tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49850870584875284592024-03-27T01:35:49.877-05:00The Catholic ScholarAmy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.comBlogger904125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-47970944404739214772024-03-23T13:51:00.005-05:002024-03-23T13:51:58.685-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 12<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, Good Shepherd, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sheep aren’t the world’s brightest creatures and, often, neither are human beings. We stray away from our shepherd, getting ourselves into all kinds of trouble. We take in things we should not, things that make us sick. We become tangled up in the bramble and briers of this world, hurting ourselves in the process. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet we have a good Shepherd, the very best Shepherd, to rescue us and protect us. Think about what a shepherd does for his sheep. He feeds and waters them and makes sure they are safe from predators and from their own stupidity. He cleans them up, sheers them, and comforts them. He searches for them when they are lost and leads them home when he finds them. Our Shepherd does all this and more. So may we not be stupid sheep but rather stay close to our good Shepherd, Jesus.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, true light, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In the prologue of his Gospel, St. John writes that “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (1:9). This true light is the Word of God Who was “with God” and “was God” (1:1). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:4-5). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This Word, this light, this life “became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). Yet the world did not know Him or accept Him. Many people wanted to remain in the darkness, for the light shows them the truth, and the truth makes demands. But the light also fills us with the “power to become children of God,” to behold God’s glory, to know God in a wonderful new way, to experience His grace, to be filled with light ourselves.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-68434777098731189432024-03-16T20:00:00.000-05:002024-03-16T20:00:06.792-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 11<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, Father of the poor, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We noted earlier that it seems odd to identify Jesus as a Father. We are used to thinking of Him as the Son of the God the Father. Yet in some cases, Jesus actually can legitimately and quite elegantly be described as a Father. Here, for instance, we address Him as Father of the poor. He cares tenderly for people who are poor. He protects them and nourishes them, defends them and supports them, teaches them and encourages them. This is exactly what a father does.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We would do well to think, too, of who the “poor” are. We can certainly refer to the materially poor who must rely on Jesus because they lack the resources necessary to live. Many poor people find themselves closer to God as they come to trust Him more and more for their basic survival.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet we might also identify the spiritually poor, those whom Jesus refers to as the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). These are the <i>anawim</i>, God’s poor, those who know that no matter what their material status in the world, they are totally dependent upon God. These are the ones who place themselves in Jesus’ hands, trusting fully in Him, realizing that without Him they are nothing at all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, treasure of the faithful, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Our ultimate treasure in Heaven is Jesus Himself. He is the One we should be seeking always. He is where our hearts should be. For only in Him do we have true life, true happiness, and true wealth.</span></p><p><br /></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-35513705560524152242024-03-09T19:10:00.000-06:002024-03-09T19:10:19.890-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 10<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, zealous for souls, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The word “zealous” comes from the Greek zēlos, which means ardor or noble passion or even jealousy. If we trace the etymology (word history) back even further, we find the Proto-Indo-European root *ya-, which means to seek or desire. So considering all this, when we say that Jesus is zealous for souls, we can say that He has an ardor, a passion, for souls. He wants to save us, eagerly, thoroughly. He seeks us. He desires us. He is even jealous for us, wanting us for Himself because belonging to Him is what is truly best for us. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, our God, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2 Peter 1, Peter writes that we have obtained our faith in “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The original Greek construction indicates that both “God” and “Savior” apply to Jesus. This clear statement of Jesus’ divinity echoes throughout the New Testament. Jesus claims to be God (remember all those “I Am” statements in which He applies the divine Name to Himself) and shows Himself to be God by His miracles of physical and especially spiritual healing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word, the Son of God, fully human and fully divine. Jesus is truly God. This is our Christian faith. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, our refuge, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We have all felt the world closing in on us, oppressing us, even attacking us. Many people clamor for safety, for security, but they’ll never find it in this fallen world. So where do we turn? We flee to Jesus and hide ourselves, immerse ourselves, in Him. For He is our refuge, our only safe place. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-65537192544318210572024-03-02T12:49:00.007-06:002024-03-02T12:49:39.931-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 9<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, God of peace, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Scriptural concept of peace is much deeper and more intricate than the idea we usually have of peace. While we might think of the absence of conflict or of a sort of calm in which nothing really happens, in God’s definition, peace is so much more. It is a wholeness, a completeness within a person and among people. Peace also means that everything within a person or among people is in the right order, the way in which God intends it to be.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This is why Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). Jesus’ peace goes far beyond the worldly definition. This is also why Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Our broken world needs to be put back in proper order. It needs to be made whole again. This can be a painful process that looks like anything but peace. But in the end, Jesus’ peace will prevail for those who choose to immerse themselves in it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, author of life, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">God created all things by His Word. “In Him was life: and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, the Word of God, was the author of life at creation. And He is the author of life in our re-creation, our redemption from sin and death. He died for us on the cross that we might live with the Blessed Trinity forever in Heaven, the eternal life, the abundant life, that has no end.