THE RADIANT GUIDANCE PROJECT
FATHER LUKE
For the Love of Christ
MARY'S SONG OF PRAISE
Luke 1: 39 - 50
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city
of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechari'ah and greeted Elizabeth.
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the child leaped in her womb;
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy spirit and she exclaimed in a loud cry,
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the child in my
womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a
fulfillment of what was spoken to her from my Lord."
And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God,
my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great tihngs for me and his holy name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation."
The MOON is a symbol for Mary because she reflects the light of her son.
Who I am? I come from a large Italian family. The last family reunion we had on my Dad’s side of the family there were a little over 800 there. We have a large extended family and most of them live in Texas. I was born and raised in Texas, and followed the path of a Catholic Education. I began at Saint Mary’s Church and finished off at local parochial school and then after graduating from there went to Catholic High School. About four or five months after graduation I joined the Novitiate with three others from the my area. That is where I had spent most of my life. Presently I am ordained 47 years. I had a preaching career, then parochial work, was director of a House of Prayer that our Community wanted to experiment with because there was a need in our community. I was Assistant Director of Novices for one year, went into retirement, and am now serving by going to five prisons, work with the separated, widowed and divorced. I help out at the University Student Center, teach parish missions, and help out in parishes. That is about where I am at this time in my life. This gives me the impression that I’m doing things. I’ll keep going until they bury me. I have to keep moving.
The times of God speaking to me in my life - I experienced my whole youth not knowing that He spoke to me at different times. I didn’t discover it until later on in my life. Even while I was in the my order. It wasn’t until I was ordained 18 years that I had what I would call a “conversion experience[1].” I was pastor of a Catholic Church in Canada. I wanted to get into this “Life and the Spirit Seminar.” I wanted to see what was going on. I didn’t want to go to the one in my own Parish because there was a Deacon there I didn’t like. So I tried to see where other “Life and the Spirit Seminars” were going on in the city. With the schedule I had I couldn’t arrange to go to the other ones. The group I ended up in was the Deacon’s group. I remember when he [the Deacon from my parish who I didn’t like] prayed over me he had no devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he said to me: “I see Mary standing over you.” And that was really the turning point where he and I started to become friends.
I was Baptized in the Holy Spirit[2] at that time, prayed over for about thirty minutes. That was providential because that was in February 1980, and then August of 1980 I began to experience bouts of depression. It started in July – July and August. I knew something was off kilter. I had gone to a family doctor in Sugar Land, and he simply just gave me medication for depression. Unknowingly to myself over a period of time I became “hooked” on the medication, and I didn’t know it. I ended up being just totally wiped out. I was living in Canada and scheduled to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a hundred day meeting and I had to cancel it because I had to go into a convalescent home for priests to handle this depression. When I got there they told me that they were going to take me off all the medication because I was on too much medication, and that I was actually “hooked” on the medication. I would have to go through withdrawals from the medication. They told me it was going to be difficult, but they would be there for me. It was difficult. I did not sleep more than 45 minutes to an hour a night for about six to seven weeks.
I think where God touched me was that I would go into the Chapel at night and wrap my arms around the pedestal of the monstrance that was holding the Blessed Sacrament[3]. I stayed there because I didn’t know where else to go, and I didn’t know what to do because I was so afraid because I had not experienced anything like this in my whole life. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I prayed constantly. I prayed the rosary and asked Our Lady that I would be blessed that I could begin my healing in October because I had been the Pastor of my church in Canada. I asked with a number of rosaries that she would intercede and that I could be healed.
There was another incident that was a turning point in my life. My spiritual director at the convalescent center was one of our own Community. He knew that I was very angry with God because I could not figure out why I was going through this. Why was this happening? He said “you are very angry. I want you to go out before the next time we get together and I want you to tell God what you are thinking.” He quite meant that because I thought God would really hurt me if I told Him what I thought of Him at that time. But finally I did. I went out into the field and I told God off. I actually cursed God. I told him how upset I was with Him – for what He was doing to me. I will always remember the final statement I made. I raised my fist up to heaven in that field and I said, “God damn you God! Why are you this to me. God Damn you, God.” I was crying, of course. I got on my knees and it just came out of me. I said, “I don’t understand you, but I love you.”
And that was a turning point in my life. Because it was at that time that I began to accept what was happening to me.
Then on the night of September 30th the doctors gave me the first medicine I had had since I was in that place, and he said, “Don’t expect any kind of changes for 36 or 48 hours or even more.” I took the medication. It was the first night that I slept. On the morning of October 1st – October is the month of the Holy Rosary – on the morning of October 1st I was up in the dining room eating, talking to people, and the doctor came in and said “What just happened?” I said, “I don’t how, but whatever you have in that little red pill did something.” He said, “No, there is a higher power at work. There is no way that that amount of medication could have transformed you the way you are transformed.” And my health – my mental, emotional, physical health – just went straight off the charts from October 1st. They asked me to write about my healing experience because no one who had this burnt out physiology had ever gotten well so fast. I knew Mary’s presence. You know her presence, then you know God’s presence. She is who she is because of God. She is what God has accomplished for her.
