A Monk shares his story
Category Archives: Pope Benedict XVI
Healing Prayer from the Eucharistic Congress
Litany Prayer . VID
Jesus, we all have places in our hearts and in our histories that have been hurting for a long time. Some wounds might be self-inflicted, but the wounds caused by others tend to cut most deeply. At the same time, there is also a sacred place in each of us where we can be alone with You and the whole Trinity. The most powerful healing can begin by bringing those painful places into relationship with You, Who love us infinitely. And right now, You are herewith us in all Your power and glory in the Eucharist. Nothing is lacking in Your Presence with us. It can be hard to open tender places in our hearts. You respect us and You honor our experience through Your offer of healing. We are here together and here with the communion of Saints, and we lean on each other for support as we seek to open our hearts to you. We want to be gentle with ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to descend with all the gentleness of the dewfall onto our thirsty hearts. We pray for courage now as we hold all the hurting places in our hearts before Your loving gaze.
[Note: The following meditation can help to prepare your heart to receive the Lord’s healing
power, or you can go straight into the Litany]
Close your eyes (if you are comfortable doing so)
Take a deep breath.
Breathe in the Holy Spirit…Come, Holy Spirit
Breathe out negativity
Breathe in the Holy Spirit…Come, Holy Spirit
Breathe out all that is not of Him
Notice your heartbeat
Each heartbeat is a gift
God wants you
He made you.
He knit you together with love, with His own hands in your mother’s womb
You are a masterpiece of His loving creativity
He has chosen you
He sees you
He gazes on you with love
He delights in you
Now I want to invite you on a journey of healing and reconciliation.
Jesus wants to lift you up to see your whole life through His eyes of healing and hope.
Try to zoom out, letting yourself be lifted up away from the details
He wants to lift you up so you can see your whole life
from your conception in your mother’s womb to this very moment.
He is lovingly drawing near to you with the Father.
There is only love.
Together He looks on your whole life with you.
He looks on you and your whole life with love.
Through your whole life there is a golden thread of goodness.
You are made in His image.
Even where there are deep sorrows, the Holy Spirit weaves a golden thread of goodness.
As you look together on your life
You may see some darker moments, clouded moments, harder moments.
Some of those moments might be too hard to enter into right now and that is ok.
There are some sins and failures.
There are times of weakness.
There are times you were hurt.
He wants to bring healing to your whole life: healing for your hurts, healing for your failures.
He has only compassion for you, loving care.
He honors you and wants to protect you.
Try to open your heart to Jesus’s healing love.
If any of these heart movements are difficult, that’s ok. You can still let Jesus draw close.
Please repeat after me:
Jesus, I believe in you.
Jesus, I believe in your Real Presence in the Eucharist.
Jesus, I believe you are here with me.
Jesus, I believe you are in my heart.
Jesus, I believe in your love for me.
Jesus, I believe your love is greater than every sin.
Jesus, I believe your love is greater than all evil.
Jesus, I believe your love can free me from my sin.
Let’s practice the response several times: Jesus, heal my heart with Your love
For the times I’ve felt abandoned…
For the times I’ve been betrayed…
For the times I’ve been rejected…
For the times I’ve been forgotten…
For the times I’ve been disappointed…
For the times I’ve been let down by the Church…
For the times I’ve been lonely…
For the times I’ve been desperate…
For the times I’ve been lost…
For the times I’ve been dejected…
For the times I’ve been used…
For the times I’ve been neglected…
For the times I’ve been starved for love…
For the times I’ve been deprived of affirmation…
For the times I’ve lost my way…
For the times I’ve gone astray…
For the times I’ve made the wrong choice…
the response is:
Jesus, come close to me.
