A Great Prayer in Honor of St. Paul

Here's a great prayer that my parish is using in connection with our special study on the Pauline Epistles for the Year of St. Paul. The prayer was composed initially by the Diocese of Harrisburg, PA, but we liked it so much that we adopted it for use here at St. John, Westminster. It's a really great prayer that touches on a lot of the major themes Paul writes about in his letters. I hope you like it!

Prayer for the Year of St. Paul

God our Father, source of mercy and truth,
through the preaching of St. Paul the Apostle,
You teach us and deepen our faith.

Grant that we may follow St. Paul's example
and grow in holiness.
Strengthen us to continually turn
our hearts and minds to You.

Enliven us to live by the Spirit
in faith, hope, and charity.
Inspire us to hand on to others
what we have received from You.

Fortify us to pour out ourselves
and serve You with humility and compassion.
Move us to unite ourselves
to the sufferings of Christ, that we may
die with Him in order to rise with Him.

Help us to trust that nothing
can separate us from Your love.

Direct us to seek only the things of heaven
so that after running the race
and fighting the good fight,
we might share the crown of glory
promised to those who love You.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
Saint Paul the Apostle, pray for us.

A Little Diversion - Thoughts from Rome on Proper "Ars Celebrandi"

While letting issues of greater depth and importance stew in my mind, I'll give you all a little diversion to occupy you in the meanwhile. Not to say that what I have to say now isn't something worthy of focused meditation and serious consideration. What I have here is a little article, published recently in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, The Roman Observer, and translated by the NLM (I should start paying royalties for all I borrow from them). Thanks again to Gregor Kollmorgen.

As you read this article, even though you may be neither a priest nor seminarian, reflect yourself on your own experience of Sunday Mass. Think about your most "satisfying" experience of Mass, and ask yourself why it was such. What about moved you to greater Faith and Love of God and His Son Jesus, but most of all, what about it moved you to a greater appreciation and devotion of His Real Presence in the Eucharist. Compare that with the article, and maybe post a comment telling me what you think. I hope this article really inspires and clarifies for you all the purpose of Liturgy, and why the manner in which it is celebrated is of utmost importance. I plan to address this question in greater detail as soon as things quiet down in my life, as it is for me a question of great importance.

That said, I hope you find this article enlightening. All emphasis belongs to Gregor Kollmorgen and The New Liturgical Movement. Enjoy:

The Art of Celebrating the Liturgical Service

A reflection in the light of the teaching of the Church

By Nicola Bux

In order to celebrate the liturgical service with art, the priest must not resort to mundane artifices but focus on the truth of the Eucharist. The General Instrucion of the Roman Missal states: "A priest also ... when he celebrates the Eucharist, ... must serve God and the people with dignity and humility, and by his bearing and by the way he says the divine words he must convey to the faithful the living presence of Christ." The priest does not make up anything, but with his service he must render as well as possible to the eyes and ears, but also to the touch, taste and scent of the faithful, the sacrifice and thanksgiving of Christ and of the Church, whose tremendous mystery may be approached by those who have cleansed themselves from sins. How can we draw near to Him if we do not have the feeling of John the precursor: "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3, 30)? If we want the Lord to walk with us, we have to recover this awareness, otherwise we deprive our act of devotion of efficacy: the effect depends on our faith and our love.

The Priest Is Not Master of the Mysteries

The priest is minister, not master, administrator of the mysteries: he serves them, and does not use them to project his own theological or political ideas and his own image, to the point that the faithful become focused on him rather than look to Christ Who is signified by the altar and present on the altar, and high upon the cross. As the Holy Father recently warned, the culture of the image in the worldly sense marks and conditions also the faithful and the shepherds. The Italian television, as a comment to this discourse, showed a concelebration in which some priests were talking on the mobile phone. From the manner of celebrating Mass many things can be deduced: the chair of the celebrant in many places has decentralised cross and tabernacle, occupying the centre of the church, sometimes overtowering in importance the altar, ending up by resembling an episcopal cathedra, which in Eastern churches [Don Bux is also lecturer for comparative liturgy at the Ecumenical Institute of Bari - NLM] is outside of the iconostasis, to one side clearly visible. It was thus also with us before the liturgical reform.

