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Meditation for Day Sixteen

5/13/2020

Meditation

1) Place yourself in the presence of God.
2) Ask for the grace of a deep self-knowledge. “Lord, let me know myself.”
3) Read the text below and then spend a brief period of time reflecting on it.

Sin denies obedience to God. (From St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Way of Salvation)

When Moses announced to Pharaoh God’s order to release his people, the reckless one answered: Who is the Lord so that I have to obey his voice? I do not know the Lord (Ex 5:2). The same goes for the sinner, when the conscience intimately reminds him of the divine precept and forbids him from committing that sin, and he replies: Now, in this fact, I do not know God: I know that he is my Lord, but I do not want to obey him.
The voice of God is made to listen to the sinner when he is tempted, saying: “Son, this does not suit you, do not give yourself this infamous pleasure, leave this; that is not your thing.” But the sinner answers: “Lord, I do not want to serve you. You do not want me to realize this sin, and I want to commit it.” Thus I have told you many times, my God, when I have sinned. If you had not died for me, my Redeemer, I would not even have the courage to ask your forgiveness; but you yourself from the Cross offer me this forgiveness, yes, I want it, yes I want it! I regret having despised you. O my God, I would rather die than offend you.

Mary, my refuge, I ask you the grace to be faithful to God until death.

4) Pray the Litany of the Holy Spirit

Meditation for Day Fifteen

5/12/2020

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Meditation

1) Place yourself in the presence of God.
2) Ask for the grace of a deep self-knowledge. “Lord, let me know myself.”
3) Read the text below and then spend a brief period of time reflecting on it.

Sin is contempt of God (Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Way of Salvation)

Behold, as God himself declares, and he expresses with lament: I have raised up children until they became men, and they rebelled against me (Is 1:2). I have raised my children, I have protected and fed them; but they with barbarous ingratitude have despised me. But who is this God, who is despised by these men? The Creator of heaven and earth; it is the infinite good, such a great Lord, before whom all men and all angels are like drops of water and a grain of sand , like the light dust of scales. (Is 40:15). In short, all the creatures before the Infinite Greatness are so little things, as if they were nothing.

Oh God, what have I done! You, my Redeemer, have esteemed my soul so much that you have given up your blood so as not to see it lost, and I wanted to lose it for nothing, for a whim, for a burst of rage, for a miserable delight, thus despising your grace and your love!

Oh my God, who am I? Whom have I despised? A poor worm that can do nothing; and nothing I have, but what you gave me for your kindness. You have given me the soul, the body, the use of reason and so many goods on this earth; and I have served as an offender for everything, my benefactor. What else? At the same time that you have kept my life, so that I would not fall into the hell that I deserved, I continued to mistreat you. Oh my Savior, and how you have had patience with me! Miserable of me, how many nights I have slept in your misfortune.

Oh Mary, Refuge of Sinners, help this sinner, who is entrusted to you.

4) Pray the Litany of the Holy Spirit

Meditation for Day Fourteen

5/11/2020

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Meditation

1) Place yourself in the presence of God.
2) Ask for the grace of a deep self-knowledge. “Lord, let me know myself.”
3) Read the text below and then spend a brief period of time reflecting on it.

What is sin? (Of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Way of Salvation)

Sin is an offense against God, Its damage has infinite gravity, since it offends God who is infinitely good. Mortal sin breaks the friendship that unites us to our Creator.
Saint Alphonsus teaches: “The sinner, when he is deliberating whether or not to consent to sin, so to speak, takes a balance and sets out to see, which is worth more: the grace of God, or that outburst of anger, that interest, that pleasure. When he then gives his consent to the temptation, what does he do? He says that miserable pleasure is worth more than the grace of God. Here is how he dishonors God, declaring with his consent that miserable pleasure is worth more than divine friendship.
So, my God, so many times have I dishonored you, postponing you for my miserable pleasures.
If the sinner were to exchange God for a treasure of precious stones, or for a kingdom, he would do great evil, because God is worth infinitely more than all the treasures and kingdoms of the earth. But why do so many do this? They exchange God for smoke, for a bit of land, for a poisoned pleasure, which, hardly enjoyed, fades.
Oh my God! How many times have I also been able to pour my heart into such vile goods as to despise you; how much you have loved me? I do not want to go anymore without your grace. I would rather die than offend you again with another sin.
Mary, Mother of God, receive my plea; intercede for me so that I will always be of God, always my God.”

