20110306

In the great CSPGS PREX tradition, Catholic ears please!

A Meditation on Hope

FAITH is the life of Christian community.
LOVE is the heart of Christian community.

HOPE is the atmosphere of Christian community.
It is both our breath and our breathing together.

Hope is the eternal spaces between our souls
that distinguish us from love to Love.

It is our faith reversed from the view of the Divine
and our faith received into the welcome hearts of others.

It is a thing that awaits our embrace
existing not in the past nor the future
but always in the present moment.

Hope floats from the deep of God's mystery -
Those timeless little white flowers that grow
upon those wide, open plains and rolling hills,
those evergreen valleys and high mountaintops
of the Eternal Kingdom of our Lord Christ
born from seasons of life's comings and goings
anchored firmly upon the Rock of Ages.

Hope is a promise of something good
and a reality that awaits unredeemed
to be perceived by the eyes of our faith
and received by arms of our souls
into the embrace of the love of Jesus Christ
living by the grace of God in our heart of hearts.

It is the unseen substance of the faith
of individuals and families, tribes and nations,
the vital heritage of entire civilizations -
the numberless promises of lives left behind,
suspended in time between heaven and earth,
living in the ether of a sacred silence
as something for our hearts to embrace...
hopes awaiting the community of other hopes
like the past awaiting the quickening of the present
within the eternal remembrance of God.

My precious friend,
from always to always.
Our faith is ever always our own.
It is something we allow.
It is something we nourish.
Like a sacred union professed,
one love alone with the One Love alone,
ever longing profoundly for Itself.
It is something personal and private
and bears its fruits for the Beloved.

But our hope for it to become
is always the promise of something received,
of a good that we can share with another.
It is something that awaits us
like a herald of the benevolent Prince
that bid us to come into His Eternal Kingdom.
Hope is something to be fulfilled
not by the bearer to whom it is promised
but by the beneficent reality of its Provider
and bears its fruits for the one possessed.
For how can one hope in one's own self
without killing the faith that enable us to see?

Indeed, our hope is in Jesus Christ!
It is our LORD's peace that we share.
It is God's promise for you and me
that matters very, very much!

It is His promise that we must hold on to
through our love and faith in Him
for it is to our God that we must trust.

Hope is what keeps us together.
It is our quite common longing as human beings.
It is always something to be shared
and lends warmth to our being human.
It feeds our hearts with goodwill
and keeps our souls good company.

It is the rarefied space where mercy acts
in the timeless moment of the now
to redeem from despair the truth
that live in other peoples lives.

It fills the sails that advance our common humanity.
It is the unselfish pride and excitement we feel
when we honor something true and worthy of praise
in the excellence within the person of another.

It feeds the fire that keeps us Christian
keeping us ever ready and agile
to serve all souls without distinction.

Glory to the God of heaven and earth,

Adoration to Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Peace and Godspeed to our Holy Father,

Pope Benedict XVI,

and all Bishops in communion
with the successor of Saint Peter.

Peace and Godspeed to our Holy Mother Church!
With much prayers for our Church Suffering -
all our beloved Holy Souls
of family and friends
forever transformed

by their final encounter with God.
All who lived so bravely
and loved us so tenderly,
all whose final hopes on earth
they have now lovingly entrusted to us.

Much prayers and loving support
to all our clergy, our religious and
to each other as Christian laity -
all who live to serve the one God of life
in spirit and in truth.

Peace and Godspeed to all of blessed Christendom
and to all the just who walk this world with us -

may we all work together towards a better world

for all men, women and children of all nations

of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

God be with all of us - now and forever.

So lets pick those little white flowers for Jesus,
and give each day our Savior a lovely bouquet -
joyously extend the Love of God to those in need
these make our Savior's Heart very glad, indeed!

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Rosary of Hope

They say, brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Rosary has a body and soul. The body of the Rosary are its physical gestures - the posture that we take, the Signing of the Cross, the passing of the beads - and also the vocal prayers themselves. And these are like handrails that guide us forward in the prayer. They allow our hearts to venture out into the more vital aspect of the Rosary, its soul.

I would like to put emphasis on the soul of the prayer because it is here where the real work actually takes place which is - in the case of this particular Rosary - the five meditations meant to make us more and more accustomed to our own hope in relation to God's plan for each of us (true self) and also the hope of others (family, friends, nation/s) in relation to God's plan for all of us together (Church).

Because of the darkness, my beloved, we can be certain that there are false hopes out there. Indeed, there is much despairing. For hopes that are false lead no where. The Devil is empty of promise - one can build from his illusions who believes in his deceptions a confidence in a hope that is false, even a confidence approaching faith. One must be wary of such things, my friends.

One may hope in war and reap only despair. One may hope in money and reap only bitterness. One may hope in drugs and reap only loneliness. One may hope in sin and reap only death. All these things take the soul to the perilous brink of eternal damnation.

And all these acts are contrary to the virtue, hope.

I had once hoped in things that are false and reaped much evil. Only by the grace of God, my friends, only by the grace of God am I saved through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is in the course of those events of my past life that I have received this Rosary. It is something I had to gradually learn. It is something I have received from Mother Mary for something I had asked of her which is a freedom from false hopes; a liberation form false addictions.

