The Porziuncola Project
The Spiritual Life
"Father, may they be one, I in them, you in me that the world may believe that You sent me...Father, they are your gift to me...
I in them, You in me, that they may be perfectly one, ...and that You love them even as You love me."
John 17:20-23
Dealing With Fear-Anxiety-Worry
One of the greatest obstacles ti growing in the spiritual life is fear. Fear has great power over us, if we let it. Fear can paralize us, it can cause us to get angry and it could even make us hide from God. We can be afraid to approach God because of our past sins, we can be afraid that God won't forgive us or truly absolve us of our past sins. We can be afraid of others and what they can do to us, or be afraid of particular situations at home, work or in relationships. There is the fear of being rejected and the fear of being accepted. The fear of being loved and the fear of not being loved. Fear comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes.It would be good to do a real good examination of conscience and ask ourselves if there are any fears that are controlling my behaviors, my thoughts, feelings or actions? How much control do I give fear? What power does it have over me? Why am I allowing it to have so much power? Do I really trust in God?
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In the Gospels we read about fear and what it can do to us and its consequences. In the parable of the talents Jesus tells us that one of the men buried his talent "Out of fear" (Mt. 25:25). What are we burying out of fear? In the parable about the sower and the seed, we see what happens to the seed that falls among thorns; "worldly anxiety..chokes the word" (Mt. 13:22). What are the anxieties of my life that are choking the Word of God in me? Especially the Word that calls me to trust? We read how Joseph of Aramethea, a leading Pharisee, was a secret disciple of Jesus because "of fear of the Jews" (Jn. 19:39). How often do we hide our faith, act against our faith, go with the flow contrary to our faith because of fear? Then we see the apostles. After the resurrection they are in the upper room with "the doors locked for fear...". Are we behind locked doors because of fear? Afraid to open up to Jesus? Afraid to open up to others? Afraid to go to confession? What are my locked doors? Why are they locked? What are the fears that are keeping me locked up?
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More than 81 times in Scripture we are told: "Do not be afraid!", 63 times in the Old Testament and over 18 times in the New Testament. God, either directly or through His prophets and angels, continually tells us to trust in Him and to not be afraid. Jesus couldn't be more direct about it. In the New Testament, including the Book of Revelation, Jesus says about 16 times "Do not be afraid". The Archangel Gabriel says it three times; one to Mary, a second time to Joseph and a third time to Zachariah, the Father of John the Baptist. Even the heavenly host of angels that appear to the shepherds in Bethlehem greeted the shepherds with the words; "Do not be afraid". These numberings of the times we read; "Do not be afraid" statements do not include all the times that Jesus told us; "Do not to be anxious" or "Do not to worry" and to "Take courage". The reasons not to be afraid, or worry or have anxiety can all be summed up in the First Letter of Saint John: "Perfect love casts out all fear."
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In all the reasons why Jesus, the angels or prophets tell us not to fear there is one underlying reason, He loves us. The grace given to us at baptism, and offered in baptism to those who are not baptized, has truly altered our relationship to God. We are not merely His servants, nor are we His property. We are more than just creatures made in His image and likeness. We have been adopted, espoused and created anew. We have been given a share in God's own divine life. As broken and as sinful as we are, we are His. Our sinfulness, our brokenness does not drive God far from us. It draws Him to us. Like a parent that is drawn with the deepest love and compassion for their wounded and disabled child, so God is drawn to us, His wounded and disabled children.
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In Saint John's Gospel, chapter 17, Jesus is praying and He says such things to the Father as: "Father may they be one, in i n them and you in me", and "Father they are your gift to me" and "Where I am I wish that they may be" and best of all: "Father now they know that you love them even as you love me". These are the most consoling words of Jesus. If we could actually believe these words that He says about us (those who will believe in Him through the words of the apostles) how fearful, full of anxiety or worried would we be? Do we really believe that the Father loves us even as He loves Jesus Christ, begotten Son of the Father from all eternity?
