Month: February 2016

Divine Mercy for Godly Leaders

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday. Voters from thirteen states and one territory will head to the polls to voice their choice of Republican and Democratic candidates for president of the american flagUnited States of America. As a resident of Nebraska, I will not be voting tomorrow, but will be riveted to my television set to learn where all the votes land. With 600 delegates up for grabs, tomorrow will either serve to further solidify the current path or prove to be a significant game changer.

Thus far there has been record-setting participation throughout this process. Americans realize there is a lot at stake in this election. I don’t think I’m overstating things when I say that many Americans believe our country stands on the brink of disaster. With regard to social, economic and national security issues, our nation’s very identity may be on the line.

What can we do? Of course, each of us has an obligation to vote with a well-formed conscience. But additionally, we must pray. I’ve learned that prayer for our country is a sacrifice that is both immediate and fruitful.

At spiritualdirection.com we are reading Father Michael Gaitley’s The Second Greatest Story Ever Told. I strongly recommend the book; thus far it has illustrated for me in a profound way the very personal interest Our Lord has in our lives and the power of Divine Mercy to change them. Not only our lives as individuals, but to change our nations.

Until now I have felt relatively helpless about the direction of this campaign cycle. Certainly I have prayed – but in a posture of isolation. No longer. The truth is that I am certainly not alone; doubtless there are thousands who desire God’s mercy on our country and who might be willing to unite together in a sacrifice of prayer for Divine Mercy with the intention of God’s hand in the selection of our nation’s leaders. With this, I have gained a new hope.

For with God, nothing will be impossible (Luke 1:37).

Just imagine how Our Lord will look down upon his children, pleading together for His purpose in this, the Year of Mercy. Perhaps together we can be to Our Lord as the widow who incessantly pleaded with the judge for vindication against her adversary (Luke 18:1-8). In the end, He took pity on her and acted on her behalf. This parable serves as an example to us, for Christ concluded by saying,

And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. – Luke 18:7-8)

Would you be willing to sacrifice a few minutes every month until the November election to join us in a perpetual prayer of Divine Mercy for the united intention of Godly leaders for our country – particularly for the office of president and for the selection of a Supreme Court nominee that may or may not be appointed before the November election? If so, please click on the link below to commit to one day of the month when you will pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet for our united intentions. Then over the next eight months – until the election – please pray the chaplet each month on your chosen day. This type of sign-up does not allow for email reminders, so please put your date on the calendar with a monthly reminder.

Divine Mercy for a Divided Country

Please find a link to the Divine Mercy Chaplet here.

Eight months and eight days stand between us and the presidential election. The number eight has great biblical significance. There are eight beatitudes – our given path to Joy and Peace. Also, our Lord rose from the dead on the eighth day after his providential ride into Jerusalem. The number eight represents joy, peace and resurrection – three things of which our country is in great need.

None of us knows what November will bring. But no matter how the election bears out, we have confidence that our prayers will be fruitful. For we know

that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to His purpose. — Romans 8:28.

With that in mind, always…

Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. – Romans 12:12

I hope that you will consider this small sacrifice for our country.

Mother Mary, Immaculate, Patron of The United States of America, Pray for Us.

 

Note: If you like what you just read, please click the “follow” button to receive thought-provoking and action-oriented bi-weekly posts promoting the virtue of sacrifice. 

Pelican’s Breast – A Symbol of Sacrifice

There is a great need for sacrifice in our world. Rather than look to God merely for His glory, we must seek Him in His suffering and degradation.

Perhaps you’re wondering why anyone would choose Pelican’s Breast for a blog name? It’s certainly not top on the list of popular domain names, that’s for sure. But when I contemplated a discussion on sacrifice, it became clear that Pelican’s Breast was the way to go.

Throughout history, the pelican has been a great symbol of sacrifice. According to ancient legend, a mother pelican would pierce her own breast in times of famine, that her children might seek sustenance from her very flesh and blood. When necessary, the mother pelican was said to have readily offered this sacrifice at the cost of her own life. Pelican's Breast Image

Over time, for obvious reasons, the pelican came to symbolize Christ, who gives us his very flesh and blood, that we might have eternal life. You may have even noticed carvings or stained glass windows of the mother pelican and her young in your local church, as a symbol of Christ in the Eucharist, but also as a symbol of sacrifice for us to model.

Unfortunately, just as the story of Christ’s actual sacrifice is heralded less and less, in most places today we hear little of the legend of the pelican. Sacrifice is something not often promoted today. At least, not in close quarters. We’d rather have the resurrection without the cross. But sadly, without the cross, there can be no resurrection. For Christ Himself said,

If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  -Matthew 16:24-25.

