O Lord, must I fear Your wrath?
Retribution is Yours by right!
May I never dishonour Your Divinity,
My soul seeking to maintain Your love.
Shape my being into earnest kindness,
A reflection of Your perfection.
Grant me the grace of self-control,
That I may not display any anger.
Should I have such an outburst,
Instantly remind me to seek redress,
For such is offensive to You.
Anger is Yours alone to avenge!
Month: June 2022
Gazing on the Face of the Lord
When my daughter was little, she had a soft, pink and white baby blanket which we called “Mimi.” I wondered where this term for her blanket had originated and thought perhaps it came from “Me…me,” which is the way a one-year-old might say, “I want my blanket, please give it to me.” My daughter especially sought her “mimi” when she tired or distressed. Taking hold of it, she would nuzzle it to her cheek, stick her little thumb in her mouth and snuggle down in her crib. She would quickly fall asleep, knowing she was safe and secure.
There are phrases from Scripture that are just like a security blanket. We can “take” them and “snuggle down” with them in peace and tranquility. Today’s response from the Responsorial Psalm is one such verse. “The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.”
If we are willing to slow down and take the time to meditate and pray with this verse, it can teach us and shape us, comfort us and strengthen us. We can nestle down into the innermost places of our hearts and ask the Lord to show us His face. We can use our imagination to contemplate his countenance; to be transformed by his gaze as we gaze upon him.
In the Canticle to the Holy Face, St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote a moving reflection on the face of Christ. This is an excerpt from her poem:
Thy Face is now my fatherland, —
The radiant sunshine of my days, —
My realm of love, my sunlit land,
Where, all life long, I sing Thy praise;
It is the lily of the vale,
Whose mystic perfume, freely given,
Brings comfort, when I faint and fail,
And makes me taste the peace of heaven…
My rest — my comfort — is Thy Face.
My only wealth, Lord! is thy Face;
I ask naught else than this from Thee;
Hid in the secret of that Face,
The more I shall resemble Thee!
Oh, leave on me some impress faint
Of Thy sweet, humble, patient Face,
And soon I shall become a saint,
And draw men to Thy saving grace.
So, in the secret of Thy Face,
Oh! hide me, hide me, Jesus blest!
There let me find its hidden grace,
Its holy fires, and, in heaven’s rest,
Its rapturous kiss, in Thy embrace!
St. Thérèse clearly loved to meditate on the face of Christ!
Gazing upon the face of Jesus means contemplating everything about Him, which mysteriously reveals to us who the Triune God is and who we are. It draws us into a relationship of love with God that transforms us, sometimes in painful ways, but never stops offering us the peace, joy, and security we crave.
Let’s take the time today to “snuggle down” in God’s presence and “gaze upon the face of the Lord!”
Christine Hanus is a thwarted idealist who, nevertheless, lives quite happily in Upstate NY. She is a wife and mother of five grown children.
Feature Image Credit: Ruben Mishchuk, unsplash.com/photos/R7hBaZWyiyM
St. Francis Caracciolo: Saint of the Day for Saturday, June 04, 2022
Founder of the Minor Clerks Regular with St. John Augustine Adorno. He was born in 1563, a member of a noble Neapolitan family. Though he had a rare skin disease, much like leprosy, Francis became a priest, at which time his skin disease disappeared. In 1588, he co-founded the Minor Clerks Regular and spent the rest of his life as the superior. He was canonized in 1807. His cult is now confined to local calendars.
A Mother’s Prayer to the Guardian Angels of her Children: Prayer of the Day for Saturday, June 04, 2022
I humbly salute you, O you faithful,
heavenly Friends of my children!
I give you heartfelt thanks
for all the love and goodness you show them.
At some future day I shall,
with thanks more worthy than I can now give,
repay your care for them,
and before the whole heavenly court
acknowledge their indebtedness to your guidance and protection.
Continue to watch over them.
Provide for all their needs of body and soul.
Pray, likewise, for me,
for my husband, …
Food and Community
I love how Jesus was always eating. Many of the Gospel stories revolve around Jesus and his disciples sharing a meal together. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. Today’s Gospel starts with the words, “After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them.” So even after the resurrection, when food presumably would not be necessary anymore in his resurrected body, he eats breakfast with his friends.
Why all this emphasis on food? Well, the Old Testament speaks of manna that helped nourish the Israelites in the desert, the Bible ends with the banquet feast of the bride and bridegroom, and right at the center of the Gospel is the living food that comes from heaven. It would seem that food is a huge part of God’s plan for humanity.
Food brings people together. It strikes the perfect balance between something we enjoy and something we actually require for life. We literally can’t live without food. I think Jesus probably had this in mind when he gave us the Eucharist. He gave us his very life and love through the appearance of bread and wine. He not only comes to us as food, but just like with the tax collectors and sinners, he meets us where we need him and are comfortable to approach.
Jesus could have left us his body in raw form, bones and blood and all, but he didn’t. Just like how in today’s Gospel he gives Peter three chances to affirm his love, after denying him three times, he meets us where we are at and allows us to consume him through the food we are comfortable with. This is essentially true of all the sacraments; they are visible familiar signs that communicate a real grace in our lives.
