Day Two
Mary, Mother of divine grace, you appeared to Juan Diego standing on the moon and robed in a royal mantle adorned with stars, showing that you are the Queen of Heaven and Earth, yet far from a haughty or distant Queen. With hands folded in supplication, eyes cast downward in humility and compassion, you did not ask for a temple where you could be honored, but one where you could attend to the “weeping and sorrows of … all the people of this land, and of the various peoples who love me….” May all who are sorrowing due to abuse, violence, exploitation, neglect, and all sins against the dignity of life, fly to you, Mother, for comfort and hope.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Advent #1 – Finding Joy and Hope in Challenging Times – Advent Reflections w/ Dr. Anthony Lilles – Discerning Hearts Podcasts
Dr. Anthony Lilles, focusing on Pope Benedict XVI’s writings, discusses how illness, physically or emotionally, during Advent can be a unique spiritual opportunity. He emphasizes that suffering and difficulty can be a form of divine visitation, offering a chance for personal growth and deeper connection with God.
Dr. Lilles encourages listeners to view every life event, including hardships, as an expression of God’s love. He suggests maintaining an ‘inner diary’ of daily positives as a way to acknowledge God’s presence in all situations. The discussion also covers practical spiritual practices for the Advent season, especially for those facing physical or emotional challenges. Dr. Lilles highlights the importance of ‘offering up’ one’s suffering, transforming it into a meaningful spiritual journey.
This podcast offers a compassionate perspective on finding spiritual richness and hope in the midst of illness, aligning with the reflective nature of Advent.
Msgr. Esseff asks the question, “Are you prepared for the Lord’s coming?” He challenges us to take a good look at our prayer lives and to prepare for the coming of Jesus in your life today.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to St. Teresa of Calcutta. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by St. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.
St Cyril of Jerusalem
The twofold coming of Christ
We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom.
In general, whatever relates to our Lord Jesus Christ has two aspects. There is a birth from God before the ages, and a birth from a virgin at the fullness of time. There is a hidden coming, like that of rain on fleece, and a coming before all eyes, still in the future.
At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels.
We look then beyond the first coming and await the second. At the first coming we said: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the second we shall say it again; we shall go out with the angels to meet the Lord and cry out in adoration: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
The Saviour will not come to be judged again, but to judge those by whom he was judged. At his own judgement he was silent; then he will address those who committed the outrages against him when they crucified him and will remind them: You did these things, and I was silent.
His first coming was to fulfil his plan of love, to teach men by gentle persuasion. This time, whether men like it or not, they will be subjects of his kingdom by necessity.
The prophet Malachi speaks of the two comings. And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple: that is one coming.
Again he says of another coming: Look, the Lord almighty will come, and who will endure the day of his entry, or who will stand in his sight? Because he comes like a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing.
These two comings are also referred to by Paul in writing to Titus: The grace of God the Saviour has appeared to all men, instructing us to put aside impiety and worldly desires and live temperately, uprightly, and religiously in this present age, waiting for the joyful hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Notice how he speaks of a first coming for which he gives thanks, and a second, the one we still await.
That is why the faith we profess has been handed on to you in these words: He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new.
Pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe
(Pope John Paul II, January 25, 1979)
O Immaculate Virgin, mother of the true God and mother of the Church! You, who … revealed your clemency and your pity to all those who ask for your protection, hear the prayer that we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our sole Redeemer.
Mother of Mercy, teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you … we dedicate on this day all our being and all our love. We also dedicate to you our life, our work, our joys, our infirmities, and our sorrows.
Grant peace, justice, and prosperity to our people, for we entrust to your care all that we have and all that we are, our Lady and Mother.
We wish to be entirely yours and to walk with you along the way of complete faithfulness to Jesus Christ and his Church: hold us always in your loving hand.
Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you for all the bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service of God and souls. Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God.
Blessed Virgin Mary, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children. Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which come to us from your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
Day One
Holy Mother, you appeared to Saint Juan Diego as a
maiden of his own race to reveal that you are the mother
of all God’s children. Draw close to your heart those who
are facing an unexpected pregnancy, so that like you, they
will say yes to the new life with which God has blessed them.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be
Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from it great peace and great rewards, even when I confer on you the grace of immolation, of repentance and of love. Then what does suffering matter? It seems impossible to you? Close your eyes and say with all your soul, “Jesus, you take care of it”. Do not be afraid, I will take care of things and you will bless my name by humbling yourself. A thousand prayers cannot equal one single act of surrender, remember this well. There is no novena more effective than this:
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Mother, I am yours now and forever. Through you and with you I always want to belong completely to Jesus.
Saturday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast
As you begin, take a deep breath and exhale slowly. For at least the next few moments, surrender all the cares and concerns of this day to the Lord.