This prayer is proof against such things. Because through it one may stand to gain a certain sense of confidence (built upon an understanding strength of heart) to help devote the self to those authentic lineages of hope that ultimately lead to the fulfillment of the glory of God in heaven reflected upon our world; peace among our nations and good will among all men and women of peace.

You must first make the intention that you will be praying this Rosary of Hope - you may say: "Dear Lord Jesus, please allow me to offer you this prayer of hope."

Overview:

Hope is a lineage (portrayed by each of the Five Meditations) that begins with God and ends with God. It begins with loving obedience (Our Father). It proceeds as a promise kept in the heart and a labor wrought in time through perseverance, patience, humility and a proven faith in the faithfulness of the LORD (Hail Marys). And a promise fulfilled in the glory of God (Glory Be) in heaven reflected upon the earth; the glory of God being the proper terminus of all hope.

Parts:

The Sign of the Cross - It might be that this has become but a rote gesture. It is important to guard against making this an empty and mechanical gesture.

The Sign is a summary of all that we are to take into our hearts during the entire prayer. We must invite ourselves to open our hearts to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the Sign of the Cross. The vertical is our relationship of faith. The horizontal is our relationship of hope. This prayer concentrates on the horizontal relationship.

Creed - meditate on the glorious unity of the Church - Triumphant, Militant, Suffering - the seen and the unseen - all of creation as one realm under the LORD, our God.

First Our Father - meditate on the LORD - The one, triune Perfection - The Holy Trinity - God as a perfect unity of relationships.

Hail Mary - meditate on the Person of God the Father in heaven

Hail Mary - meditate on the Person of God the Son, Redeemer of the world

Hail Mary - meditate on the Person of God the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete

Glory Be - mediate on the fulfillment of all human hopes.

The Five Meditations:

First Meditation - True Self - Be thankful and bless the Name of the LORD, thy God Who has come to save you. Pray that you may appear to yourself clearly by the light of thy faith in the one, true God - love yourself as you are in God - even as your own true name written in heaven - and know that everything begins and returns again with the true self. Pray for all your needs in relation to your mission and vocation in life.

Second Meditation - Family/Extended Family - Be thankful and bless the Name of the LORD, thy God Who placed you from a place of Love into a place of love. Pray that God might preserve your family and the order of your generations. Pray for an understanding of the hopes of your family - past, present and future. Pray for the hopes of all your beloved kin. Pray for their needs. Pray for their individual needs. Ask for the strength to succor to these needs as much as you could as far as you could. Ask for the strength to be faithful to and forgiving of those people for whom it had pleased God to bring you forth into this world and with whom God has seen fit to entrust your nurture and your care.

Third Meditation - Friends/Local Community - Be thankful and bless the Name of the LORD, thy God Who provide for you, Who has given you all good things in heaven and on earth. Pray that God might provide you with good and faithful friends. Pray for an understanding of the hopes of your friends. Pray for the needs of your friends. Pray for their individual needs. Ask for both discernment and humility in your dealings with and within your local community. Pray for a deeper understanding of the hopes of your local community. Pray for the needs of your local community. Pray for the strength to serve in your local community. Pray for the poor in your locality. Do all that you can to succor to their needs. Pray for the needs of your local authorities. Treat them with honor and respect. Pray that God may bless them with wisdom and courage to govern with virtue. Pray for the grace to cherish forever those good and faithful friends God has seen fit to send you to complete for your own good sake what the LORD, thy God, has begun for you in your family.

Fourth Meditation - Nation/s - Be thankful and bless the Name of the LORD, thy God, Whose will it is to fulfill in you the promise of a national destiny and the salvation of thy own community. Be grateful for the gift of nationhood. Pray for a deeper understanding of the particular hopes of your nation and the hopes of other nations. Pray for the intentions of all your national leaders in the Responsible State. Treat them with honor and respect. Serve. Pray for the poor in your national community. Succor to their needs. Love them as yourself. Pray for the needs of your own nation. Pray for the needs of all nations. Pray for the peace of your nation and of all nations.

Fifth Meditation - Holy Mother Church - Be thankful and bless the Name of the LORD, thy God, Who gathers us all together into one communion in Him and with Him through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord of our LORD - the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Pray for the intentions of our Holy Father and all bishops in communion with him. Pray for the final hopes of the Church Suffering. Pray for all clergy. Pray for all our religious. Pray for all Christians. Pray for the peace of the world and an end to all suffering and war. Pray for the grace to discern your vocation in the Church and the strength to serve your mission. Pray for our Lord's poor. Succor to all of these needs as much as you can and as far as you can according to the freedom of your gifts.

You may add to these or linger on a particular one according to the particular current or need of your own meditation at that particular time.

After every Glory Be:

God of my Heart:

O my Jesus, zealous for souls,
thirsting for the love of Mankind!

Come, be Thou the God of my heart
and accomplish in me Thy will of peace.

This particular prayer above shall be said with Blessed Jacinta Marto, the Flower of Fatima.