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, model of virtues, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If we want to know how to live our lives according to the will of God, then we must study the life of Jesus. He entered fully into our human existence, but since He was fully God as well as fully man, He never sinned. So He shows us how to live human life to the fullest, perfect in all virtues, obedient to the Father’s will, deep in true love.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-24956539597575254822024-02-24T19:04:00.002-06:002024-02-24T19:04:15.473-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 8<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Divine Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, “though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-7). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, fully God, became fully Man to save us from sin. He humbled Himself in a way we can hardly even imagine. As God, He remained omnipotent, but He became meek for our sake. Meekness, though, does not mean being wimpy or passive or tame or boring. Meekness, in the Scriptural sense of the word, means strength under control. It is the result of self-discipline and humility. It arises because of a deliberate choice to follow the path of self-giving love. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, lover of chastity, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Chastity gets a back rap in the modern world, for many people view it as repressive or prudish or simply unattainable. Yet none of this is true. Chastity is actually all about conforming our minds, our hearts, and our lives to God’s will for us. With the virtue of chastity, we put our sexuality in its proper place and use it only according to God’s moral law and His plan for our lives. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus loves chastity in us because when we are chaste, we are pure. We are rightly ordered. We put God first and control our passions so that they conform to His design for human beings, and that design allows sex only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, our lover, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus loves us. Perhaps that sounds cliche. Perhaps some people reading this do no truly believe it or at least do not seem to experience it in their lives. But it is perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully true: Jesus loves us. He loves us so much that He died on the cross for us. He would not have had to. One drop of His blood would have been enough to save the world. But He chose to go all the way, to pour out every drop of His blood for us so that no matter how far we run from Him, He will be right there waiting with arms stretched out to embrace us. Now that’s love. </span></p><div><br /></div>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-77508893027736770782024-02-17T19:03:00.005-06:002024-02-17T19:03:46.121-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 7<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, most powerful, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Since Jesus is fully God, He is indeed most powerful. He is omnipotent. Yet our Lord’s infinite power is always directed toward our good. He loves us; He made us; and He knows exactly what we need to flourish as human beings and as children of God. Our Lord’s power, then, works in perfect union with His perfect love.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, most patient, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In his second letter, Peter tells us that we must “consider the patience of our Lord as salvation” (3:15, NAB). Jesus is perfectly patient with us. He gives us chance after chance, grace after grace. Why? Because He died for us and wants us to live with Him forever in Heaven. Paul adds that “God our Savior...desires all men to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:3, RSV-CE). We never have to worry about Jesus giving up on us; we just have to remain faithful to Him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, most obedient, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It may seem kind of strange to us that Jesus, fully God as well as fully Man, would be obedient. Yet He obeyed, accepted, and even embraced His Father’s will all the way to death on the Cross. Jesus’ obedience was not servile. He was not a slave to His Father. His obedience arose from the total, perfect self-giving love that flows between the Father and the Son. That love is the Holy Spirit. There is no opposition in the Family that is the Blessed Trinity. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This shows us something important about where our own obedience should flow from. We, too, are called to obey out of love. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us after all, so He knows what is best for us. He know what should be our highest goal (eternal life with Him!) and how we can best get there. So why would we not hear and obey, imitating Jesus, Who gave Himself completely to His Father?</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-87925136484417165122024-02-10T19:31:00.005-06:002024-02-10T19:31:59.335-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 6<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, Father of the world to come, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It seems rather strange to think of Jesus as “Father.” We are used to addressing the First Person of the Blessed Trinity as “God the Father,” just as Jesus Himself did. Yet we can think of a “father” as a source or an origin, and that can help us clarify this reference. Jesus is the source or the origin of the world to come. He died for us that we might enter into Heaven, into eternal beatitude, face to face with God Himself. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">What’s more, Jesus’ death and resurrection have brought into being a new covenant, a new family relationship between God and humanity. This new covenant is the last one, for it is the highest one, mediated by the God-Man Himself. The new covenant has ushered in a new era, and we are beginning to live eternity right now even as we await its fulfillment. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, angel of great counsel, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Again, it seems strange to think of Jesus as an “angel,” yet the word “angel” actually only means a messenger. Jesus does indeed bring us the message of great counsel. Counsel here refers to good judgment, the ability to make right decisions based on God’s will. So part of counsel is knowing God’s will, and Jesus certainly teaches us that. He is, in fact, the perfect messenger of God’s will, for He obeyed His Father perfectly all the way to the cross</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The other part of counsel, however, is acting on what we know. When we have determined what God wants of us, the gift of counsel helps us choose that and carry it out. Jesus gives us the ability to do that through His great grace and love.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-47628170057237323782024-02-03T12:50:00.000-06:002024-02-03T12:50:06.247-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 5<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, most amiable, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We don’t use the word “amiable” must these days, and when we do, we tend to mean that a person is friendly and pleasant, good-natured and easy to be around. But the word’s history runs much deeper than that. If we look back into the development of “amiable,” we see that it comes from the Latin verb <i>amare</i>, to love. So someone who is amiable is loving and lovable, and that, of course, describes Jesus perfectly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, most admirable, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“Admirable” is another word that has lost some of its force of meaning over the years. When we think of someone admirable, we might consider that person a good example, a role-model, someone we look up to and try to imitate. Jesus is certainly all of those, but if we look at the older meaning of the word, we, again, get a broader picture. In its foundational sense, something that is admirable is awe-inspiring, marvelous, amazing, truly wonderful, as in jaw-dropping, delightful beauty. Now that’s Jesus!