Priest, Prophet, and King | Word on Fire

Priest, Prophet, and King | Word on Fire

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Take My Life and Make It What It Should Be!

We are beginning our School year on the right foot this year,  may all the joys, effort and suffering that follows be for the honor and advancement of the intentions of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, those of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and for the triumph of His Cross in our family, communities, parishes, states, country and world.

Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

O Mary, Virgin most powerful and mother of Mercy,

 Queen of Heaven and Refuge of Sinners, 

We consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate Heart.  

We consecrate to you our very being and our whole life:

 All that we have, all that we love,  all that we are.  

To you we give our homes, our families and our parish.  

We desire that all that is in us and around us may belong to you

 And may share in the benefits of your motherly blessing.

And so that this Consecration may be truly fruitful and lasting, 

We renew today at your feet the promises of our Baptism: 

We renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his empty promises.  

We pledge ourselves to courageously profess the truths of our Holy Faith, 

And to live as Catholics, accepting the directions of the Pope 

And the Bishops in communion with him.

We pledge ourselves to keep the Commandments of God and of his Church 

And in particular to keep holy the Lords Day.

We pledge ourselves to confess our serious sins frequently 

And to receive Holy communion worthily.

Finally, we promise you, O Glorious Mother of God, 

To devote ourselves wholeheartedly to spreading devotion to your Immaculate Heart, 

In order to hasten and assure the coming kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, your son, 

In our hearts, our families, our parish and our country.

Amen


and for a meditation for today...

http://harvestingthefruitsofcontemplation.blogspot.com/2014/09/memorial-of-our-lady-of-sorrows.html#more

Be Resigned to My Will and You Will Suffer No Loss.

The Twenty-Seventh Chapter - Self-Love is the Greatest Hindrance to the Highest Good

The Voice of Christ:

MY CHILD, you should give all for all, and in no way belong to yourself. You must know that self-love is more harmful to you than anything else in the world. In proportion to the love and affection you have for a thing, it will cling to you more or less. If your love is pure, simple, and well ordered, you will not be a slave to anything. Do not covet what you may not have. Do not possess anything that can hinder you or rob you of freedom.

It is strange that you do not commit yourself to Me with your whole heart, together with all that you can desire or possess. Why are you consumed with foolish sorrow? Why are you wearied with unnecessary care? Be resigned to My will and you will suffer no loss.

If you seek this or that, if you wish to be in this place or that place, to have more ease and pleasure, you will never rest or be free from care, for some defect is found in everything and everywhere someone will vex you. To obtain and multiply earthly goods, then, will not help you, but to despise them and root them out of your heart will aid. This, understand, is true not only of money and wealth, but also of ambition for honor and desire for empty praise, all of which will pass away with this world.

The place matters little if the spirit of fervor is not there; nor will peace be lasting if it is sought from the outside; if your heart has no true foundation, that is, if you are not founded in Me, you may change, but you will not better yourself. For when occasion arises and is accepted, you will find that from which you fled and worse.

A Prayer for Cleansing the Heart and Obtaining Heavenly Wisdom:

     Strengthen me by the grace of Your Holy Spirit, O God. Give me the power to be strengthened inwardly and to empty my heart of all vain care and anxiety, so that I may not be drawn away by many desires, whether for precious things or mean ones. Let me look upon everything as passing, and upon myself as soon to pass away with them, because there is nothing lasting under the sun, where all is vanity and affliction of spirit. How wise is he who thinks thus!


     Give me, Lord, heavenly wisdom to learn above all else to seek and find You, to enjoy and love You more than anything, and to consider other things as they are, as Your wisdom has ordered them. Grant me prudence to avoid the flatterer and to bear patiently with him who disagrees with me. For it is great wisdom not to be moved by the sound of words, nor to give ear to the wicked, flattering siren. Then, I shall walk safely in the way I have begun.

http://www.jehannedarc.org/imchr2.html


Our Prayers are With You Today!

Graduation Day is Coming

                              Graduation Day is coming! (Click the words (not the clock) to see how soon!)

This is the countdown timer I wanted to use but Blogger didn't like it

I love you guys!

Thank you!

