Catherine of Siena Prayer

My Nature is Fire

In your nature, eternal Godhead,
I shall come to know my nature.
And what is my nature, boundless love?
It is fire,
because you are nothing but a fire of love.
And you have given humankind
a share in this nature,
for by the fire of love you created us.
And so with all other people
and every created thing;
you made them out of love.
O ungrateful people!
What nature has your God given you?
His very own nature!
Are you not ashamed to cut yourself off from such a noble thing
through the guilt of deadly sin?
O eternal Trinity, my sweet love!
You, light, give us light.
You, wisdom, give us wisdom.
You, supreme strength, strengthen us.
Today, eternal God,let our cloud be dissipated
so that we may perfectly know and follow your Truth in truth, with a free and simple heart.
God, come to our assistance! Lord, make haste to help us!  Amen.

from Discerning Hearts Website

7 Quick Takes - Easter Joy!

 I had a lay low type of Lent.  I gave up coffee and that was it. Was I being a slacker or realistic?  I'll lean toward realistic.  But I am working on living in Easter joy!  Today is day 19 of Easter and this is the best Easter season we have had in years.  Here are 7 things that are cause for celebration.

1.  My husband is doing very, very well health wise.  It took nine months, longer than I expected at first and then I had decided it would take a year but here we are, quite content and moving forward.  Praise God!

2.  I am going to start working part time, which is very wonderful.  We'll have to give up a few things we've gotten used to until I find some other income stream, but we need to focus on other things for a few months.  I am open to God's leading me to where I need to be, ready to use my talents for him.  I'm not saying yes or no to anything right now, just trying to be open and ready to discern.

3.  I finished reading Sacred Fire by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI and highly recommend it.  Reading it is part of how I reached my decision to change my work status.  The first quote is from Theresa of Avila: "When one reaches the highest degree of human maturity, one has only one question left: How can I be helpful?"

4.  I'm doing two novenas right now, one is for the intercession of Catherine of Siena; her feast day is April 29.  The website it is on, Discerning Hearts, is one of my favorites.  They have great podcasts and the app is available for all types of devices.  Check it out. The other novena is from Pray More Novenas and it is Our Lady Undoer of Knots.  The best feature here is it comes to your inbox directly, so no wondering what day you are on!

5.  The website module for an online course I help facilitate was finished and my partner presented it last night.  We are both happy we are done.  Now on to the revisions!

6.  We made plans to go to New York for a visit.  I am hoping to see a show and get to a museum or two.  Now that John can walk all he wants (or as much as I want, hehe) nothing will hold us back.  Total aside, I realized I wrote New York, figuring, as all folks from one of the five boroughs do, that you will know I mean NYC, not anywhere else in the state of NY.

7.  Life is good, when when it isn't perfect.  Part of my living Easter Joy commitment is to realize that I need to stop waiting for things to be different before I lived my life to the fullest.  Now, we are trying to focus each day on living in the present, in the now. Jesus came so we might have LIFE, so I am going to LIVE it!

More Quick Takes over at This Ain't the Lyceum.

As we begin Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

God, our creator and guide, we ask you to send wisdom to those who seek a cure for ovarian cancer and compassion to the doctors and nurses who care for those who are sick.  Be with the families and friends of all those who suffer.  To those who are sick, give them strength and courage.  And for those who have died, we ask that they may be forever in your company.

God, grant us good judgment as we set out to be Diane’s Voice to educate others about ovarian cancer.  Help us to be the hands that serve and the hearts that love so that our voices are heard.  Amen

I wrote this as the invocation to an Ovarian Cancer Awareness event as part of Diane's Voice.  Diane's Voice is an organization devoted to education about ovarian cancer and founded at the request of my dear friend, Diane.

Patron Saint of Writers

In the last few months I have gone from writing whenever I feel like it on this blog to having set commitments over at New Evangelizers and Catholic Mom.  I have done pretty well in keeping up but this week I was in the weeds.  A friend found out for me that St. Frances de Sales is the patron saint of writers and then sent me this prayer as well from Catholic Fire:

May the Lord guide me and all those who write for a living. Through your prayers, St. Frances de Sales, I ask for your intercession as I attempt to bring the written word to the world. Let us pray that God takes me in the palm of His hand and inspires my creativity and inspires my success. St. Francis de Sales, you understand the dedication required in this profession. Pray for God to inspire and allow ideas to flow. In His name, let my words reflect my faith for others to read. Amen.
   
I calmed down a bit, prayed and then was able to write my posts.  I may not write for a living but it's still important.

Pro-life Praying

The United States Bishops have this wonderful prayer initiative going on for people to join together to pray a novena to end abortion.  It's called Nine Days of Prayer, Penance, and Pilgrimage.  If you click on this link, you can get more information and sign up to receive daily reminders during the nine days either by text or email.  How cool is that?  No "I won't remember to pray" excuse now.