Other events where I encountered Christ was on pilgrimage. I wasn’t too sure when I started going on pilgrimages as spiritual director. I began to find my life changing, my attitudes changing. I began to find that people who were on the pilgrimage with me, that their lives were changing. People, including men, would come up to me at the end of the pilgrimage and cry and tell me that their lives would never be the same because of this. I knew that God had spoken to us. Especially the conversion experiences I had in Medjugorje[4] in 1986. This was the first time I had gone to Medjugorje, and I went to prove it was wrong. I met a priest there I didn’t know. Actually I didn’t know anyone on the trip. I got permission from my superior that I could go to see what was going on because too many people were asking me questions.
We were standing outside the church on a Friday, waiting for the Apparition to appear – for Our Lady to appear – which I wasn’t too sure of yet. Father Ed, [one of the priests on the tour with me] was standing next to me. He said to me, “Roy, Look at the sun!” I looked in that direction and it sort of blinded me. “No,” he said. “Look at the sun.” I looked again at the sun and I was looking right at it. It was though a host appeared over the sun and filtered the sunlight so I could actually just look right in it. It reminded me right away of the Blessed Sacrament. I still believe I looked down and looked up three times and I watched it for approximately fifteen minutes. I knew I was crying. I could hear the voices in the background in my mind, but I don’t remember what anybody was saying. The minute the Apparition ended I heard a sound. I didn’t plan it, I just heard a sound. A huge flock of birds that were sitting in the trees, being absolutely silent for those fifteen minutes, just all took off. I was crying. I really wasn’t in to this kind of spirituality. I still have something of a “head relationship” with it even now. That night I sat on the edge of the bed and prayed for the Lord to tell me what all of this was about for me. And I didn’t hear voices. I just kept getting the same thought going through my head, “Deeper prayer life. Deeper prayer life.”
That was a turning point in my life. I always went to confession at least every two months. After that experience and on advice of my spiritual director I began monthly confession, which has really brought about a transformation in my life. The Eucharist is everything. It’s always been an important part for me. But over a period of time I became more and more convinced about the Eucharist and the Real Presence. Now it is the epitome of my life. The epitome of my life.
There was one other thing they discovered at the convalescent home after giving me all kinds of tests. They said that I had probably suffered from clinical depression since I was a child. And I didn’t know it. I was growing up in the 40s and 50s. What did you know about clinical depression at that time? I began to think that I had to write all my family history and everything with 36 aunts and uncles. It took a little while to write a family history. There was a lot of depression on one side of the family. One of the things I had to come to grips with was could I accept the fact that I would probably have to be on some form of medication for this clinical depression for the rest of my life? And I was convinced that if this is what it took to be able to minister and to carry out the priesthood that Christ had given me, then I would do it. What I am so amazed about is that I am taking so much less medication now than I have ever taken for this problem. The doctor who is my psychiatrist that checks on me now and then to see how it is going tells me over and over again “God did the work. This is absolutely amazing that you are on so little medication for this problem.”
The rest of my priesthood has been totally centered around the Eucharist. I began to see more and more that Mary is a caller to bring people to the Eucharist – to Christ.
I heard you say once that Mary is a pointer – that never once does she want the attention on her. She says “Look at my son. Look over there.” Go back to the Wedding at Cana. “Do what He says, and follow Him.” She is the Mother of Jesus, the mother of God, but she only has this grace because of Him. And so she never wants to take any of that. “Look at Him. Look at Him. Go to Him.”
What was your faith like as a child before you went into the Seminary?
We went to church every Sunday. I went to Catholic School so we were going to Mass every day, and taught by the Nuns, who did a very good job. It was an integral part of our life. Even our social life was centered around the Church, because Houston was a predominant protestant city. The youth groups in the parishes would try to get Catholics together so they could meet Catholics. The CYO [Catholic Youth Organization] program around the city was strong at that time. There were only two Catholic High Schools at that time – St. Agnes, Incarnate Word, and St. Thomas. We had graduation together at the Music Hall on Beechnut at that time – it’s not there anymore. Those Nuns who taught me were phenomenal. When St. Agnes moved from down town to out in the suburbs, they didn’t. They said, “If we move out, who is left for the inner city girls?” They stayed there. They almost went under. But now they blossomed right back up again
What about the family influence on your faith?
My Mom had great faith. She was on her knees every day praying the Rosary. That was part of her life. I think that praying of the Rosary eventually led to one Sunday that my father decided to go back to church. He went to church every Sunday for the Eucharist till the day he died. They celebrated 50 years of marriage and at the 55th anniversary he died of congestive heart failure in bed while he was sleeping at night. She was in bed next to him. He reached over during the night and held her hand, and he died holding her hand – after 55 years of marriage. God has worked in the family. There is no doubt about that.
What made you decide to become a priest, let alone a Basilian?
