Glorious St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly hosts, who standest always ready to give assistance to the people of God; who didst fight with the dragon, the old serpent, and didst cast him out of heaven, and now valiantly defendest the Church of God that the gates of hell may never prevail against her, I earnestly entreat thee to assist me also, in the painful and dangerous conflict which I have to sustain against the same formidible foe. Be with me, O mighty Prince! that I may courageously …
Month: May 2021
The Work of the Advocate
In today’s Gospel, Jesus consoles the disciples with the promise of an Advocate—the Holy Spirit. His words, “it is better for you that I go,” must have been so confusing, almost startling for those beholding the Son of God. What could be better than having Jesus in your midst? Only, I suppose, having God in your heart. In the Holy Spirit, God dwells not just among us but within, even with the gift of hindsight, that is still an incredible reality to ponder.
Pondering the role of a human advocate may give us a deeper insight into our Heavenly Advocate. As we draw closer to Pentecost, not only understanding but also inviting the Holy Spirit into your life strengthens our faith and relationship with God. Here are three ways an advocate serves. Can you translate this into all the miraculous ways the Holy Spirit moves in your life?
An advocate can be a support to those who feel they are not being heard. In Romans 8:26, St. Paul teaches one of the incredible truths of how the Spirit works as a support in assuring God hears our prayers:
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”
Even when we are at a loss on how to pray, the Holy Spirit perfects those fears, doubts, desires nestled so deep in our soul, we have no words and brings them to the Father for us.
An advocate ensures a person has the tools to make an informed decision. In our Confirmations, we receive an outpouring of gifts to guide our Christian life. The gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord each provide the guidance we need to be responsive to the will of God in our lives. The grace from living in the Spirit opens our hearts to choose good, desire what the Father desires for us, even if not done perfectly, the devoted Advocate adequately equips us.
Jesus lays clear the Advocates work in our world, “And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.” How often has the Holy Spirit convicted our behavior, thoughts, or even lack of action? How we respond indicates how willing we are to allow this Wonderful Counselor into our hearts.
Wondering how you are doing allowing the Paraclete, translated into helper, into your life? Once again, we can turn to St. Paul, who offers how one measures the extent they’ve allowed the Spirit into their lives. The fruit of living in the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23). This incredible life, Jesus promises with the Advocate, is just a simple prayer away, “Come, Holy Spirit.”
Allison Gingras works for WINE: Women In the New Evangelization as National WINE Steward of the Virtual Vineyard. She is a Social Media Consultant for the Diocese of Fall River and CatholicMom.com. She is a writer, speaker, and podcaster, who founded ReconciledToYou.com and developed the Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women (OSV).
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The views and opinions expressed in the Inspiration Daily blog are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Diocesan, the Diocesan staff, or other contributors to this blog.
Prayer of Praise and Thanks: Prayer of the Day for Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Blessed are you, Lord God:
Blessed are you for ever.
Holy is your name:
Blessed are you for ever.
Great is your mercy for your people:
Blessed are you for ever.
Amen!
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
We praise you and give you glory:
We bless you for calling us to be your holy people.
Remain in our hearts,
And guide us in our love and service.
Help us to let our light shine before others
And lead them to the way of faith.
Holy Trinity of love,
We praise …
How He Speaks
Upon first reading of, well, the First Reading, it would appear that it’s just another story of Paul sharing the Good News and building up the early Church. That’s all well and good (I mean, where would we be right now without the work of the early disciples?) but one might become more concerned with how they would pronounce the cities Troas and Samothrace instead of what they can take from the reading and they might miss this gem of a verse.
“…and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.”
I think we can find ourselves in two positions within this verse – that of the woman whose heart was opened and that of Paul who was evangelizing.
Let’s start with the woman. In our fallen human nature, how many times have our hearts been closed off to the ways and words of the Lord, whether it was due to our own sin or to our own ignorance? When we sin, when we choose things against the Lord, when we choose opposite of His will for our lives, we harden our hearts and seek the voice of the world instead. Or sometimes, we seek the voice of the Lord but we box Him in with our own expectations. We fail to hear the whisper in the wind when we are looking for the boom of the lightning bolt instead.
Fear not, brothers and sisters, for the Lord is more powerful and more merciful than we often give Him credit for. He can bust down the largest and thickest walls built up around our hearts. There is no heart that he can’t open. He can, does and will speak to us, in His own way, in His own time.
Now let’s look at how we are like Paul. Through our Baptism, we are each given the mission to proclaim the Good News and build up the kingdom of God – the same mission that was given to Paul and the early disciples. When we are evangelizing, we have to remember that it is the Lord who speaks through us. He’s working in the hearts of both parties, the one doing the speaking and the one doing the listening, because it’s His Good News.
What is the Lord asking you to open your heart to? What is He asking you to pay attention to this week? This month? This year? What is He asking you to proclaim in your task of evangelization? These are questions we should all consider.
Erin is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is passionate about the Lord Jesus, all things college sports and telling stories and she is blessed enough to get paid for all three of her passions as a full-time youth minister and a freelance sports writer. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter @erinmadden2016.
