Prayer for the Holy Souls | Novena Day 2

The second pain which causes these holy souls much suffering, is the time lost in life, when they might have gained merits for Heaven, and the thought that they are unable to repair this loss, because the time of life and merit is passed.

Prayer: Woe to me, unhappy being, so many years have I already spent on earth and have earned naught but hell! I give Thee thanks, O Lord, for granting me time even now to atone for my sins. My good God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee. Send me Thy assistance, that I may apply the time yet remaining to me for Thy love and service; have compassion on me, and at the same time, on the holy souls suffering in purgatory.



O Mary, Mother of God, come to their assistance with thy powerful intercession.

Our Father...
Hail Mary...
O most sweet Jess, have mercy on them! 
On Thy spouses have compassion, 
on these suffering children Thine;
make these holy souls partakers
of Thy happiness Divine.

This has been extracted from Susan Tassone's "Praying in the Presences of Our Lord for the Holy Souls" and is a novena by St. Alphonsus de Ligouri. Susan's writing on the Holy Souls are all worth purchasing and reading.

LISS Day 32

Baptism and Confirmation

Matthew 3:16-17 and Acts 8:17

I love Baptisms. I love the reasons why we are baptised and I love the reasons we are confirmed. These sacraments are so special! Baptism is the true start of family life in the Catholic Church.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), article 1213 states 'Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),⁴ and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."^5'
I truly love this. Of course I wouldn't remember my baby baptism. But I certainly remember my baptism as an adult! I will never ever forget it, because it remains very much alive in me by grace of the Holy Spirit. Today is Valentines day, a difficult day for me - it comes part of being human, and having this human soul. But I gain so much strength and comfort from Romans 5:3-5. God loves each and every one of us so much - and I have been blessed with being shown even just the tiniest spec of God's Love for me. Oh how unworthy I am to know it! It is said that He chooses the lowly to know His Love.... but what about all the Saints that have gone before - not all of them had histories like Saint Augustine. Were they also then poor in spirit?

Jesus loves us despite our rejection of Him - He was and is the unconditional Love of God made Incarnate. He sacrificed Himself for those that the Heavenly Father Loves so dearly. When I was still blind to the Truth of Life and Love, I did not realise how much I was rejecting Jesus. My ignorance was part of my blindness - my heart of stone - my closed heart. But then, my soul and spirit was awakened, reborn, freed from sin!!! Now with a heart of flesh, I can no longer reject Jesus. How could I, it would be like striking myself in the heart with the sharpest most poisoned knife of the devil. He has given me a clean slate which to re-order my life, and although I have already faltered in the most heartbreaking way possible to me, my sin doesn't change the Truth, or the mission of the Church. At our event of Christ the King, Emmet and Lucy Dooley put this in the context of relationships. Jesus can take away all the hurt and the sin, and give you new life with which to begin relationships again. This applies to our relationship with Jesus. Jesus always gives us a second chance, as long as we are willing to get up from the pain and hurt and try again... trusting and hoping in Him. In abandoning and surrendering ourselves in Baptism, we rise to a new life, victorious over death... "he cannot die again" [see below]!

How do I share this Love that God has made known to me the best that I can? How do I share the message that "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised form the dead, he cannot die again: death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." [Romans 6:8-10]. This is what baptism is all about. 


Saviour and Sacred Heart of Jesus, I love you dearly. You are my heart's desire! How can I ever repay You for showing me just the tiniest spec of Your magnificent Love? Despite my human heartbreak, I am so Loved by You, and I am so blessed to know it! Thank you, for showing me what true Love is - for I can continue in life knowing that I have spent at least one St. Valentine's day in love with someone who Loves me in return... You. I long for a heart like Yours, Jesus, so that whatever path you choose for me, I may love with the same sacrificial and unconditional Love that you call each of us to share with each other.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..." [1 John 4:18] 

 

LISS Day 1

Invitation

Today, our first day of the Life in the Spirit Seminar, I somewhat felt called to blog about it. Partly because I haven't bought myself a diary yet, and partly because every fruit borne out of God's Truth is worth shouting out about.

So, I pray:
Heavenly Father, You have invited me by way of Zyg and through the prayer of Your faithful children at Soulfood, to experience something indescribable. Your encounters are indescribable, that even the Saints struggle to put to words what Your encounter is truly like. The written word can not animate or bring to life the power of Your Love - except through the Bible, and those before me who were blind, but came to see; and the deaf, who finally came hear. In You, the dead were raised to new life. I believe this with all my body, soul and spirit, because You gave me Life that I never could have imagined or prepared myself for.

You did not create me to be perfect, Lord, and neither will I ever be... and so I accept my weaknesses as a sign of my own humanity, with a great desire to know You and love You better despite those weaknesses; offering it all up to You freely. With my whole heart, I'm sorry if I have missed Your call to me... if I have missed a particular path that You have wanted me to tread, a way You have wanted me to live. And so, my dearest Lord Jesus Christ in the divinity of the Holy Trinity, I open my heart to you, so that You may fill and consume me with your light and love again, as You have before. My way is not my way, until it is Your way. My life is not my life, until it is Your life. My spirit is not my spirit until it is Your Spirit. In You alone do I want to dwell... and because of this my Lord, I invite You to bring Your Life to my Spirit, so that my Spirit may live always for Your Life.

Today, we pray to invite Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to deepen our relationship with God. Other than the two scripture passages that I have reflected on, by the grace of God, I encountered another scripture passage, that screamed such joy and excitement within me, that I simply can't keep it to myself!
Jn 6: 62-63 "[Jesus said] What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life".
Aye! (I'm not Scottish, but I like saying that word!) It is the spirit that gives life... AMEN! In one Being with the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus are one God. I would not have come to know God's love without the Holy Spirit; of that I am sure! Someone once described to me that I experienced a Baptism in the Holy Spirit. How unworthy I am to even accept Jesus at the Sacrifice of the Mass... let alone be chosen to be Baptised in so glorious a way!

I guess that is why I was led by the almighty above to the blog image I have chosen to communicate any LISS related blogposts:
Jn 1: 32-33 And John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and stay on him. I still did not know that he was the one, but God, who sent me to baptise with water, had said to me, "You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man; he is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit."
Mat 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.






I ask, anybody who picks up on this post, to pray for me, for all the other LISS attendees, and all the leaders and organisers, that the Holy Spirit will touch give us Life throughout this season of LISS.