I was taught by the Basilians in high school. I admired them. They were a happy lot. They took a lot of interest in us. It was authentic. And you know kids know that. I thought it was a great experience to have that [joy]. At the end of my senior year that I began to think a little more seriously about wanting to be a priest. I never considered the diocesan priesthood. There was something about their community, love, community experience. Their dedication to education was wonderful. It inspired me. When I went in the Novitiate I was still writing to the girl I was dating. We used to move around the table at the Novitiate every week. I was there about three weeks - we had signed a contract saying that we would give the Novice Director permission to read our outgoing mail and our incoming mail at that time. So we would leave our letters that we wrote open, and he would seal them and if he so wished to read them, he could. We signed an agreement that he could also read our incoming mail. That was one of the things at that time. We had two “walk days” a week. Wherever we wanted to go we had to walk. Four of us left Houston to New York City. We spent the day in New York City before going to in to the Novitiate. Some imbibed in beer and raw oysters, and then got on a train in New York City and rode to Rochester, New York. Some were not too happy on the train – they threw up everything they needed to throw up before they got to Rochester. We were all pure before we got to Rochester. We entered the Novitiate and stood outside the door and rang the door bell and I said, “If we weren’t eleven hundred miles from home I would go back.” They said, “Nope. You’ve got to give it a chance.” So we did.
I never quite unpacked. They had a rule that you couldn’t lie down in the bed during the day, so I would get a blanket and put it on the floor and lie down on the floor. You can always get around rules. I always admired the other three because they seemed to “have it together.” And I did not “have it together.” Our training really was eleven years including the novitiate and everything else. We wouldn’t take final vows till we were in five or six years while we were in the Community. Two of them stayed five years and one stayed six years. I’m the only one that lasted.
When I tell people that story I say, “I unpacked about two years ago.” We are still very close to these guys. We still get together. And many of the guys from the Class of ’51 have lunch together at Cyryls Italian Restaurant on the second Wednesday of every month.
I could never picture myself as a diocesan priest once I experienced the total way of life that we had in the Community. Diocesan seminarians leave in the summertime. But we stayed there in Community. We washed floors, we washed windows, we cleaned toilets, we cleaned showers, we washed dishes, we set tables, – and we prayed. We had a regular schedule. It didn’t end when the school year was over. We had things to do and sometimes places to go to do ministry in the summertime in between school time.
You talked about how when you were early on in your priesthood there was more of an intellectual kind of spirituality. When you were in the seminary and during the first 18 years of your priesthood, what did your spirituality entail?
It was mainly just reading and preaching and that sort of thing. It was having all my homilies written down. I knew exactly what I was going to say. And then, after the Convalescent home experience I could never write a homily again. I could jot down notes, but I couldn’t just sit there and have it in front of me.
How long were you in the convalescent home?
Four months. They told me I would probably be there for six to eight months.
What did you think of Marian Apparitions in places like Medjugorje, Lourdes, Fatima?
Fatima and Lourdes were easier for me to accept. Medjugorje wasn’t. The first time I heard about Medjugorje, the first thing I thought was “just what we need – somebody else saying that they have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary.” That was my initial reaction
My goal was to go there and disprove it. That was the basic disposition among those in our Community. On the bus as we were getting to Medjugorje late at night I looked up and there was this beautiful moon. I thought to myself. “What in the world are you doing here.” This was a Communist country, at that time. I just said to Our Lady, “Our Lady, you have got to help me. If you are present there, show me somehow if you are. And, if you are not, show me, so I will not be deceived myself and I will not deceive others.” And I remember the this experience. It wasn’t a feeling. It was the experience of an elevator from the top going down my whole body to my feet. This was while I was on the bus. I wasn’t even there yet. It was there that I began to really say I couldn’t speak against it – not that She was present there, but that I would find out, and somehow experience it.
The first time at Medjugorje, the last night we were there, there was a group of us standing out in front of the church that night and talking and the people in the church were singing. This little melody started coming out of the church. It was “Amazing Grace.[5]” They were singing in English. When I had first been Baptized in the Holy Spirit at Holy Rosary church in Toronto, Canada I was kneeling in the church one day and I began to doubt the baptism. I started to pray that I could know something. These words just bellowed in my mind. “You were baptized in the spirit; you know that you know that you know.” And that was it. This was so vivid that I turned around to see in someone was in the church. There was no one in the church. Oh, the words that were used in the front of it were: “You were lost and now you are found.” That was before I ever went to Medjugorje. And the words that came out of the church that they were singing – the very first words that I heard – were “You were lost and now you are found.”
I have had really tense moments in my life. I had a funeral one time and I had no idea of what I was going to say to the people because I didn’t know them. And I kept praying. The opening hymn was Amazing Grace.
When I was transferred from St. Basil’s church in Angleton [Texas] to Christ the King Church in Rochester, New York, I had no idea that it was where I should be. My first Mass celebrated there was a five o’clock mass on Saturday Afternoon. I was standing in the back of the church. Then I walked down the aisle and said to Our Lady, “If this is really what you want give me some sign.” The opening hymn was Amazing Grace. That song has crept into my life at the most awkward times to affirm, “I am here dum-dum!” It is really one of my favorite songs.
What was your relationship with the Blessed Mother before you were baptized in the Spirit?
It was primarily that I prayed the Rosary every day. There was some acknowledgement of her in my life every day. I really got that confirmed in the convalescent home and reaffirmed at Medjugorje. Prior to that it was really “from the shoulders up.” It wasn’t. But later on, when it got into the heart I began to see her face differently. Not as something or someone “out there” but right here. Today it is a deep love relationship.
How did the experience at the tabernacle and yelling at God change your life?
