Please join us for our upcoming session with Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT. It takes place Monday 03/13/23 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT. Please click the link below for automatic entry. God Bless you.

Click on Zoom: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09

Opening Prayer: The Memorare

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen

A Taste of Heaven/Healing the Senses

During Lent, we humbly acknowledge that we are broken and need deep healing. The Church gives us remedies to apply with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, concrete exercises of Jesus’ directive to deny ourselves, pick our Cross, and follow Him.

One of the critical focuses in Lent is on the proper use of our senses. We first perceive reality through our senses, through seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and hearing. This then demands a decision regarding how we want to respond to that information. The catechism (#319) says: God created the world to SHOW FORTH AND COMMUNICATE HIS GLORY. That his creatures should share in his truth, goodness and beauty – this is the glory for which God created them.

Everything that comes to us through the senses then should reveal something about the mystery of God and His creation. In their broken state, the senses do not move at this level. Nor do they do well in a culture that seeks to constantly overstimulate them with imagery both good and bad, with music, noise, incessant babble, touch focused on one kind of pleasure only, fragrances and aromas engineered to be temptations, and an infinite variety of foods and drinks which encourage gluttony and intemperance.

Here’s what should happen when our senses operate the way they’re supposed to. They should serve the spirit in us and lift us to God and thoughts of God. When we are integrated (more and more healed, holy), our senses will move us so that when we see beautiful things:  sunsets, grand mountains, beautiful people, we will recognize God’s love made visible. When we hear beautiful sounds, waves lapping the beach, birds singing, a baby laughing, we will be able to recognize God’s love made audible in those sounds. When we experience the healing or life-giving touch of another, we will recognize God’s love made tangible. When God delights our sense of taste with one of the magnificent foods he’s provided for us, we can go beyond it to experience God’s love made edible. And in the rich aromas and beautiful smells of the created world, we would experience the fragrance of God’s love. 

This comes from the gradual divinization of our senses through prayer, mortification, and the passive purifications God sends to us. St. Francis is an example of this. He understood the mysteries of creation at such a deep level he could even communicate with the animals. St. Anthony is also remembered for preaching to the fish and the birds when people would not listen to him. Their radical practice of mortification and penitential disciplines helped to reform and reset their desires and attractions toward sin and selfishness and redirect them to the greatest good. It enabled them at the same time to penetrate into the deeper mysteries of creation and God’s goodness because their senses did not enslave them to immediate pleasure.

Jesus tells us that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We really do desire more. But when the senses become intoxicated with the earthly, they fail to rise above to the source of that delight. When we practice denying them their pleasures and don’t allow them to indulge themselves as they are inclined to do, our senses normalize over time and become more spiritual and more robust.

A scene from The Wizard of Oz captures this whole dynamic well. As Dorothy and her companions approach the Emerald City, they must walk through a beautiful field of poppies. The wicked witch has poisoned the flowers to drug Dorothy and make her fall asleep indefinitely so that she never arrives at the eternal city.   We, too, are presented with innumerable temptations of the senses for the same reason. We can become drugged by sensory pleasures and, in a very real sense, unable to move forward. It is no accident that the original temptation involved all the senses.  

Interestingly, only the dew of grace (in this case, an out-of-season snow sent by the good witch) is able to rouse Dorothy and the cowardly lion, who also ends up fast asleep. It is the same for us. The grace offered to us during this time has potent capabilities to rouse us from our spiritual torpor, heal our soul-sicknesses, and inspire us to overcome ourselves so we can reach the eternal city God has prepared for those who love Him! Our senses can aid us greatly, but only once they are restored to their original purposes.

Questions for silent reflection:

1.    The purpose of mortification is said to sharpen the heart’s desires and to deepen the longing for God. Have you experienced the special graces that come from mortification or spiritual disciplines or suffering in general?  

2.    Often our illnesses and/or treatments affect our physical senses in various ways. Do you think there is a difference between mortification and the things we suffer when we’re sick?  Or is the end result the same for both?