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, mighty God, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Our modern world tends to downplay Jesus’ divinity. It’s easier, after all, to see Jesus as a good man or a wise teacher or some kind of guru. That makes fewer demands on us. It lets us off the hook. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But it simply isn’t true. Jesus is fully human, but He is also fully God, completely and totally divine. And because He is God, Jesus is omnipotent, all-powerful. Yet He uses that power to love us more than we can even imagine.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-87385556158012452592024-01-27T19:15:00.007-06:002024-01-27T19:15:41.572-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 4<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, King of glory, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, fully God and fully man, is the true King of the universe. His Father has given Him dominion over all peoples and all things, over the entire cosmos, and Jesus rules at His Father’s right hand in the kingdom of Heaven, in the brightness of divine glory. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But do we allow Jesus to be King over our lives? Do we surrender to Him as our sovereign? Do we let Him governor us and obediently submit? Or do we rebel? It is important to remember, especially for people who are not especially familiar with or favorable toward a monarchy, that Jesus’ reign is not like those of human kings and queens. Jesus’ rule is perfect. He knows exactly what we need and exactly what is best for us at all times, and when He commands us to do or not do something, it is only and always for our own good. Only our stubborn minds and hearts prevent us from seeing that and embracing our King’s loving will.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, sun of justice, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This petition associates justice with the light of the sun. We, on the other hand, might think of justice as something harsh and demanding. We who are sinners may be afraid of the idea of justice because, quite justly, we deserve punishment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet Jesus is the sun of justice, the bright, shining warmth of perfect justice, which, in God, is always balanced by perfect mercy. How this can be is a mystery to us, but Jesus is perfectly just in His mercy and perfectly merciful in His justice. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Here we remember that Jesus is fully human, that He is the son of a human mother who was beautifully prepared to miraculously conceive her Son. Our Lady was conceived without sin, perfectly imbued with God’s indwelling presence from the moment of her conception. She herself conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and gave birth to Jesus Christ, truly Son of God and truly Son of the Virgin Mary.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-89300292588018606752024-01-20T19:12:00.007-06:002024-01-20T19:12:42.859-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 3<p><i style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, begotten by the Father from all eternity. This Divine Son took on our humanity in the Incarnation and became like us in all things except sin, yet He did not cease to be truly and completely God. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Notice how Jesus is called the Son of the <i>living </i>God. This adjective distinguishes between the one true God and the many idols we human beings create for ourselves. We give ourselves to those idols, but they are not alive. Rather, they are dead, and they draw us into death, whether they be material objects of stone or metal or the lures of wealth, sex, fame, or whatever else we put before God and worship instead of God. Rather, we must turn to the living God, the God Who wants to give us eternal life.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, splendor of the Father, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When Philip told Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied,” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:8-9). Jesus shows us the Father. He radiates the Father, for He is perfectly united to the Father in a way we cannot grasp. But we must believe because Jesus commands us to: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in me” (John 14:11). From that unity of Father and Son, Jesus reveals the beauty, the magnificence, the splendor, and the love of God, His Father and ours.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jesus, brightness of eternal light, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus is the light of the world because He is the brightness of eternal light. His divine glory shines upon us and shines out of us when we are in a state of grace because of the divine indwelling we received at Baptism. The Fathers of the Church called Baptism “illumination” or “enlightenment,” for when we are baptized, we receive the light of Christ, really Christ Himself. We are united to Him, and we must let His light shine through us to a world wrapped in darkness.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-83761124263752689252024-01-13T19:10:00.000-06:002024-01-13T19:10:03.217-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 2<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As with most litanies, this one invokes all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, praying for mercy from each One. We begin by reaching up in love to God the Father of heaven. Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, to refer to Him even as “Abba,” an intimate name that emphasizes God’s love and care for us. It should also express our devotion to Him in love and obedience. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Next, we pray to God the Son, the Redeemer of the world. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became incarnate for us in Jesus Christ, God and Man. He went to the cross for us, taking the covenant curses upon Himself for all the times when we broke our covenant with God. He bought us back from slavery to sin and death and opened the gates of Heaven. He made it possible for us to partake in the divine life, to bask in the indwelling presence of God Himself in our very souls. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Spirit is the very love between the Father and the Son. The First and Second Persons of the Blessed Trinity pour themselves out in love for one another, and that Love is so powerful, so vivid, so alive, so perfect, so infinite, that He is another Person. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Our God, then, is three and one, Trinity and Unity. This is a great, beautiful mystery, and it surpasses our human ability to understand. We cannot grasp it, but we must believe it, for God has revealed it. We should stand amazed that our God, Who is so perfect in and of Himself, needing nothing, created us out of love, holds us in existence out of love, redeems us out of love, and allows us to share in His own love. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-69355999995404820682024-01-07T13:37:00.005-06:002024-01-07T13:37:37.013-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 1<p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Lord, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Christ, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Lord, have mercy on us.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Most litanies begin with a plea for God’s mercy in the three-part formula we use at Mass. In this, we recognize our sinfulness and our need for God’s forgiveness. As we pray these words, we should experience true repentance for our sins as well as an assurance that God always holds out His mercy to those who desire it.</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, hear us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, graciously hear us.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus always hears us when we pray to Him, so why do we beg Him to do so here, especially in such emphatic language? First, at times, our Lord may seem distant, and we wonder, in our pain and grief, if He is listening at all or even cares. He does hear us, of course, but we must remind ourselves of that truth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Second, as we ask Jesus to hear us, we should remember that we need to hear Jesus, too. Jesus does hear us, and He does respond to us, but sometimes we’re so distracted that we failed to notice His gentle replies to our prayers. We have to open our hearts, trusting that our Lord always hears and answers our prayers. </span></p><p><br /></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-66157990496363606882023-12-30T19:16:00.000-06:002023-12-30T19:16:00.987-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Lord, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Christ, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Lord, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, hear us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, graciously hear us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, splendor of the Father, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, brightness of eternal light, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, King of glory, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, sun of justice, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, most amiable, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, most admirable, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, mighty God, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, Father of the world to come, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, angel of great counsel, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, most powerful, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, most patient, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, most obedient, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, lover of chastity, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, our lover, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, God of peace, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, author of life, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, model of virtues, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, zealous for souls, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, our God, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, our refuge, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, Father of the poor, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, treasure of the faithful, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, Good Shepherd, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, true light, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, eternal Wisdom, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, infinite Goodness, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, our way and our life, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, joy of the Angels, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, King of Patriarchs, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, master of Apostles, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, teacher of Evangelists, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, strength of Martyrs, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, light of Confessors, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, purity of Virgins, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, Crown of all Saints, have mercy on us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Be merciful, spare us, O Jesus.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Jesus.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From all evil, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From all sin, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From Thy wrath, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From the snares of the devil, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From the spirit of fornication, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From everlasting death, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From the neglect of Thine inspirations, Jesus, deliver us. <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy nativity, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thine infancy, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy most divine life, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy labors, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thine agony and Passion, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy cross and dereliction, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy sufferings, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy death and burial, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy Resurrection, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thine Ascension, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thine institution of the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy joys, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Through Thy glory, Jesus, deliver us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Jesus.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Jesus.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Jesus.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, hear us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus, graciously hear us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Let us pray.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast said: Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you; grant, we beseech Thee, to us who ask the gift of Thy divine love, that we may ever love Thee with all our hearts, and in all our words and actions, and never cease praising Thee.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Give us, O Lord, a perpetual love of Thy holy Name; for Thou never failest to govern those whom Thou dost solidly establish in Thy love. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-31241216785538911102023-12-23T15:48:00.006-06:002023-12-23T15:48:39.483-06:00 The Litany Project: The Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 15<p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Come, Holy Ghost! Fill the hearts of Thy faithful.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And enkindle in them the fire of Thy Love.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As we approach the end of the litany, we ask the Holy Spirit one more time to come to us and fill our hearts. We recognize, though, that as He fills our hearts, He also sets our hearts on fire. Love is a power. It is dynamic. It is strong. It is warm, even hot. It spurs us forward to reach up to God and out to other people. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a dangerous prayer, in a good way, for when we invite the Holy Spirit into us, when we invite Him to set our hearts on fire, He will change our lives. </span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Let us pray.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Grant, O merciful Father, that Thy Divine Spirit enlighten, inflame and purify us, that He may penetrate us with His heavenly dew and make us fruitful in good works; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who with Thee, in the unity of the Spirit, liveth and reigneth forever and ever. Amen. </span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The litany’s final prayer is directed to God the Father. We remember His great mercy, and we beg Him to send the Holy Spirit, His Divine Spirit, to enlighten us, to inflame us, and to purify us from our sins and faults and weaknesses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We also beg the Father that the Spirit may penetrate us, may probe deep down within us, and fill us with His heavenly dew, with His great gifts and with all the virtues. That dew will make us bloom and blossom, bearing the fruit of good works in love. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As always, we pray in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ as we remember the unity of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, living and reigning together for all eternity and loving us more than we can imagine.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-8497688387294312752023-12-16T19:08:00.002-06:002023-12-16T19:08:23.139-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 14<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, send us Thy Holy Ghost.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Lamb of God, of course, is none other that Jesus. John the Baptist identified Him as such in John 1:29 when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world.” The reference goes back centuries to the time when the Israelites were still in slavery in Egypt. In preparation for the first Passover, God told Moses to have the Israelites sacrifice a lamb and mark their doorposts with its blood. They were to eat the lamb and be ready to depart, for the angel of the Lord would come upon Egypt, bringing death to all the firstborn sons of that place except where he saw the lamb’s blood. The angel passed over the Israelites, and they left Egypt and slavery behind.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We, too, are enslaved, not by the Egyptians but by our sins. And Jesus, the Lamb of God, by His blood, takes away the sins of the world. He became the willing sacrifice on the Cross, taking the covenant curses upon Himself and reconciling us with the Father. We now ask Jesus to send us His Holy Spirit, the Love He shares with the Father.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, pour down into our souls the gifts of the Holy Ghost.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We also ask our Lamb of God, our Jesus, to pour down the gifts of the Holy Spirit into our souls. Of course, we must be prepared for this outpouring of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. We must open our hearts wide to receive them, and then we must respond by making good use of these gifts so that they continue to grow within us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, grant us the Spirit of wisdom and piety.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In this petition, we beg our Lord to grant us the Spirit of wisdom and piety. We are pleading for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for the sanctifying grace that gives us a share in divine life, for the eternal life that we begin living right now and that we will enter into fully in Heaven. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We recall that wisdom is the “God’s eye” perspective of the world, at least as much as we human beings can ever possess. Piety refers to our devotion to God, our desire and efforts to place Him first, above all else, and to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-28239376083533819782023-12-02T19:08:00.009-06:002023-12-02T19:08:53.466-06:00The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 13<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, grant us the merits of all virtues.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“Merits” is a tricky word when we use it in a religious sense. If we don’t understand it correctly, it can sound like we think we earn or deserve our salvation in some way. We do not. God gives us our salvation by His grace alone when we open ourselves up in faith and love. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">However, because God loves us so much, He allows us to cooperate in the process of salvation. It is a process, too. Even though He initiates it and saves us by His grace, we have to grow in that grace. This takes work, and through our efforts, God allows us to “merit.” He rewards us as we grow closer to Him in virtue and as we enter deeper and deeper into His sanctifying love. Of course, we can only do this by His grace. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So our merits, as one professor remarks, are a bit like the praise and hugs a father gives to his child when the child offers his father a gift that the father has paid for and helped the child wrap. Because the father loves his child, he rewards the child for his “hard work” even though the father has done most of it. What the father wants most is the child’s love. The same is true for God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, make us persevere in justice.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The concept of justice is often misunderstood in today’s world. What it ultimately means, however, is being right with God, and that is its sense in this petition. When we ask the Holy Spirit to help us persevere in justice, we are asking for an outpouring of grace to keep us right with the Blessed Trinity.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, be Thou our everlasting reward.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This petition might as well be “Holy Ghost, get us to Heaven,” for God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is our ultimate, everlasting reward in Heaven, where we will see Him face-to-face and spend eternity growing in love for Him and for each other. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-23952393199421663512023-11-25T19:04:00.002-06:002023-11-25T19:04:18.387-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 12<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, grant us the only necessary knowledge.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We are surrounded by “knowledge” these days. Information is everywhere. With just the click of a mouse or the tap of a screen, we can easily know everything from the latest sports scores to the weather next week (maybe) to the most recent celebrity gossip. But is this easy access to information a good thing? It may be, depending on how we use it, but it can also be extremely overwhelming, tiring, and even irritating. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So we ask the Holy Spirit to grant us the only necessary knowledge. We ask Him to help us prioritize what we need to know and to put first things first. What is this “only necessary knowledge”? It is knowledge of God. And by “knowledge,” we don’t mean just some vague idea of God. We don’t even mean the most complex and intricate theology. We mean a knowledge that entails personal experience, a knowledge that is an intimate relationship. This is the kind of knowledge the Holy Spirit will grant us if we ask Him and then open our hearts to receive His gift.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Spirit, inspire in us the practice of good.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">St. Paul captures a feeling that all of us have probably experienced at one time or another: “For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do” (Romans 7:19). We human beings are perverse creatures. We are weak and inconsistent, always knowing what we should do and often failing to do it and doing just the opposite instead. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Spirit inspires us in our efforts to do good, and He gives us the grace we need to actually do the good we desire. When we ask Him, He will nudge us toward a deeper relationship with God, more fruitful prayer, and more effective service toward our neighbors. He will show us what is good, and help us desire and achieve that good. But we have to be willing to listen and respond. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-22096385444701335352023-11-18T19:04:00.001-06:002023-11-18T19:04:16.448-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 11<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, teach us to pray well.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We do not know how to pray as we ought. Paul tells us this in Romans 8:26, and he explains that the Holy Spirit prays within us. The Spirit teaches us how to pray if we open ourselves to His guidance. He guides in opening our hearts and minds to the Blessed Trinity. He Who is love shows us how to express ourselves in love. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When we listen to and follow the Holy Spirit’s instructions on prayer, we learn that prayer is all about expanding our desire for God. We learn that prayer is far more about getting Someone than about getting something. God wants us to ask for what we need and want for ourselves and others, but He also wants us to grow ever closer to Him in prayer and in love. This is what the Spirit teaches us when He teaches us to pray well.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, enlighten us with Thy heavenly inspirations.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Spirit inspires all of us. He nudges us in particular directions. He guides us into a deeper understanding of truth. He shows us how to act with love in all situations. He shines a light into our hearts, minds, and souls that that we may know ourselves, and so that we do not get discouraged by what we learn, He enlightens us about God’s great love even for weak, sinful little people like us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, lead us in the way of salvation.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1 Timothy 2:4, Paul tells us that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The Holy Spirit leads us into that salvation, filling us with the divine presence when we are baptized and guiding us to deeper faith, hope, and love as we grow ever closer to God along the path to Heaven. That is the goal, of course, Heaven, the beatific vision, eternal life face-to-face with God, full immersion in His love forever and ever. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-38421997695725686752023-11-12T18:24:00.006-06:002023-11-12T18:24:38.871-06:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 10<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, engrave Thy law in our hearts.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In Jeremiah 31, God says that He is going to make a new covenant with His people. It will not be like the old covenant that they have broken. Rather, in the new covenant, God explains, “I will put My law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts.” In the new covenant, the people will know God in a different way, from the inside out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We are living in this new covenant, and it is the Holy Spirit Who enters into us, engraving the law of God, the law of love, in our hearts. The old covenant set forth God’s law, but it did not provide the grace people needed to fulfill it. The new covenant gives us both the law and the grace to fulfill it. The law is no longer external, something to gaze at and try to live up to as best we can. Rather, it is within us, in our minds and hearts, because God is within us, giving us the strength we need to embrace His will.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, inflame us with the fire of Thy Love.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the place where the apostles were gathered with the noise of “the rush of a mighty wind.” Then “tongues as of fire” rested on each one of them, and suddenly their fear was gone (see Acts 2). They begin to speak in different languages, and they hurried right outside to proclaim the Gospel to all those gathered in Jerusalem for the feast.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The apostles were on fire with the Holy Spirit. The appearance of flames over their heads was symbolic of the fire burning in their souls, a fire that burst out in love for God and for the people they hurried to evangelize. The Holy Spirit can inflame us with that same love. He wants to set us on fire so that we may pour ourselves out to God and for others. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, open to us the treasures of Thy graces.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Do we realize how much God wants to pour out His love for us? Do we understand the graces He has reserved for us? Do we know that He longs to give us everything we need for our salvation? God has a treasure house of graces for us, a treasure house of love, a treasure house of joy and peace. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus tells us to store up our treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19), but we should also realize that God gives us all these treasures and then some. When we have God, we have everything. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-62131387633085893242023-11-04T19:09:00.005-05:002023-11-04T19:09:29.568-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 9<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, inspire us with horror of sin.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Our culture often has a dismissive attitude toward sin or, worse yet, a tolerance for or even acceptance of sin. People laugh about it or brush it off as no big deal. Yet here we ask the Holy Spirit to inspire us with a horror of sin. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We should be horrified. Sin is the worst thing that can possibly happen to us because it weakens or even breaks our relationship with God. When we sin, we tell God that there is something more important to us than He is, that we know better than He does what we need, and that we just are not going to obey Him. And who are we to say such things? It should horrify us that we do every time we sin.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, come and renew the face of the earth.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This petition recognizes that we need the Holy Spirit to renew us and all creation at every moment. We so easily fall. We get discouraged. We sin. We slide away from the right path. We grow dark and depressed. We lose track of who we are and what God has called us to be. So we need the Holy Spirit to renew His life-giving, energizing, healing presence within us all the time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We can also pray this line looking ahead to the end of time when God will renew all things in a definitive, final way. When Jesus returns, He will bring with Him a new Heaven and a new earth. We will rise up in the general resurrection and enter into a whole new realm of existence that we cannot even imagine now. It should make us excited and eager. Are we?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, shed Thy light in our souls.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Spirit enlightens us with knowledge, understanding, counsel, wisdom, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. He illuminates us with divine love. He makes us shine brightly before the world like lamps that do not cower under bushel baskets but glow from a lamp stand or like a city on a hill, offering God’s light to everyone we encounter (see Matthew 5:14-15).</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-12703279244838367662023-10-28T19:09:00.000-05:002023-10-28T19:09:04.394-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 8<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Gift of God, the Most High, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">God sends the Holy Spirit into our souls as His great gift of love. Since the Holy Spirit is the Love of the Father and the Son, so strong and vibrant that He is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of divine love. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We should pay special attention to the idea of gift. God does not have to give us anything. He does so freely and out of His great love. We do not earn His gifts. There is no way we can. Yet God gives us the greatest gift of all: Himself. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit Who fillest the universe, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">At the beginning of Genesis, we read, “the Spirit of God moved over the waters” (1:2). He moved, and the world was created. Light and dark, the sun and moon and stars, day and night, waters and dry land, plants and animals and birds all came to be. Then God breathed His Spirit into the first human being, created in His image and likeness. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But God does not just create everything and let it run on its own. Rather, He sustains all life with the life-giving love of the Holy Spirit. God moves in the world and in our lives. He is always present. He fills the universe with His Love, and that Love is the Holy Spirit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of the adoption of the children of God, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Through a series of covenants, God has expanded His family bit by bit over the centuries of salvation history. In these last days, Jesus made that family the world-wide Church when He inaugurated the New Covenant, which gives us an even deeper relationship with God the Father. When we are baptized, when the Holy Spirit enters into us, filling us with sanctifying grace and divine life, we become children of God, sons and daughters in the Son. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">St. John writes in his first letter, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (3:2). We are God’s covenant family. We are His beloved children. “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir” (Galatians 4:6-7). We are heirs to God’s kingdom, already in the Church and forever in Heaven.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-61257647961254165272023-10-21T19:08:00.008-05:002023-10-21T19:08:56.962-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 7<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, the Comforter, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In John 14:26, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, from the Greek word <i>paraklētos</i>, which can be translated Helper, Counselor, Intercessor, Advocate, or even Comforter. The Holy Spirit, as we have seen, prays within us. He helps us recall and understand what Jesus has taught. He advocates for us with His great love (for He is Love). And all of this should bring us great comfort. God loves us so much as to dwell within us, guiding us closer and closer to Him and filling us with His great gifts.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Only God can make us holy. We must cooperate, of course. We must turn our minds and hearts and souls and bodies over to Him so that He can sanctify them. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, consecrated, set aside, for Him and for His purposes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Holy Ghost, Who governest the Church, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Many saints and scholars have said that the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, the Body of Christ. On the first Pentecost, which is often called the birthday of the Church, the Holy Spirit descended upon the followers of Jesus gathered in the upper room. With a noise like a great driving wind and tongues as of fire, the Spirit entered into those frightened, timid people and changed them from the inside out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The apostles, led by Peter, left that upper room, now on fire to preach the Gospel. Peter delivered his first sermon right then and there, speaking to the thousands of Jews who had gathered for the festival. He was not longer afraid, no longer timid. He spoke with great force and conviction, and over three thousand people received Baptism that day. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus tells us not to be anxious when we are questioned about our faith, even by “the rulers and the authorities,” for “the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Luke 12:11-12). We must get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us personally and to govern the Church. That’s His job.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-72868381009283976242023-10-14T19:07:00.000-05:002023-10-14T19:07:01.611-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 6<p><i style="font-family: arial;">Spirit of grace and prayer, have mercy on us.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Grace and prayer. Both of these are gifts from God that the Holy Spirit pours into us. Grace, as defined in the Catechism, is the “free and undeserved gift God gives us to respond to our vocation to become His adopted children.” When we are baptized, God fills us with sanctifying grace and comes to dwell within us. We become temples of the Holy Spirit. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But God’s grace does not end there. God provides actual graces, sacramental graces, and special graces every day of our lives. These graces strengthen us in love, draw us to God, nudge us toward repentance, and give us all we need to devote our entire existence to God. Our job is to open ourselves to receive these graces and to respond to them, embracing them and living them with gratitude. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Prayer, too, is a grace. We might think that we initiate prayer, but God gives us the desire to pray to Him in the first place. We respond by pouring our hearts out to God. As St. Therese of Lisieux so beautifully explains, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In Romans 8:26, St. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit actually prays in us. He “helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” Notice how the Spirit surrounds us in prayer. He prays within us as He spurs on our own prayers. Our intimacy with God deepens more and more as we allow the Spirit to work within us, reaching up to the Father and the Son in love.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of peace and meekness, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In Scripture, peace is more than just a lack of conflict. Rather, it is a state of wholeness with everything in proper order. When we are at peace, we are right with God, with others, and with ourselves, according to God’s plan for our lives. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Meekness is yet another one of those concepts that gets a bad rap in the modern world. People often equate “meek” with “wimpy” or “cowardly.” But this isn’t the Christian sense of the word. Meekness isn’t weakness; it’s strength under control. People who are truly meek are humble, self-controlled, and gentle, but they are also strong. They know how to respond to all situations correctly and how to allow God to guide them in their dealings with others. In this, they imitate Jesus, Who is both meek and powerful, gentle and forceful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of modesty and innocence, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Modesty is another form of self-control. The Catechism explains that “Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden.” Modesty refers to our outward appearance but also to our behaviors, words, and attitudes. When we are modest, we recognize and preserve the human dignity that God has given us, and we treat ourselves and others with respect, for we have all been made in the image of God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The word “innocence” may call to mind the image of a small child, one who has not yet learned how to be anything other than what he or she is. Indeed, Jesus tells us, “I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:2-3). We might think it is impossible to recapture the innocence of our childhood. We have seen too much of the world. We have done too many things wrong. Yet God offers us the way of repentance and forgiveness. He cleanses us of our sins and purifies our hearts so that we can rediscover the innocence we have lost.</span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-56101283605852077242023-10-09T20:02:00.002-05:002023-10-09T20:02:23.940-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 5<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of knowledge and piety, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Knowledge and piety are two more of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. With knowledge, we come to know the truths of our faith. It is the foundation, in a sense, for understanding, counsel, and wisdom. Jesus assures us that the Holy Spirit “will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). The Spirit tells us what we need to know and then leads us into a deeper interaction with that knowledge. He is truly the very best teacher.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Piety is a word often misunderstood by modern culture. We might associate piety with images of solemn, dull, overly religious people who never have any fun. But this isn’t piety at all. Piety means loving devotion towards God. It recognizes that God is worthy of all our love and all our worship, and when we are truly pious, we want to give God the love and worship He deserves. Of course, since God is infinite and we’re merely tiny, finite creatures, we’ll never be fully successful. But our sincere striving in itself is pleasing to God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of fear of the Lord, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Fear of the Lord is the final gift of the Holy Spirit and another greatly misunderstood concept. We often associate fear with something negative, something horrible, something we do not want to feel. Yet Proverbs 14:27 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death.” Proverbs 9:10 adds, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalm 19:9 even calls the fear of the Lord holy and enduring. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So this fear is not negative, nor is it simply a gut reaction or instinct. Rather it is something we learn, which makes it a deliberate choice. What is this fear of the Lord, then? First, it is a deep reverence for God. It is a recognition that God is God, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. We stand in awe before the God that our human minds cannot grasp. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Fear of the Lord also includes a strong disinclination to offend God. We love Him, so we don’t want to sin against him. This may be because of the punishments He justly applies when we sin. If so, we have servile fear, which is not perfect but does give us a start to overcome temptations. Or we may simply fear to offend God because we recognize His goodness and beauty and holiness, and we want to please Him out of love. This is filial fear, and it should be our goal. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4985087058487528459.post-76459412150359860032023-09-24T18:58:00.001-05:002023-09-24T18:58:17.033-05:00 The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Ghost, Part 4<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of love and truth, having mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Spirit infuses us with divine love. Since He is the very love between the Father and the Son, He is Love in person. Therefore, He can love in and through us, boosting and purifying our love so that it reaches out in true self-giving to others, imitating the pure self-giving love between the Father and the Son.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Holy Spirit is also truth. Jesus promised in John 14:26 that He would send the Holy Spirit upon His disciples and that the Holy Spirit would “teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” The Holy Spirit teaches us the truth. If we let Him, He provides us with insights about God and about ourselves and about God’s will for our lives. He helps us go deeper into our faith and to better understand and appreciate, even rejoice in, the truth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of wisdom and understanding, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom and understanding are two of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are infused into us at our baptism, but they grow throughout our lives as we open ourselves to them and cultivate them. We must cooperate with the Spirit and use the gifts He so generously provides if we are to bring them to fruition.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Catechism defines wisdom as “a spiritual gift which enables one to know the purpose and plan of God.” That should amaze us if we think about it. With the gift of wisdom, we get something of a God’s -eye view of life. Not completely, of course. It’s more like a glimpse here and there, but it can certainly help us discern and follow God’s will.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Understanding helps us come to terms with the truths of our faith. We certainly hold fast to those truths with faith, but when we apply our understanding, we go deeper. We dive into truth to get to the meaning of it. We see more clearly. We appreciate the great gifts we have. We make them our own as we take them into our minds and apply our reason to them with the help of the Holy Spirit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Spirit of counsel and fortitude, have mercy on us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Counsel and fortitude are two more of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Counsel is the ability to make good judgments. When we know the truth, we must act on it. But to act properly, we must first decide what is best to do (and when and how, etc.). The Spirit helps us do that with the gift of counsel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Many people use the words “fortitude” and “courage” interchangeably, and that can work if we define them properly. The gift of fortitude is a sort of courage that helps us face the difficult struggles and trials of our lives and keep on going. We endure what we must, relying on God’s help and loving support. But fortitude also spurs us to action. It gives us the boost we need to speak the truth, to stand up for the moral law, and to act against the crowd, doing what is right even when we are the only ones. </span></p>Amy Troolinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046484961528914858noreply@blogger.com0