Wednesday | August 06, 2008

August 6: The Feast of the Transfiguration

Litany of Transfiguration

When I am tempted to look only at my faults...Let me see only Jesus.


When troubled by the specter of doubt and defeat...Let me see only Jesus.


When I can't see beyond the frustrations of the moment...Let me see only Jesus.


When the horizon seems distant and dark...Let me see only Jesus.


When I can't see the point of pursuing what's good...Let me see only Jesus.


When complaining and cynicism invade my peace....Let me see only Jesus.


When I can't face my problems...Let me see only Jesus.


When the world looks bleak...Let me see only Jesus.


When others measure and judge me...Let me see only Jesus.


When beset by depression...Let me see only Jesus.


When friendship is far from me...Let me see only Jesus.


When overshadowed by sorrow...Let me see only Jesus.


When I fail to use my freedom...Let me see only Jesus.


When it's hard to forgive...Let me see only Jesus.


When things don't make sense...Let me see only Jesus.


When I think I can't change...Let me see only Jesus.


When confronted by suffering...Let me see only Jesus.


When stress gets me down...Let me see only Jesus.


When it's hard to go on...Let me see only Jesus.


When blinded by sin...Let me see only Jesus.


When the hardness of life overwhelms me...Let me see only Jesus.


When hope begins to fade...Let me see only Jesus.


Our Father...


Closing Prayer: Loving Father, thank you for allowing me to witness the vision of your Son transfigured on Mount Tabor. May I become what I behold so that my life will radiate the glory and grace that remain your priceless gifts to me in Jesus. Amen.

By Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P. in the August 2008 issue of Magnificat.
Posted by Red Neck Woman at 00:21:18 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday | July 31, 2008

August 2008 is Officially “Pray for PZ Myers Month”

From St. Peter Canisius Apostolate

I’m sure you’ve heard about the outrageous sacrilege committed by PZ Myers. If you haven’t, Jimmy Akin sums it up here. I’m not going to comment on what he did. You don’t need me to do that.


But I will encourage you to make August a month of prayer for PZ Myers. But let’s not just pray for his conversion. Let’s be a little more daring. Let’s pray that he will become our next St. Paul — not an the Apostle to the Gentiles, but an Apostle of the Eucharist.


This isn’t as odd as it might sound. One theme running throughout the lives of the saints, espeically saints that lives worldly lives before their conversion, is this: Their greatest sins became the foundation of their holiness. St. Paul persecuted the Church, and so God used him to build up the Church. St. Augustine lived a life of fleshly pleasure, so God made him the one to clarify the Christian view of conjugal love and made him the model of acesticism. St. Ignatius of Loyola longed to be a military man, and so God made him the head of, at one time, one of the most influential religious orders in the world. And little Therese Martin was extremely selfish in the smallest things of life, so God used her to teach the world how to become extraordinarily holy by giving Jesus the smallest of our acts.


So beginning next Friday, August 1, let us all join in prayer for the conversion of PZ Myers every day, until Sunday, August 31. Let us pray Rosaries for his conversion, offer up the Mass for his conversion, engage in abstinence and fasting for his conversion, and spend time in Adoration for his conversion.


In other words, let’s treat the man as Christ would have us treat him — with profound love.


So get the word out. Email your friends and relatives. Put it on your blogs and websites. Maybe one of you could made a flier that we could put in our parishes (contact me, and I’ll make it available through the Apostolate).


To which I will only add, please consider making the Holy Hour of Reparation for the Sacred Heart of Jesus part of your prayers for PZ Myers and all who share his contempt for the things of God.

Posted by Red Neck Woman at 02:10:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday | July 23, 2008

More on Eucharistic Desecration....

Mark Shea has some excellent thoughts on the spreading wave of Eucharistic desecration and threats of such on InsideCatholic.com and Father Joe suggests a prayer of reparation here.