A Holy Saturday Family Tradition!

http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/48-blessings-for-special-days-and-feasts.html

I found this site this morning and had to add it to our collection of posts (click the link to get the rest of the blessings). We for many years have been taking part in the Blessing of the food at a local parish, if I find pictures of it that we have taken over the years I will share them.  Since we have moved the duty has fallen to one of the girls and  whomsoever happens to be with her in that area on Holy week.  There is no such thing happening in my new neighborhood.  Boy! Are they missing out! I cannot convince anyone to take up the  duty either, next year maybe I will be more convincing.  as for now I research and arm myself with materials on the benefits of blessings.

Keep the faith!

Good Guides

Somehow, when I get busy, I lose perspective.  Things that are really not that important become critical and make me cry, where as the really big, important things kind of go off my screen.  Lately I found a combination of websites that made me think, "Oh, I remember now, I am not the first one down this road." It was a very liberating thought.

Breaking trail

(Just by the fact that it is a road that I am following suggests that I am not breaking trail here!)

One was this website.       (I've added it to the list on the side of this page.)  The saints...  Some real life examples and real help in time of need, but the reason I especially like this site is because the coloring pages Mary draws that make the saints a little more real.  For example, Our Lady of Guadalupe has her hand on the head of Juan Diego.  Can't you just hear her saying to him "Am I not here who am your mother?  Are you not in the crossing of my arms...?"  a whole generation of children and their parents can learn from this gentle example posted on their refrigerator.

Then there is the EWTN audio library collection.   Father Pablo Straub, God rest his saintly soul, is immortalized in the collection, and his simple clear style helps us all to know just exactly what we OUGHT to be doing.  Clear instruction makes right action that much more simple. (He is just one of the wonderful teachers available on that site.  I listen to them while I work.

With these I am reminded of who I am, a Christian, and revived in my efforts to keep the faith, fight the good fight, follow those leaders that are following Jesus,  the good saints, the ones who have broken trail for us.

Good Guides

 All you angels and saints,  Pray for us.

Check out these sites, if you have the time. Refresh yourself and see for yourself that the heroic examples of the saints gives courage to their companions.

The Christmas Penny

    There once was a little old Grandmother who lived in a small, charming village, way out in the country.  The people of the village tell a very special story of the bell in the village church tower.

      Every year the villagers collected gifts for the poor of the countryside at their church on Christmas Eve.  Once, when the old woman was a young girl, the Church bells rang out, on their own, as the people were bringing their gifts for the poor to the manger.  The story, as the villagers told it ,was that God had been pleased with the gifts they had brought and had sent an angel to ring the bell.  Ever since then, the tradition in the village is that the bells of the church tower would ring out when the best gift was given to the Christ Child in the manger on Christmas Eve.  Now, each year, everyone for miles around brings gifts to the manger, hoping that God will again send the Angel to ring the bells for their gifts.
    Over the years, The very wealthy people have brought the gifts that were the most expensive, those made of the finest silver, precious stones and gold, or of the richest and most beautiful lace.  The ranchers had each cut out one of their fattest cattle from their herd or sheep from their flocks and brought them in.  Each farmer had brought in a basket of the fruits from their bountiful harvests, bragging that theirs was the finest or the sweetest in all the land.  The craftsmen of the village have brought in their beautiful rugs, pottery, candlesticks and other handmade goods, showing off their skills, but, for many years, the old woman didn't remember ever hearing those bells ring out on Christmas Eve.
     Everyone in the village planned and worked all year to provide a gift to lay by the manger, and so did the old woman.  She was the washer woman, and the gift she gave each year was a couple of the pennies that the other villagers paid her to wash their clothes.  This year though it was harder than ever for her to save because she was now taking care of her two small grandsons, who had lost their parents to illness that year.
     As Christmas approached the old woman began to worry, and to work harder than ever before washing the villagers clothes.  She worked so hard that she wore herself out.  Her hands were chapped and rough but she could never get enough to save the couple pennies that she usually saved.   This year it looked like she would not be able to bring the penny she usually gave … unless, if she made an extra sacrifice, and fasted a little, she might be able to save enough food so that she would not have to spend as much on the next market day.
      That market day the sun rose clear and cold.  The wind had picked up and was blowing from the North.  Happily she had been frugal enough to keep one of her pennies, but on her way home from the market she started coughing, just a little bit.  The next morning her cough was worse  and by that evening she was truly sick.  The boys had been looking forward to going to the church for Christmas Eve mass.  They had heard rumors that the king himself was going to be there, presenting a special gift at the manger.  They helped their Grandmother as much as they were able until her cough began to fade.  On the afternoon before the Christmas Eve Mass, she thought she was well enough to walk to the church on the hill, at the edge of the village. So they all bundled themselves up and started walking.  The going was slow because the old woman could not walk fast.   She was breathless and began to cough again.  The boys watched as the lanterns of all the people began to form rivers of light streaming towards the church.  They watched as carriages and wagons filled with people rumbled past decorated with streamers and lanterns.  So many cheerful neighbors passed them, as usual, and wished them a happy