I have listed a series of Gospel quotes that deal directly with fear. The first list is all the times Jesus says "Do not be afraid". The interesting thing is that Jesus doesn't just say no to be afraid, He always tells us "why" not to be afraid. He gives reasons. I think it is important for us to consider the reasons why we are told by the Archangel Gabriel, the Heavenly Hosts, and Jesus not to be afraid. Here are a list of reasons of why not to be afraid and their scriptural references. You are encouraged to look up these references and spend time reflecting upon them and considering how Jesus might be speaking to us.
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As you read these reflections it might be good to start be first considering a few of the questions that Jesus asked His disciples. When they see Him walking on water, when Peter looses faith and sinks after walking on water and after the resurrection Jesus asked questions concerning fear. As we examine of consciences let us reflect upon these four questions of Jesus:
Why are you terrified? (Matthew 8:26)
Why did you doubt? (Matthew 14:31)
Why are you troubled? (Luke 24:36)
Why do questions arise in your hearts? (ibid)
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Here are Reasons not to Be Afraid:
Do not be afraid...
Because your prayer has been heard. (Luke 1:13)
You have found favor with God. (Luke 1:30)
It is through the Holy Spirit that she [Mary] has conceived (Matthew 1:20)
The Savior has been born (Luke 2:10)
Your heavenly Father knows your needs. (Matthew 6:34)
Just have faith (Matthew 5:35)
There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed (Matthew 10:26)
of those that can kill the body. (Matthew 10:28)
It is I (Matthew 14:6)
You are worth more than a flock of sparrows (Matthew 10:31)
Rise...they saw only Jesus (Matthew 17:7)
He has been raised, just as He said (Matthew 28:5)
they will see me (Matthew 28:10)
For the Father is pleased to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32)
Your king is coming to you seated on a donkey (John 12:15)
I am the Alpha and the Omega (Revelations 1:17)
I will give you life as your crown (Revelations 2:10)
Take courage, I have overcome the world (John 16:33)
I know you seek Jesus the crucified...He has been raised Matthew 28:5
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Besides telling us "Do not be afraid", Jesus also tells us to take courage. Perhaps we may find it helpful to memorize these particular Gospel passages so that in times of fear, worry or anxiety we can repeat them. It is so important to remember, especially in times of fear, the presence and love of God for us. Take some time to memorize these passages:
"Take courage, it is I" (Mt. 14:26)
"Courage daughter, your faith has saved you" (Mt. 9:22)
"Take courage, your sins are forgiven" (Mt. 9:2)
"Do not let your hearts be troubled...have faith in me" (Jn. 14:1)
"Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid, I will come back to you"
(Jn. 15:27-28)
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It is also true that we worry to much. There are events in the world, finances, and so many other situations that cause us stress. In the end, our worrying gains us nothing, fixes nothing and only disables us from responding to the present situations with peace. Jesus even asked us: "Which of you y worrying can add a moment to your life?" Here are a couple of passages to memorize in times of worry and fear:
"Do not worry about what you are to say" (Mt. 10:18)
"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed" (Mt. 24:6)
"Do not worry about what you are to eat, or what you are to drink, or what you are to wear" (Mt. 6:32)
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We all feel that we have good reason to fear. Some of the events, people and situations we are in can be quite frightful. At times, it can be a very scary world. We fear for ourselves, for others and because of the multitude of crazy situations in our lives. The evil one's greatest tactic is fear. That is why he shows up as such a hideous creature, he always wants to scare us, lead us away from trusting God and to make decisions based in fear and not trust. God is a God of love that leads us out of fear and into His marvelous love. He is beautiful, good, all holy and all powerful...and He loves us even as He loves Jesus, His only begotten from all eternity.