The ars celebrandi consists in serving with love and fear the Lord: for this is expressed with kisses of the mensa and the liturgical books, bows and genuflections, signs of the cross and incensations of people and objects, gestures of offering and supplication, and the showing of the Evangeliary and of the Holy Eucharist.

Now, such a service and style of the priest celebrant or, as people love to say, the presider of the assembly - a term that leads to misunderstand the liturgy as a democratic act - can be seen from his preparing himself at vesting in the sacristy in silence and recollection for the great action that is preparing to do; from his going to the altar, which must be humble, not ostentatious, without indulging in looking to the right and left, almost as if to seek applause. Indeed, the first act is the bow or genuflection before the cross and the tabernacle, in short before the divine presence, followed by the reverent kiss of the altar and possibly by the incensation. The second act is the sign of the cross and the sober greeting of the faithful. The third one is the penitential act, to be made profoundly and with eyes lowered, while the faithful might kneel, as in the old rite - why not? - imitating the publican who pleased the Lord. The readings will be proclaimed as a word not of our own, thus with a clear and humble tone. Like the priest bows while asking for his lips and heart to be purified in order to worthily proclaim the Gospel, why could not the lectors do the same, if not visibly as in the Ambrosian rite, at least in their hearts? The voice will not be raised like in the streets, and a clear tone will be maintained for the homily, but a quiet and supplicatory one for the prayers, solemn if in song. The priest will compose himself bowed down to celebrate the anaphora still "with humble spirit and contrite heart."

The Eucharistic Wonder

He will touch the holy gifts with wonder and astonishment - the Eucharistic amazement about which John Paul II often talked - and with adoration, and the sacred vessels he will cleanse calmly and carefully, as so many fathers and saints call for. He will bow over the bread and the chalice in saying the consecrating words of Christ and while invoking the Holy Spirit at the supplication or epiclesis. He will elevate them separately fixing his gaze on them in adoration and then lowering it in meditation. He will genuflect twice in solemn adoration. He will continue with recollection and a tone of prayer the anaphora until the doxology, elevating the holy Gifts offering them to the Father. He will recite the Our Father with his hands raised and without holding others by the hand, because that is proper to the rite of peace. The priest will not leave the Sacrament on the altar to offer the sign of peace outside the sanctuary. Instead he will break the host solemnly and visibly, and then genuflect before the Eucharist and pray silently asking again to be freed from every unworthyness in order not to eat and drink his own condemnation and to be preserved for eternal life by the holy Body and precious Blood of Christ. Then he will present the Host to the faithful for communion, supplicating Domine non sum dignus, and bowed he will himself communicate first. Thus he will serve as an example to the faithful.

After communion there will be thanksgiving in silence, which better than sitting can be done standing as a sign of respect or kneeling, if possible, as John Paul II did until the end, with head bowed and hands joined; in order to ask that the gift received be for us a remedy for eternal life, as is being said while the sacred vessels are being purified. Many faithful are doing this and they are an example for us. The priest, after the final greeting and blessing, going the altar to kiss it, again lifts his eyes to the cross and bows, or genuflects to the tabernacle. Then he returns to the sacristy, recollected, without dissipating with glances and words with the grace of the mystery celebrated.

Thus the faithful will be helped to understand the holy signs of the liturgy, which is a serious matter, and in which everything has a meaning for the encounter with the mystery present.

Paul VI, in the instruction Eucharisticum Mysterium, recalls a central truth propounded by St. Thomas: "This Sacrifice, then, as the passion of Christ itself, even though it is offered for everyone, 'has no effect if not in those who unite thmesleves to the passion of Christ through faith and charity ... To them, still, it helps more or less according to the measure of their devotion'". Faith is a condition of participation in the sacrifice of Christ with all myself. In what consists the action of the faithful, different from the priest who consecrates? They, remembering, give thanks, offer and, conveniently disposed, communicate sacramentally. The most intense expression is in the response to the invitation of the priest shortly before the anaphora: "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church."

Without faith and devotion of the priest there is no ars celebrandi and the participation of the faithful is not favoured, above all the perception of the mystery. Because to the Lord "are known ... [our] faith and devotion" (Roman Canon) which express themselves in the sacred gestures, bows, genuflections, hands joined, remaining kneeling. The lack of devotion in the liturgy impels many of the faithful to abandon it and dedicate themselves to secondary forms of piety, widening the gap between the one and the other.

Since the sacred liturgy is an act of Christ and the Church, not the result of our ability, it does not foresee a success which to applaud. The liturgy is not ours but his.

The Tradition of the Church

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum reminds the priest of his promise of at ordination, renewed from year to year during the Chrism Mass, to celebrate "devoutly and faithfully the mysteries of Christ for the praise of God and the sanctification of the Christian people, according to the tradition of the Church"(No. 31).

He is called upon to act in the person of Christ, he must therefore imitate Him in the supreme act of prayer and offering, and he must not deform the liturgy into a representation of his ideas, change and add anything whatsoever arbitrarily: "The Mystery of the Eucharist 'is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim, so that its sacredness and its universal ordering would be obscured'."(Ibid., 11). The Mass is not the property of the priest or the community. The instruction abundantly expounds how Mass should be rightly celebrated, that is the ars celebrandi: seminarians first must learn it carefully so that they can implement it as priests.

Benedict XVI, in Sacramentum Caritatis devotes attention to the ars celebrandi (No. 38-42), understood as the art of celebrating properly, and makes of it the condition for active participation of the faithful: "The ars celebrandi is the fruit of faithful adherence to the liturgical norms in all their richness; indeed, for two thousand years this way of celebrating has sustained the faith life of all believers"(38). In the note 116 Propositio No 25 specifies that "An authentic liturgical action expresses the sacredness of the eucharistic mystery. This should be evident from the words and actions of the priest who celebrates, as he intercedes to God the Father both with the faithful and on their behalf." Then the exhortation recalls that "The ars celebrandi must foster a sense of the sacred and the use of outward signs which help to cultivate this sense, such as, for example, the harmony of the rite, the liturgical vestments, the furnishings and the sacred place" (40). Speaking of sacred art, it recalls the unity among altar, crucifix, tabernacle, ambo and chair (41): attention to the sequence which reveals the order of importance. Together with the image, the song must also serve to orient the understanding and the encounter with the mystery.

The bishop and the priest are called to express all this in the liturgy which is sacred and divine, in a manner that truly manifests the creed of the Church.

Prayer for Conversion of Sinners and the Perfection of the Faithful

I was just reading one of my favorite blogs, Mount Carmel Catholic Blogger, and I ran across a beautiful prayer that I just had to post on my blog. It's a prayer for the conversion of souls in the state of mortal sin, and also for the grace of those who are in the state of grace to advance to saintly perfection by the frequent reception of Holy Communion.

I love this prayer because I can't say enough about the absolute importance and centrality of the Holy Eucharist. The Second Vatican Council said of this sacrament in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, that it is "the source and summit of the Christian Life." And in Lumen Gentium it says:

"The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."

There is nothing more vital and necessary to the life of the soul than the Bread of Life, Jesus, our source of every nourishment. Everything we do, no matter how mundane, worldly, or ordinary our tasks maybe, all of it finds it's light and sustenance in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Pray this prayer often. There is nothing better you can do for the good of souls than wish that they commune ever so intimately with Savior. And let it inspire you to make frequent and devout Holy Communions.

O Sweetest Jesus, Who camest into this world to give to all the life of Thy grace, and Who, to preserve and sustain it, didst will to be the remedy of our daily infirmities, and our daily food; humbly we pray Thee, by Thy Heart, all on fire for love of us, to pour out Thy Holy Spirit upon all, so that those who are unhappily in mortal sin may be converted to Thee, and recover the life of grace which they have lost; and those who by Thy gift still live this Divine life, may every day, when they are able, approach devoutly to Thy holy table, where, in daily Holy Communion, receiving every day the antidote to their daily venial sins, and nourishing the life of grace in their hearts, and purifying more and more their souls, they may come at last to the enjoyment with Thee of eternal beatitude. Amen.

Heart of Jesus, burning with love for us, inflame our hearts with love of Thee!