Whenever I feel unseen…
Whenever I feel ignored…
Whenever I feel unimportant…
Whenever I feel useless…
Whenever I feel alone…
Whenever I feel abandoned…
Whenever I feel like it would be better if I didn’t exist…
Whenever I feel misunderstood…
Whenever I feel used…
Whenever I feel forgotten…
Whenever I feel angry…
Whenever I feel anxious…
Whenever I feel depressed…
Whenever I feel envious…
Whenever I feel lustful…
Whenever I feel afraid…
the response is:
Please forgive me, Jesus
For the times I’ve used others…
For the times I’ve failed to see…
For the times I’ve hardened my heart to a person in need…
For the times I’ve failed to do the right thing…
For the times I’ve given in to peer pressure…
For the times I’ve lied when someone needed me to tell the truth…
For the times I’ve looked away when someone needed my help…
For the times I’ve closed my ears to the cries of the helpless…
For the times I’ve chosen comfort over courage…
For the times I’ve turned my back on someone who was hurting…
For the times I’ve ignored my feelings…
For the times I’ve silenced the cry of my heart…
For the times I haven’t been Your mercy for others…
For the times I’ve invalidated my own feelings…
For the times I’ve believed the lies of others…
For the times I’ve repeated the lies of others…
For the times I’ve suppressed righteous anger…
For the times I’ve given up in despair…
For the times I’ve failed to share You with someone who needed You…
For the times I’ve wrongly hid my faith from others…
For the times I’ve misrepresented You in my words and actions…
For the times I’ve caused scandal by my words or actions…
For the times I’ve brought hatred instead of love…
For the times I’ve brought division instead of peace…
For the times I’ve brought gossip instead of charity…
For the times I’ve torn down when I could have built up…
the response is:
Jesus, help me to believe
When I doubt the power of Your love…
When I doubt Your love for me…
When I struggle to trust…
When I doubt that I am worthy of love…
When I doubt that I have a place in anyone’s heart…
When I wonder if I am enough…
When I doubt I have what it takes…
When I feel helpless…
When I feel useless…
When I doubt that I have anything to offer…
When I doubt that I can make a change…
When I doubt that my efforts matter…
When I feel hopeless…
When I want to give up on my neighbor…
When I want to give up on my enemy…
When I want to give up on the Church…
When I want to give up on myself…
When I want to give up on You, Jesus…
Jesus I need you.
Jesus I trust in you.
Jesus I love you.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
Make my heart like unto yours.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Good Shepherd who rescues the lost. You are the Divine
Physician who heals the sick. You are the Savior Who washes away our sin in your Blood. You are the Beloved Son who shares your sonship with us along with the love of the Father. We know that even if we do not feel it, you will continue this work of healing in our hearts. We trust that you love us and desire our wholeness and flourishing. Fill each of our hearts as we worship you and receive You in all your love in this Holy Eucharist. We make this prayer in your Name, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Be Strong of Heart
Fr Boniface at the Eucharistic Congress
Our Sunday Visitor
Benedictine Father Boniface Hicks, a monk of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, was holding the Eucharist in a golden monstrance that shimmered as the spotlights tracked its progress through the crowded floor.
After processing down the stadium’s central aisle, and then placing the monstrance on the altar, the priest knelt before the Eucharist. “Jesus, we come before you, that you might heal our hearts, that you might meet us right where we are,” he prayed.
“Each of us have places in our hearts and in our histories that have been hurting for a long time,” said Father Boniface. “There is a sacred place in each of us where we can be alone with you, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The most powerful healing can begin by bringing those places into relationship with the one who loves us infinitely: you, Jesus.”
Father Boniface, an experienced retreat-master, led attendees through a series of prayers of repentance and renunciation, with the congregation repeating phrases of love for Jesus, and asking for his healing of each one’s sin, hurt and brokenness.
After those prayers, the monstrance was lifted from its stand on the altar, and Father Boniface wrapped his golden vestment around its base. As he slowly processed through the stadium’s main floor, people bowed and crossed themselves as Jesus in the Eucharist passed in their midst. Some wept, others reached their arms towards the Eucharist and parents held babies in their arms or helped their young ones kneel quietly with their eyes fixed on the Blessed Sacrament.