Brothers and sisters, try to see the Lord in others through this prayer. He thirsts for our love through others and by our coming to Him we invite Him into our hearts that He may by His Love give us the grace to accomplish in us what we must do for Him today.

Finally, we have always, as Catholics, relied on our Mother Mary for her swift and efficacious intercession. Now in this prayer we are to come with her - hopes in hand - in the actual moment that she intercedes for us so that we may eventually learn to be like her and intercede with her for the needs of others and receive the grace to do all of those works of peace set by God before our hands and our feet - willingly and with joy.

Having said all of that, this Rosary of Hope in all its entirety we shall be saying with Mother Mary as she intercedes for our needs to God. Therefore, you must cling close to the protection of her mantle. This is very important.

QUEEN MOTHER MARY,

I love you.

Recall me to yourself today
under your most glorious service
as Queen of heaven and earth
and Queen of my heart with Jesus.

Grant me the strength of will
to serve you under your banner
with a heart that loves God alone
that I may persevere in the way of virtue
and add to the good of the world.

Please help me deny myself today
enduring temptations bravely
and bearing trials for Jesus
denying evil an entrance
in my heart and in our world.

O that I may please Almighty God
and prosper God's own peace
in my heart and in our world
for love of all thy children
O Queen of my heart with Jesus,

Queen of Peace!

Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

AMEN.

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Latria

As beautiful as the Rosary is, my brothers and sisters, it really only is the second most beautiful of Christian prayers. The most beautiful prayer of all, Beloved of God, is the Holy Mass.

For it is in Holy Mass that we are through Jesus Christ, as faithful and obedient children of the Father, constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit and constantly sent out by token of that same Spirit to renew the world around our selves.

One would think that the Saints, above all the Holy Mother of God, who along with all the Holy Angels of the LORD who are intimately entrusted also with each our own personal and spiritual welfare would encourage us - as far as it is freely possible for them - according to the will of God - to come to this Holy Banquet and not just on Sundays.

One would think that all our Saints would, as God wills it, seek to add each their own voice to the glorious chorale of the Angels that in the quiet of our hearts constantly invite each of us to come to this most excellent and most efficacious of prayers and join the one whole community of the Church in assaulting the Throne of the LORD with much love and song.

They do. For to God alone belong our worship.

However, in the darkness, this is not always so - or at least it is made to appear that way, but not by any of those whose hearts are called to God: To God alone belong our worship.

There are those who love the Saints but not with the love of God but with the love of the self and this is rather sad. That they would rather believe in their own empty creations, be it made in the appearance of popular piety. That they would rather their mind and hearts dwell on other things than come with nothing but a calm and expectant sense of joy to that great and happy Feast of their one and only Creator. That they would rather sit with creatures than sit with our Lord Christ in this supreme celebration pregnant with wonder and hope; a commemoration of the greatest love of all.

Let us not be this way, my friends: Latria!

Granted each of us are come to season in each our own time, but for each of us whose hearts are awakened to an abiding love of the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord, let us know - here and now - with conviction of faith in our hearts that Christ is really and actually present with us and for us in the Holy Eucharist.

From behind mere accidents of bread and wine that our Savior, Lord and God peers at us and He sees our world so needful of His Love, His True Light.

Like a great and eternal Star, Jesus Christ who is Emmanuel shines out to us in the Eucharist - freedom seeking freedom.

Bathed in this illuminating, searching Light, we stand naked before God,

the Light of His Love illuminating for us the great extent of our needs, the most profound depths of it.

"Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee but only say the word and I shall be healed."

Because, O little flock, it is precisely this sense of a great and profound need within our souls that will serve to fill us with the Bread of Angels. It is our hunger and thirst for God alone that shall satisfy our longing for Him;

God alone Who can grant for our hearts that peace that this world could never even dream of giving us.

And in the Eucharist He offers us Himself. Therefore, we must humbly accept our nakedness and powerlessness before God.

We must never hide from the call of Holy Communion.

So banish the darkness, let us come to Mass! Let us work, work, work to understand it, know it, love it, and live it. Let us

learn the words to this prayer and absorb their meaning so that we may come away filled, fulfilled and ready for service.

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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

A community deprived of the feminine expression is barren and desolate. For it knows of no hearth, no home, no place of rest...

no company to renew

no heart to come home into

no cheer to grace with solace

no warmth to bless with courage

no gaze to remind of beauty

no love to bear with injury

no touch to soften the harshness

no fire to tame the wilderness

no peace to prosper life

no strength to ward off strife.

I once thought that Filipina hair was just plain black hair and that was all. Obviously, I was not at all in love with my Philippines then. I never really noticed that our women sported not just plain black hair.

Framed by the warm light of our tropical sun, our women's hair is actually cast in many subtle hues in darkest shades of golden brown. Subtle, not obvious - and pretty but only when love is in the eye of the beholder. Exactly in keeping with our conservative nature.

As far as I am concerned, all our Filipinas are princesses. Beauty being what it is, inherited. We should work to make sure this Country of ours is more a suitable place for all our women.

March 2011 is National Women's Month.

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