at the foot of the Cross

Today, a day for prayer and fasting

Today, March 30^th is a particular day for prayer and fasting...
Why today only? Why not every day or at least one-day-a-week - for those who have plenty to eat and seldom make time to pray...?

Do we know what it means to "fast" in this country of material wealth and surplus?
Do we know what it is to "not have" something for the sake of something greater?
Do we know how to pray to our heavenly Father? Do we make time to pray?
Do we know what it is to have a relationship with God, and have a conversation with Him on a daily basis?

Like a child who wants a quick snack when hunger pangs begin to stir inside his little stomach...and dinner is not quite ready yet...mother or father would say to the child to wait a little longer for the hunger to be satisfied. Do you think  this child will know how to wait?

If, instead, the mother or father gives-in to the child's cries and provides the quick snack (in order to stop the child from crying or making a spectacle in public)...
Has this child learned to wait for the better part still to come?

On the contrary, this child will no longer be hungry for the good and healthy food prepared for the children at the family table.

As the parents (role models) we too must be patient and "hunger" for the good and healthy food provided by our heavenly Father...
"Hunger" for justice and peace...
"Hunger" for what is healthy and good for our formation...(an everlasting hungering for the ultimate satisfaction culminating in total union with the One...)

We pray to the Father...we ask for what is just and right...we ask for what is good and healthy for us and for our brothers and sisters in this country...in this world.

Let us hunger today...and as we fast/hunger...let us be united in prayer each and every day...for the rest of our lives.

Prayer for pregnant women

Heavenly Father, cover your pregnant daughters with your amazing love:

• Protect their sons and daughters in the womb from all harm.
• Guide women struggling with issues of their pregnancy to caring counselors.
• Comfort women lacking family support and close friends.
• Provide women prenatal care, safe delivery, affordable housing, and financial resources.
• Fill your daughters with joy on choosing the gift of life for their child.
• Bless your daughters with a deeper relationship with Jesus.
• Mary, Mother of Jesus, pray for all women and for an end of abortion.

We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Mary is full of grace…

Mary is full of grace…

At the moment of the Annunciation
(feast day we celebrate March 25^th)
she says “yes” with an open heart to God’s will.

Let us walk with Mary during this time…

and praying with Mary,

I invite you to join with me and pray
for an unborn child and the mother…
and please spiritually adopt these precious
little ones during the next nine months…
 
Say this spiritual adoption prayer every day for nine months
to save a baby’s life! (by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen):

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you very much.
I beg you to spare the life of the unborn baby

That I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion.

Adoptive baby’s name:_____________
Spiritual Adoption Date: March 25^th, 2012     

United in prayer,
Socorro                                       

God's Representative

To teens for whom we provide affirmation, we are God's emissary, the representative of God's love and acceptance of them. Without good role models (including parents) they might never understand this immense love that God has for them.

— from When a Teen Chooses You

Jesus Crucified...

To my Beloved,
I will lay down my life for you...

At the foot of the Cross...
lay down all worries, troubles, burdens...
I have come so that you, my little ones,
may have life abundant.
For love of you, I have endured humiliation and shame...and I would do this all over again...
because of my great and endless LOVE for you!

Come to me all you who labor for my sake, and I will make your burden light...
All I ask is that you believe...
Believe in LOVE...
I love you more,
Jesus the Christ

Reliance on God

Constant and unchanging God, show me how to be more like you. Help me to come to rely on you for everything and pray to you without ceasing—today and always. Amen.

— from Rediscover Lent

This is the day we remember...

What with celebrating the feast of St. Patrick and everyone claiming to have a bit of Irish in them...
Today, I also invite you to remember my father - Aristeo - in your prayers.
He died 5 years ago today.

I'm consoled and filled with hope each day because I live in the promise of the resurrection.

There will come a place - in God's time - when we will rejoice with one another praising our Lord and Creator - whether we are Irish or not...Gentile or Jew...

I love and miss you, daddy!!! Please remember me when you come into God's kingdom...

Una gota de su sangre...by one drop of His Blood...

...Una gota de su sangre me ha dado VIDA...
By one drop of His (precious) blood I've been given NEW life...

Today is Friday of Lent.
I'm still walking toward union with the one who leads.
The one who walks this way is none other than Christ.
He (Jesus Christ) has poured out his precious blood for love of "little/insignificant" me...

How can I be so "insignificant" when there is a merciful and loving God who "thirsts" for me to return to His fatherly embrace, every single day? Do I see myself with the eyes of this merciful and loving God who knows the potential goodness within? Do I rise this day to the good news that God has shed a drop of blood for me?

And what's more, what will I do from this day forward to show my gratitude for such an extraordinary - out-of-this-world gift?

The pattern which man was made to imitate

In the world today -
as we know it,
there is a quest to avoid total surrender.

