Mary Immaculate And America

 

My children, it is only because many years ago you consecrated your country to Me that you have not received the destruction that is gradually coming closer to you from the outside world. But if you turn from Me now I no longer will be able to shield you."

 ~Our Lady, July 1, 1971

The above quote is from a private revelation (not sure to whom) and while we do not need to believe in private revelations, these words seem to ring very true for us today.

 In 1846,the first Council of Baltimore formally declared the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived without sin, the patroness of the United States. This formal declaration came eight years before Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

We in this country need to turn to Mary. As patroness of this country she is also a protector. This country comes closer every day to the destruction referred to in the quote. 

Our Lady's sole desire is to bring us closer to her Son. If we turn to her, she will surely do this, not just individually but as a nation.

We pray to our patron saints for guidance and protection in our lives. Let us pray, as one nation under God, to Our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception for guidance and protection. She will lead us to Jesus who is our ultimate Savior and Protector.

Prayer Entrusting the United States to Mary Immaculate

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our President and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy, born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the tempted, sinners—on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God.
Amen.

(Excerpt from a prayer attributed to Archbishop John Carroll, first bishop of the United States)

Thank you Karinann, Daughter of the King, for sharing this beautiful blog today.

Overcoming Ourselves

I would like to share this beautiful post from a new member of the Christian blogging community. Please go over and check out her site.

Welcome  Jek, "In Search Of" and God bless you!

"Above all the grace and gifts that Christ gives to his beloved, is that of overcoming self." ~ St. Francis of Assisi

I have often pondered this quote in thinking about my own trouble in surrendering to Christ. I've even asked priest, therapist, close friends, family, "what does it mean to surrender to Christ?" "What does it mean to let go and let God?" I guess in my blindness and desire to hold on to my will, I could not even conceptualize nor put into action these questions and thoughts.

I have struggled with anxiety for most of (if not all) my adult life. Having anxiety can be hellish. You are literally a prisoner of your own thoughts, that just keep repeating themselves, basically like a tape recorder. You worry about the future and if it will be like this or like that. You think that by worrying about, you have some sense of control, you can somehow get in front of it and fix it. However, that is a false sense of control. What happens is that, anxiety is incredibly habit forming and it can spread to almost all aspects of your life.

At the beginning of 2010, I decided to do something simple, yet in some ways profound, in order to help overcome some of my anxiety. I gave up caffeine. Now, I know this may seem trivial to some, but for me, it was a HUGE deal! I realized that by not having caffeine, I had to let myself be tired when I was tired. I always noticed a severe tightening in my chest not occurring as frequently. In a sense, a year and almost two months later, I feel a little more sober. I noticed that in not having caffeine to keep me pumped up, I was in a small way not feeding my anxiousness. I also noticed that my mind was a little clearer and other negative habits and behaviors of mine were brought to my attention. I could start to honestly look at myself and sort out where some of this anxiousness was truly coming from, now that I could not blame it on caffeine.

In same ways, I view giving up caffeine as a fast (one that will probably be a life long fast). Fasting is so difficult, because us humans are so incredibly weak, but, I am starting to see that the fruits of it are entirely worth it! In one of our Lady's messages in Medjugorje, Mary states to the visionaries, "Through fasting and prayer, one can stop wars, one can suspend the laws of nature." Wow! How amazing these rewards are! I think Mary means that through fasting, we can stop the wars also within ourselves, we can work towards overcoming our own self occupation and start surrendering ourselves to God. As Fr. Slavko Barbaric states, "it is by prayer, of course that we attach ourselves to God, but it is by fasting that we detach ourselves from the world."

Part of my new goals for 2011 have been to start fasting once a week. Some weeks have been better than others, but I am determined to keep trying. I noticed last week, during one of my better fasting days, that it was very difficult, but I knew that it was a way to carry my cross that day and bare the slight inconvenience of hunger, a sacrifice for God that would turn into a later spiritual fruit and grace. When I awoke the next morning though, I felt a sense of peace, energy and I noticed later in the week when I was met with difficulty, I was a little more patient, my responses to others were more gentle and I even started in my prayers to take time not to speak, but sit in silence and listen.

Sometimes, I do not think we understand how are habits can keep us away from God and prisoners of ourselves. Again, Fr. Slavko Barbaric speaks of this when he states, "Fasting is a call to conversion directed to our body. And as we free ourselves from things outside of ourselves, we also free ourselves from the passions within us that are keeping our interior life in chains."

We all have things that we need to detach ourselves from. Fasting can help us, because it places are reliance not on us, but on Christ. I am starting to slowly see that this is part of the answer to how we can surrender. First we do need to die to ourselves and the practice of fasting, helps us to empty ourselves so that we can do just that.

Let us remember that this ancient Christian tradition is more needed in our society of individualism and self analysis more than ever before. Remember, fasting has the power "stop wars." With this, I encourage you to think about fasting for a spiritual gift, a family member, friend, or for a special prayer intention. Why not even fast for your enemies? Someone you struggle with in your life? You can even start small. This being said, I leave you with this beautiful, simple and humble prayer:

"Lord, as I fast unto You, replace the source of my joy, peace and gentleness with You. Purify my character so that I rely on continual surrender to Jesus instead of the contentment of the flesh." Amen.