I'll repeat the Prayer of Reparation I suggested a couple of days ago which is taken from Holy Hour Of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Please consider buying a copy and praing the entire Holy Hour regularly!
Act of Reparation

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages unceasingly offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy, and in the name of all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee!


The more Thy Mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them, O Sacred Heart of Jesus!


The more impiety endeavors to extinguish our hopes of immortality, the more we shall trust in Thy Heart, sole hope of mankind!


The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee, O infinitely amiable Heart of Jesus.


The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we shall adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!


The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and ignored, the more we shall delight to observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!


The more Thy Sacraments are despised and abandoned, the more frequently we shall receive them with love and reverence, O most liberal Heart of Jesus!


The more the imitation of Thy virtues is neglected and forgotten, the more we shall endeavor to practice them, O Heart, model of every virtue!


The more the devil labors to destroy souls, the more we shall be inflamed with desire to save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of souls!


The more sin and impurity destroy the image of God in man, the more we shall try by purity of life to be a living temple of the holy Spirit, O Heart of Jesus!


The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavor to be her faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!


The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more will we honor him as the infallible head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray for him, O Kingly Heart of Jesus!


O Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy apostles in the midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

Thank you kindly James for directing me to those posts! 

Posted by Red Neck Woman at 20:44:37 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday | July 13, 2008

Some Things That Are Wrong....

It's wrong to defend the Faith with violence and/or threats of violence. Period.

These people and people like them....and here should not be getting ugly emails much less death threats or threats of any kind. Yes. What has been said and done is unspeakably ugly and disrespectful. Blasphemous. So?

As Christians we are commanded to love those who ridicule us and revile us. Period.

Sure. We can storm eBay and ask that they not allow the sale of consecrated items. We can make known the depth of outrage caused by such desecration. We can take reasonable precautions to prevent additional acts of desecration, but we have to LOVE the people that mock us and our Faith. That means no death threats. No violence. No ugly words. Not just because these things are counter-productive, but because they are wrong.

If you need a weapon, drop to your knees and fast and pray. Offer reparation on their behalf.

Here's one to get you started.....

Act of Reparation

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages unceasingly offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy, and in the name of all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee!

The more Thy Mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them, O Sacred Heart of Jesus!

The more impiety endeavors to extinguish our hopes of immortality, the more we shall trust in Thy Heart, sole hope of mankind!

The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee, O infinitely amiable Heart of Jesus.

The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we shall adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!

The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and ignored, the more we shall delight to observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!

The more Thy Sacraments are despised and abandoned, the more frequently we shall receive them with love and reverence, O most liberal Heart of Jesus!

The more the imitation of Thy virtues is neglected and forgotten, the more we shall endeavor to practice them, O Heart, model of every virtue!

The more the devil labors to destroy souls, the more we shall be inflamed with desire to save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of souls!

The more sin and impurity destroy the image of God in man, the more we shall try by purity of life to be a living temple of the holy Spirit, O Heart of Jesus!

The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavor to be her faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!

The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more will we honor him as the infallible head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray for him, O Kingly Heart of Jesus!

O Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy apostles in the midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

Besides....bad manners speak for themselves.

Yes. I know this was much worse than just bad manners but at the very least it was terribly bad manners and on that most reasonable people could agree.


Posted by Red Neck Woman at 23:26:36 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Friday | July 11, 2008

St. Benedict of Nursia

Today is the Feast of St. Benedict so in his honor...