Well, I didn’t know how much fear of God I had instead of love. Fear was fear, not reverence. But really amazed me I figured that after I cursed God I would pretty much be struck dead, go crazy, or something like that. But it didn’t happen. What happened was that I had an inner freedom that I had never had before. I reject Christ – I say Christ because I can’t put any meat on God, but I can put flesh on Christ. It was after that that I knew I could say anything. And He would understand why. It’s a faith thing. It wasn’t a feeling, it was just a deeper inner conviction that God had let me say things like this about Him in my frustration, and He put peace upon me as a result. That blew my mind. And I knew it was going to help.
Have you ever recommended others to do that?
Yes. Some have done it. Some put it very kindly. But the ones who really did it began to have a new inner freedom because they didn’t have that façade there. You experience the joy that comes when you can totally be yourself in front of Christ. And there will be no repercussions.
When did you decide to go to the convalescent home?
I had no choice. I think it was the fruit of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. From that time on, my prayer life was transformed. I knew I was changing. The experience of the convalescent home tested me, as I began to realize, to understand that I could still trust in Christ when I had no reason to because I was so sick. It was scary. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to make it a head trip at all. There was really an inner struggle going on. You know things. You know that you know and can be crying and you can be hurting, but you just know that you know that you know.
You are at Holy Rosary, you were Baptized in the Spirit, your relationship with God, the Blessed Mother had changed to become more intimate, and you tried to make these changes in yourself – expecting more from yourself, going deeper in your relationship. You go to a convalescent home, breaking you down so God can rebuild you, the Blessed Mother holding your hand through this conversion to restructuring. You have a new relationship with her who shows you a different relationship with Him. You go on your first pilgrimage to Medjugorje after that. You are on the bus. You are questioning. You are like, “Mary, if this is you, I need you to show me. And you have that vision of the Miracle of the Sun, and you are in tears. What was that like? You actually got to see her at that moment – or a sign from her at that moment. What was that like?
I tried to write this down, but it didn’t work out. I just knew when that happened that she was saying “I’m here.” Then when I heard confession. The people who came to confession “twenty-four – seven” – the overwhelming majority of them hadn’t been to confession in years. And they were coming back.
This was my first Marian pilgrimage – in the 1980s. I have made seven Marian pilgrimages since then. Some of my brother priests in the Community say that I appear in Medjugorje more than Mary does. I’ve been to Medjugorje seven times. I am hoping to go back one more time before I die. I will pray, hear confessions, eat, sleep and drink.
Why Medjugorje? This is the place that you doubted. You believe in Fatima and Lourdes. Medjugorje is the place you doubted. What is your relationship with Medjugorje now?
It is ingrained in me. So is Lourdes and Fatima. The place where the Miracle of the Eucharist took 300 years. You just sensibly know in the scriptural sense says you knew God. It wasn’t an intellectual grasp. It meant an experience by which a person became convinced that God was there, and that God had said something to that person. Through the event, because God is the God of history. This is how he speaks to us – through the events of history. We can’t close our minds what is going on around us. Christ is a product of history.
What is it like now when you go to Medjugorje. What is that feeling or experience or encounter like for you now when you go?
I don’t get all this stuff that I had at the beginning. It is just a “good to be with you” – a calm. Not necessarily a comfort. Our Lady has a way of making you feel uncomfortable. The Gospel is not a Gospel of comfort. It is a Gospel of Peace that leads you into the uncomfortable. This sounds like a contradiction in terms, but that’s how Christ works. Unless you die you won’t live. There is always this conflict that is going on in this system. There appears to be contradictions. But you have to die to old ways of thinking. You have to die to old ways of thinking. What I mean by that is when we only permit God go no lower than here, and that is what the Holy Spirit really does. The Holy Spirit really opens this up to let God herd us in a human sense. Only to see the purification of trying. It is a change of attitude.
What was it like when you go to Lourdes or Fatima or Ireland?
I don’t look for anything. My whole focus is to surrender. I was talking to a lady one time and she said, “I know the name of my Guardian Angel.” I don’t recall. I thought, Hmmmm. I remembered she had this fantastic relationship with her Guardian Angel. I decided to start praying, asking Christ if he would tell me the name of my Guardian Angel. I must have prayed for three or four months and I had a dream one night. He was all white. They were all around. I forget the word being used now – In the dream I knew it had something to do with the Angel. Eventually I heard “Surrender.” I woke up the next morning and said, “If this is true, Lord, I think the name of my Guardian Angel is Surrender.” And that has been a focus of my life since.
Now when I go on pilgrimages and all these things I go with an attitude of surrender. There was something else. I also recall the word “Obedient.” What is another name for “obedient”, and it came to mind, “surrender.” When we obey we surrender our will. That is what happened.
I actually speak. I don’t know if I get answers. I don’t worry about it. But I speak to or pray to my Guardian Angel. I totally surrender.
I feel like I have a very special relationship with you. You have been through so many things in your life. Some incredible things. You’ve witnessed a miraculous, beautiful moment. You’ve witnessed and walked through the desert as well. You have surrendered your life on more than one occasion. It is probably a daily calling for you. If I had the honor of being able to describe who you are, what point would you want to make sure I got across about you? About how you live your life. About who you are.
