By Francis Van Uden Hey everyone! I am pumped to be sharing the Litany of Humility with you today! It is such a beautiful prayer, and a great way to ask God to help us be more humble, which is not an easy virtue to practice. Before I continue, here’s what the prayer is:
“O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me. From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O Jesus. That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.” Although it may look like a long and intimidating prayer, it really isn’t. It is repetitive, and in each line, the prayer outlines either something that we struggle with that brings pride, or something that goes against it. It is such a good reminder of the ways we should try to be humble, and sometimes I don’t even think that some of the things in the prayer are prideful until I pray about them. When I pray this prayer, I like to pause after each statement (and before the repetitive response) and think of specific ways that I may be struggling with that in my life, and then offer up those specific examples to Jesus. Sometimes I include this prayer in the morning, keeping in mind the events of the day to come, and starting my day with a humility reminder. Other times, I’ll pray it in the evening and offer up the things that I had done that day. I LOVE how at the end of the prayer, it says “Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.” I usually think of humility as a substitute for pride, and not something that we would want to practice because of what humility is in itself. That portion of the prayer is so powerful, and reminds me of God as something so much greater than this world. The very last line of the prayer is also super cool to me! Before I was introduced to this prayer, I never thought that God was calling people to different “levels” of holiness. But the truth is, we aren’t all called to be as holy as some of the doctors and saints of the church, or even as holy as some of the people in our own churches. God calls us all to be holy, but he has a plan and a reason for why each person is called to be as holy as he desires. It also helps me be patient and content when I don’t hear God’s voice, because I don’t a lot of the time. He has a plan for me, and even if I try super hard to hear him, he sometimes won’t reveal himself to me, because that won’t draw me closer to him in the way that he wants. Humility is all about giving ourselves up to His will.
0 Comments
By Iliana Airey They’re not only pieces of beautiful artwork but sacred images used in religious devotion. They’re representations of sacred personages or special events (often done through painting, wood carvings, or mosaics). Icons can be super helpful for many people (including myself) because they provide a visual representation of someone or something. I don’t know about you, but personally, I really like having something to look at when I’m praying. Whether that be Jesus on the Altar during Adoration, fixating on the Crucifix in the Chapel, or keeping photos of Saints in my room so I can be reminded every day that they’re always praying for me. Icons have a way of visualizing important events or Saints so that we can focus on them more intimately and on a deeper level. We’re not only thinking and focusing on them in our minds but also looking at them! Through this, we come to understand how God has worked through them and reflect on His majesty! This is one of my favourite icons. It truly depicts the beauty of when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and found out that she was also pregnant!
By Pam Gonzales I don’t know about you but I hear this a lot, “Mass is boring, I don’t get anything out of it so why bother going to it?” “Weekly mass is good enough, why should I go to daily mass?” While I know it’s hard for us to go to daily mass, due to school and other extracurricular activities and harder now that we’re strictly doing any sort of gatherings online, there are lots of alternative ways to still attend mass.
We are very blessed to have access to daily mass and it’s somewhat easier now that it’s all digital since most of us have an electronic device that we could use. Attending daily mass is a way to develop the foundation of the relationship we have created with God through prayer or attending Sunday mass, we get to know His word and it helps us feel more connected to him and sometimes more connected to each other. Receiving Christ in the Blessed Eucharist gives us the strength to fight things like envy and pride. It can be a struggle to weaken these impulses, especially if they start to impact our priorities and relationships and we can’t fight everything alone. It takes insurmountable strength from Him through the Eucharist. Also let’s be real, who wouldn’t want to praise God first thing in the morning? It’s such a privilege and gift to be able to make God the first and most important thing by worshipping Him. Plus God asks for the first fruit of our harvest and by going to mass first thing in the morning we are offering the first part of our day to our Lord. I often find that the days when I forget to pray in the morning or put it off until later in the day, I’m more easily distracted and it’s harder to focus on the task at hand and I struggle with feeling connected to Him and my day just seems strange. I don’t know about you but sometimes I need a set time to just be in God’s presence and if I set the time myself, I always push it back and say “I’ll do it in a bit” but I end up forgetting about it because of my busy schedules and other responsibilities. I’ve always tried to fit in a time for Him into my schedule instead of building my schedule around Him which is so much easier and i find it to be more effective and since we can’t physically attend mass here are some other ways to get your early morning dose of Jesus;