3.    Have you had any special experiences of the iconic?  Art, music, architecture, etc., is considered iconic when it lifts you through itself and past itself to God or a consideration of God.

4.    Asking God to open the eyes of our hearts, to open our ears that we may hear Him, to make us instruments of His loving touch and care and love to others, often means consciously trying to redirect our focus.  At the level of our senses, what are some of the distractions that keep you from using your senses in a more fruitful way?

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

Happy New Year! We pray that 2023 is filled with many joyful blessings for you and your loved ones. Please join us Monday 01/09/23 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MST (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EST).

Click on Zoom: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09

Opening Prayer: The Memorare

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen

The Illusion Of Easy Happiness

A recent article by Taylor Penley reported on members of Generation Z (born between the late 1990s and 2010 and also known as zoomers) reacting to the recent Dobbs Decision from the Supreme Court, which sent the issue of abortion and abortion restrictions back to the individual states. A young University of South Dakota junior, Lexi McKee-Hemenway, said, “I want to leave the country [after graduating].” I have a lot of mixed feelings: rage, fear, disappointment… Most of all, though, I have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that this is the United States now …. It’s a really scary time to live here,” she said.  She probably does not realize that every country in the world, except 2, has more restrictions on abortion than we do. We are not like Sudan and Afghanistan, but rather we are like Russia and China, with our current laws allowing abortion for any reason, up until birth.

Some respondents in the article indicated they would move to other states where abortion was accessible without restrictions. Though Generation Z seems to have fewer unwanted pregnancies and alcohol use and is more concerned with doing well in school and finding good jobs, they are also the first generation to grow up with the internet and digital technology from the time they were little. And they have never known a time when abortion wasn’t legal.

Pope St. John Paul II, speaking to young people, said: “You, dear young people, be brave and free! Do not let yourselves be taken in by the deceptive mirages of an easy happiness. Follow the way of Christ: he is demanding, certainly, but he alone can help you to savor the full meaning of life and enjoy peace of heart.”

It is probably true that almost no one would say that they want the right to kill their babies. They don’t usually speak of abortion that way, even when they call it a right and couch it in health care terms for the mother (certainly not the baby.). But they are saying they want the right to be sexually active without responsibility, responsibility to their partner, and the child they may conceive together. And they are deceived into believing they cannot be happy without this. Rights have become conflated with easy happiness even though for the last 50 years of “legalized” abortion, people have become less happy and more confused. They discover the hard way there is no such thing as free love. “Rights” do not guarantee happiness. And rights without responsibility do not elevate “free” sexual expression to any kind of fulfilling experience. This is a deception that, unfortunately, can lead in the opposite direction to bondages, brokenness, mental health issues, and even deeper unhappiness.

Generation Z can hardly be blamed for its resistance to religion and attachment to ideas that have been fed to them since they were children. They have been wounded by the lies they have been fed. Yet, God is at work with them in their struggles to find the truth. If you are able to view the reactions of a group of “zoomers” as they watch the series “The Chosen,” you see that they have grown up living all the effects of a broken culture that focuses on rights over gifts and responsibilities. Out of 9 in the group, hardly one comes from a stable family. Several have suffered abuse, some from Church elders, and a number have genuine identity and mental health issues and struggles. Yet the group was open, resilient, and so ready to let Jesus touch them where they had resisted before. Looking for the key to happiness and fulfillment and perhaps discovering for the first time that Jesus is the One who can and wants to give it to us is the breakthrough we all need to make.

Questions for silent reflection:

1. In the midst of your own suffering, do you believe that Jesus wants to make you happy? How do you reconcile that with the sufferings and crosses that come into your life?

2. “The Chosen” presents a portrayal of Christ that emphasizes His humanity while also depicting the miracles He worked in exercising His Divinity. The series has been wildly popular. Why do you think people today are finding healing in this kind of portrayal of Jesus?

3. Pope St. John Paul II once said that the youth of today do not need extra penances in their lives because they have a lot of moral and spiritual suffering already from the breakdown of family and the dehumanizing trends in the culture. What other kinds of suffering particularly mark the world we live in and how can we help each other through them?