4) Pray the Litany of the Holy Spirit

Meditation for Day Thirteen

5/10/2020

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Meditation

In the last ten days, St. Louis Marie guided us to free ourselves from the spirit of the world. Now, he invites us to set the resolution of acquiring self-
knowledge, of our wickedness, weakness, pettiness and miseries, in order to lead us to an authentic contrition of one’s sins and recognize the need for help. Therefore, we how will present some texts from St. Alphonsus, which will be useful to achieve the virtue of humility and dispose us to recognize our own misery.

1) Place yourself in the presence of God.
2) Ask for the grace of a deep self-knowledge. “Lord, let me know myself.”
3) Read the text below and then spend a brief period of time reflecting on it.

We have an immortal soul to save (From St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligori, Way of Salvation)

The enterprise of our eternal salvation is the most important undertaking. It brings us bliss or eternal damnation. This enterprise ends in eternity, that is, in salvation or eternal damnation: in obtaining an eternity of joy or an eternity of torment: to live life forever happy or forever unhappy. Oh my God, what will become of me? Will I be saved or condemned? I may be saved or I may be lost. And if it is possible for me to lose myself, why do not I resolve to embrace a life that assures me of eternal life?
‘And then? And after?’ If everyone thinks of death, when everything is left behind; or on judgment, in which we will give an account of everything, a happy or unhappy eternity—according to each one of us. Then what?
I see, my God, that I have forgotten that my soul is immortal, neglecting the most important task of my life, exchanging it for futile little things. I regret, O Infinite Goodness, having turned my back. Today I resolve to surrender myself completely to you. And what do I expect? Maybe you will leave me, and death will find me miserable and ungrateful, according to how I’ve lived so far. No, my God, I do not want to give you more displeasure; I want to love you. Help me, Mary, my hope!

4) Pray the Litany of the Holy Spirit

Litany of the Holy Spirit

5/10/2020

Litany of the Holy Spirit

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Christ hear us, Christ hear us
Christ graciously hear us, Christ graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

(Repeat after each invocation: Have mercy on us)
Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, have mercy on us.
Spirit of the Lord, who at the beginning of creation, breathed over the waters, made them fertile.
Spirit under whose inspiration God’s saints spoke.
Spirit whose unction teaches us everything.
Spirit who gives testimony of Jesus Christ.
Spirit of truth who inspires everything.
Spirit who descended upon Mary.
Spirit of the Lord who fills all the earth.
Spirit of God who dwells in us.
Spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Spirit of counsel and fortitude.
Spirit of knowledge and piety.
Spirit of fear of the Lord.
Spirit of grace and mercy.
Spirit of virtue, esteem and sobriety.
Spirit of faith, hope, love and peace.
Spirit of humility and chastity.
Spirit of goodness and meekness.
Spirit of all the forms of grace.
Spirit who scrutinizes the divine depths.
Spirit who prays for us with inexpressible pleading.
Spirit who descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove.
Spirit by whom we receive new birth.
Spirit who fills hearts with charity.
Spirit of adoption of the sons of God.
Spirit who appeared over the Disciples in the form of tongues of fire.
Spirit with which the Apostles were filled.
Spirit who gives to each one according to His will.

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Meditation for Day Twelve

5/9/2020

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Meditation

1) Place yourself in the presence of God.
2) Ask for the grace of having a great desire to be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, and to have eternal life as the only goal of my most important choices, without letting myself be seduced by the spirit of the world.
3) Read the text below and then spend a brief period of time reflecting on it.
(From Antonio Royo Marín, Theology of Christian Perfection).