Contemplating the Face of Jesus

I've been struggling lately. I've been faced with many challenges to holiness, and have found myself face-flat on the dust more often than anything. It's been a tough school year, full of many faith-shaking and hope-sapping events for me. On top of that, this year has been marked with numerous personal failings. Some years are like that, I suppose, but I'm ready for it to be over. I'm ready for something to really lift me up and inspire me again. I'm looking forward to beginning Major Seminary in Rome, as I think that all the Faith and Antiquity in that Eternal City will be a wonderful source of grace and joy.

Again, in response to the words of my confessor this evening, I find that all my problems stem from one: I loose focus on the Face of Jesus. All the book learning, all the catholic culture, all of it is beautiful indeed; but all of it is for a purpose. And that purpose is the pursuit of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The ultimate remedy to any sin, to any challenge to personal holiness, is to contemplate the face of Jesus in personal prayer. I don't know why I always forget this. I think my spiritual director reminds me of it almost every time that I meet with him. But it's just the thing that the Devil is trying so hard to make all of us loose sight of amidst all the clutter of our everyday concerns. This is my great challenge! I do not pray as often as I should!

And why? Why is it that I fail to? I think for one, prayer is hard, it's frequently unrewarding, and its contrary to the inclinations of our wounded human nature. But, the Lord knows this, of course, and he supplies us with His grace, which slowly and surely must build upon our nature, so Aquinas says. But more importantly, in His wisdom, when prayer gets difficult, if we're faithful despite the challenge, He makes the difficulty the means by which we are transformed to His likeness. It was in the cross that his love was made known to us! So it is that our love is made known to Him. I let that thought encourage me when prayer is difficult. And I always try to remember that after the cross there is always that Easter joy we celebrate throughout this season.

I seem to be reflecting quite a bit on this issue lately. Perhaps that Lord is putting it on my heart that I may inspire someone who is struggling like me. And so, I say with greater confidence than ever that there is nothing more vital to the sanctification of the Christian than prayer. How else can we learn the ways of God, unless we sit at the feet of the Master. And so let us turn to Him daily, if only for a little while, and listen to His Word. The gospels are a great place to begin to know Him. And even if we don't experience anything particularly awesome at first, in the long run we will find ourselves drawn ever closer to Him. We must only be patient with ourselves and persist!

Mary, Queen and Mother.

With all my thoughts lately on holiness, I have been naturally led to reflect on Mary's role in the lives of every follower of Jesus. Tomorrow is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the feast during which we celebrate Mary's yes to God's call for her to be the Mother of His Son, a yes so radical that God took on flesh in her womb. In part to celebrate this feast, I participated in an ancient Marian devotion just this evening: the blessing and vesting with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

What is a scapular, you ask? A scapular was originally a part of a monk's habit. It was a rectangular cloth, about the width of the shoulders, that hung over the shoulders all the way down the length of the habit, both front and back. The word "scapular" comes from the Latin scapula, which means shoulder, and it symbolizes the yoke of Christ which all Christians are called to bear. Now adays, they have been altered popular use, and not just those who have taken vows with a religious order, although by wearing them, you are considered affiliated in some way with that order. These "lay scapulars" tend to be much smaller, maybe a few square inches in size, and hang over the shoulders by a chain or a ribbon attaching the two sides (see picture below). The Brown Scapular, specifically, is associated with the Carmelite religious order, an order devoted to mysticism and contemplative prayer. The brown scapular was given to the superior general of the order, St. Simon Stock, but Our Lady in a vision in his room in Cambridge, England. That was around 1251. With this gift came an awesome promise: "Whosever shall die while wearing this scapular shall not suffer the eternal fire." Basically this promise means that anyone who lives a good Christian life and dies in the friendship of God (i.e. in the state of grace), while wearing this gift of Mary's, will enjoy forever, in unimaginable bliss, the face of God.