I think it would come down to – not one thing. All these experiences in life bring me to a place where you start to have a new vision of yourself. There are all those experiences. The focus of my life is “Surrender.” The focus of the Eucharist is “This is My Body.” Christ literally surrendered Himself. He didn’t do it in a very pretty way. What he really did was give Himself to us totally was not in a very pretty way. I just began to realize that His death is the only death that we, as Catholics, celebrate. But death does not really exist. The only thing I find in scripture about death is “sinners’ death.” That’s it. We should fear sin, but not fear death. Because sin takes away life.
It is the assimilation of events up to this point. I have no idea what is going to happen this time forward. It doesn’t matter. I don’t know if I’ve answered your question.
I was lucky to go to Medjugorje one time while I was in college. I picture you standing outside the church with many people waiting for the miracle of the sun. I never put this together. The miracle of the sun happens and you see the host around the sun so you can look right at the sun. There is the miracle in her name, but once again she is pointing back to her son.
If you look at the harvest moon. Ever since that evening at Medjugorje, every time there is a full moon – that is exactly how that looked with the sun. I remember we were being taught in grade school that the moon was an image of Mary because she reflected the light of her son, Jesus.
Anything else you would like to share?
I haven’t said this to anybody. Within the last couple of years sometimes when I hold the Host up after the Consecration I really pray – it could be my imagination. I would pray. But there is an image of the face of Christ that appears at different parts of the Host. I didn’t ask for that. All of a sudden it comes. At times it is very strong. I wasn’t even looking at it. A good friend came up and said, “At the Consecration, you looked like you were having a vision.” My God, it showed. I had such a glow. I wasn’t even in my mind – my consciousness – but that really convinces me more and more of the real presence.
When you are celebrating Mass and you are Consecrating the bread and wine to the body and blood of Christ, has that moment changed for you with time. What is that experience like for you – the man of God that you are. When you are celebrating and you are part of that transubstantiation of that bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ that you are about to distribute to the congregation – what is that moment like for you?
The only way I know how to describe that is that in a sense is to call it “Glimpses of the Spirit.” We all have them. In different ways. One way is not any better than any other. Nor is it a sign that one is more holy than another. It just means that God is generous and God forgives, that’s all.
It means much more to me now than it did when I was younger. It meant something to me. It was really important to me. But the feel is that all these other things that happened in life eventually end up on the altar. There’s nowhere else for it to go.
You and I talked while you were in the hospital you thought Father Drew would be a good contact. Also trying to get in touch with Niki. Anyone else?
At Mass one time, prior to the Eucharistic Prayer[6], I mentioned what Pope Benedict had said about the Eucharistic Prayer – that it is the prayer of transformation, where the Holy Spirit transforms bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It transforms chaos into meaningful messages and blessings in life. And we are transformed into the body of Christ. And that 99 percent of your distractions during the Eucharistic Prayer would leave you if you simply close your eyes during the Eucharistic Prayer. I have been so impressed with the number of people who close their eyes during the Eucharistic Prayer.
We use the word “feeling” to mean experience. But it is really not a feeling. Because when you have an experience, you can reflect back on that and you know that you know that you know. You don’t necessarily have a feeling.
When you minister on the Altar you do it to praise the name of Jesus. Keep it simple.
Please explain this phrase. Mundane Holiness or Holiness of the Mundane.
I don’t recall saying it that way. The holiness of the day to day. The sanctification of our lives is in the stuff of our daily lives – in the mundane.
It means that we are living in the present moment. Someone said “We are all redeemed failures.” It is a very powerful, life changing concept. The sanctification of the mundane is the gift to be able to live in the present moment and realize that Christ is present right now. As I am doing this in my own weak way I am actually working for and with Christ.
That phrase can stick with you and get you past the mountain top experience – the transformation. You have to go back down the hill and carry your own cross.
The present moment is the 8th sacrament. Because all or our sacraments are encounters with Christ. They are not “THINGS.” The sacraments are Christ, the person. Just like he saved us through his material body, we keep using his creation – material things – to permit Him to speak to us in our lives.
It is the awareness of the presence of Christ. This is also how you become a “walking contemplative.”
This 8th sacrament isn’t my phrase. I wish it was.
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[1] Conversion Experience. A conversion experience is one where, at that point in your life, you trust God more than others, including yourself. At that point you experience God's presence in a real way and you are left in awe of God's love and goodness. Some of our conversion experiences are shared in the album audio tour http://www.conversionexperience.com/contactus.html, July 4, 2009-07-04
According to the New Testament, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience sent by Jesus Christ. As recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus describes it as "the Promise of the Father", through which believers in Christ receive "power from on high" (Luke 24:49). According to the Book of Acts, Jesus further referred to the baptism with the Holy Spirit as an experience through which his disciples would "receive power, after that the Holy Ghost [was] come upon [them]" (Acts 1:8). "For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1:5) "The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 8:16).
For consistency, 'Holy Spirit' is used throughout this article. Some Pentecostals, in particular but not exclusively, the Oneness denominations, prefer 'Holy Ghost' , especially where the King James Version of the Holy Bible is used exclusively. For further information see the Holy Spirit article.
In Christian Pentecostal and other Charismatic theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit is a distinctive Christian experience, the Biblical basis for which is found in the description of Pentecost in Jerusalem in Acts 2:1-4. Pentecostals emphasize that to be 'baptized with the Holy Spirit' is to be immersed in the Holy Spirit, and the experience presupposes conversion. That is to say, it is both distinct from and subsequent to salvation, which is itself a definite work of the Holy Spirit. Support for this can be found in the book of Acts, most notably the disciples of John the Baptist who were possibly converts to Christianity but had not yet heard of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). Another compelling argument is the encounter with Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:12-24).
