New Lenten Resources from Ave Maria Press

Ave Maria Press and the Apostleship of Prayer have partnered to provide two amazing tools for helping us to go deeper into prayer this Lent. (And at a combined price of $7.70, they're mighty kind to the pocketbook!) One of the themes that has dominated my thought these past five years is the way our sacramental and devotional lives unite us to the human prayer of Christ Himself (CCC 2740). Two of the devotions I discussed in Through, With, and In Him were lectio divina (sacred reading) and the Stations of the Cross. These new resources from AMP not only provide wonderful introductions to both, but lead you step by step to make real progress in their use.

I've decided that Sacred Reading for Lent 2016 by Douglas Leonard, executive director of the Apostleship of Prayer, is going to be my daily devotional this Lent. Beginning on Ash Wednesday and going through Easter Sunday, it provides readers with six simple steps for practicing lectio divina with the Mass's daily Gospel reading:

1) A short prayer for intentionally placing ourselves in God's presence 

2) The text of the day's Gospel reading 

3) Text-specific prompts to help us notice what we think and feel as we read the passage 

4) A prayer starter for speaking to the Lord about what we have read 

5) The words the author felt that Jesus impressed upon his own heart while meditating upon the passage and the invitation for us to listen for Jesus' words to us 

6) A prayerful invitation for God to show us, concretely, how we are to live this day in the light of our reading and listening.

Lectio is such a simple manner of prayer, but it yields powerful results. In His humility the Lord Jesus, the Word Incarnate, listened as the Father spoke to Him through Moses and the prophets (Luke 9:28-31). When we practice lectio, Jesus manifests this aspect of His prayer in us. 

[ALLOW ME TO OFFER TWO BRIEF CAUTIONS. First: If you sense that the Lord is saying something to you during the listening portion of your prayer (#5 in this resource) that is at odds with the Catholic Faith, then it is not the Lord that you are hearing. Second: In the Introduction to Sacred Reading, the author encourages us to speak to the saints in our prayer as well to the Lord. I wholeheartedly agree. Use your imagination as to how the Blessed Mother, Peter, and the other saints in the Gospel reading felt witnessing those events. Speak to them about what you've read and ask them to intercede for you. Do not, however, make the mistake of asking the saints to share his/her thoughts with you. Our communication with the saints is meant to be one-way (unless the Lord should take the highly unusual step of sending them to speak us; and then we shouldn't give the message any credence until we taken it to a trusted spiritual director or knowledgeable priest).]

The Fridays of Lent are of course even more intense times of

prayer, and the Stations of the Cross are a time-honored means for uniting ourselves to our Lord in the midst of His Passion. This new book of meditations from Father William Prosper, however, focuses our gaze on the way that each of the fourteen stations speak to us of the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Faith.

Stations of the Cross with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus reawakens us to the awesome truth that what Jesus accomplished in His Passion becomes present to us at every celebration of the Eucharist. Each station is introduced by an image and either a passage of Scripture or quotation from a saint. These are followed by a page-length meditation penned by Fr. Prospero and conclude with the prayer, "Heart of Jesus, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, I offer myself to you for the salvation of all."

William Prospero, S.J.

The book's foreword adds significance to the words of that prayer. It reveals how "Fr. Will," the author, walked the way of the Cross with Jesus, trustfully surrendering himself to the perfect will of the Father as he suffered kidney cancer, chemotherapy, and fungal pneumonia before his death on Sept. 18, 2014. Father Will's meditations bear the stamp of authenticity.

Hats off to Ave Maria Press and the Apostleship of Prayer for such solid resources...and please pray throughout Lent for the repose of the soul of our brother, Fr. Will.

Quick, No-Nonsense, and Profound - Matthew Leonard's "Pray Like a Saint"

Back in October I posted a video from the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology's Matthew Leonard where he shared how one of my favorite saints (Ignatius of Antioch) "drop kicked" him into the Catholic Church.  As the good Lord would have it, Matt attended an event here in St. Louis the next month; and I was able to meet him in person. He was every bit the down-to-earth, knowledgeable guy I had seen in the video.  So when I attended Mass earlier this week and saw his CD Pray Like a Saint in the Lighthouse Media rack, I had to pick up a copy.

Wow - you do not want to miss this.  In less than 50 min. Matt takes us through the three stages of prayer: vocal, meditative, and contemplative - and gives solid explanations of each.  He is a natural communicator who easily uses humor and plain language to deliver the insights of the greatest pray-ers known to Christianity.  He walks that awesome Catholic line of the "both/and" - showing how prayer is meant to be both communal and personal, "ready-made" and spontaneous, a discipline and a gift.  And he breaks it down into principles and steps that even the most green of beginners can understand and start using.  The message that comes through loud and clear is that God wants to take every single one of us to the absolute heights of prayer.  I listened to it again just today, with my kids in the car (ages 8 and 12) on the way to grandma and grandpa's; and it was awesome having to pause it because they wanted to chime in with their thoughts!

I hope you'll give it a listen.  Here is the direct link to Lighthouse Catholic Media, where you can hear a sample.  (Oh, and check out the FREE Catholic Study Bible app they offer while you're at it!) Happy listening!

Fasting - Has Anyone Else Had This Experience?

In my last post I reflected upon the value of fasting.  I also admitted that I have rarely practiced fasting outside of the Church's prescribed days.  In the past couple of months however, I have fasted for part of the day - small breakfast, skipped lunch, and then had a big 'ole dinner.  Here is something crazy that I've noticed though, and I would love to hear if anyone else has experienced it:  If I miss a meal in the course of a usual day - as when I forget my lunch at home - then I feel absolutely famished.  But if I tell the Lord that I am going to fast from lunch, then the hunger pains or either light, last for only a brief time, or simply never come.

I notice this on Ash Wednesday and  Good Friday too, when we fast for the entire day - the hunger is never as bad as I had expected.   Is there something psychological at work here?  When we are deprived of food against our will, we pine for it; but when we make an intentional decision to abstain from it, we don't hunger as greatly?  And if that is the case, then why do I experience hunger so strongly when dieting?  Does offering the hunger as prayer somehow change the psychological/physical experience?

Are the Spiritual Gifts Spoken of in the Bible Still Given to People Today?

With Pentecost just around the corner, it's a question that more of us ought to be asking ourselves.  Jesus is, after all, "the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Heb.13:8).  You know the gifts I am talking about:

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.   All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (1 Cor. 12:7-11)

Far to often I encounter Catholics who disparage charisms - in particular the gift of tongues - as if it is something that "only those Pentecostals do," and it has no place in a "traditional" Catholic's spiritual life.  (Ha - as if you could get more "traditional" than the New Testament!)  It also shows a lack of knowledge regarding the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church."  (CCC 2003)

They also seem completely unaware of the Popes and Bishops' numerous endorsements of the Charismatic Renewal - a movment that has done much to reawaken today's Church to the reality of these charisms.  (Not that I am advocating every practice or prophetic message from someone identifying him or herself as "charismatic" - any more than I do strange practices or messages from people with strong devotions to the Blessed Mother, Vatican II, TOB, etc.)

God does continue to pour out these gifts - in abundance!  And being Catholic - meaning "universal, all-embracing," - we as a Church reach out to embrace all of God's truth and gifts.  As St. Paul wrote, the Lord has appointed shepherds over us to help us, "test everything and hold fast what is good" (1 Thess.5:12-21).

So this Pentecost, why don't we place ourselves before God and ask for the grace to receive whatever gifts the Holy Spirit wants to bestow upon us - even if they outside our comfort zone?  God knows what He is doing!