St. Benedict's Pledge

O Lord,
I place myself in your hands and dedicate myself toyou.
I pledge myself to do your will in all things --
To love the Lord God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength.
Not to kill, not to steal, not to covet, not to hear false witness,
To honor all persons.
Not to do to another what I should not want done to myself.
To chastise the body.
Not to seek after pleasures. To love fasting. To relieve the poor.
To clothe the naked. To visit the sick. To bury the dead.
To help in trouble. To console the sorrowing.
To hold myself aloof from worldly ways.
To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
Not to give way to anger.
Not to foster a desire for revenge.
Not to entertain deceit in my heart.
Not to make a false peace. Not to forsake charity.
Not to swear, lest I swear falsely.
To speak the truth with heart and tongue.
Not to return evil for evil.
To do no injury, even to bear patiently any injury done to me.
To love my enemies.
Not to curse those who curse me
but rather to bless them.
To bear persecution for justice' sake.
Not to be proud.
Not to be given to intoxicating drink.
Not to be an overeater.
Not to be lazy.
Not to be slothful.
Not to be a murmurer.
Not to be a detractor.
To put my trust in God.
To refer the good I see in myself to God.
To refer any evil I see in myself to myself.
To fear the day of judgment.
To be in dread of hell.
To desire eternal life with spiritual longing.
To keep death before my eyes daily.
To keep constant watch over my action.
To remember that God sees me everywhere.
To call upon Christ for defense against evil thoughts
That arise in my heart.
To guard my tongue against wicked speech.
To avoid much speaking.
To avoid idle talk.
Not to seek to appear clever.
To read only what is good to read.
To pray often.
To ask forgiveness daily for my sins,
To seek ways to amend my life.
To obey my superiors in all things rightful.
Not to desire to be thought holy, but to seek holiness.
To fulfill the commandments of God by good works.
To love chastity.
To hate no one.
Not to be jealous or envious of anyone.
Not to love strife.
Not to love pride.
To honor the aged.
To pray for my enemies.
To make peace after a quarrel, before the setting of the sun.
Never to despair of your mercy, O God of Mercy.

From: Praying With Saints: Making their Prayers Your Own

I think this would make an excellent examen.
Posted by Red Neck Woman at 14:07:08 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday | June 19, 2008

Romanian Orthodox Prelate Threatened With Excommunication

(Internet search brought you here? This post can be read at my new blog here and the good news is that my new blog does not randomly cut off the right side of the text.)

This story makes me very sad. How it must grieve our Lord to see these divisions persist. I don't know who is right, and who is wrong, or who should or should not be disciplined. I am only certain that these divisions added to the suffering Our Lord endured in the Passion.

Join me in praying the Chaplet of Unity for healing in Our Lord's Church?


Using the Rosary, Recite on the large bead before each of the five decades:

L: God our Heavenly Father, through Your Son Jesus, our Victim-High Priest, True Prophet, and Sovereign King,

R: Pour forth the power of Your Holy Spirit upon us and open our hearts. In your Great Mercy, through the Motherly Mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Queen, forgive our sinfulness, heal our brokenness, and renew our hearts in the faith, and peace, and love, and joy of Your Kingdom, that we may be one in You.

Recite on the ten small beads of each of the five decades:

L: In Your Great Mercy,

R: Forgive our sinfulness, heal our brokenness, and renew our hearts that we may be one in You.

Conclude in unison:

Hear, O Israel! The Lord Our God is One God!

Oh Jesus, King of All Nations, may Your reign be recognized on Earth!

Mary, Our Mother and Mediatrix of All Grace, pray and intercede for us your children!

Saint Micheal, great prince and guardian of your people, come with the holy angels and saints and protect us!

Posted by Red Neck Woman at 11:05:38 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday | June 17, 2008

Christian Virtue Is Not For Sissies

(Internet search brought you here? This post can be read at my new blog here and the good news is that my new blog does not randomly cut off the right side of the text.)

Our Lord answers prayer. So much so that as an evangelical Christian "we" all knew to never pray for patience. After all, one does not gain the virtue of patience when things are going swimmingly. On the contrary, patience is cultivated only  in trying circumstances. So what do you think would happen if someone were to pray the following prayer regularly?

Litany of Humility

O Jesus meek and humble of heart, hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being being extolled, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being honored, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being praised, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being approved, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being despised, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be more esteemed 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 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 become as holy as I should, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it. Amen.


by Rafael Cardinal Merry de Val


And just in case I was thick-headed and not getting it.....I was thick-headed and not getting it by the way.....I read this in the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.