Some Charismatics believe that the Gift of the Holy Spirit is 'given to all Christians', occurring with the experience of salvation. Such Charismatics claim that the gifts of the Holy Spirit – that is, exercising spiritual power such as speaking in tongues or prophesying, are evidences of a release of the Holy Spirit's Power rather than the baptism itself with the Holy Spirit. At large, Charismatics and Pentecostals have very similar beliefs. Charismatics, however, focus more on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Charismatics and Pentecostals both point to Ephesians 5:18, where the Apostle Paul urges his audience to "be filled with the Spirit" using an imperative mood verb. Pentecostals see this gift (baptism in the Holy Spirit) as an experience following salvation. Whereas other churches have seen being filled with the Holy Spirit to require piety and grace, some Pentecostals and Charismatics have seen it as a requirement that all who are saved must have a Pentecostal experience. This belief has its roots in Luke 24:49, in which Jesus commands His followers to wait in Jerusalem until they "are clothed with power from on high" (NIV). After His followers have received this experience, they are to be His witnesses "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
In contemporary theology, there is a divergence between the two main strains of Pentecostal believers, with some organized as Pentecostal and others as Charismatic or Second Wave churches. Both believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is spoken of by Jesus in Luke 11:13 and also Acts 1:5 and that it was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit prophesied in the Old Testament books of Ezekiel 36:27 and Joel 2:28-29. Both of these strains of Protestantism diverge from other churches in the essential nature of grace and what grace is granted without an individualized experience of the Holy Spirit.
Charismatics and Pentecostals differ from one another in the evidence they require for proof of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Charismatics will look for the "fruit of the spirit" spoken of in Galatians 5:22-25, and the Pentecostals will look for glossolalia (speaking in tongues), prophecy, and other "gifts of the spirit" described in 1 Corinthians 12. This was, according to Pentecostals, the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church, despite instances of converts receiving the Spirit without speaking in tongues, such as Paul and the Ethiopian Eunuch. Not all Pentecostal churches would accept that all Christians receive the Holy Spirit at the time of their conversion as in the case of the Apostolic Assemblies of Christ, a Oneness denomination (not Trinitarian). But in the more traditional Evangelical point of view, and in non-Evangelical churches, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is equated with this reception. Others, even outside the Pentecostal church, consider the baptism in the Holy Spirit as a separate experience. Even among those who accept this, opinion is divided as to whether all those who receive the Holy Spirit baptism also receive the gift of tongues. Both Pentecostal and Charismatic churches regard the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be requisite for the apostolic and evangelical mission that they believe is the duty of all Christians. Other relevant Bible passages include Acts 8:14-17, and Acts 2:1-13.
[3] Blessed Sacrament.
One of the most generally popular of Catholic services is Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, known in France as Salut and in Germany as Segen. It is ordinarily an afternoon or evening devotion and consists in the singing of certain hymns, or litanies, or canticles, before the Blessed Sacrament, which is exposed upon the altar in a monstrance and is surrounded with lights. At the end, the priest, his shoulders enveloped in a humeral veil, takes the monstrance into his hands and with it makes the sign of the cross (hence the name Benediction) in silence over the kneeling congregation. Benediction is often employed as a conclusion to other services, e.g. Vespers, Compline, the Stations of the Cross, etc., but it is also still more generally treated as a rite complete in itself. There is a good deal of diversity of usage in different countries with regard to details, but some of the elements are constant. The use of incense and wax candles, which even in the poorest churches must not be less than ten in number, the singing of the "Tantum ergo" with its versicle and prayer, and the blessing given with the Blessed Sacrament are obligatory everywhere. In Rome the principle obtains that the only portion of the service which is to be regarded as strictly liturgical is the singing of the "Tantum ergo" and the giving of the Benediction which immediately follows. This idea is emphasized by the fact that in many Roman churches the celebrant, vested in cope and preceded by thurifier, acolytes, etc., only makes his entry into the sanctuary just before the "Tantum ergo" is begun. Previously to this the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, informally so to speak, by a priest in cotta and stole; and then choir and congregation are left to sing litanies and canticles, or to say prayers and devotions as the occasion may demand, the whole service being of a very popular character.
In English-speaking countries the service generally begins with the entry of the priest and his assistants in procession and with the singing of the "O Salutaris Hostia" as soon as the Blessed Sacrament is taken out of the tabernacle. Indeed in England the singing of the "O Salutaris" is enjoined in the "Ritus servandus", the code of procedure approved by a former synod of the Province of Westminster. On the other hand, the Litany of Our Lady, though usually printed after the "O Salutaris" and very generally sung at Benediction, is nowhere of obligation. It may be added that further solemnity is often given to the service by the presence of deacon and subdeacon in dalmatics. When the bishop of the diocese officiates he uses mitre and crosier in the procession to the altar, and makes the sign of the cross over the people three times in giving the benediction. On the other hand, a very informal sort of service is permitted, where the means for carrying out a more elaborate rite are not available. The priest, wearing cotta and stole, simply opens the tabernacle door. Prayers and devotions are said or sung, and then the priest blesses those present with the veiled ciborium before the tabernacle door is again closed. The permission, general or special, of the bishop of the diocese is necessary for services where Benediction is given with the monstrance.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02465b.htm, 6 July 2009
[4] Medjugorje.
