A Lectio Divina on the Divine Mercy Prayer, “Eternal Father”
Today is the first day of the Divine Mercy Novena which can be found here.
Eternal Father,
God, You are eternal. Time is not something You exist within. There is no motion in You. You are here and now. All I know is motion and change, and so it is hard for me to wrap my mind around You; I could never do so. You have no beginning, middle or end. You are simple.
And you are Father. You are Father to the Son and, in Him, you are my Father. It is my greatest joy and deepest fulfillment to cry Abba with a full heart. At the moment of my baptism, I became immersed in Christ and adopted by You. I belong to you. I have your inheritance. I am yours.
I offer You
From this place of sonship, of child-like trust, I begin my prayer. But who am I to offer you anything? I am less than a grain of sand. You are “I AM” and I am nothing. The ashes smeared across my forehead forty days ago were a foreshadowing of what I will become. But somehow, in Christ, You invite me to offer you something. You share Christ’s priesthood with me. The sacrifice you demand is my broken heart.
The Body and Blood, Soul
It is Christ I offer, along with my broken heart, and he has a Body, Blood and a Soul. I offer you, a Living Man, a resurrected, glorified Body, Who mysteriously continues to suffer in atonement at every Mass until the end of time. I offer You the feet which were pierced and the hands that were nailed. I cling to His Body.
And Divinity
How can I offer God to God? You invite me to share in the Mass by offering my daily sufferings to make up for what lacks in the suffering of Christ. How can I, who am nothing, offer God the Son to God the Father? How can these two Persons be distinct in Your perfect unity and simplicity? And yet You, Father, have already been giving Yourself to Christ, and he has been likewise reciprocating, for all eternity, in the eternal now which is You. Thank you that I can participate in Your inner life.
Of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ,
For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. You held nothing back for us. Throughout salvation history, you gave so many second chances – prophets, covenants, the Law, kings… But in the fullness of time You send Your Son. I am so grateful…
In atonement for our sins, And those of the whole world. Amen.
Christ, You are the Victim, the Salutaris Hostia. You took our sin and filth upon Yourself. You took the just punishments we deserved. You came to save us and we crucified You. You became sin who knew no sin, that we might become Your righteousness. What an exchange – I give you sin, You give me grace.
I ask you to continue to save me, for I continue to sin. As I work out my salvation in fear and trembling, hold my hand. Thank you, that you are doing the heavy lifting.
Finally, I pray for the whole world. You have not given me faith to keep to myself. You are not calling me to comfortably settle into a holy huddle. We are Your Mystical Body. We are your hands and feet. You want to feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit prisoners, nurse the sick, correct the confused and convert the hardened sinners through us. I give You permission to use my life in any way you see fit, so that many can come to rest in Your Eternal Father.
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
First Holy Communion: Sermon from May 16, 1943
Here is a sermon from the good old days by +Rev. Msgr. Vincent Nicholas Foy (August 14, 1915 – March 13, 2017), from 1943. Readers may recall that Pope Saint Pius X, by the decree Quam Singulari in 1910, lowered the customary age of reception of Holy Communion – after the rigours of the plague[…]Continue reading→
In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour[…]Continue reading→
An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→
Europe’s Long Descent
(As we meditate on this day on Christ’s burial, and His descent into hell, it is fitting to ponder here with contributor Peter Marcus how the world seems to be heading there as well. The difference is that, although God cannot ‘redeem’ hell, nor those therein, He can and did redeem the world. There is[…]Continue reading→