In order to purify a soul, Jesus uses whatever instruments He likes. My soul underwent a complete abandonment on the part of creatures; often my best intentions were misinterpreted by the sisters, a type of suffering which is most painful; but God allows it, and we must accept it because in this way we become more like Jesus. There was one thing which I could not understand for a long time: Jesus ordered me to tell everything to my Superiors, but my Superiors did not believe what I said and treated me with pity as though I were being deluded or were imagining things.

And just in case I wasn't getting the message....and I wasn't...as I was praying, it "occurred" to me that the nitty gritty of humility really only starts if your best intentions are being misinterpreted. It's one thing to accept one's just punishment with quiet humilty, but if we want to be like Jesus that kind of humilty really only starts when we are UNjustly accused. So if we pray for humility, we can COUNT on being unjustly accused.

Doesn't THAT just make you want to pray for more humility? Brace youselves. Christian virtue is NOT for sissies.

Posted by Red Neck Woman at 21:36:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday | June 04, 2008

A Prayer for Hurricane Season

O God, Master of this passing world, hear the humble voices of your children. The Sea of Galilee obeyed your order and returned to its former quietude. You are still the Master of land and sea. We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control: the Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, overstep its conventional boundaries, invade our land and spread chaos and disaster.


During this hurricane season we turn to you, O Loving Father. Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with the passing of time. O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our Beloved Mother, we ask you to plead with your Son in our behalf, so that spared from the calamities common to this area and animated with a spirit of gratitude, we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son to reach heavenly Jerusalem where a stormless eternity awaits us. Amen.


From the Diocese of Lafayette

Posted by Red Neck Woman at 14:11:51 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday | June 03, 2008

Every Single Grace Comes to the Soul Through Prayer

A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which is striving after purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might rise again. There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer.

From the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska paragraph 146
Posted by Red Neck Woman at 06:27:33 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday | May 05, 2008

Now About Those Rosaries Hanging From "Our" Rearview Mirrors

The post I made the other day about "Catholic" jewelry and my reasons for wearing the jewelry that I do and those reasons having to do with my relationship with Jesus and what He has called me to do in my life and not Mary-worship or other superstitious stuff, sparked a conversation on the Catholic Spitfire Grill. The conversation was a good mix of those who fessed up to thinking (or formerly thinking) that those who wore distinctively Catholic jewelry often did so for idolatrous or superstitious reasons and many of us shared the various ways that wearing medals has assisted us with prayer and meditation in our very diverse lives. Eventually the conversation worked it's way around to those rosaries hanging from "our" rearview mirrors.



And I confessed to having a real issue with rearview mirror rosaries and rosaries worn as jewelry. Now you see there is ALL sorts of judgmentalism out there and the kind that leads to assuming that our brothers and sisters in Christ are superstitious and idolatrous because it is obvious from the jewelry they wear is not any less bad than my judgmentalism that leans toward assuming that rosaries hanging from necks or rear view mirrors are primarily decoration and not being used as objects of prayer. The Spitfire Grill members had lovely stories about the ways their rosaries hanging from rear view mirrors or from their necks act as a call to prayer for them. As visible or tactile reminders to ask for God's help in the problems of our everyday lives, for the big problems and the small ones. Sometimes they are rosaries or medals given to us by special people in our lives that remind us to pray for them. There are lots of very good reasons for this practice.

I knew all of that before....really I did....and I try very hard NOT to be judgmental about rosaries hanging from rearview mirrors but I still don't like them there. Especially the cheap plastic rosary that my husband insists on hanging from his rearview mirror on the flimsy grounds that my daughter made it for him. I am praying for an early death due to sun rot. Just sign me up for the bad mommy award......

And remember God looks on the heart not the outward appearance. What appears superstitious and trivial on the outside may carry very important meaning to someone else so let's all cut one another some slack.

More on the Rosary

Posted by Red Neck Woman at 14:11:17 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |
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