Since 1981, in a small village in Bosnia-Hercegovina named Medjugorje, the Blessed Virgin Mary has been reportedly appearing and giving messages to the world. She tells us that God has sent Her to our world and, these years she is spending with us are a time of Grace granted by God. In Her own words She tells us, "I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and peace, you must return to God". Our Lady's mission is one of peace and love. She has come to earth to reeducate us and to help us convert and recenter our lives back to God. Our Lady's role has always been one of guiding people to Her Son, Jesus. What a fantastic opportunity we have before us! It is important that we understand both the magnitude and the urgency of Our Lady's call to conversion, and that we respond with all our hearts.
Our Lady continues to give messages to six people from the village of Medjugorje: Ivan, Jakov, Marija, Mirjana, Vicka, and Ivanka. These six people (referred to as "visionaries") have had apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary since June 24, 1981. In addition to these messages, Our Lady is to give each of the six visionaries a total of ten "secrets" or happenings that will occur on earth in the near future. Some of the secrets pertain to the whole world while others concern the visionaries themselves or their local village. Only one of the secrets so far has been revealed by the visionaries. Our Lady has promised to leave a supernatural, indestructable, and visible sign on the mountain where she first appeared. Our Lady said: "This sign will be given for the atheists. You faithful already have signs and you have become the sign for the atheists. You faithful must not wait for the sign before you convert; convert soon. This time is a time of grace for you. You can never thank God enough for His grace. The time is for deepening your faith and for your conversion. When the sign comes, it will be too late for many."
When each of the six visionaries has received all ten "secrets", Our Lady will stop appearing to them on a daily basis. Currently, Marija, Vicka, and Ivan have received nine secrets, and Our Lady still appears to them every day, wherever they are, at 5:40pm during daylight savings time, and 6:40pm the rest of the year. Mirjana, Jakov, and Ivanka have received all ten secrets, and Our Lady appears to them once per year, and will do so for the rest of their lives. For Ivanka who received her 10th secret on May 7, 1985 it is on the anniversary of the apparitions, June 25 each year. For Jakov who received his 10th secret on September 12, 1998, it is on Christmas day each year. And for Mirjana who received her 10th secret on Christmas 1982, it is on her birthday, March 18 each year. Our Lady has also been appearing to Mirjana on the 2nd of each month since August 2, 1987 for the express purpose of praying for all unbelievers. Mirjana tells us that it is very important that all of us pray for the unbelievers in the world, who are defined as those who do not yet know God's love. Sometimes these appearances on the 2nd of each month are in apparitional form, and sometimes as locutions. No one knows when Our Lady will give the tenth secret to Marija, Ivan, and Vicka.
Once Our Lady stops appearing there will be three warnings given to the world. Mirjana will witness the warnings and they will ocurr on the earth. Ten days before each of the warnings, she will advise the priest she chose for this task (Father Petar Ljubicic), who will then fast and pray with Mirjana for seven days. Then, three days before the warning is to take place, Fr. Petar will announce to the world what, where, and when the warning is to take place. Fr. Petar has no choice, and must reveal each warning. Mirjana's testimony will be a confirmation of the validity of the apparitions and an incentive for the conversion of the world. After the first warning, the others will follow within a rather brief period of time. So it is that people will have time for conversion. After the three warnings, the permanent visible sign will be left on the mountain where Our Lady first appeared in Medjugorje. Those who are still alive will have little time for conversion. For that reason, the Blessed Virgin calls for urgent conversion and reconciliation. The permanent sign will lead to many healings and conversions before the messages become reality.
The ninth and tenth secrets are grave matters. They are a chastisement for the sins of the world. The punishment is inevitable because we can not expect the conversion of the entire world. The chastisement can be lessened by prayers and penance, but it can not be suppressed entirely. An evil which threatened the world according to the seventh secret, had been eliminated through prayer and fasting. For that reason the Blessed Virgin continues to ask for prayer and fasting. The invitation to prayer and penance is destined to ward off evil and war and above all to save souls. Our Lady says: "You have forgotten that with prayer and fasting you can ward off wars, suspend natural laws."
Since the apparitions began in 1981, millions of people of all faiths, from all over the world, have visited Medjugorje and have left spiritually strengthened and renewed. Many bring back stories of miracles in the form of healings (of mind, body and soul), supernatural visual events, and deep conversions back to God. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones, to investigate with an open mind and heart the messages which are given to us by Our Lady of Medjugorje. I invite you to read these messages and decide for yourself how this messenger from Heaven will affect your life and that of your family.
It is important to note that Our Lady's messages are meant to be assembled like a mosaic. To understand the full meaning and depth of Our Lady's messages, we should study all the messages she has given us over these 25 years. "By means of the messages, I wish to make a very beautiful mosaic in your hearts." (November 25, 1989). Our Lady has asked that we continually read, study, and meditate on the messages which she has given us. She has said: "Little children, read everyday the messages I gave you and transform them into life. I love you and this is why I call you to the way of salvation with God." (December 25, 1989).