7 Quick Takes

1.  For the last two weeks I have had this vague feeling of wanting to be doing something else, be somewhere else.  Why?  Because this time last year I was in Australia.  One year ago today I was on the Harbor Bridge in Sydney.  More than once, as I walked across it and then rode across it on the train that same day. 

View from the bridge

2.  This past Monday would have been my grandfather's 100th birthday.  He died 21 years ago and I still miss him.  Both of my children remember him and I can still see him, his great-grandchildren on his lap.  Whenever I complained he was spoiling  them he would agree with a shrug and tell me that he could because  he was the great-grandfather, not the parent.

3.  My husband is a bit of a perfectionist in some areas.  Sometimes when he reads my blog he cringes at my mistakes.  I make typos, leave out little words, punctuation; it's not the most polished, especially for a former English teacher.  So I have decided to be more careful and pay better attention to all of that in my posts, so you have an easier time reading.
4.  I need to defend myself in regard to #3.  I never learned how to touch type or type properly.  Because of my mother.  Honest.  In high school we could choose electives as juniors and seniors.  I wanted to take a semester of typing.  My mother said that was ridiculousness since I was not going to become a secretary.  (totally not PC, but there you have it) Why would I need to type?  Well, for one thing, I did have papers to type, yes type, as in on a typewriter - my mother's manual from when she went to college, which she was able to use with ease because she took typing in high school!  It's so ironic when I  think about how much time I spend on a keyboard  still looking at the keys as I type. At one point I tried to learn to type properly, but my bad skills were totally ingrained and I could not unlearn them.
5.  I am going on retreat this weekend, starting today.  But I'm not leaving my house.  I will be using this great book, Consoling the Heart of Jesus by Michael E. Gaitley, MIC.  Here is a review if you are interested in hearing more about the book.  I have been looking forward to this and planning it since I read the book.  My husband will be at seminary so it's the perfect time. Which was the plan, of course.
6.  I set a goal to read 100 books this year over on Goodreads.  Not sure what possessed me to do that, but we'll see what happens.  I also agreed, in a head cold induced fog on New Year's Eve to run a 5K with a friend of mine.  And I haven't even thought about my own goals for this year, except the two above, which upon reflection seem a bit insane.  Of course, all will be made clear to me as I go through my retreat.
7.  I can't write another take, I have to go back and review the six above for editing.  Here' a  picture from Australia of me and my fav flowers.

Royal Gardens in Sydney

More Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary, where Jennifer is continuing on her road to recovery quite well!

Prayer Thought

This is not a new thought, but a reminder.  "God is the God of the present.  I AM; not I was, not I will be." Not always easy to put this into practice in my life.

A Child's Back to School Prayer

Dear God,

School is going to start and I am sad and happy about it.  Sad because summer is so much fun; sleeping late, going on vacation, playing and not having to wear school clothes.  But I am happy because I will see my school friends and make some new friends.  I am a little bit scared too; will the other kids like me?  Will my teacher be nice?  Will I be able to do a good job?  I know you are everywhere, God, so please help me every day to be a good student, to be nice to everyone in my class, and to have fun while I learn.  Thank you God for all the good things you give me.   I love you.  Amen. 

7 Quick Takes

It's First Friday and Adoration is on my mind so let's make that the theme!

1.  A video from Fr. Robert Barron

2.  Part of my talk on why you should go and pray: 

 A few years ago I was the director of religious education and one day we had the children scheduled to go to adoration.  One of the third grade boys came up to me and told me it had been a terrible day in school and he didn't want to go to class and just wanted to sit with me.  I told him that he was going to adoration and could talk to Jesus and that would make him feel much better than hanging out with me.  He was not convinced, but since he knew I wouldn't let him stay with me he grudgingly agreed.  When he came back he was all smiles!  He said : you were right, I talked to Jesus and now I feel much better.  Can we go to Adoration every week? 

3.  "When we go before the Blessed Sacrament, let us open our heart; our good God will open His. We shall go to Him; He will come to us; the one to ask, the other to receive. It will be like a breath from one to the other,"     - St. John Vianney

4.  Favorite Adoration images

5.  When I go to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, I have a little pattern I usually follow.  I pray the rosary or chaplet,  sit quietly, then I listen to a song by Fr. Stan Fortuna, "The Humility of God." 

These are the words:
Look at the humility of God

look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God

pour out yourself before Him
pour out yourself before Him

look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God

He who gave Himself completely waits for all of you
He who gave Himself completely waits for all of you

look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God
look at the humility of God

 At this point I am usually settled and can sit in silence, offering my prayers and listening.  It takes me a bit of time to really quiet my mind.  The most important thing I take away is peace.  Sometimes I don't accept the peace thought I believe that Jesus always offers it to me.

6.  #5 brings up a question, music or not in Adoration?  I bring my iPod and listen to very meditative type music, usually with words.  Other people like chant music which I'd like to try.  I know I don't like music the whole time I am there, so personal music, rather than piped in is my preference.  What works for you?