Christ calls us to sacrifice. He isn’t just calling for us to “suffer” with him because misery loves company. Rather, in His infinite wisdom, He knows that in this world so lovingly created for us, our joy will directly correspond to our ability to keep our eyes on the ball, so to speak. He knows that our willingness to sacrifice in this life will not only prepare us for heaven, but will make for a much more fulfilling time on earth. In our day, we are experiencing the antithesis of this. We are seeing the results of a refusal to sacrifice. We are witnessing daily the results of the culture of ME. And most of us would agree that they are not pretty.

There is a great need for sacrifice in our world. Rather than look to God merely for His glory, we must seek Him in His suffering and degradation. We must follow Saint Paul and

…rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. – Romans 5:3-5

When we turn suffering, annoyances or obligations into gifts of love, they become sacrifices. When we give – whether our time, treasure, desires or our very selves – we are offering sacrifices. And we are in great need of sacrifice today.

Back to the symbol of the pelican. Our own children are starving. Worse than starving from physical depravation, they are suffering from great emotional and spiritual deprivation. Many are missing the very foundation of childhood that stems from the security of family. They are raised in a culture that values the material over the spiritual, relativism over truth, personal choice over life and pleasure and self-determination over commitment.

Starvation from love and truth are exponentially more destructive than starvation from food:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. – Matthew 10:28

For the sake of our souls and for those of our children, we must begin to embrace the notion of sacrifice. Take some time this week to contemplate the cross. And if you are so inclined, tune in to the pelicansbreast.com and join our discussion.

In my next post, we’ll begin to discuss sacrifice in practical terms.

 

Note: If you like what you just read, please click the “follow” button to receive thought-provoking and action-oriented bi-weekly posts promoting the virtue of sacrifice. 

 

A New Blog about Sacrifice

Let’s start a conversation about sacrifice. If each of us takes even a step in the right direction, imagine what a change we could effect on the world.

“mother teresaSacrifice, to be real, must cost, must hurt, must empty us of ourselves.” – Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Over the past four years, along with thousands of fellow Christians, I have combed through the pages of some of the most profound books ever written on Catholic spirituality (check out our book club at spiritualdirection.com). During that time, my soul has been awash with gallons of words, some more palatable than others. Much to my chagrin, the most common word in all those great works has by far been the most difficult to ingest – its sticking power gnawing at my insides in the most inopportune moments – whenever I want to splurge on a new book, or when I’m dying to eat that last piece of cake, or when my son asks me to iron his forgotten school shirt at 11:30pm, or when I just sit down to read and the dog starts barking at the door.

That word is…Sacrifice.

An all-American, consumption-loving girl at heart, I’ve been doing my best to ignore this little word as it nibbles ceaselessly at my core; but try as I might, it’s not working.

It’s one of those words that inspires from afar; but most of us don’t want to get too close.  There is a love-hate relationship with the notion of sacrifice that is unlike that of any other subject.  We admire those who make great sacrifices, but most of us have become virtually unwilling to get into the mire and muck of pain and self-denial necessary to get the job done.

You see, in our culture, SACRIFICE is a dirty word.

The thing is, throughout my reading I have discovered that sacrifice is a theme that gets to the heart of all blossoming relationships.  It is a theme that would have been obvious to any of the saints to whom we look for inspiration.  It is a theme that was perhaps taken for granted even a hundred years ago.  But it has long since been left in the dust, smited by the philosophy of individualism that has taken us from a freedom to do good, to a belief in license to do whatever we want, despite foreseeable consequences to those around us.  We have become a society grounded in “ME.”  And any society grounded in ME is bound to have members who recklessly trample each other to destruction.  Even our definition of LOVE has come to represent ME.  It is all about my FEELINGS.  And when my FEELINGS no longer exist, then LOVE is gone and I am obligated to find MY fulfillment elsewhere.

Interestingly enough, in the history of the Church, love has never been bound up with feelings.  And it has never been about ME.  Rather, since Our Lord came into this world over 2,000 years ago as Love incarnate, ultimately laying down His life for each and every one of us, love has always been a verb – a verb inextricably intertwined with SACRIFICE.

Hence this blog. Let’s start a conversation about sacrifice. Not a complaining, frustrated conversation. A positive, life-changing conversation. About sacrifice in our country; sacrifice in our homes; but mostly, about sacrifice in our thoughts and in our words, in what we do (not what we fail to do). Let’s have a conversation about offering all to a God who has given all to us. If each of us takes even a step in the right direction, imagine what a change we could effect on the world.

Will you join me?

 

Note: If you like what you just read, please click the “follow” button to receive thought-provoking and action-oriented bi-weekly posts promoting the virtue of sacrifice. 

 

 

 

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