How to Combat the Worldly Environment

Fourth Resolution: Crush human respect. Paying attention to ‘what others will say’ diminishes our dignity as Christians and offends God. In order not to ‘displease’ men, who live in mortal sin, we do not respect God’s law and are ashamed to show ourselves as authentic disciples of Jesus Christ. The divine Master clearly warns us in the Gospel that he will not recognize before the Father who has denied him before men (cf. Mt 10:33). It is necessary to assume a firm and determined attitude before Jesus, because those who are not with him are against him (cf. Mt 12:30). St. Paul affirms that he would not be a disciple of Christ if he sought to please men (see Gal 1:10). The Christian who wants to achieve holiness does not have to take into consideration what the world will say or think. It is better to adopt from the beginning a clear and irreproachable conduct so that no one doubts our true intentions. The world will hate you and persecute you, the Divine Master has told us (Jn 15:18). For determined and immovable people, the demon will end up leaving them alone. He continually returns only to the cowards who he attacks to attract them to join his ranks. The best way to overcome the world is not to yield even one step, to set one’s will with strength, to renounce forever its maxims and its vanities.

We consider a text of St. John Mary Vianney (the holy Cure of Ars): “My children, I say to you with St. Bernard, from any perspective you look at, he who works out of human respect, which is the shame of fulfilling the duties of the religion because of the world, he shows: disdain for God, his graces, and blindness of the soul. First of all, my children, the shame of practicing good, for fear of the scorn and ridicule of ungodly wretches or ignorant people, is a great scorn that we perform in the presence of God, in front of whom we are always. Why, my children, do these bad Christians laugh at you and ridicule your devotion? Oh my children! I will tell you the true cause: it is that, not having the virtue to do what you do, they look at you with antipathy, because your behavior awakens the remorse of their consciences; but be sure that their hearts, far from despising you, hold you in great esteem. If you need good advice or to obtain some grace from God, do not believe that they go to those who carry their same behavior, but to those who they scoffed, at least with their words. Are you ashamed, friend, to serve God, for fear of being despised? See Him who has died on the cross; ask Him if He was ashamed to see Himself despised and to die in the most humiliating way on that infamous scaffold. Oh, how ungrateful we are to God, who always finds his glory in proclaiming, from generation to generation, that he has chosen us to be his children! Oh my God! How blind and worthy of contempt is the man who fears a miserable ‘what will they say about me?’ And is not afraid of offending such a good God!
”
4) Pray the Litany of Humility

Meditation for Day Eleven

5/8/2020

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Meditation

1) Place yourself in the presence of God.
2) Ask for the grace of having a great desire to be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, and to have eternal life as the only goal of my most important choices, without letting myself be seduced by the spirit of the world.
3) Read the text below and then spend a brief period of time reflecting on it.

(From Antonio Royo Marín, Theology of Christian Perfection).
How to Combat the Worldly Environment

Third Resolution: Consider the vanity of the world; the world passes quickly: For this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Cor 7:31) It pleasures and lusts vanish: The world passes away with its lusts; but whoever does the will of God abides eternally (1 Jn 2:17). There is nothing stable under heaven; everything moves and stirs like the sea when the storm rages. The world continuously changes its judgments, affirmations, tastes and whims; sometimes one denies what he had first applauded with frenzy, going from one extreme to the other without scruple, remaining only constant in the ease of lying and obstinacy for evil. Everything happens and vanishes; only God does not change, Santa Teresa said. And with him remains his truth: The faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. (Ps 117:2). Your word: The word of God endures forever. (1 Pet 1:25); His Justice endures forever (Ps 111:3), and he who fulfills his divine will; He who does the will of God abides forever. (1 Jn 2:17).
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Mt 6: 19-21)

Here is how to concretely live to seek treasure in Heaven:
When he saw the crowd, he went up into the mountain, and sat down, and his disciples came to him. And taking the word, he taught them saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are those that weep, for they shall receive consolation.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are those who work for peace, because they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you, and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you. (Mt 5:1-12).

4) Pray the Litany of Humility

Meditation for Day Ten

5/7/2020

Meditation for Day Nine

5/6/2020

Meditation for Day Eight

5/6/2020

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National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes
on the campus of Mount St. Mary's University

16330 Grotto Road
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
Phone: 301-447-5318

MASS:
Monday–Friday    11:00 AM
Saturday 12:00 PM
Sunday (English) 12:00 PM
Sunday (Español) 2:00 PM

ADORATION:
Saturday 10:45 AM–11:45 AM
Sunday     10:45 AM–11:45 AM

CONFESSION:
Saturday 10:45 AM–11:45 AM
Sunday     10:45 AM–11:45 AM

FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTION:
After 12:00 PM Mass every First Saturday