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Take Action on New HHS Conscience Rule
If you believe that no one should be forced to participate in medical practices such as abortion in violation of their conscience, then you need to make your voice heard by submitting a comment to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in support of a new rule that will insure the protection of conscience rights.
Parental Rights At Risk in Transgender Cases
Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDSIn the battle to win “equality” for children struggling with gender identity, state governments are becoming increasingly prone to intervene in ways that have cost one couple custody of their child while another state is considering a bill that will allow children as young as five to determine their own sex and race.
Lenten Journey Day 9
February 22
Four Steps of Lent
(We will look at each of these over the next few days.)
Let go of distractions. We are a distracted people; Lent invites us to detach. It invites us to come away for a while and listen for the Father’s voice. As we read in the Old Testament, God speaks in a “tiny whisper” (cf. 1 Kings 19: 11-13). We must slow down the tempo of our lives and tone down the volume of our days if we are to hear the voice of God. We must minimize the activity and noise and maximize the quiet and solitude. We must create a “desert” for ourselves - a quiet spot at home or in the back yard, a neighborhood park, or before the Blessed Sacrament or the tabernacle in our parish. All of these may provide precisely the perfect place of retreat.
Lent provides us with opportunities to develop certain attitudes toward our lives. Our “desert” should include a time of reflection that looks back over the day in light of God’s word to see what He may be revealing. Attention to the liturgical readings of the Lenten season provides an ideal framework in which to contemplate the movement of God in the midst of our life’s events.
The Dubious History of the Vita Flex Technique
We recently had a question from a reader about the merits – or demerits - of Vita Flex. What is it? Where did it come from? Does it work?
Lenten Journey Day 8
February 21
The General Examination
The general examination has a wider scope than the particular and is intended to help the soul to remain vigilant in all that pertains to the service of God. This is practiced by first praying to God and asking for His help in recognizing your failures and for acquiring the strength to overcome them. Then quietly retrace the movement of your day, glancing over the hours and looking for any thoughts, words or deeds that might have offended God. Ask God for His forgiveness and His help in avoiding
these falls in the future.
St. Ignatius took the examination of conscience a step further by adding a positive practice to this routine self-scrutiny. Instead of just examining ourselves on the seven capital sins, he recommends that “the contrary virtues be considered . . . in order to understand better the faults committed that come under the seven capital sins.” Moreover, and still more positively, “in order the better to avoid these sins, one should resolve to endeavor by devout exercises to acquire and retain the seven virtues contrary to them.”
If your main fault is sourced in pride, practice humility. Fight greed with the virtue of generosity. Lust can only be overcome by chastity. Anger is diffused by meekness and gluttony is quickly stifled with temperance. Instead of envying your neighbor, practice love of neighbor, and if you suffer from sloth, develop in yourself the virtue of diligence.
By employing these simple practices with daily consistency, we will not only conquer our vices and become better human beings, but we will also be able to draw closer to God than we ever dreamed possible.
Give Prayerful Alms to the Holy Souls This Lent!
Susan Tassone (Photo courtesy of Our Sunday Visitor)Lent is a time when we open our hearts more fully to the love and mercy of God through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. What better time to give “prayerful alms” to the Holy Souls in Purgatory which could help to send many souls home to heaven in time for Easter!
Lenten Journey Day 7
February 20
The examination of conscience is not just something we do the night before we go to confession, at least not if we're serious about answering Jesus' call to "be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48).
For those who truly want to conquer their vices and become a beacon of light and love in the world, St. Ignatius of Loyola recommends the regular practice of two kinds of examinations of conscience, a general and a particular. The general examination covers all of our defects while the particular examination concentrates on one fault or sin for a specific period of time.
The Particular Examination
St. Ignatius ranks the particular examination first in importance. Whereas the purpose of the general examination is to purify the soul and prepare us for sacramental confession, the particular examination helps us to focus on a particular fault until we have conquered it.
For this reason, he recommends that we make a particular examination of conscience twice a day and keep a written account of the number of times we committed this fault during the day. This helps us to see our improvement (or lack of it) and enables us to take whatever steps are necessary to continue addressing this fault.
" . . . (W)e have a better chance to master our tendencies if we take them one at a time and concentrate our efforts on pride, lust, or laziness, instead of scattering volitional energy over the whole field of our passions," advises the late Fr. John Hardon.
"But among the aberrations some are more prominent than others, and among these one generally predominates. If I can isolate these dominant tendencies, manifested in a certain pattern of my sins, and work on them, my labor will not only be more effective because less dissipated, but will be directed at the source of my evil inclinations. I shall be laying the axe to the root of the tree."
For instance, if your biggest fault is a loose tongue, make a specific request to God every morning for His help in fighting this particular fault during the day. Then monitor yourself as the day progresses, writing down any occasions where you might have said something harsh, untruthful, impatient, etc. St. Ignatius recommends that we impose some kind of penance for every one of the faults we commit. For instance, for every nasty comment, say a decade of the Rosary; for every lie or half-truth told, forfeit a favorite snack or dessert.
Fr. Hardon highlights several dramatic success stories of those who employed these techniques, such as St. Francis de Sales who had a tendency toward depression, but who gradually became a modern apostle of joyous confidence in God.
(Tomorrow we will look at the General Examination.)
Horrific Crimes Blamed on Voodoo
The practice of voodoo is being blamed for two crimes committed in Massachusetts in the past month which left two children dead and another permanently disfigured.
Lenten Journey Day 6
February 19
Litany of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows
Pope Pius VII
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins, Pray for us.
Mother of the Crucified, Pray for us.
Sorrowful Mother, Pray for us.
Mournful Mother, Pray for us.
Sighing Mother, Pray for us.
Afflicted Mother, Pray for us.
Foresaken Mother, Pray for us.
Desolate Motherr, Pray for us.
Mother most sad, Pray for us.
Mother set around with anguish, Pray for us.
Mother overwhelmed by grief, Pray for us.
Mother transfixed by a sword, Pray for us.
Mother crucified in thy heart, Pray for us.
Mother bereaved of thy Son, Pray for us.
Sighing Dove, Pray for us.
Mother of Dolors, Pray for us.
Fount of tears, Pray for us.
Sea of bitterness, Pray for us.
Field of tribulation, Pray for us.
Mass of suffering, Pray for us.
Mirror of patience, Pray for us.
Rock of constancy, Pray for us.
Remedy in perplexity, Pray for us.
Joy of the afflicted, Pray for us.
Ark of the desolate, Pray for us.
Refuge of the abandoned, Pray for us.
Shield of the oppressed, Pray for us.
Conqueror of the incredulous, Pray for us.
Solace of the wretched, Pray for us.
Medicine of the sick, Pray for us.
Help of the faint, Pray for us.
Strength of the weak, Pray for us.
Protectress of those who fight, Pray for us.
Haven of the shipwrecked, Pray for us.
Calmer of tempests, Pray for us.
Companion of the sorrowful, Pray for us.
Retreat of those who groan, Pray for us.
Terror of the treacherous, Pray for us.
Standard-bearer of the Martyrs, Pray for us.
Treasure of the Faithful, Pray for us.
Light of Confessors, Pray for us.
Pearl of Virgins, Pray for us.
Comfort of Widows, Pray for us.
Joy of all Saints, Pray for us.
Queen of thy Servants, Pray for us.
Holy Mary, who alone art unexampled, Pray for us.
Pray for us, most Sorrowful Virgin,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
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