Praying with the Communion of Saints

Two new (not so) people dropped by Our Lady of Hope Prayer Group.  They're not one of the regulars who always show up.  They used to be, but you know, "life happens."  Anyway, they were there.

Why?  They both had specific prayer requests.  One was requesting prayers for her brother.  The other was requesting prayers for her co-worker.  Now, you and I know, and they know, that they can pray by themselves.  So why bother to come to Prayer Group.

Because OLHPG are efficacious prayer warriors.  That's true, but that's the answer I'm looking for.  It's because together we pool our prayer resources and storm heaven with our prayers.

Catholics call this the Communion of Saints.  This means that we're all united.  These two people pray, and we add our prayers, and we request that the Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for us and continue our prayers.  We ask other saints, likewise.  I'm praying now, as I think of it.  I'm sure they are, too.

See how it works?  How's that for organized labor?

Praying at the tomb of Blessed  Pere M. Jean-Joseph Lataste, 

 Hence my definition of Communion of Saints: a union of prayer warriors, living and deceased, praying for a common purpose.

Jesse Tree

Tonight in prayer group, we made a Jesse tree.  A Jesse tree doesn't have to be a tree.  It can be a branch stuck in a pail.  One year, I used an earring tree.  You just need something to hang ornaments on.

I got this tree at Sister Ruth's store, the Hope Chest.  When I was paying for it, the cashier, Gary, asked me why was I buying a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I explained that I wanted it for a Jesse Tree.  I also just sent him a slide show of us making it.

The ornaments can be bought, but they have to represent Jesus' family tree.  The ornaments start with Jesse.  Jesse was the father of  King David of the Old Testament. He is often looked upon as the first person in the genealogy of Jesus.  The ornaments show the relationship of Jesus with Jesse and other biblical personages.  The various branches have pictures of other Old and New Testament figures who were ancestors of Jesus. At the top of the tree is the birth of Jesus.

I used figures from the internet.  Sorry, I can't remember where.  Just google Jesse tree, and I'm sure you'll find some.  We colored them, cut them out, and hung them.  

The idea is to read the scripture verse each day, on the appropriate ornament.  You start the first day of Advent, and continue until Christmas.  

What do you think?

St. Monica

Next to Ven. Pere Lataste, St. Monica is my favorite saint.  That's because my life has revolved around her in many ways.  Mainly, all my sacraments were received in St. Monica's Church.   Well, I continue to receive Holy Eucharist and Penance, here and there and everywhere, but the sacraments that you only receive once, were at St. Monica's.
    I've always used her as an example of womanhood, wifery, and motherhood.  She was a grandmother too, but no one mentions that.  But a good mother would be a good grandmother; that's reasonable.
    She is best known for persevering in prayer for her son, St. Augustine.  One time, my nephew, Fred, sitting next to me in a pew, in St. Monica's, was incredulous, upon hearing her story.  He exclaimed, "You mean she's a saint for just being a mother!?!!!!!"
    I give my sister credit for putting up with this brat.  Virginia must have been a very good mother for her son to think that all mothers just automatically care and sacrifice for their children.  St. Monica followed her son, Augustine, and prayed, sacrificed, and never gave up on him.  There are stories around today about St. Monica's perseverance.     One is that Bishop Ambrose told her not to worry because there was no way the son of so many tears could not be saved.  Another is that Ambrose told her to stop talking to Augustine about God, and start talking to God about Augustine.
    She must have been a nag.  Which is reason alone for liking her.  She should and could be, Patroness of Nags.  You wouldn't nag, unless you cared.
    There's even a Sodality dedicated to her.  Well, not dedicated to her as a person, but rather, to her ideal, i.e., praying for your lost children.  I even tried to start a St. Monica's Sodality in my own parish but it never caught on.  So I depend on my parish's prayer group to do the job of converting my family.
    Another reason, I've always thought of St. Monica is that my childhood friend was named Monica.  Yeah, she was named after our parish's patron.  You see, her dad was the church's sexton, and he named his daughter after the parish's patron.  We were soul mates and I could kick her because she won't "friend" me on FB.  But I understand.  She's probably forgotten all about FB, and me too, for that matter.  We've moved on.

Then again, St. Monica is all about perseverance.  So I'll never give up on Monica, nor my family.
 