By Francis Van Uden Hey everyone! It’s Francis! Today I want to let you all know about the Angelus prayer! It’s a Catholic prayer and is very cool & traditional. Although not a whole lot of Catholics pray it nowadays, it is a beautiful devotion that you can pray daily, and does not take very long. It’s meant to be prayed three times a day, one as early as possible (around six in the morning for most people), one at noon, and one at six in the evening. Because of these times, some people like praying the Angelus along with grace before meals, which is great! You don’t have to stick to this however, the Angelus is a beautiful prayer and as long as you are praying it respectfully, any time of day is appropriate. This prayer is meant to be prayed everyday, and that is why Catholics have certain times to pray it, so that they are used to praying it at a certain time and don’t forget to. And that’s why it’s called a devotion! Because people pray this prayer everyday at a particular time, they “devote” that part of their days to pray the particular prayer, in this case, the Angelus! The Angelus started out before the year 1000, as people would pray three “Hail Mary’s” at night, and would ask Mary for help and prayers. Then, many began to pray it multiple times a day, in the morning, at lunch, and in the evening. Eventually, prayers before each Hail Mary were added, from details of Mary’s Annunciation (this was when Mary was told she was going to be pregnant with Jesus, the Son of God!). Then, a final prayer was added, and now we have it - the Angelus! Fun fact: Many years ago, when it was normal for all Catholics to pray the Angelus everyday, local churches and monasteries would ring the church bells at 6am, noon and 6pm to remind everyone to stop and pray the Angelus. (There is even a famous painting of a couple stopping to pray the Angelus, in their field!) Here’s the Angelus:
(the “L” parts are meant to prayer by a leader of the prayer (which can be anyone) and the “R” is a response that everyone says, followed by everyone saying a Hail Mary.) L. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, etc... L. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. R. Be it done unto me according to Your Word. Hail Mary, etc... L. And the Word was made flesh, R. And dwelt among us. Hail Mary, etc... L. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech You, O Lord, Your Grace into our hearts; that as we have known the incarnation of Christ, your Son by the message of an angel, so by His passion and cross we may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen. Liturgy of the Hours, despite it being so unknown and unfamiliar to many, is a prominent practice amongst people in the church. While priests, deacons and some of the religious are called to partake in at least some aspect of it, it is encouraged for the laity as well ( which is all of us)!
The way this works is that there are five times during the day, each classified as a major or a minor hour. In the Office of Readings (the first hour), it consists of:
This becomes a little different from the other hours, which look more like:
Now, I know that this looks like a lot to figure out, which is fair! The good thing is that there are many different resources that are willing to help you get started with this practice. There are several different apps that you can download to help you get started, including Laudate (which I would recommend all Catholics to have as it has so much in it!) I hope this helps to alleviate some of the mystery of what this devotion is! I wanted to take a moment to talk about scapulars and what they mean for us in faith. Several years ago, while I was at a retreat with my youth group (we were in junior high and in the mountains), the priest that was with us started talking about scapulars. I remember having no idea what that meant, but I was far too afraid to ask, as if in asking him I would be letting him down somehow. Despite my cowardice, someone else in the group asked, and I am very grateful for that. The priest told us that a scapular is a promise- it is a sign of your faith. When you commit to wearing a scapular, you are making a lasting statement of your faith. Those who wear a scapular rarely take it off. Some even wear it when bathing. I remember being shocked and amazed at this. I found myself questioning "How could someone devote themself to something like this? This is a big commitment for your faith!" Despite thinking that the practice was cool, I thought that I would never take up this devotion, but God had other plans. At the end of the weekend, I received a brown scapular, so myself and a few friends decided that we would start to wear them, at first to humour the priest, but later it became something we all maintained as a sign of our faith. As time went on, and we started to enter high school, I saw one by one my friends stop wearing this scapular. They often would make up an excuse, saying they forgot to put it on, but what was really happening was that they were being tested in their faith. We were no longer in our catholic school and the idea of faith seemed to make you less popular amongst your classmates. So they started to leave the practice. Now I know you're wondering, "David, I have never seen you wear this! What happened?" Well, for me, I was quite fond of the practice. I diligently wore it every day and often even would wear it into the shower, but this disintegrated the weave in the rope, and it eventually broke apart. Let's back up for a second. What is a scapular? A scapular is an object that you wear on your neck. It has pieces of fabric on both ends, typically of woven wool. You wear it evenly on your neck with one piece on your front and one on the back. The word scapular derives from the latin word for shoulder. This object is a sacramental. A sacramental is an object that works to "prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it" (CCC 1670). Some other sacramentals include palms from Palm Sunday, Holy Water, saint medals, etc. These items are blessed.
There are several different types of scapulars, but I will describe a few of them. There is the brown scapular is a symbol of the Carmelite order. The story goes that Our Lady gave this to St Simon Stock, and with it she said "..."he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire." What this means is that as this is an outward sign of faith, it should compel us to continue to grow closer to God, and if we maintain this practice throughout our lives, we should be in a place where we will be in a position to go to heaven, or at the very least purgatory for a time. Our Lady also described it as a, "...sign of salvation, a safeguard in dangers, a pledge of peace and of the covenant." Some other scapulars include the red scapular, which is a devotion to the Passion of Our Lord, the black scapular which is the seven sorrows of Mary, and the green scapular which is the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You can read about them some more HERE. I hope that I have been able to help you learn a little about scapulars! They are a really cool devotion that I encourage you to check out more! God Bless! |
PulsePulse is our Jr High group (Grades 6-9) for those who want to be journeying to learn more about God and how He fits into this crazy thing called life! From Saint of the Day to talks to activities, we work to understand more about our faith and its importance in our everyday lives as we all work to become modern day saints. Categories
All
|