Daily Rosary Meditations | Catholic Prayers

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. What this is about and what it has to do with our lives is the theme of our meditation today. The Holy Spirit has a maternal mission to form Christ in you. The Holy Spirit carries out this maternal mission through Mary. When you turn to Mary, you are turning to the Holy Spirit that Christ may be formed in you. On July 28, 1935 Kolbe wrote: And what about the Holy Spirit? He is in the Immaculata…as the Son of God is in Jesus, but of course, with this distinction – in Jesus Christ, one divine person, two natures, the divine and the human, are united. In the Immaculata, her nature and person are distinguished from the nature and person of the Holy Spirit. However, the union between the Holy Spirit and the Immaculata is so inexpressibly perfect that He conducts His activity through her only. Therefore, she is the mediatrix of all graces flowing from the Holy Spirit…In honoring the Immaculata, we honor in a special way the Holy Spirit. (p. 473-474 Foster) In this feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, we must be reminded that the Holy Spirit works through Mary, our Spiritual Mother to bring to completion our union with God. Sometime between the year 1247 and 1265, St. Simon Stock, the head of the Carmelites, prayed to Mary, asking for a special privilege from her for the Carmelites. Mary appeared to him with a multitude of angels, holding in her hands the Scapular of the Order. She said, “This will be for you and for all Carmelites the privilege, that he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.” Mary promised that the grace of final perseverance will be granted through her intercession to all those who, by means of the Scapular, dedicate themselves to her and wear it until death out of devotion to her and to the teachings of Christ. The scapular (from Latin scapulae, "shoulders") is a garment worn by men and women of religious orders to serve as a reminder their commitment to live a Christian life. Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock and gave him the promise that all those who wear the scapular and live true devotion her will be saved. The Carmelites then invited lay people to wear a much smaller version of the scapular and benefit from the same promise. There is nothing magical about wearing a brown scapular or some Marian Medal. Wearing it should signify and serve to remind us to live true devotion to Mary. The saving power comes from the Holy Spirit and our response to the grace of the Spirit – not the wearing of this or that thing. What matters is living Devotion to Mary which is to live in Imitation of Jesus relationship with Mary, so that the Holy Spirit and Mary may form Jesus within us. Devotion to Mary has three essential elements: To consecrate oneself entirely to Mary as Jesus did in the Incarnation; To live a personal relationship with Mary, moment to moment, day after day, in imitation of Jesus’ relationship with her as he grew up under the direction and care of Mary in Nazareth; finally, to Sit in the School of Mary each day in the Rosary. These three practices keep us close to Mary, through whom the Holy Spirit will form Jesus in us. Those who do this will be saved. It is not about wearing this or that scapular or medal. It is about a deep personal and lived relationship with Mary and Jesus. Am I living a personal relationship with Mary, my Spiritual Mother in such a way that it causes me to be more virtuous, more pure, more courageous and more charitable? In a word – more like Jesus Christ. If not, why not? I wear the Miraculous Medal rather than the Brown Scapular. We will learn about the Miraculous Medal on Thursday. Every time I take the medal off and put it back on it is a reminder of my identity: I am the son of Mary, She is my Spiritual Mother, I belong entirely to her. I can rely on her for everything just as Jesus did when he was a small boy growing up under her care and influence. It is a reminder to me that I am not alone and I don’t have to go it alone

Where do we come from? Where are we going? What is the meaning of life? These are the questions taken up in CCC 282-301, the answers to which we will meditate upon today in the Rosary. The lie the devil has spread is that we do not come from an All-Good, All-Powerful and Loving Father. Instead, all the matter in the universe was smooshed into an incredibly hot, infinitely dense subatomic speck of matter. Then, resulting from random chance, the universe and human sprung into being and developed. This ultimately means, you come from nothing, nothing more than random chaos and there is nothing after death. You come from nothing, you are going toward nothing and your life has no meaning. God’s answers to these questions are quite different. With infinite wisdom, power and love, God created the world and you so that you could share in the very life of God and live with him and your family and friends forever. The truth is so much better than the lie. Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” There exists but one God. . . he is the Father, God, the Creator, the author, the giver of order. He made all things by himself, that is, by his Word and by his Wisdom", "by the Son and the Spirit" who, so to speak, are "his hands." God is perfect and complete in the Trinity. He needs nothing at all. So why did God create the world and us? Because God is Love and Goodness itself. Love is a gift of self for the good of others. God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness: “Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand.” We came from love and we are invited to enter fully into the love of God and we journey by way of love. John of the Cross says: At the evening of life we shall be judged by our love. The World was created for the Glory of God. What is the Glory of God? The CCC and St Irenaeus teach that The Glory of God is man fully Alive! To be fully alive means to reach all our human and divine potential by becoming an adopted son or daughter of God. This means that the purpose or meaning of life is our transformation to be like God and live like God forever. This transformation come by emptying ourselves of all disordered desires, then longing for God above all things, seeking to do his will, allowing him to purify and finally to fill us completely with Himself. God creates an ordered and good world CCC 299 Because creation comes forth from God's goodness, it shares in that goodness - "And God saw that it was good. . . very good", for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him. Not only is creation good, so too every person is fundamentally good. To every person God says: “It is good that you exist, how wonderful you are!” Tragically, many people do not know this about themselves. It is our job to make it known to them. Beginning with our spouse, each of our children and the rest of the people in our lives. How will you communicate this to someone today! God upholds and sustains creation. 301 With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. This means that if God was not thinking of you, right at this moment, you would cease to exist. God holds you in existence at every moment and he enables you to do all you do. Jesus said to the Apostles at the Last Supper: Apart from me you can do nothing. Recognizing this utter dependence upon God should lead us to see that the most important thing, the most productive thing we could do each day is set aside time to give our 100% attention to God in prayer. Because we depend upon God for everything, prayer is the best investment of our time. But most people don’t pray because they are too busy. The pride this implies!