The technique of teaching which Our Lady uses, reeducates us to be Christians. She accomplishes this by walking with us and guiding us step by step, message by message. Today, many people think it is not important to be a Christian. Others want to live a superficial form of Christianity which is easier or more convenient than living a true Christian life. Our Lady wants to show us through Her messages the real face of Christianity. This is a long process because we as a society have strayed far from the truth and God and are slow to learn. This is true both in the church and outside the church. We have to accept being totally reeducated, little by little, by the Mother of God. The problem with mankind is not so much that people have bad intentions, there are plenty of good hearted people. The problem is that we sometimes don't see the truth; we are in darkness, and many of us are just blind. We do not realize that we have put ourselves into the hands of satan because we do not know how to tell the difference between right and wrong. Many of us become the image of satan without even knowing it.
I don't think that anyone could argue, regardless of religious orientation, that today's world is in a state of crisis. All one has to do is read the newspaper or watch television to be see how eroded the morals of our world have become. It is shocking to see and hear of the examples of inhumanity, cruelty, violence, abuse, drugs, war, crime, etc., etc. Much of the world has strayed far from a life centered around God and family. The answers which we need to redirect our life can be found by reading and living Our Lady's messages and the Scriptures.
"You are ready to commit sin, and to put yourselves in the hands of Satan without reflecting." (May 25, 1987)
"Do not allow Satan to gain control of your hearts, so you would be an image of Satan and not of me." (January 30, 1986)
"Children, darkness reigns over the whole world. People are attracted by many things and they forget about the more important."
"Light won't reign in the world until people accept Jesus, until they live His words, which is the Word of the Gospel."
"Dear children, this is the reason for my presence among you for such a long time: to lead you on the path of Jesus. I want to save you and, through you, to save the whole world. Many people now live without faith; some don't even want to hear about Jesus, but they still want peace and satisfaction! Children, here is the reason why I need your prayer: prayer is the only way to save the human race." (July 30, 1987)
We must realize that Satan is real. He uses us for his own end and purposes. His main purpose is destruction. Destruction of love, peace, faith, family, and life. Just as God gave David 5 stones with which to defeat Goliath, Our Lady is also giving us 5 Stones or Weapons we can use to defeat Satan. They are:
· Daily Prayer (Of the Rosary)
· Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays
· Daily Reading of the Bible
· Monthly Confession
· Holy Communion
http://www.medjugorje.org/overview.htm, 4 July 2009
[5] Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace Lyrics
John Newton (1725-1807)
Stanza 6 anon.
Stanza 6 anon.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
http://www.constitution.org/col/amazing_grace.htm, 6 July 2009
[6] The Eucharistic Prayer
The Eucharistic Prayer or Canon of the Mass is the central prayer of the entire celebration. Most Catholics have been made aware from their earliest days that during the Eucharistic Prayer the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. What many Catholics are not aware of, however, is that the Eucharistic Prayer is about more than adoring Christ who becomes present in our midst.
The Church tells us that liturgy (and the Mass is the highpoint and heart of liturgy) is the action of Christ the priest and His Body, the Church. In the celebration of Mass, during the Eucharistic Prayer, not only does Christ become present, body and blood, soul and divinity, under the forms of bread and wine, but Christ's saving action, His passion, death and resurrection are once again enacted and offered to the Father by Christ Himself in the person of the priest, and by all present.
This is a truth of enormous significance!. This action of Christ which brought about our redemption from sin and eternal death, offered once for all on Calvary, becomes present again for us, here and now, in this time and place, so that we can join in Christ's perfect offering and can ourselves participate in His perfect worship.
When the priest prays this prayer he prays we bring you these gifts; we ask you ...; we offer. That we signifies that all the baptized present at this Eucharistic celebration make this offering in union with Christ, pray this prayer in union with Him. And what is most important, we do not offer Christ alone; we are called to offer ourselves, our lives, our individual efforts to grow more like Christ and our efforts as a community of believers to spread God's Word and to serve God's people, to the Father in union with Christ through the hands of the priest. Most wonderful of all, although our offering is in itself imperfect, joined with the offering of Christ it becomes perfect praise and thanksgiving to the Father.
And so, during the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, we have more to do than to look forward to the moment of consecration and remain there while the prayer of the priest continues. Before the consecration we join in the prayer of praise and thanksgiving to the Father known as the Preface and affirm that praise and thanksgiving in our singing of the Holy, Holy, Holy. Following the Consecration we join together in the Memorial Acclamation which proclaims our common faith in Christ's real presence and is an acclamation expressing our gratitude to Christ for His wonderful gift of salvation. But then our prayer moves on and we are called to offer Christ, and ourselves with Christ to the Father: 'We offer to you, Father, this holy and living sacrifice...' and to pray with the priest that 'we who are nourished by His Body and Blood may be filled with the Holy Spirit and become one body, one spirit in Christ...'; we then join our prayers with the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints for our Holy Father the Pope, our bishops and clergy and all God's people, living and dead. At the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer the priest sums up all that has gone before: ' Through Him (Christ), with Him (Christ), in Him 'Christ) in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, forever and ever.' And we who are privileged to make our own offering through, with and in Christ, respond with the most important acclamation of the Mass, the great AMEN by which we profess the action of Christ to be our action as well.
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/girm/bul6.shtml, 5 July 2009