Feature Image Credit: Henry & Co, https://unsplash.com/photos/M3KfixgdCko
St. Damien of Molokai: Saint of the Day for Monday, May 10, 2021
The man who would become St. Damien of Molokai, was born in rural Belgium, on January 3, 1840. His name was Jozef De Veuster, and he was the youngest of seven children. Growing up on the farm, Jozef was prepared to take over for his family, but he did not want the responsibility. Instead, he wanted to follow his older brother and two sisters who took religious vows.
Jozef attended school until the age of 13 when his help was needed on the family farm full-time. He aided his family until he was …
Prayer to St. Gabriel, for Others: Prayer of the Day for Monday, May 10, 2021
O loving messenger of the Incarnation, descend upon all those for whom I wish peace and happiness. Spread your wings over the cradles of the new-born babes, O thou who didst announce the coming of the Infant Jesus.
Give to the young a lily petal from the virginal scepter in your hand. Cause the Ave Maria to re-echo in all hearts that they may find grace and joy through Mary.
Finally, recall the sublime words spoken on the day of the Annunciation– “Nothing is impossible with God,” and …
Christ’s Love
Today’s readings are all about love, specifically love of God. In the First Reading we hear St. Peter tell Cornelius that “God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him”. It did (and does) not matter if a person was Gentile or Jew, all were accepted into the faith of Christ Jesus so long as there was genuine faith in Him.
In the Second Reading John reminds us that God is love; it is only in Him and through Him that we know love. He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for our sins. And why? So we could live eternally with God in Heaven amidst the Trinitarian love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is the love of the Trinity that compels and allows us to love others and bring them into the faith of Christ. We are called to participate in this Trinitarian love by bringing others into it. We show others the love of God by loving them.
We hear even more about this love from Jesus in the Gospel. Christ Himself tells us that the love He shows us in his Passion and Death is the greatest love the whole world has ever known: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. He then tells the Apostles that He is sending them out into the world to share the Good News and to share the love of Christ with others. In the same way, we are called to do what the Apostles did: spread the Gospel that says that God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to save us and that what He longs for is for us to take part in that love eternally.
May we carry the love of Christ with us to all places and share His love with all people.
Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.
Feature Image Credit: Gera Juarez, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/15891-sagrado-corazon-jesus
St. Pachomius: Saint of the Day for Sunday, May 09, 2021
St. Pachomius was born about 292 in the Upeer Thebaid in Egypt and was inducted into the Emperor’s army as a twenty-year-old. The great kindness of Christians at Thebes toward the soldiers became embedded in his mind and led to his conversion after his discharge. After being baptized, he became a disciple of an anchorite, Palemon, and took the habit. The two of them led a life of extreme austerity and total dedication to God; they combined manual labor with unceasing prayer both day and night. …
Prayer for Travelers: Prayer of the Day for Sunday, May 09, 2021
O Almighty and merciful God, who hast commissioned Thy angels to guide and protect us, command them to be our assiduous companions from our setting out until our return; to clothe us with their invisible protection; to keep from us all danger of collision, of fire, of explosion, of fall and bruises, and finally, having preserved us from all evil, and especially from sin, to guide us to our heavenly home. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
We Do Not Belong to This World
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus said to His disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated Me first.”
He then goes on to remind them that they do not belong to this world.
We all need that same reminder. We do not belong to this world either.
We belong to God. And eternal life with Him is our ultimate goal.
Our time here on Earth is short. Though we often get caught up in the here and now; though we have day-to-day responsibilities, problems, and dilemmas; and though we must take care of ourselves materially, we must also prepare ourselves for the next life.
Since we don’t belong to this world, our focus must be on what we have to do to earn heaven.
To that end, as long as we are doing God’s will, we cannot worry what others think about us. We cannot hide our faith or keep our mouths shut when we see injustice being done. Nor can we fail to stand up for our fellow human beings, especially those who are shunned by society. That includes the preborn, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled. It is our job to speak for those who cannot use their own voices.
And just like the disciples, we might be hated because of our beliefs. We might get ridiculed. We might even lose friends. But those are worldly and temporal things, and God encourages us to maintain our focus on Him.
That doesn’t mean it will be easy. In fact, it’s very difficult to be hated or ridiculed. It’s difficult to lose friends. But that is why Christ constantly told His disciples that He would never leave them. He understood that they would need to draw strength from Him.
God tells us the same thing. He will never leave us. And we must trust in His mercy and goodness. As He said in Jeremiah, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord; the Lord will be their trust. They are like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It does not fear heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still produces fruit.”
Though we may encounter many droughts in our lives, our steadfast faith ensures that we will produce the fruit that enriches our days and that will lead us closer to God in heaven.
Susan Ciancio has a BA in psychology and a BA in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, with an MA in liberal studies from Indiana University. For the past 17 years, she has worked as a professional editor and writer, editing both fiction and nonfiction books, magazine articles, blogs, educational lessons, professional materials and website content. Eleven of those years have been in the pro-life sector. Currently Susan freelances and writes weekly for HLI, edits for American Life League, and is the editor of Celebrate Life Magazine. She also serves as executive editor for the Culture of Life Studies Program-an educational nonprofit program for K-12 students.
Feature Image Credit: Manuel Cóbar, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/12584-camino-natural