CCC 268 Of all the divine attributes, only God's omnipotence (that He is All-Powefull) is named in the Creed: "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH." To profess this power has great bearing on our lives. We believe that his might is universal, for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything. God's power is loving, for he is our Father, and mysterious, for only faith can discern it when it "is made perfect in weakness. " CCC 269 The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God…If God is almighty "in heaven and on earth", it is because he made them. Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his works according to his will. He is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will: As Wisdom 11:21 states "It is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the strength of your arm? CCC 270 God is the Father Almighty, whose fatherhood and power shed light on one another: God reveals his fatherly power in three ways: by the way he takes care of our needs; by the filial adoption that he gives us ("I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty"): God shows forth his almighty power by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. The power of God is seen most clearly in his mercy and forgiveness. In the face of evil God seems apparently powerlessness 272 Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the death and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. Christ crucified is thus "the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." It is precisely in our weakness that the power of God is manifest. St John Paul writes in his letter on the meaning of human suffering: the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ's Cross. In such a concept, to suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ. In him God has confirmed his desire to act especially through suffering, which is man's weakness and emptying of self, and he wishes to make his power known precisely in this weakness and emptying of self. Salvific Dolores 23 CCC 273 Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God's almighty power. This faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw to itself Christ's power. The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that "nothing will be impossible with God", and was able to magnify the Lord: "For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Mary believed the words of the Angel, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Power of the Most Hight will overshadow you…and Nothing will be impossible to God.” Even before it happened and her belief enabled it to happen. Mary continued to believe as she stood beneath the Cross, held her dead Son in her arms and laid him in the Tomb. And God did what seemed impossible – He raised her Son from the Dead. Mary come and be our faith in God the Father Almighty when we are weak. How do we stay faithful when things seem impossible? Keep this in mind at all times and say it over and over: Nothing is impossible to God; and God works all things for good for those who love him. CCC 274 "Nothing is more apt to confirm our faith and hope than holding it fixed in our minds that nothing is impossible with God. Romans 8:28 All things work for good for those who love God.

Faith in God should affect the way we think and live in five ways. First, belief in God should lead us to turn to him alone as the first cause and final goal of all things. Everything that happens, God has willed or allowed for our greatest good. Therefore, abandon yourselves unconditionally to God’s Providence, to the way He guides all things for good. Trust him to work out your purification and holiness as He sees fitting. Try not to resist him but to do his will and accept his will in all things since union with God is our goal. If everything we are and have comes from God and if God works all things for good for those who love him, then we should live in constant thanksgiving. We should begin each day, naming many things for which we are grateful to God. Then, when something wrong or bad happens, pray, ask God what to do and do what you can to change it. If you cannot change it, then thank God for it because God works all things for good for those who love him. Faith in God means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men: everyone is made in the image and likeness of God. Every person comes from God and every person is made for union with God through Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church. Our role is to take the initiative to help them to friendship with God. Our role is also means we must live the Golden Rule: do to others what you would want them to do to you. Faith in God means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him: A prayer of St Nicholas of Flue captures this idea well: My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you. Faith in God means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. A prayer of St. Teresa of Avila wonderfully expresses this trust: Let nothing trouble you / Let nothing frighten you Everything passes / God never changes Patience / Obtains all Whoever has God / Wants for nothing God alone is enough.

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Thank you for committing 20 minutes of your day to the Rosary! 

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Thank you for joining us and committing 20 minutes of your morning to Our Lady and the Lord.

Thank you for joining us and committing 20 minutes of your morning to Our Lady and the Lord

Thank you for joining us and committing 20 minutes of your morning to Our Lady and the Lord

Thank you for joining us and committing 20 minutes of your morning to Our Lady and the Lord

Thank you for joining us and committing 20 minutes of your morning to Our Lady and the Lord

Thank you for joining us and committing 20 minutes of your morning to Our Lady and the Lord

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Topics we discussed:Catholic and Protestant views on Redemptive SufferingImputed vs. Imparted JustificationThe need for TraditionResources we mentioned:Christian Smith, How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps

Topics we discussed:??Why the proclamation of Christ's Resurrection is essential to the proclamation of the Gospel True crime and Christ's Resurrection Why Jesus is in fact God, and how the Resurrection points to this truthPersonal encounters and transformations in ChristResources we mentioned:Saint Paul's message to the Corinthians John 20:1 - 9

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