Say slowly from your heart “Jesus, I Trust In You…You Take Over”
Become aware that He is with you, looking upon you with love, wanting to be heard deep within in your heart…
From the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke 21:34-36
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’
What word made this passage come alive for you?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more give the Lord an opportunity to speak to you:
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’
What did your heart feel as you listened?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more, through Him, with Him and in Him listen to the Word:
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’
What touched your heart in this time of prayer?
What did your heart feel as you prayed?
What do you hope to carry with you from this time with the Lord?
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen
Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright (c) 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. Reprinted by Permission.
Deacon James Keating Ph.D. – Abiding in Christ on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor
In this compelling conversation with Deacon James Keating, a spiritual master of the highest order, we discuss those things that block us from having a closer relationship with God. We also discuss the importance of making time for Lectio Divina, living in the liturgy of the Church, and the danger of letting prayer become too complex.
Abiding in Christ: Staying with God in a Busy World is a wonderful how-to-pray resource. This book helps readers to find a quiet space wherein they can be present to God and offers suggestions of how they can be more open to God’s movement within them. We highly recommend this book to those souls seeking a deeper relationship with God.
Here are excerpts from our conversation in the podcast –
“Sin, to some extent, possesses us, usually at the level of pleasure. Even if you think about the sin of anger, it always seems like it’s mayhem, but it’s actually pleasurable. People get a rush out of being angry. They get a rush out of being greedy. There’s a pleasure in sloth, in daydreaming, in fantasizing, in not doing the duty or the work we’re supposed to do right in front of us. There’s a pleasure in sloth.
And so that pleasure is the glue, the adhesive that keeps us in love with our sins. And that’s what God is alwaying fighting. He’s trying to displace that false love that we have set up by the way of pleasure. God knows that pleasure is not the deepest reality of existence. And so he’s not going to play the game back and like trump the pleasure of sin. He is going to attract us away from the pleasure of sin, by the beauty of truth.
As Joseph Ratizinger used to say, “The face of God, is the beauty of God’s face.” What’s that mean? That means that the truth, the radiance of truth will eventually win us over even against the strong undertow of sin’s pleasure. If we give him a chance, spend time with him, open our hearts to be affected by him, then over time, this beauty of his own face, the truth of who God is will move us away from the immediacy, the gratification of the pleasure that’s hiding within all of our sins. And that’s what salvation is. Salvation is finally surrendering to truth and its beauty over and against the fleeting pleasure of self-involvement.”
also
“The liturgy is your participation in being loved and loving back. Catechesisis not learning in a classroom style. It’s learning how to pray. If we don’t learn how to pray, we won’t even be interested in the catechism. Why would you be interested in the catechism if you don’t know the person whose voluminous beauty fills the catechism? Why would you want to open that book?
The Catechism at its heart is learning how to be with Him, to receive Him. And then your intellect is a flame to want to know Him. We do it backwards. We’ve always done it backwards. I don’t know for how long, but since my birth, we’ve done it backwards. Reducing the mystery to academics. And that’s inherently boring because to study anybody you don’t know, to study anyone that you have no motivation to learn about, is boredom. So we have to let them be burned by the fire first. This is why to some extent, parishes have to be remodeled. Maybe God is doing this by making our parishes so much smaller.
People are leaving. They’re not saying this. They’re leaving because they’re bored. They’re leaving because they haven’t encountered. They’re leaving because they don’t know God. And they’re looking for God, but maybe we have to make our parishes more like retreat centers than some type of bureaucratic paperwork center where you go through and get certified to receive this sacrament or that sacrament. It has to be more of a retreat encounter so that people will want to know God because they’ve met to God.”
Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away on the flowing current of my grace; close your eyes and do not think of the present, turning your thoughts away from the future just as you would from temptation. Repose in me, believing in my goodness, and I promise you by my love that if you say “You take care of it” I will take care of it all; I will console you, liberate you and guide you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Mother, I am yours now and forever. Through you and with you I always want to belong completely to Jesus.
Friday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast
As you begin, take a deep breath and exhale slowly. For at least the next few moments, surrender all the cares and concerns of this day to the Lord.
Say slowly from your heart “Jesus, I Trust In You…You Take Over”
Become aware that He is with you, looking upon you with love, wanting to be heard deep within in your heart…
From the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke 21:29-33
Jesus told his disciples a parable: ‘Think of the fig tree and indeed every tree. As soon as you see them bud, you know that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.’
What word made this passage come alive for you?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more give the Lord an opportunity to speak to you:
Jesus told his disciples a parable: ‘Think of the fig tree and indeed every tree. As soon as you see them bud, you know that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.’
What did your heart feel as you listened?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more, through Him, with Him and in Him listen to the Word:
Jesus told his disciples a parable: ‘Think of the fig tree and indeed every tree. As soon as you see them bud, you know that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.’
What touched your heart in this time of prayer?
What did your heart feel as you prayed?
What do you hope to carry with you from this time with the Lord?
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen
Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright (c) 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. Reprinted by Permission.
Saturday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast
Friday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast