Category: - St Joseph Healing Ministry

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/9/2013

St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) a Franciscan whom Pope Leo XIII called "the Prince of Mystics" and whom others call the greatest theologian of the spiritual life among the Franciscans, in La Triple Voie, which he wrote around 1270, uses the word "steps" or "way" ("Voie") and he lists three major ones under the mjor headings of the Purgative, Illuminiative and Unitive ways. He says that you must make use of the sting of conscience to be purified, [Purgative Way], the light of reason to have clear sight, [Illuminiative] and the spark of wisdom to become perfect [Unitive].

In the Purgative way, Bonaventrue teaches that during meditation the Spirit excites the sting of conscience. The Spirit helps a person to not neglect to watch over his heart, and his time - so it is employed usefully, and his purity of intention - so that his work is aimed to his eternal end. [What are the joys of your heart? What pleases you? And do these things help you gain your eternal end?] Next, a person must not neglect prayer, studies, and good works. The last thing a person must not neglect is to repent of his sin and to cry over it, to resist evil and all temptations, and to advance in virtues so that he can arrive at the Promised Land.

Bonaventure says that one must examine his attitudes to root out concupiscence [man's natural tendency to sin - a result of Adam and Eve's actions] within himself. He tells of these signs: the lust of the flesh is betrayed by the need of candy, of gratification of the senses, of the search for softness, [I love those fleece blankets - my old army blanket is tucked away somewhere!] for comfortable clothes, for sensual conversation and entertainment. The lust of the eyes is the desire to know secret things, the need to have rare and precious objects. The lust of the spirit or pride is when one seeks out the best treatment, the best music, and honors - things that render a person vain. In all these tendencies, the sting of the conscience must stimulate remorse of the heart.

St. Bonaventure, La Triple Voie, 1269-1270. Available from the internet in French. Translation my own.

We visited the home of St. Bonaventure when we were in Italy. Civita di Bagnoregio is perched on a hill and the hill all around it is gradually falling away. To get to the town you must walk out on a long bridge. When we arrived it stopped raining and we were able to see a double rainbow. Click on a photo to enlarge it.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/8/2013

Preparing for Contemplative Prayer - meditation.

The next form of prayer is meditation. St. Teresa of Avila does not separate these forms (oral prayer and meditation) for when one is saying oral prayers he should certainly meditate on what he is saying. He should know to whom he is addressing and what he is asking for, and to whom he is asking. [Interior Castle p. 32]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that it is a quest, a person trying to understand and respond to the life asked of him by Jesus Christ. The best way to do this is by reading scripture, especially the Gospels, by looking at holy icons, by reading the Church Fathers and other spiritual writers. One does this to come into the light: "Lord, what do you want me to do?" Christian meditation should go further: "to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with Him" [#2705-2708].

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/7/2013

Preparing for Contemplative Prayer
    There are several expressions of prayer. There is vocal prayer, meditation and contemplative prayer. The first two help prepare for contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer is a gift, a grace, as all prayer is, but contemplative prayer is the total response within a love relationship with God. It can only be accepted in poverty and humility. Vocal prayer and meditation help us obtain
these virtues. If there is no progress in humility, St. Teresa of Avila says, then everything will be ruined.
    According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, [#2700-2704] vocal prayer is using words, mental or vocal, to talk to God. Jesus taught vocal prayer when He taught the Our Father and when He prayed the liturgical prayers in the synagogue. One should enter into this prayer with his heart and his feelings. God seeks worshippers in Spirit and in Truth, and thus prayer should rise from the depth of one's soul. The Catholic Church is a church of unity, and thus vocal prayer and memorized prayer is accessible to groups. One also uses vocal prayer when praying internally. When it is internalized to the extent that one becomes aware of Him "to whom we speak" as St. Teresa of Avila in the Way of Perfection teaches, vocal prayer becomes the beginning form of contemplative prayer.
    "God is conceived of as an 'object'", wrote Father George Maloney, SJ, in Journey Into Contemplation, (p12) "to which you direct your affectivity [expressed emotions], your petitions, your sorrow, your deep gratitude for His kindnesses in His gifts given to you. Prayer, therefore, is the general art whereby you as a human being communicate with God in knowledge and love. You lift your mind and your heart toward God".

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/3/2013

What it means to "offer it up" - And for those who wish to do the will of God in their lives -

The Eternal Truth spoke to St. Catherine of Siena: "You ask me for suffering to atone for the offenses my creatures commit against me. And you ask for the will to know and love me, supreme Truth. Here is the way, if you would come to perfect knowledge and enjoyment of me, eternal Life: Never leave the knowledge of yourself. Then, put down as you are in the valley of humility you will know me in yourself, and from this knowledge you will draw all that you need.

"No virtue can have life in it except from charity, and charity is nursed and mothered by humility. You will find humility in the knowledge of yourself when you see that even your own existence comes not from yourself but from me, for I loved you before you came into being. And in my unspeakable love for you I willed to create you anew in grace. So I washed you and made you a new creation in the blood that my only-begotten Son poured out with such burning love.

"This blood gives you knowledge of the truth when knowledge of yourself leads you to shed the cloud of selfish love. There is no other way to know the truth. In so knowing me the soul catches fire with unspeakable love, which in turn brings continual pain. Indeed, because she has known my truth as well as her own sin and her neighbors' ingratitude and blindness, the soul suffers intolerably. Still, this is not a pain that troubles or shrivels up the soul. On the contrary, it makes her grow fat. For she suffers because she loves me, nor would she suffer if she did not love me.

"Thus, as soon as you and my other servants come in this way to know my truth you will, for the glory and praise of my name, have to endure great trials, insults, adn reproaches in word and in deed, even to the point of death.

"Behave, then, with true patience, with sorrow for sin and love of virtue, for the glory and praise of my name. If you do, I shall be appeased for your sins and those of my other servants. The sufferings you endure will, through the power of charity, suffice to win both atonement and reward for you and for others.

"For you will win the fruit of life: The stains of your foolishness will be blotted out, and I will no longer remember that you had ever offended me. As for others, because of your loving charity I will pardon them in proportion to their receptiveness."

A Spiritual Journey

2/1/2013

Yesterday I went with Sister to a get together with several of her classmates. They graduated from high school the year I was born. I enjoyed the morning even though I didn't know the people, and afterwards Sister thanked me for going with her. It is always more fun when you do something or go somewhere with a friend. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two - probably for many reasons. Before I joined Sister, I did most everything alone. I was married to a busy rancher so I went to school activities alone, movies alone, horse riding alone, raised my boys alone. Then I lived alone for ten years before I joined Sister. I was very lonely - and could not say the words "I am lonely" without choking up. Of course that was a long time ago,(I have been with Sister over 15 years now) and God healed me of my loneliness by revealing to me His constant presence in my life.

Sister said to me, "And I'm sure you offered this suffering up to the Lord."

I answered, "I don't recall if it came to my mind to do so."

And she said, "It is not too late to do it now, for there is no time with God."

We've been talking about forgiveness and the healing of our hurts. You can offer up these hurts to God now - it is not too late. What you are doing is uniting your hurts, your pain to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Jesus Christ. One time Sister was having trouble with her neck, which bothers her ever since a car accident and whip-lash, and she offered up her pain for 10,000 souls, and the Lord spoke to her heart - "Not only for 10,000, but for all of them."

Paul wrote to the Colossians: Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. (1:24)

The letter to the Hebrews describes associating our suffering with others, being united in our faith in this way: Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. at times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated. You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

1/29/2013

There is no healing without forgiveness.

Many illnesses have as a lurking cause, unforgiveness. One cause of Rheumatoid arthritis may be unforgiveness. I knew a lady that had a very cruel husband. When he got Alzheimers, she developed rheumatoid arthritis. I heard about this and began praying for her. I asked the Lord to put someone in her life that would tell her about forgiveness and its link to rheumatoid arthritis. One day I overheard someone talk about this lady, that her hands were healed of rheumatoid arthritis. I asked, what happened? And I was told that on one of her many visits to the doctor, it came out about her husband's behavior toward her. Her doctor told her, "you know, unforgiveness is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis. She was a Catholic and she immediately stopped at the Church and prayed before the Blessed Sacrament, asking God to help her forgive - and her hands were healed.

So if you are praying for the healing of someone and it seems that your prayers are not being answered, one of the reasons may be that they need to forgive someone. If you are not in the position to tell them that perhaps they need to forgive someone, ask the Lord to put someone in their lives that will tell them this.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

1/26/2013

There are three we have to forgive - the first is others - those who have hurt us. Take the people who come to your mind and stand with them beneath the cross and imagine the blood of Jesus falling down upon you both. He died for you both and through His Blood you will be healed. Ask God to forgive them. Ask God to help you to forgive them. Thank God for the healing He is about to bring to you - to your broken heart and wounded spirit. And then ask God to heal your heart and spirit. It is the people we love the most who hurt us the most. If a person in Russia called you a name - it wouldn't matter, but if it is your spouse, or your child, then we are hurt. Ask God to heal that hurt.

The next to forgive is ourselves. We have all sinned - Jesus said that even the righteous man sins 7 times a day. Some know their sin, have repented, and have changed their lives - but they cannot accept the fact that they have been forgiven. Jesus has already forgiven you - but you have to accept this forgiveness. His love for you is overwhelming - but you have to accept this love. It is easy to say "Jesus loves everyone", but it is harder to say, "Jesus loves me." "Jesus died for me."

Even people who go to Confession have a hard time accepting the fact that Jesus has forgiven them. At a Charismatic Conference many years ago, I sat next to an elderly nun and she confided to me that she had a hard time forgiving herself for what she had done as a teenager. I wasn't speaking to someone who knew nothing of their religion - I answered, "Then, Sister, you have not accepted Jesus' death for you."

The third to forgive is God. God does no evil. Evil is the absence of God who is all goodness. But we blame God for unanswered prayers - or rather answered in ways that we didn't like. As a child we may pray for our puppy that is hurt and dying, and the dog dies anyway. Or a parent prays for the healing of their child, and their child still dies. Or some other hurt that we imagine that God has done to us - we have to forgive God.

Ask God to show you the area that you need to work

A Spiritual Journey . . .

1/25/2013

In the "Our Father" prayer, Jesus teaches us that if we wish to be forgiven by Our Heavenly Father, we must forgive others as we want to be forgiven. Many have a hard time forgiving. They hold on to the hurts that have happened to them. But if we want to grow in holiness, we must forgive.

Forgiveness is not saying that it didn't matter - it did matter! The person was rude or down right mean to you. And you didn't deserve it! You are a child of God and special.

Forgiveness is not saying that you weren't hurt - you were hurt! Some people have been hurt physically by others. Physical abuse is rampant in our society. And there is verbal and mental abuse as well. Put down jokes are the norm - and they hurt the spirit - they wound the heart - yes, they destroy relationships.

Some men do not acknowledge that they were hurt - they do not want people to know they married an abusive woman - so the statistics are higher that women are more abused than men - but men also are hurt and have to forgive.

Remember, when we are hurt, Jesus told a visionary, that He is right there - He is the one hurt. He knows your pain.

Forgiveness is not a pardon - a governor may pardon a prisoner because he is very sick or because evidence has come in saying he is not guilty - but that is not forgiveness.

Forgiveness is not forgetting - good grief, some have been so hurt that they wouldn't have a memory if they forgot all their injuries.

Forgiveness is not dismissing payment or justice for something done against you. A person could break your window, and you forgive him, but you still ask for payment for the broken window.

Forgiveness is an act of the will - to desire to forgive as the Lord has taught. Forgiveness may require asking God to help you forgive. I know some have been hurt so bad, that I think it is humanly impossible to forgive - but if that is the case, ask God to forgive for you - and to give you help to forgive.

". . . give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive others who have trespassed against us. . . "

A Spiritual Journey . . .

1/20/2013

Yesterday several of us drove to Holy Disciples Parish in Puyallup where they held a retreat on Divine Mercy, "Come to the Fount of My Mercy!". Two sisters from the same order as Saint Faustina were the speakers. This is the age in which sin is denied and it is also the time when we need to come to Jesus as He is the Fount of Mercy. Jesus appeared to Sister (now Saint) Faustina and asked her to tell everyone of His Divine Mercy.

    Sister Confida, OLM, told of a conversation she had with a man on the airplane. His eyes lit up when he saw that she was going to be his seat mate and he asked her (wearing the full habit of her religious order), "Are you for real?" She assured him she was and told him to ask her any question - and in deed he did.  He said he was an atheist and they talked for two hours, she telling him many things from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

    He said that he might be able to believe if he ever experienced the supernatural - if he ever had a supernatural experience. She asked him, "Have you ever forgiven anyone?" He said, "Yes, I have." And she said, "I mean really forgiven someone who has hurt you deeply, from the bottom of your heart." And he said, "Yes, I have." She said, "Then you have experienced the supernatural, for it is natural for mankind to hold on to grudges, to seek revenge. That is natural. It is supernatural to forgive totally."

    Have you experienced the supernatural? Many of you have. Many of you have experienced feeling God's love. A parent holding their new born child for the first time - a feeling of awe, a feeling indescribable - a feeling of love coming from deep within you - this is God's love. Entering a beautiful mountian glen - you stop and stare at the beauty around you and the trees and leaves and flowers just glimmer in their beauty - this is God's love. And the example that Sister Confida gave - being able to forgive.

    I know I was deeply hurt by friends in my former parish. I was not going to forgive them, I had a catty remark ready if they came near - but I asked God to help me forgive them. When I went to Church the next day, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit fill me, and when I feel this, it fills me with love. The longer I feel it, the more I feel love for others. At the sign of peace, the person who had hurt me came to me and said, "I'm sorry if I ever hurt you. Will you please forgive me." This love that was within me, just lept out of me, and I hugged this person, and she said later that she was startled by seeing such love come out of my eyes. We became very close friends after that. We both experienced the supernatural that day.

"We have come to know and to believe in the love that God has for us."

1 John 4:16

A Spiritual Journey . . .

1/17/2013

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

The reading for today is taken from the Letter to the Hebrews 3:7-14: It is a good start for our meditation:

"The Holy Spirit says: 'Oh, that today you would hear his voice, 'Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, where your ancestors tested and tried me and say my works for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, 'They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter into my rest.'"

"Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. Encourage yourselves daily while it is still "today," so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.

Our baptism is a wonderful gift. Through it, we become children of God and thus heirs to Heaven. We forget that we can throw this away by kicking God out of our lives. The above passage reminds us that this is possible, and to then, not harden our hearts through our rebellion, but turn back to God, and then hold the reality of our Baptism firm until the end.

Today is the memorial of St. Antony of the Desert, the Father of Monasticism, the second hermit, after St. Paul, to enter the desert to be a hermit. He wrote, "Let us not look back upon the world and fancy we have given up gross things. For the whole of earth is a very little thing compared with the whole of heaven."