7.  I am also a big proponent of teaching children the beauty of Eucharistic Adoration.  I learned much of what I did from this site, Children of Hope  founded by Fr. Antoine Thomas.

For more, go visit Conversion Diary!

St. Ignatius Novena

July 31 is the feast day of St. Ignatius Loyola, one of my favorite saints.  I am planning ahead and have a novena picked out to pray beginning on July 23 to end on his feast day.  I have found two different prayers.

1.  (to be said both morning and night for nine days)

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be to the Father (three times).

(The Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus or the Litany of the Blessed Virgin may be added.)

V. Pray for us, O Holy Father, Saint Ignatius.
R. That we may be made worthy of the Promises of Christ.
Let us pray:O God, who, for the increase of the greater glory of Thy Holy Name, hast been pleased by Blessed Ignatius to strengthen the Church militant with new help, grant that, aided by his prayers during our warfare on earth, we may so imitate his virtues as to be happily crowned with him in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Let us pray:  O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, who, imparting to the bodies of the sick Thy gracious blessing, dost guard Thy creature by Thy manifold tenderness, graciously assist us to invoke Thy Holy Name, that, by the intercession of Thy Confessor, Saint Ignatius, Thy servants, freed from sickness and blessed with health, may be raised up by Thy right hand, strengthened by Thy help, guarded by Thy protection, and restored to Thy Holy Church with every blessing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This is from Saint Robert Bellarmine blog.

2.  Holy Father Ignatius,  through the centuries millions must have known the influence of your inspiration. Our world today needs to find your secret of finding God everywhere, of putting Him first in our intention and endeavor, of desiring nothing but what He wants, of yearning for nothing but His love and grace. Teach us the freedom that comes from committing ourselves to God’s designs for a world laden with creative beauty yet marred by our violent ways. You knew that Christ was your companion at every step of life. You joined him in his ongoing work for the salvation of us all. Help us to find courage in his presence, to feel that he works with and in us. May God, through the power of your prayer give us peace and joy and grant us our most intimate requests in this Novena if they be for His greater glory and our greater good. Amen.

I prefer the second, so that's what I will do.  My intentions will be for my family and for clear direction in my life.

Veni, Scantus Spiritus

Today's Pentecost Sequence, from the Roman Missal

COME, Holy Ghost,send down those beams,

which sweetly flow in silent streams

from Thy bright throne above.

 O come, Thou Father of the poor;

O come, Thou source of all our store,

come, fill our hearts with love.

 O Thou, of comforters the best,

O Thou, the soul's delightful guest,

the pilgrim's sweet relief.

 Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet

refreshment in the noonday heat;

and solace in our grief.

 O blessed Light of life Thou art;

fill with Thy light the inmost heart

of those who hope in Thee.

 Without Thy Godhead nothing can,

have any price or worth in man,

nothing can harmless be.

 Lord, wash our sinful stains away,

refresh from heaven our barren clay,

our wounds and bruises heal.

 To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow,

warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow,

our wandering feet recall.

 Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord,

whose only hope is Thy sure word,

the sevenfold gifts of grace.

Grant us in life Thy grace that we,

in peace may die and ever be,

in joy before Thy face.

Amen. Alleluia.

Pentecost Novena

It's time for my favorite Novena.  I posted it on our parish blog, or you can get at EWTN as a download.  Anyway you get it, it's worth the time.  Prayer is always worth the time.
It starts tomorrow.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O, Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, … I adore You.
Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.
Tell me what to do … give me Your orders.
I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me.
Let me only know Your will. Amen

Holy Week Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, by Your Passion and Resurrection

You brought life to the world.

But the glory of the Resurrection came only after the sufferings of the Passion.

You laid down Your life willingly and gave up everything for us.

Your body was broken and fastened to a Cross, Your clothing became the prize of soldiers,

your blood ebbed slowly but surely away, and Your Mother was entrusted to the beloved disciple.

Stretched out on the Cross, deprived of all earthly possessions and human aid,

You cried out to Your Father that the end had come. You had accomplished the work given You,

and You committed into His hands, as a perfect gift,  the little life that remained to You.

Lord, teach me to accept all afflictions after the example You have given.

Let me place my death in Yours and my weakness in Your abandonment,

Take hold of me with Your love, that same foolish love that knew no limits,

and let me offer myself to the Father with You so that I may rise with You to eternal life.

Mid-season Check

Well, we are slightly past the helf way point of Lent.  Yesterday was Laetare Sunday so the rose colored vestments were worn, much to one of our deacon's dismay.  I keep wondering how my lent is going in termns of the comittments I made on Ash Wednesday.  It's not stellar, but not awful.  I wonder, does it have to be stellar, or does the trying count?  I hope it does.  I am reminded of  Thomas Merton's Prayer of Abondonment at times like these:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.  I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
God knows the desires of my heart.  Like all of you, I am moving toward Holy Week.  Sometimes I am stumbling, groping in the dark or have my eyes fixed straight ahead.  I will get there.  And sometimes, that's enough.