But what's the wearing of little brown cloth have to do with my salvation? Well, in the Catholic mindset, to quote a theology teacher of mine from my College Seminary days: "matter matters." I mean that Catholicism is a religion that acknowledges the importance of the physical in God's plan. After all, He did think it a good idea to take human body so that he could really commiserate with our poor, broken nature. By taking on flesh, Jesus showed us that our bodies are good, and that the material world is His creation, and a source of grace, signifying His presence in our world. That's the whole point of the Incarnation, to catch up into the divine our lowly humanity! And that's why we celebrate the Annunciation, thanking Mary for making it all possible by her "yes," her fiat. By wearing this brown scapular, we are always silently remembering her devotion and love for God and her children. We are all her children, for we are all one body in her Son. By wearing this scapular, we are silently lifting up a perpetual prayer to her, pleading for her protection, and asking her to show us Jesus, just like she did for the shepherds on Christmas day. Mary is our advocate, our defender, our great example, God's promise of our future glory. And by wearing this scapular-by devoting ourselves to Mary without reserve-God showers us with His favors. And what Son would not be pleased in seeing His Mother so honored.

So don't be afraid to devote yourself to our Lady. She gave Christ to the world by her humble obedience, and she can show us how to do the same. She can give birth again and again to Jesus in our own hearts, and the hearts of others. Peace be with you, and Mary keep you!

An Easter Call to Holiness

Happy Easter! The blessings of the Risen Lord be upon you! This is a season of great joy for me, as the whole Church celebrates the great victory over sin and death of Her Head, Jesus Christ. With that victory comes the joy of redemption from sin, of the grace of the Holy Spirit, of intimate union with the Father in Heaven. Between the awesome beauty of the Triduum Liturgy - The Mass of the Lord's Supper, The Commemoration of the Lord's Passion, and the Easter Vigil - and the wonderful graces imparted throughout these days, Eastertide has always been a season of great spiritual consolation, even when things have been a little dry. And who could remain cold to the celebrations of Easter, amid the beautiful sights and smells of a lilly-clad altar? The beauty of the Easter decorations in churches everywhere are such sources of grace in and of themselves!

Lately, during the tail end of Lent and throughout this Easter Week, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a Christian, how it all boils down in the routine, everyday of our lives here on earth. I think, the reason being, is simply because I don't know if I've been doing the best that I can in my walk with Christ. On top of that is the exciting, and also sobering news from my bishop that I will be attending Major Seminary at the North American College in Rome. This news is absolutely wonderful, and I feel incredibly blessed and honored to be given this amazing opportunity to be so close to the Heart of Holy Mother Church. How truly graced I will be. All this makes me think how un-graced-like I've been acting recently. Without giving away details too personal for the public forum, I'll say that I've been lately worn out by my daily crosses. Most of these are private crosses, things that I bear in silence, that most of my brothers are unaware of. But the crosses themselves aren't really the problem. The problem comes from how distracted I've let myself become in the midst of them. I'm already someone who doesn't deal well with stress. That weakness is compounded a hundred-fold when I allow myself to loose sight of what really matters in life.

So what does really matter? Amid all the trappings of the Catholic - Christian life, the teachings, the prayers, the Liturgies and Traditions, what is the driving principle and last end of all these essentials? What's at the core? What holds them all together?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it wonderfully:

In the waters of Baptism...our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and since 'he is the source of [our] life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and...sanctification,' both his glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. (no. 2813)

Holiness. That's our call, that's the first mission and reason for our existence. In everything we do we are to "hallow" his name in our hearts and in our actions. It is this lived Faith, I think, in which real spiritual progress consists. But don't we so often get distracted, even in our Faith? What I mean is, especially for those involved in service to the church, is that sometimes we make our faith all about having the best music at Mass, or being on the right side of all the big debates that divide us today. Now, I firmly believe that many of these things are among the most important aspects of our religion; I said it above already - they're the essentials, because they direct and inspire our Faith, showing us the way to holiness, helping us to pray. But all of them mean absolutely nothing unless we daily seek after Christ. That's what holiness means: union with that God-man Jesus, who died and rose from the dead to deliver us from sin and make us new in the Spirit. It means that every day we have to get back up when we fall; It means every day remembering that it's all His work, and never ours; It means we are hopeless without Him, and living like we know it. It means we pray like our lives depended on it. It means trying to be one with Him, like Him in Heart and Mind. Every morning we have to renew our commitment to Him, give ourselves over to Him, and let His love fill our hearts so it can be the lens through we we see all whom we meet.