4. One of the greatest sufferings in the world today is rejection, isolation and loneliness. What do you see as some of the roots to this and how can you witness in hope to God’s intentions for real relationships with and among us?

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

Joy to the World, the Lord is come!

All Glory to God as we give thanks and Praise to He who is love. Happy Thanksgiving!

Please join us Monday 11/14/22 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MST (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EST).

Click on Zoom: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09

Opening Prayer: The Memorare

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen

Good Directions

In the past, people used to carry cards in their wallets that read: “I am a Catholic. In case of accident, please call a Priest.” These days it might be wise to re-institute that practice. It may be wise to think about leaving a set of spiritual directives in the same way we leave medical directives for the hospital and for our families to follow.

Recently, while on a home visit, I found that one of our neighbors, growing up, had had a stroke and was placed in hospice. She was like a second Mom to the kids in the neighborhood. Her husband had already passed away, and so her two children were left to attend her. But one was unable to do much because of a long-standing drug problem, and the other only managed to see his Mother once because of anxiety issues and a fear of seeing his Mom “like that.” Neither child thought to call a priest, put a scapular on her, ask people for prayers, or do anything other than wait for her to die. They did not plan a funeral Mass for her but just a simple service at the funeral home, after which she was cremated. I was afraid to ask what they did with the ashes.

I took it upon myself to visit her several times, pray with her, put a scapular on her, call a priest to anoint her, and have Masses said for her. I did for her what I would want people to do for me, especially as one is about to step into eternity. Yet, this scenario is becoming increasingly frequent because grown children are no longer practicing their faith and do not think about the spiritual needs of their dying loved ones. Even those practicing the faith have fallen into the bad habit of neglecting the spiritual needs of both the dying and those who have already died. We put everyone in heaven, not remembering that many souls need the purifying fires of Purgatory. The saints tell us that the holy souls actually place themselves there to be worthy to stand before the purity and goodness of God’s spotless love for us. Once a soul experiences this all-encompassing love, there is nothing else they long for. And it is indeed heartless on our part to fail to help them.

Maria Simma, a mystic who received many visits from the souls in Purgatory, said the biggest complaint of the souls who came to her asking for prayers was that their families, their relatives forgot about them and never had prayers or Masses said for them. Sometimes all they needed was one or two Masses so they could be released and finally be with God in heaven, their one overwhelming and burning desire. Maria felt it was, at the least, neglectful on our part and, at the most, cruel to forget them this way since what they suffer in Purgatory is so much greater than we can imagine, and we can so quickly obtain relief and deliverance for them. They cannot help themselves because the time for meriting is passed. But we can help them from here. And they are so grateful that in turn they do much to assist us in return by obtaining special graces for us.

Do not forget to pray for the Holy Souls who are detained in Purgatory from their final beatitude. And seriously consider leaving instructions for your own passing, for Masses and prayers to be said. Nothing will go to waste. If our relatives or we no longer need prayer, Our Lady will apply them to other needy souls. And they will express their everlasting gratitude by imploring all the graces needed in our own lives.

Remember that arriving promptly and unerringly at a destination often depends on the directions we give and receive. This will apply in eternity just as it does here and now.

Questions for silent reflection:

1. Do you have a clear idea of what you would like to have in place for your own transition into eternity? Have you written it down and shared it so that it is implemented at the proper time?

2. How do you think about Purgatory? Do you think you can avoid it? Or do you see it as inevitable?

3. Praying and offering things up for the Holy Souls is an act of charity for which they are very grateful and will offer assistance in return. Choose at least one prayer or practice to do for them daily.

4. Do you pray regularly and have Masses said for your own deceased relatives and ancestors?

Some additional prayers that can be used:

1. When blessing oneself with Holy Water: “By this holy water and Thy Precious Blood, cleanse me of my sins Dear Lord and deliver and relieve the Holy Souls in Purgatory.”
2. According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that each time she piously recited the following prayer, it would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory
   • “Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, for those in my own home, and in my family. Amen.”