     *   As a side note:  Fred grows up to marry a Monika.  ;-)

K of C

Image via Wikipedia

I'm still laughing over a comment made tonight.  We were at prayer group in the "lower church."  The "lower church" contains a small chapel and many other meeting rooms.  We were in the chapel and the Knights of Columbus was in a meeting room.

Just before we ended our prayer session, one of the Knights popped his head in the chapel and invited us to their social activity.  They had finished their meeting and were just having beverages and strawberry shortcake.

We considered this, the fruits of our contemplation.  We joined them.

While eating the strawberry shortcake, I commented to one of the Knights,  "Hey, if this is what you guys do, I want to join the Knights of Columbus."

His response: "Sure, you'll be called A Lady of the Knight."  ;-)

Friends

Guess who's on Face Book. My best friend in the whole wide world. I'm so happy. I can't explain it. You see....well....let me explain.

Actually, it's unexplainable. Is there such a word? What I mean is....well...I can explain who she is, but I can't explain the relationship. I can't express the feelings, the emotions, WTF!

I'll try.

I met Chris in 2000. (Year of the Holy Spirit) We both had joined a parish prayer group. We both fell in love with our Faith that year. We attended Life in the Spirit Seminars, we were anointed with the Holy Spirit and our lives meshed somehow.

She is a generation younger than I, but it never mattered. The leader of the prayer group was Fr. Aniello. He was a sweet heart. We both loved him.

Let me give you a run down of how we spent prayer group day. I went to work, came home and prepared supper, cleaned up and attended prayer group. Chris stayed home with her babies and did mommy things and attended prayer group. Fr. Aniello conducted a charismatic prayer group. After prayer group (after 10:00 PM) Fr. Aniello, Chris, and I, and anybody else who wanted to, went out to eat. We stayed at the restaurant and talked, and laughed, and laughed and talked, until sometime after midnight. We usually closed the place down.

We were happy living this way for a couple of years. During this time, Chris and I became very close. We told each other secrets like teenager girls. We just reveled in each other's company.

But life happens. First, Fr. Aniello, who is a missionary, got posted to China Town in Chicago. :-( Then Chris got sick. :-( Then I got sick. :-( I'm talking nasty sick--years recuperating and still feeling the affects.

We were too sick to interact with anybody. It was difficult, for me anyway, to keep up with my family, even. And that's the way, it was until, this morning.

Chris asked to be my friend on FB. I had just responded "Of Course," when the chat window opened and we chatted--for over an hour. LOL


What a blessing! What a way to start a new year! Thank you Jesus! I have thought and prayed a lot for Chris, over the years. I even wrote a poem about her, when I was really missing her friendship. I know it's silly, but it's NOT!

Missing Chris*

Happy is he who finds a friend and he who speaks to attentive ears. Sirach 25:9

My soul mate, Chris would help with my mess,
over spinach artichoke dip, nachos,
ice tea, girl-talk, dope slaps, and laughter;
deftly would your perspective fix my problem;
snap smooth wrinkled excuses and cobwebbed thoughts,
as we share late night secrets and pray for grace.

*from The Preacher Poets, Dominicus Books, Inc., 2008, page 15.

God is good! All the time!

Novena for Life

Our Lady of Hope Charismatic Prayer Group is sponsoring a Novena for Life. It will be from Feb. 3-11. It will include Mass every night at 7:30 and then praying of the Rosary. I think if the prayer group advertises, they'll get more people. All I've seen is a terrible copy of a flyer that was so poor I couldn't read the time.

Should I join them in promoting the Novena. I don't have time for another cause. I will volunteer to lead a Rosary one night, but they need promotion.

I'll pray on it.

The Rosary

As I prayed my Rosary today, I realized that praying the Rosary is a technique. It's tactile, mental, contemplative, and can be personal or communal. It can be prayed whatever way is best for you.
Tactile because you finger the beads. I like to walk while praying because that helps me focus, and also burn calories! It's mental because I place the appropriate mystery in my mind. It's contemplative because it can bring one deeper into prayer to Jesus. There's the repetitive formula that centers you into that anthropological phenomenon of centering, or union with God. Finally, when I have the opportunity to pray in community, especially with my prayer group, Our Lady of Hope Charismatic Prayer Group, or my Lay Dominican Chapter, Our Lady of Mercy Chapter, I sometimes can feel people praying in unison. It's an auditory lifting of our voices to our Lord. You know what I mean?