It sounds like quite a tall order, doesn't it? I guess from this side of heaven, it does. But it helps to simplify it, I think. It's all about Jesus. Everything else about our Catholic Faith falls into place around Him, pointing toward Him. So here's a bit of advice, if all my talk about Holiness seems like a lot: try and grow in your love for the Blessed Sacrament. It works for me, and has for all the saints. Why? Well, because it's Jesus. Because everything comes together in the Eucharist. There's nothing symbolic about it - Jesus is really and truly there, and that's an essential to our Faith. You can't come to truly know Christ without it. Mary will help you, too; everything she does points to Him. If you find yourself losing focus, getting distracted by your sins or just those lesser concerns, go to her. She'll take you to the Cross, where His blood will wash you clean again...

I hope my Easter ramblings have made some sense. There's a lot of context to these reflections that I admit I've left out for personal reasons, so it all seems to make perfect sense in my head. But the advice I've given has been given by all the spiritual masters. This Christian Life is tough, I know. I've been trying hard to live it for a while now. But I think we'll all be okay if we just manage to focus. That in and of itself can't be done without the grace of God, so again, stick close to Him. He loves us, and wants only the best for us. Well, that's all for now. Until next time, may the Risen Lord fill your hearts and your minds with the peace that is beyond all understanding... Ciao!

St. Joseph - Man of Faith

Well, it's certainly been a while since I've written anything. Seminary has been a rich, joyful - and also quite a busy - experience in these past two years. I find it rather amusing looking back over some of my old posts, intending at the time to chronicle my adventures here at the College Seminary--St. Andrew's Hall, and finding that my last post was in September of my first year. And already, it's two months to go before graduation and Major Seminary! It's truly been one amazing ride, an experience that has formed me in my faith and love of God and His people. There have been so many rich blessings over these two years, and I am ever more deeply grateful as each day goes by. But, it must be said that above all that, my time in College Seminary has been a great challenge, in some ways the greatest challenge of my life...

And so I find myself thinking of Lent - the Great Season of Penance. That time each year where we turn our backs to sin and look with trembling to God our Father, confident in His never failing Mercies. For all the great blessings He has shed upon me, I'm still so far from being the kind of man that He wishes me to be. It's so hard to stay pure, focused, and mindful of God's presence in my life. I find myself so easily discouraged, and sometimes disillusioned with my dreams of priesthood and holiness. It seems like so lofty a goal, so far and high above me. How can I ever dare to be an alter christus when I can't even treat my brothers and sisters in Christ with all the respect and charity that I aught! And it's so hard to find time to pray. It's so easy to just bury myself in my work (or play) and forget to take time out to spend before Jesus in the Tabernacle and just have a real heart-to-heart. Perhaps it's my dreams that are far to lofty, too high, too unrealistic. But even if they are what they should be, the challenges would still be great.

That's why I admired St. Joseph. His was a faith unquestioning, unwavering. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him to suddenly find his beloved fiancee was pregnant! Yet he trusted in God and took Mary into his home, even though to all appearances it seems that she broke the Law. How absurd it must have sounded to Him to hear that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit! Yet, he believed, despite the looks, despite the whispering and the gossip! If only I were so untouched by anxiety over my own reputation... He was found worthy by God to take into his care the Second Person of the Holy Trinity! How amazing! And how unworthy am I to take Him under my own roof every day at Mass? Joseph's faith was an extraordinary faith - he was ready to give up everything for the ones that he loved, starting with God. He even threw himself amidst a pagan people to protect his wife and Son. My only prayer is that he would teach me-teach all of us-the meaning of true faith and trust in God, that when the crosses become hard to bear, we might cling ever more tightly to Jesus, rather than caving into our desire to have it easy. Jesus is the only thing worth clinging to. Letting our selves get dragged down by the desire for comfort is a sure sign of disordered self-love. And how empty these worldly pleasure are! We must strive always to love God more, despite ourselves and the whims of the moment. Isn't this the meaning and purpose of Lent as well? A valuable lesson, O Christian. Pray for us, O blessed Joseph, that this Lent, and every day of our lives, my be a lesson in the true meaning of Faith in Jesus...