Thank you for visiting us. May God Bless you in abundance.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

Please join us Monday 10/10/22 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm ET).

Click on Zoom:https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09

Opening Prayer: The Memorare

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen

The Triumph of Truth

Imagine you are a farmer and own 500 acres of the best land in the region. This land bears the highest yields and the best produce. But imagine now that every time you tell a lie or are dishonest, a piece of your land, small or large, depending on the size of the lie, goes to your neighbor. Your neighbor is an unbelievably bad farmer. His land never produces anything but thistles and thorns. This alone should induce you to become one of the most honest people in the county so that your land remains firmly and securely in your hands.

This is very much like the challenge we are engaged in every day. The devil, the father of lies, owns vast amounts of territory. And every time we lie, we increase the size of his territory because he owns all dishonesty and falsehood. Depending on our commitment to one or the other (the truth or dishonesty), we can reach the point where the “land” we farm no longer truly belongs to us. It is in the domain of and under the power of the evil one. And the fruit that comes from this land is definitely rotten. History bears this out unequivocally.

Why is this important? Because even little lies amount to territory surrendered to the evil one. And that can add up to a condition wherein one becomes unwilling or unable to see the truth, especially in the face of much larger lies.  

If you ask yourself what the greatest lie ever perpetrated in human history is, many answers come up. But with each of them, one is always left with the same question. How could people have believed that? How could Adam and Eve have believed the lie of the serpent?  After ten years of war, how could the people of Troy have believed the Trojan horse was a gift and not a trick? How could anyone have believed the Nazi propaganda that demonized a whole race of people with the intent of exterminating them? How can people believe that abortion is a right and that a baby is merely a clump of undefinable cells?  

And the greatest lie ever perpetrated? Jesus crucified! How could anyone have believed that Jesus, who went about doing good and freeing the oppressed, who was pure goodness, love, and mercy, deserved to be executed? The very people who had experienced His mercy, forgiveness, healing, teaching, and miracles suddenly find themselves shouting: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

The Jewish Virtual Library states that “Hitler and his cronies orchestrated what they called “the Big Lie.” This theory states that no matter how big the lie is (or, more precisely, because it’s so big), people will believe it if you repeat it enough. Everyone tells small lies, but few have the guts to tell colossal lies. Because a big lie is so unlikely, people will come to accept it.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the great anti-communist dissident, noted that living by lies begins when we accept “without protest all the falsehoods and propaganda that the state compels its citizens to affirm—or at least not to oppose—to get along peaceably under totalitarianism. Everybody says that they have no choice but to conform and to accept powerlessness. But that is the lie that gives all the other lies their malign force. The ordinary man may not be able to overturn the kingdom of lies, but he can at least say that he is not going to be its loyal subject.” 

As we look at the world today, grave dishonesty seems to have penetrated into everything from education to medicine to advertising to politics. The Big Lie is used more and more frequently to convince people that what they actually see is not the reality. Yet, says Solzhenitsyn, “a single person who stops lying can bring down a tyranny.”

In his book, Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, Rod Dreher says: “It is up to us today to take up this challenge, to live not by lies and to speak the truth that defeats evil. How do we do this in a society built on lies? By accepting a life outside the mainstream, courageously defending the truth, and being willing to endure the consequences.”  “The kind of Christians we will be in the time of testing depends on the kind of Christians we are today.” 

Questions for silent reflection:

1. Have you encountered any problems with the Truth in your experience with the medical world since being diagnosed with cancer? Do you notice any problems with honesty in the way people are diagnosed and treated?

2. Has truth ever become an issue in the way you relate to family and friends around the subject of illness?

3. Fear often becomes a reason for lying and for going into denial even with oneself.  What do you think is the greatest antidote to the kind of fear that causes us or others to want to be untruthful?

4. What makes the truth beautiful and desirable?  Why would we want to strive for honesty (with charity) in all things?

Please take a moment to subscribe to our posts and announcements. May God Bless you!

