on top, we strive to put people down so as to remain on top.

Love is not just a mere word: it becomes meaningful only when it is not ill-mannered nor self-centered. Can we put our name in place of the word “love?” If we can, then, we are true in loving God and our brothers and sisters. But how can we make these expressions of love more tangible in our life? Will it be easy for us to say “You first?”

One Bread, One Body

<< Thursday, January 10, 2013 >>

1 John 4:19—5:4
View Readings

Psalm 72:1-2, 14-15, 17

Luke 4:14-22

LOVING CHRISTMAS

"We, for our part, love because He first loved us." —1 John 4:19

We cannot give love unless we first have received it. The Lord has poured out love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rm 5:5). Yet have our hearts been open? Have we received the incarnate, crucified, infinite, unconditional love of God for each of us personally? The purpose of life and of Christmas is to receive the perfect love of God already given. Then, when we open and receive the gift of God's love, we can give it to others.

We open ourselves to the downpour of God's love by:

going to Confession regularly. Sin has stopped us up; repentance opens us up.
praying, especially praying the Mass. Remember, it's Christ-Mass time. When we continue to communicate with the Lord in the Mass, we open ourselves more deeply to His love.
reading the Bible. God's Word is like a two-edged sword which penetrates, divides, judges, and opens our hearts (see Heb 4:12).
coming together in Jesus' name. Jesus promised He would be present in a special way when we gather in His name (Mt 18:20). In this presence, we tend to open up to His love.

Make this Christmas a "grand opening." Let yourself be loved. Live in His love (see Jn 15:10).

Prayer: Father, You are Love. May I live in You and live in love (1 Jn 4:16).

Promise: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore He has anointed Me. He has sent Me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives." —Lk 4:18

Praise: Martha prayed for decades for her husband to be converted. At her funeral, he made a pledge to become a Catholic. Now he receives Jesus in the Eucharist every day.

Openness to life is at the centre of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away.67 --Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas In Veritate