“Jesus, I trust in you,” the musicians sang.
When Father Boniface returned to the altar, he led Benediction, ending with the final prayer: “May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.”
The revival evening also featured moving testimonies of healing, including that of Paula Umana, a former tennis player who was ranked first in Central America and later became quadriplegic after the birth of her fifth child due to a nervous system disorder.
from Our Sunday Visitor . OSV WEB
the Family strong and true
There are two ways to get enough.
One is to continue to accumulate more and more.
The other is to desire less and less.
The true soldier fights not because
he hates what is in front of him
but because he loves what is behind him.
Literature is a luxury
fiction is a necessity.
There is the great lesson of ‘Beauty and the Beast
that a thing must be loved before it is lovable.
G K Chesterton
Do not be Afraid. Never doubt, never tire. Do not be Afraid
I would like to invite each of you to listen careful to God’s voice in your heart. Listen to his voice. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Open your hearts. Open up your hearts to Christ. The deepest joy there is in life is the joy that comes from God and is found in Jesus Christ the son of God. Jesus is the hope of yours. He is my hope. He is the hope of the world.
Have no fear. The outcome of the battle for Life is already decided, even though the struggle goes on.
You young people now know that Life is more powerful than the forces of death; they know that the Truth is more powerful than darkness; that Love is stronger than death.
Never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire. Do not be Afraid
Pope St John Paul II
Be not afraid
our Risen Lord
I will bring you to the Heights of Heaven
The lamb was corruptible, but the Lord is incorruptible. He was slain as a lamb; he rose again as God. He rose from the dead, and cried aloud: Who will contend with me? Let him confront me. I have freed the condemned, brought the dead back to life, raised men from their graves. Who has anything to say against me?
I, he said, am the Christ; I have destroyed death, triumphed over the enemy, trampled hell underfoot, bound the strong one, and taken men up to the heights of heaven: I am the Christ. Come, then, all of you, receive forgiveness for the sins that defile you. I am your forgiveness. I am the Passover that brings salvation. I am the lamb who was immolated for you. I am your ransom, your life, your resurrection, your light, I am your salvation and your king. I will bring you to the heights of heaven.
From a homily by Melito of Sardis
the Lord wins in the end
Divine Mercy Sunday
Those who sincerely say ‘Jesus, I trust in You’ will find comfort in all their anxieties and fears.There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy – that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights of the holiness of God.
Pope St John Paul II
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You always console Me when you pray for sinners. The prayer most pleasing to Me is prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know, My daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered
My child, life on earth is a struggle indeed; a great struggle for My kingdom. But fear not, because you are not alone. I am always supporting you, so lean on Me as you struggle, fearing nothing. Take the vessel of trust and draw from the fountain of life for yourself, but also for other souls.
Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you.
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O my God, I am conscious of my mission in the Holy Church. It is my constant endeavour to plead for mercy for the world. I unite myself closely with Jesus and stand before him as an atoning sacrifice on behalf of the world. God will refuse me nothing when I entreat him with the voice of his Son. My sacrifice is nothing in itself, but when I join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it becomes all-powerful and has the power to appease divine wrath. God loves us in his Son; the painful Passion of the Son of God constantly turns aside the wrath of God.
O God, how I desire that souls come to know you and to see that you have created them because of your unfathomable love. O my Creator and Lord, I feel that I am going to remove the veil of heaven so that earth will not doubt your goodness.
Make of me, Jesus, a pure and agreeable offering before the face of your Father. Jesus, transform me, miserable and sinful as I am, into your own self (for you can do all things), and give me to your eternal Father. I want to become a sacrificial host before you, but an ordinary wafer to people. I want the fragrance of my sacrifice to be known to you alone. O eternal God, an unquenchable fire of supplication for your mercy burns within me. I know and understand that this is my task, here and in eternity. You yourself have told me to speak about this great mercy and about your goodness.