Christmas, unaware that the old woman was struggling. Some of them stopped to talk to the old woman, to see if she was well, but none of them wanted to be late, this would be a special occasion, for it may be that the king would lay his crown at the manger and then the bells would be sure to ring.
      Suddenly, a cry rang out.  The king's carriage came over the hill and was approaching the entrance of the church.  All the people on the hillside began to race the rest of the way.  The little old woman, however, could go no further and she sank to the ground.  She would not be able to give her penny to the poor, she had never missed Christmas Mass before, She could do nothing about her dilemma .  She dissolved in tears.  The  small boys urged her to keep trying, but she only continued to cry. When the older brother realized she was crying he took her hand in both of his to comfort her.  Then he leaned over to hear the raspy words  she whispered through her tears,
     "Take the penny" she said, "Bring the gift to the Christ Child then bring someone back to help us"
      The older boy knew he could not leave them there on the road, it had gotten so dark and was getting colder  He decided to send his little brother on this errand, then he could keep her warm and call to any passersby for help.   There was no other way.  He turned and spoke to the little boy urgently,
     "Run as fast as you can!  Take the lantern and the penny and go on to the church.  Lay Grandmother's penny by the baby Jesus' crib, then bring someone back here to help us."
     The littlest boy liked to run, and he knew he could get someone to come back with him to help them, so he took the lantern and the penny and ran as fast as he could up the empty road, to the brightly lit church on the hill. As he disappeared from view his brother pulled in close to his Grandmother and wrapped her in a hug, like she had done so many times for him when he was sick or cold.  He spoke encouragingly to her and tried to keep her warm.
  As he approached the church the little brother could already hear the music and he knew that the Mass was beginning.  Leaving his lantern by the doorstep he crept into the church.  He crept quietly up the side aisle and crawled to the massive, brightly decorated, evergreen standing in the front of the church which sheltered the creche beneath it.  There he saw, up close, all of the amazing gifts and foods the people has showered upon the Christ Child.   He even saw the glittering jewels of  the king's noble crown.  Sliding the penny in a fold of the Christ Child's swaddling cloth, he froze.  Far away, as if in a dream the church bell began to toll.  Everyone in the church stopped singing, and the music stopped.  All eyes turned toward the tree with the manger under it, and there, lying beside it, was a tiny boy with a penny still pinched in his fingers.  The bell was ringing louder and clearer now and all the people cheered.
     The little boy's neighbor was near the creche. He picked him up in a big bear hug and the little boy cried out,"We need your help!" over the din of the happy people.  He told anyone who would listen that his grandmother needed help and his brother could not do it by himself.  Right away a delegation, that included the neighbor, the doctor,  the priest and a few good strong men with a stretcher, hastily made from a blanket and chairs, were led by the little boy back to where he had left the old woman and his brother. 
 As the neared the two on the road, the

little boy sang out "Did you hear the bells Grandmother? The angel rang the bells for us."  His older brother laughed and his Grandmother hugged him, then they lifted her from the ground. The gift this little family had given was not just the penny, that Christmas, they had given something of themselves.  Now, see if you can remember all the gifts that they gave that made the Christ Child happy.

An Important Re-blog: The Breadbox Letters: Letting Go of Millie's Splinters

The Breadbox Letters: Letting Go of Millie's Splinters: It was one of my grown children who helped me see the error of my ways.  Launching into a story about someone I'll call 'Millie...relating a tale I'd been told by a friend who'd heard from a co-worker who knew for sure because someone had said ... I was stopped mid-sentence.  "Mom," said my son (kindly), "before you say any more, just know that whatever you tell me will make a difference in what I think about 'Millie' from now on."