So how can we take some of this and apply it to our lives this week? Well, we are officially in barbecue season. The smell of burning charcoal and a plethora of sauces is in the air. I was thinking the other day how I want to make some barbecue for our neighbors. We have lots of families around us with lots of kids and I think it would be fun to pull the grill up to the street and make some food for everyone. Maybe you could have some friends from Church over or even invite one of your pastors to enjoy a meal. Whatever the case, I am going to try to use food to bring people together in community and bring them closer to Christ. Let’s all think about a way this summer we can use food to evangelize and hopefully bring people closer to the true food that has come from heaven. The worst that can happen is that you enjoy a great meal with new people. Happy Eating!
From all of us here at Diocesan, God bless!
Tommy Shultz is a Business Development Representative for Diocesan. In this role he is committed to bringing the best software to dioceses and parishes while helping them evangelize on the digital continent. Tommy has worked in various diocese and parish roles since his graduation from Franciscan University with a Theology degree. He hopes to use his skills in evangelization, marketing, and communications, to serve the Church and bring the Good News to all. His favorite quote comes from St. John Paul II, who said, “A person is an entity of a sort to which the only proper and adequate way to relate is love.”
Feature Image Credit: Alexandru-Bogdan Ghita, unsplash.com/photos/UeYkqQh4PoI
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions: Saint of the Day for Friday, June 03, 2022
For those of us who think that the faith and zeal of the early Christians died out as the Church grew more safe and powerful through the centuries, the martyrs of Uganda are a reminder that persecution of Christians continues in modern times, even to the present day. The Society of Missionaries of Africa (known as the White Fathers) had only been in Uganda for 6 years and yet they had built up a community of converts whose faith would outshine their own. The earliest converts were soon …
Prayer to St. John XXIII: Prayer of the Day for Friday, June 03, 2022
Dear Pope John,
Your simplicity and meekness carried the scent of God and sparked in peopleÂ?s hearts the desire for goodness. You spoke often of the beauty of the family gathered around the table to share bread and faith: pray for us that once again true families would live in our homes.
With outstretched hands you sowed hope, and you taught us to listen for GodÂ?s footsteps as he prepares a new humanity: help us have a healthy optimism of defeating evil with good.
You loved the …
Sts. Marcellinus and Peter: Saint of the Day for Thursday, June 02, 2022
Though we know very little about these two martyrs under Diocletian, there is no question that the early church venerated them. Evidence of the respect in which they were held are the basilica Constantine built over their tombs and the presence of their names in the first eucharistic prayer. Pope St. Damasus says that he heard the story of these two martyrs from their executioner who became a Christian after their deaths. Marcellinus, a priest, and Peter, an exorcist, died in the year 304. …
Prayer for Fathers: Prayer of the Day for Thursday, June 02, 2022
St. Joseph, guardian of Jesus and chaste husband of Mary, you passed your life in loving fulfillment of duty. You supported the holy family of Nazareth with the work of your hands. Kindly protect those who trustingly come to you. You know their aspirations, their hardships, their hopes. They look to you because they know you will understand and protect them. You too knew trial, labor and weariness. But amid the worries of material life your soul was full of deep peace and sang out in true joy …
One-ing and Joy
Prayer is an opening – and therefore a kind of revelation – of the heart. So in today’s Gospel, as we hear Jesus pray to the Father, we glimpse the sentiments of his holy Heart. And what do we see? His loving trust in the Father, and his intense love for us.
Jesus is about to enter his agony, and his final concerns are for his disciples. He asks the Father to “keep” them, as he had protected and guarded them. He is entrusting them now to the Father.
And he reveals also a deep theological Truth: that we are all ONE in Christ, just as he is one with the Father! This was something entirely new. The Chosen People knew they were chosen by God, but they had no aspirations of being ONE with God! Here Jesus points to the goal of all creation, the goal of his Incarnation, the goal of the Paschal Mystery into which he is entering: “that they may be one just as we are one… even as You, Father, are in me, and I in You, that they also may be in us… that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and You in me, that they may become perfectly one” (Jn 19-23).
Perfectly one with each other, one with Christ, united in the heart of the Trinity, “so that they may share my joy completely.” In unity is JOY. This is the goal of all that God has done and is doing: to share His JOY, which springs from love, which brings union.
Jesus came with this mission, and it is our mission too: “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.”
This is why we say we are “in the world, but not of the world” – we are made by Love, to Love, for Love. We are journeying through this world, fighting the enemies of love, finding ways to love, bringing love to others, so that we establish real communion with others in Christ. In journeying, fighting, and serving in love in this world, we find joy. And at the end of our worldly work, we will enjoy endless joy in the Arms of Love.
Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including Father Rob), and four grandchildren. She is President of the local community of Secular Discalced Carmelites and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 30 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE, and as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio. Currently, she serves the Church by writing and speaking, and by collaborating with various parishes and to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is www.KathrynTherese.com
Feature Image Credit: Submitted By Author