Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me!

The Anima Christi is a beautiful prayer! The following four prayers develop the richness of the prayer even further. I discovered these prayers in a publication entitled The Catholic Devotional published in 2006 by the Apostolic Publishing Company, 7010 6th Street North, Oakdale, MN 55128.

Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me!

Make a saint of me. Show me how to rid myself
Of traits of character that annoy others;
that make the lives of those about me miserable.
Help me to break the hardened shell within which selfishness hides, and which renders me insensible to the needs of others.
May I become great enough to be the servant of both rich and poor.
May I grow strong in virtue, so as to sustain the weak and encourage the weary.
May my heart increase its power to love, so as to be able to minister kindness to the timid and mercy to the wayward.
May I have the honor to bring cheer to all my fellow men on the long and sometimes rugged road of life.

Body of Christ, Save Me!

Save me from my great archenemy, my weak and faltering self.
Save me from all greed of money, of power, and of praise.
Save me from the thirst for pleasure, worldly show, and midnight revelry.
Save me from betraying You, Dear Lord, in thought, or in word, or in deed.

Blood of Christ, Strengthen Me!

Inebriate me with Your Love, that I may be absorbed in Your Will. Absorbed so as to be unmindful of my ills and petty cares.
Unmindful of weariness and pain, heartache, and disappointment.
Heedless of the lash of cruel words, and patient under wrongs.

Passion of Christ, Strengthen Me!

Strengthen me under the pressure of temptation.
Strengthen me when principle is at stake.
Strengthen me to do Your Will, My God.
Strengthen me in moments of suffering, in times of loneliness, in periods of depression.
Strengthen me that I may never swerve from You, Dear Christ, nor weaken through a desire to be popular, through hope of social distinction.
Strengthen me to accept my cross and carry it generously to the end.
On the battlefield of life, stand by me that I may never prove a traitor in the ranks.
Stand by me that I may not be dazzled by the glitter and glow of the enemy camp.

Unfathomable Love! - Awesome Privilege!

It has been discovered that an ordinary, 8oz. drinking glass can hold approximately 2 million grains of sand.

The photographs and data scientists have gathered through the use of the Hubble telescope indicate the majesty and incomprehensible size of the universe that exists beyond our planet. It is estimated that there are more stars in the heavens than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the world.

Consider the world unseen by the naked eye and all of its wonder. The complex structure and life-sustaining automated functions of just the trillions of cells in the human body alone.

Contemplate the fact that all of creation is maintained in a perfect, life-sustaining balance, i.e., the perfect mixture of gases in the air we breath, precise distances of the sun and the moon from our earth, which are necessary to sustain life on earth.

Think of the marvelous, awesome complexity of the vast variety of insects and birds, and the variety of life existing beneath the ocean waves!

I don’t about you, but whenever I’m in our Lord’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament, or at Mass during transubstantiation as the priest says the words, “This is My Body”, my mind is immediately aware of the fact that the awesome Creator of our vast universe is not only present, but desires to be with us!

It is truly a humbling experience, and an inexpressible privilege, not only to be in the presence of the Creator, but to be able to receive His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity as spiritual and physical nourishment for our journey.

Armed with the knowledge that God, the Creator of the universe, longs to give Himself to us fully, and makes Himself available to us daily under the appearance of bread and wine, ONE SHOULD NEVER AGAIN HAVE A REASON TO FEEL UNLOVED! For this is the perfect love! Out of love, God gives Himself to us, and accepting His Gift assists us in passing the love of God on to others. This is how love remains eternal. St. Paul illustrates the permanence of love in his first letter to the Corinthians when he says, “love never fails”. St. Paul emphasizes the fact that love remains long after prophesy, knowledge, and tongues pass away.

The next time you receive Christ in the Eucharist, or are privileged to spend time with Him at adoration, ponder the magnificence of the love our awesome Creator has for us!

The Catholic Church Is Perfect! Why?

Do you know someone who no longer practices their Catholic Faith, and claims that it was the sexually deviant behavior of some members of the clergy, and the failure of the Church to address the issue that finally caused them to leave the Church?

As repulsive as pedophilia is, especially when committed by a man whom we know has been ordained to represent Christ on earth in the administration of the sacraments, we must remember that the MAN has not been made perfect through the sacrament of Holy Orders. The priest is still a man and thus remains subject to the tendency toward sin along with the rest of humankind.

It is not man that makes the Catholic Church PERFECT, it is Jesus Christ who founded the Church and instituted the sacraments. As Catholics we must remain focused on Christ, truly present in the Eucharist, the very center of our Faith! If we are looking for perfection in a man, we will fail to find it in any church on earth!

John L. Barger, founder of Sophia Institute Press, in a debate with his daughter over the perfection of the Catholic Church, presents a powerful yet brief argument which I encourage all to read here.