How can we recover this self-surrender?
The human spirit will only begin to try to surrender self-will...when we die a little each day...
When we experience some form of pain or deprivation in our lives...we can also begin to feel a sense of weakness, aloneness...that makes us turn to the God of love and mercy...
God is 'thirsting' for our self-surrender.

The Spiritual Combat

How do we love our enemies as the instruments used by God's goodness to train us to self-denial and to help us - not only in our future salvation - but in greater sanctification of our daily life?

It actually consists in knowing the infinite greatness and goodness of God, together with a true sense of our weakness and tendency to evil, in loving God and hating ourselves, in humbling ourselves not only before Him, but for His sake, before all men, in renouncing entirely our own will in order to follow His. It consists, finally, in doing all of this solely for the glory of His Holy Name, for only one purpose-----to please Him, for only one motive-----that He should be loved and served by all His creatures.

Taken from the book of the same title by DOM LORENZO SCUPOLI - with Imprimatur

A Great Incentive...

How may I practice Christian virtues in my daily walk?
If only I remember God's presence...within me...at all times - this simple appreciation will give me a great incentive to walk in His ways.

The thought that God's eyes are upon me 24/7...animates me and gives me courage to choose to do good in order to please my Creator and Lord!

Do I work hard enough to please my spouse, my supervisor at the office, my children, and others whom I love and wish to bring happiness to? This is still not sufficient if I'm aware of God-with-me at all times.

In order to remain intimately connected with God...I must seek Him outside of myself as well: at the Blessed Sacrament (daily Mass...silent adoration before the tabernacle...)...in reading and meditating upon Holy Scripture (the Bible...Yes! the Bible is easier and more fun to read than any other book out there...)

And, finally, I walk in union with God when I honor His image in others (and that means every single living soul...famous or unknown, rich or poor, important or insignificant, learned or illiterate...)

David was filled with joy and consolation whenever he thought of God: "I remembered God and was delighted." (Psalm 76:4)  Do I wish to live a life delighting in God's presence everyday? Absolutely!

If we could see more clearly today...

If we could see the way God sees, our lives would be a steady walk toward perfection...
We would only want what God wants for us because these are the gifts that help us to grow...

When I was at my weakest point in a hospital bed years ago, I put my trust in the doctors who would know what was best for me to heal from my broken state after a serious car accident. I did not (and could not) walk away or self-prescribe a cure.
How much more am I to put my trust in God who knows - from all time - what is best for me?
The more I see the way God wills (or permits) my every step this day...
the more I will be open to connecting with all of the persons God lets me share this day with.

Dear Lord, do not let me waste a single moment, a single encounter, a single breath this day.
May I serve your divine providence with an open heart and a cheerful spirit...no matter the cost! Amen.

On the blessing of the Cross

It is written that if we shall die with Christ (and we believe) we shall also live together with Christ (Romans 6:8)

In my struggles, Christ already reigns victor -
In my darkness, Christ is the Light -
In my dying, Christ gives me true Life...

Let me be constantly reminded of the blessing of the Cross.
And even as my anguish intensifies in these days...
let it all be for the reasons God has set apart for me to grow in union with my Beloved...

The chalice is so deep,
and I need the constancy of Christ
in order to persevere in my quest for ultimate union.

The way to perfect charity is arduous...

Delighting in a beautiful sunset the other day when I was working late at the office, I realized how God delights in giving me little joys and consolations...and that I must not purposely seek these little delights because they are not the way to perfect charity...

Strange-sounding you might say? The path to perfection is not self-seeking. I must learn to completely conquer my human tendency for self-love, and this involves a constant struggle against self. Every single day, my natural tendencies are tu nurture self: I brush my teeth, bathe, dress, eat, drink, etc...When tired, I seek to lie down and rest. When in pain, I seek some form of remedy to alleviate or completely take away the pain. In other words, my human reaction to living, is to seek consolation; pleasure instead of pain, and relaxation instead of work.

Who is it that intentionally looks for pain instead of pleasure? Looks for hard work and suffering instead of relaxation and "feeling good"?...

My relationship with a merciful and loving God urges me (yes, urges me) to want to surrender all of myself to His Divine Providence...I am no longer the leader in control of my journey...in fact, I've never been the one "in control of my walk"...My beloved Crucified is my leader from now on. As I gaze upon God's only begotten Son surrendering Himself on the cross for love of little me...I cannot help but cry out in sorrow and joy: "Abba, Father, How great Thou Art!" "Have mercy on me!"

This is the day the Lord has made...

Rejoice in this day with me as I celebrate my wedding anniversary and my departed father's birthday...

Join me in prayer, please!!!

I will ponder on the following verse from Proverbs 3:5-6
"TRUST in the Lord with all your HEART,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make straight your paths"