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Using the Gospel passages above, I have composed a litany against fear. It is easy to pray and it would be good to pray in times of fear. If one of the particular passages strikes you, stop the litany, stop there and meditate upon those words and what God is saying to you through His word. It is prayed like a litany, but instead of saying after each line "Pray for us" you simply say "I will not be afraid". I pray that this will help you in times of fright and fear, anxiety and worry. I offer it to you because it has helped me greatly. I share with you the confidence I have found in the Holy Word of God. May His Word be the light that casts out all darkness, The loves that casts out all fear.
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Gospel Litany of Trust in God's Love
You have heard my prayer...I will not be afraid.
I have found favor with you...I will not be afraid.
It was through the Holy Spirit that You were conceived...I will not be afraid.
You have been born our savior...I will not be afraid.
My heavenly Father knows my needs...I will not be afraid.
I have faith...I will not be afraid.
There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed...I will not be afraid.
They can only destroy the body...I will not be afraid.
It is You...I will not be afraid.
I am worth more than a flock of sparrows...I will not be afraid.
I arise and see only Jesus...I will not be afraid.
You have been raised, just as You said...I will not be afraid.
I will see You...I will not be afraid.
It has pleased the Father to give me the Kingdom...I will not be afraid.
My King is coming, seated on a donkey...I will not be afraid.
You will come back to me...I will not be afraid.
You are the Alpha and the Omega...I will not be afraid.
You will give me life as my crown...I will not be afraid.
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I take courage because You have overcome the world.
I take courage that it is You.
I take courage that my faith has saved me.
I take courage that my sins are forgiven.
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My heart is not troubled or afraid because I have faith in Jesus.
I am not troubled or afraid because You will come back.
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I will not worry about what I am to say, the Spirit of my Father will speak through me.
I will not worry about wars and rumors of wars because these will come, but it is not the end.
I will not worry about what I will eat, or drink or wear, my heavenly Father knows my needs.
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I will not allow fear of You Lord to make me bury my talents.
I will not allow wordly anxiety to choke Your Word in me.
I will not allow fear to keep me as Your secret disciple.
I will not allow fear to keep me behind locked doors.
I will allow Your Perfect love to cast out all fear in me!
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I am not afraid because I seek You Jesus, Who was crucified and has been raised, just as You said.
Amen.
Forgiveness: How Do We Forgive?
One of the many things that separates Christianity from every other religion on the face of the earth, is Jesus' command for us to forgive. Of all the commands, demands, precepts, counsels and directives Our Lord gives us, forgiveness is the one that most of us struggle with. We have a hard time believing that we can be forgiven by God, once we are, we have a hard time believing that He did forgive us. Even if and when we accept God's forgiveness, we go on refusing to forgive ourselves. "Sure God can forgive me, but how can I ever forgive me?" Then comes those who have hurt us, betrayed us, abused us, forgotten us, passed over us, wounded us and, sometimes, made our life a living hell. We are commanded not just to forgive them, but to even love them:
"Love your enemies"
"Do good to those who hurt you"
"Pray for those who persecute you"
As men and women seeking to grow in the spiritual life it is incumbent upon us to reflect to others the same mercy that we have received from the Lord. Jesus expects that we who have received mercy will show that same mercy to others. In the parable of the merciless servant, the servant who is forgiven a huge debt by his master goes out and maltreats a fellow servant who owed him a mere fraction of the debt he was forgiven. Instead of showing the same mercy he has him locked up. Because he refused to show mercy to his fellow servant, the master than puts the merciless servant into prison until he pays back the last penny. Jesus ends the parable by saying: "So my heavenly Father will do to you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. Jesus gives us the following commandments on forgiveness:
"Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful"
"Forgive as your Heavenly Father has forgiven you"
When Jesus teaches us to pray the prayer that we pray several times a day He slips in there an act of forgiveness. How aware are we of these words that we are so familiar with:
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."
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So long as we hold on to the refusal to forgive we will not make progress in the spiritual life. God knows that we are hurting. He knows that we are in pain. He knows the injustice that has been done to us and how much our hearts are filled with grief. Still, spiritual perfection requires that we enter into the perfection of forgiveness "So be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect." Many of Jesus' parables about those who do not forgive end with a reference to purgatory. When we read these parables in the Gospels it makes us wonder; how many souls are in purgatory because they refused to forgive?
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So the question is; Are we forgiving as we have been forgiven? Are we being merciful to others as the heavenly Father has been merciful to us? Are we loving our enemies? Doing good to those who hate us? Praying for those who persecute us? What am I not forgiving? Who am I not forgiving? Am I not forgiving someone else? Am I not forgiving myself? Why do I not want to forgive? How do I know that I have forgiven? If it still hurts, if I still feel the pain of what was done to me, have I forgiven? These are the real questions that we all struggle with. They are questions that need answering.
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I invite you to watch the following video that was preached at a parish mission. It answers those questions as to why we don't forgive,; how to forgive; what about the memory of the events and the pain we still feel; how do we know when we have forgiven.
"as we forgive"
"So be merciful, just as your heavenly Father is merciful."
"Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you."
A Prayer to Be Able to Forgive Others
O'Holy Spirit, Who comes forth from the Father and the Son, You Who are the third person of the Most Holy Trinity and shower humanity with Your manifold gifts of grace.
Come by the means of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your well beloved Spouse, and bestow upon me the grace to forgive those who have hurt me, injured me, betrayed me, abused me and have wounded me and those whom I love.
Holy Spirit I offer you my heart. Here, in the depths of my heart behold the hurt, the anger and the scars I carry from those who have hurt me, including the hurt and pain that I have caused myself. See my lack of forgiveness for those who hurt me and the lack of forgiveness that I have towards myself.
I ask You, O'Holy Spirit, Who is God, to change my pain to compassion for those who have hurt me, compassion for myself, and compassion for those who hurt as I do.
I ask You, O'Holy Spirit, Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, change the memory of this pain into intercession for those who hurt me, for myself and for those who hurt as I do. I ask you to bless those who hurt me. Fill them with peace, joy and mercy. Do not hold the evil they have done to me against them.
O'Holy Spirit, giver of all good gifts, grant me the grace to invoke you whenever I re-feel the pain or remember the hurtful events. Continually work within me to change my pain to compassion and my memory to intercession.
Amen.
Starting A Daily Routine of Prayer
It is reported that Saint Augustine said: "Pray as you can, not as you can't". It is good advice for a person who is beginning to form a daily routine habit of payer. The most that someone in my position can do is give some direction or advice that may or may not fit into one's daily life. Each person's situation is so unique and so different from the next that there is no specifics, only recommendations according to a person's state in life and the conditions of their home, work, study and/or life schedule. Each person has to evaluate and appropriately assess how much time they can devote to prayer as they take into consideration their duties and responsibilities. Everyone is called to a life of prayer and holiness, but not everyone can devote themselves to prayer as others can. Many in our modern world will find that they will need to learn to pray while they are driving to work or nursing a baby. Some will have to be attentive to the presence of God in their wife and children, while others will spend their days offering the pain and hurt of old age as an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. Pray as or when you can, not as you can't.
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Here is some helpful advice:
1. Start your day with prayer.
Get yourself a good Catholic Daily Prayer Book. In it you'll find Acts of Faith, Hope and Love, as well as a Morning offering. These four prayers are a great way to start your day.
The moment you awake from sleep, before anything else (unless nature has made other demands) kneel at your bedside and pray:
-The Act of Faith
-The Act of Hope
-The Act of Love
-Morning Offering
-And any other prayer that you wish to offer from your heart.
2. Set aside 20 Minutes a day for meditation
This can be a great challenge. You may want to look at your weekly schedule and, a week ahead of time schedule for yourself 20 minutes each day for your meditation. Make it an appointment that has priority. I sometimes recommend writing into the appointment book something like; "2:00 pm Conference with J.C." (of course J.C. stands for Jesus Christ).
This time could be used for various forms of prayer:
-Meditation
-Rosary
-Scripture Reading (Lectio Divina)
-Spiritual Reading
-Just plain ole talking to God.
The purpose is to offer to God a time in your day where you can spend time listening and conversing with God. Whether it is through the meditation on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, or Reflecting on Scripture or Spiritual Books, or through meditation or talking to God, you want to open up a dialogue, have a conversation. God wants to listen to you, but He also have much that He wants to say to you.
Don't be a stickler about watching the clock waiting for the 20 minute mark. It is o.k. to cut it shorter if you need to, and it is always o.k. to go longer, so long as your duties permit.
(You can go back to the top of the page and click on the buttons for Meditation, Lectio Divina or the Rosary if you are not sure how to pray.)
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3. Examination of Conscience
In order to mature in the spiritual life it is necessary to decrease in our vices and to increase in virtue. We want to rid ourselves of sin-vice and become a virtuous person. To grow in virtue and to mature in the fruits of the Holy Spirit is what is meant by striving to live a life of holiness (for a list of the Vices and Virtues click on the above section "Our Catholic Faith" and then click on "What every Catholic Should Know").
You may want to choose a particular sin that you are struggling with. Lets use gossip as an example. Here is an effective means for routing it out of your life.:
-When you make your morning prayers ask the Lord for the grace to avoid gossip that day.
-When you break for lunch, before you styart eating, after you have said grace, consider how your morning went and if you have avoided gossip so far. If you have offer a quick prayer of thanksgiving. If not, as for the grace of mercy and a commitment to try again in the afternoon.
-Before bed, as you say your night prayers, examine your conscience again on gossip. How well have you done since lunch time? Like before, if you di good, offer a prayer of thanksgiving. If you messed up, ask for mercy and the grace to try again the next day.
-If you do this every day for two weeks straight, you will begin to see a remarkable difference in your behavior.
--You may want to add some little sign that will help you, like blessing your lips three times a day or making the sign of the cross at those prayer times. Sometimes an outward sign of faith or repentance can really obtain graces we need. For sins of the tongue it is often recommended to kiss a crucifix three times as an act of blessing your mouth.
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4. Frequent Confession
The Church only gives us the precept of confessing our mortal sins once a year at Easter time. However, this does not mean that we cannot make greater use of so noble a sacrament. While some recommend confession on a monthly basis, if you really want to grow in the Lord it is commended to go weekly. Most parishes offer weekly confessions or it can be done through an appointment. Don't worry, you don't have to be in mortal sin to go to confession. The sacrament absolves venial sins and provides the graces necessary not to commit them again.
Be sure to get your hands on a good confession prep list, normally called an Examination of Conscience. These lists of sins are quite helpful in allowing us to clearly see ourselves for who we are and to see and remember sins that we may have forgotten about during our week. I highly recommend the Confession App. Many people have found it extremely helpful in preparing for confession.
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5. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
It is a given that anyone seeking to be serious about their spiritual life will be attending Sunday Mass (that is for those who are not excused due to infirmity or other serious situations). But most Catholics don't realize that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered every day in most parishes, there are few exceptions. Most of these Masses are set at times that set for the working person, either early morning or early evening. If you live in a city your more than likely to find Masses offered at lunch time.
If a person's schedule allows, I highly recommend attending daily Mass. Jesus is truly and really substantially and sacramentally present in the Most Holy Eucharist. There is no greater moment than that of receiving Jesus in Holy Communion. It is the moment where the words of Genesis are fulfilled: "And the two shall become one flesh", us and Jesus. What better prayer is there than Holy Mass and frequent communion?
If your schedule allows, how wonderful it would be for you to attend daily Mass.
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6. Daily Rosary
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