Citation:

Beyer, Richard. (1993). Medjugorje Day by Day. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press.

rsema, Kevin. The Value of Fasting: Spiritual Discovery

A Life of Deep Discernment

 

God blesses us in many ways, especially through our children. The following guest post is from my daughter Jeanine Kraybill.

If one searches the word ‘discernment,’ you can find many varying definitions. Some sources categorize discernment, such as ‘spiritual discernment,’ or ‘Christian discernment.’ In reflecting and praying on my own discernment and reading through what others have written about the subject, I have realized that discernment is something deeper and longer than one might think. Sometimes the need for discernment does require us to act with speed, so we say a brief prayer and hope the particular situation demanding our attention at the time works out.


However, even though I have encountered such scenarios many times in my own life, quickly grabbing my rosary beads to offer up an intention, I realize that there has been a particular issue I have been discerning since childhood. From a very age I have had a yearning. I almost can’t quite explain it, except for the fact that I know it is a call from God and a deep feeling of wanting to be closer to him and reconciled to myself. Sometimes this yearning is so bad that I actually feel a physical burning in my chest and sometimes, I am absolutely moved to tears and weep. This has happened actually several times before I receive communion or while I am sitting in mass. Sometimes this yearning drives to me to solitude, where I can close my eyes and feel a profound since of God, especially when I am sitting in Adoration. So what is this yearning?


As a child I can remember going out to my back yard with a bible my Mom gave me and a Church song book and sitting by myself reading and singing. As my adolescence progressed my faith never left me, even though sometimes through my actions, I left it. Yet, this yearning, this feeling with not being satisfied with the world has always existed. At times this pain of discernment has lead me actually to do things I hate and the feeling of not being able to forgive myself and feeling unworthy sets in, which I am learning in some sense, is my own pride and false ego. I know it is important for us to be reconciled to ourselves and in a strange way, I truly think this is part of the discernment process, because in order to know God’s will, we must die to ourselves, so that we can clearly hear him, see him and know him and then act in good faith in what we are being called to do. This is peace. Peace will not ascend down up on us, we must choose to accept it—this is also what I am learning through this deep discernment.


Along with my strong Catholic upbringing, as a teenager, I was very fortunate to attend an all girls Catholic high school. I was highly influenced by several of the Franciscan sisters there and spent a great deal of time with them, evening staying the night at the covenant on occasion. My Mother had also had a great devotion to St. Francis, so I always grew up having him as my favorite Saint. I recall for a short period of time during my high school years of thinking about becoming a nun myself. However, as high school progressed and the college years set in, life took a different course. However, I still feel this yearning, this call, this “thing,” I have been discerning my whole life. I am not of this world in the since that its material possessions in the end are not all together that satisfying to me. I’ve tried to fill my round whole with many square pegs, such as pursuing several degrees, buying unnecessary material goods, being possessive with my so-called possessions, over drinking on occasion, trying to control my life and worrying about it and planning every detail of it to excess, but in the end, I am still hungry, I am still yearning to be free, joyful in the Lord and in full communion with him.


So again, I have come to an understanding that discernment is never ending. That we are called to holiness and saintliness (which doesn’t mean being perfect, remember that many of the saints struggled and were great sinners, but the difference is they embraced it, were reconciled to the Lord and themselves, overcame it and used their gifts for the greater glory of God). What that means is that in our path to being holy and like the saints, we fall each day, but we get up, we work on our weaknesses, and we ask the Lord what he wants of us and ask him to lead us that way. We follow our own goodness. Sometimes this way will be painful, dealing with one’s self sometimes is, but we cannot settle for the mediocrity of this world or the mediocrity of ourselves. We must strive to be whole, to be healed and to be reconciled with the Lord, with ourselves and others. We must be of service and die to ourselves. St. Francis was able to capture the true essence of this. He was the son of one of the wealthiest men of Assisi and strove to be a knight during the Medieval Age, when lofty titles of the world (as still now) were a sign of status and significance. He left this to be insignificant, essentially living the words in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Pope John Paul II captures this when he stated,






“Young Francis was called by his friends the king of parties, because he was available and generous, brilliant and likeable. Humanly he could have had many reasons to be happy yet he was missing something. He abandoned it all when he found what he needed most. He met Christ and discovered true happiness. He realized that one can only be happy by giving one's life for an ideal, building something enduring in the light of the demanding counsels of the Gospel.






Dear young people, many false teachers point out dangerous ways that lead to fleeting joys and satisfactions. Today expressions of our culture are mired in superficiality. Dear young people, in imitating Francis and Clare, refuse to sell your dreams too cheaply! Dream, but in freedom! Plan, but in truth! “


So, let us now not sell ourselves too cheaply for the things of this world, but discern what we are to do with our gifts and talents. We are all called, we all have purpose. Let us not be lead by the false teachers of the world, such as the icons of pop-culture or the politicians of today, but by the Holy Spirit, so that we may experience this deep discernment, which is a burning for full communion with God and reconciliation to him, to ourselves and others. If we are willing to be open, to die to ourselves and be of services, then we are living a life of this deep discernment and peace will become our path. This is my ongoing goal, my on-going discernment and when I fall, with the Lord’s help, I will be picked back up and try again.