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

Please join us Monday 09/12/22 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm ET).

Click on Zoom:https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4537185699?pwd=emRVOEZwMTY1eGN1bzYrU2VldWhiZz09

Opening Prayer: The Memorare

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen

The Better Part

Several years ago, the biography channel ran a number of stories on near-death experiences. One story involved a man, Matthew Botsford, who had traveled to Atlanta for business meetings and was killed in a drive-by shooting outside a restaurant.

After dying, this man found himself closed inside a terrifying darkness, confined to a cell where he couldn’t move to the right or the left and couldn’t move up or down. He heard screams and dreadful noises all around him. He knew he was in hell, and he did not question that he should be there. He understood that love didn’t belong in that place and that he was being kept there and would be there forever. He experienced an “incredible evil pressing in” on him, along with great terror and fear. For Matthew, this was torment. And yet, he was not what the world would consider a bad person. He was a successful businessman. But he understood that he had put success in business, in his projects, in his work, above everything else, above God and his family. He was completely materialistic, and for that, he knew he was where he merited to be.

He explained that at the time, he did not even know the name of Jesus and, therefore, never thought to cry out for help or to express sorrow. 

During his dying experience, he had been rushed to the local ER, and they had worked frantically to bring him back. He had been shot in the head, and after 4 minutes without a heartbeat, his chances of survival were almost zero. But his experience on the other side was one of suddenly seeing an immense hand slowly reach down from above and grab him while he heard a voice “like the roar of mighty waters,” tell him it was not his time. At this point, the doctors were able to restart his heart. But Matthew had gone over 5 minutes with no heartbeat and now had massive brain damage. He was not expected to survive the night. So, the doctors began seeking consent to harvest the organs of this otherwise perfectly healthy 28-year-old.

His wife, who had flown in immediately upon hearing what had happened and seeing his condition, began praying for him, asking God to restore her husband as she knew him. She rightly feared that his survival might be compromised by grave disability from brain damage.  But she refused to terminate life support and promised God she would stay with him. She stayed by his bedside for 27 days when he began to come out of his coma.  

Matthew slowly recovered though he still has the bullet lodged in his brain and suffers certain effects from the shooting. But none is as deep as the realization that hell is real and this life is meant for far more than accumulating wealth and success by the world’s standards. His wife recognizes that God changed Matthew’s heart. He exudes peace and anticipates the life to come now that he knows what the real focus is meant to be. He devotes himself to God, his family, and to helping others understand that every choice here impacts our eternity. He has chronicled his experience in a book called “A Day in Hell” and continues to emphasize we will spend forever in one of two places:  heaven or hell.  

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once lamented the amount of suffering in the world that is wasted because it is not united to the redemptive suffering of Christ. This man discovered that work also can be wasted when we are not working for things that will last. The world may greatly admire us for our energy, industriousness, our successes, and our productivity. But, as Jesus said:  To whom will all your built-up treasure go?  

The “better part” that Jesus spoke of has to be found in each of our lives. And then it has to be embraced as the true treasure that gives us a pledge of heaven and the unimaginable life God has prepared for us. It is profitable to remember that the devil also has a place prepared for us, and where we end up is a consequence of our choices along the way.

Questions for silent reflection:

1. This story shows the great love and mercy and goodness of God.  In sending Matthew back to his life here, God’s mercy and light extend through Matthew to others here who may be unaware of which direction their own lives are going in.  How has God’s love and mercy come to you and affected your own direction in life?

2. If we all have to choose the better part, what does the better part look like for someone who has a serious illness or chronic suffering?

3. How has suffering helped you prioritize what is most important in life?  Are your priorities different now than before you were sick?

4. Interior peace, peace of soul, (not complacency) even in the midst of struggle, is usually a sign that we are moving in the right direction. Agitation and anxiety often clue us in to areas we need to examine and work on. What is your experience of navigating the challenges of life in the light of eternity? Is there anything right now demanding your attention?

Thank you and God Bless you. We will see you again on Monday, 10/10/22

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube