Reflection by Fr. Ted: Priests Should Offer Mass Daily:

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/december.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 14, 2010 

(1Th 5:17-18) Pray without ceasing. In all things give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all.

Introductory Prayer:  Lord Jesus, thank you for this new day and all the graces you will bless me with. I believe in you and your love for me. I wish to show my love for you by staying focused on what is most important during this time of prayer: you and your most holy will. 

SPERO NEWS: Vatican: Pope: Advent, a time to strengthen inner tenacity

CATHOLIC.NET:  Pope Urges Giving Mary the Gift of Prayer

FROM THE MAILBAG
REFLECTION by Father Ted – December 26, 2010

My dearest Lord Jesus, once again You have reminded me of another attempt by the evil one trying to weaken and destroy Your Holy Roman Catholic Church as he has been persuading the leaders of another religious community to abandon some of their sound religious practices which has enabled them to be vibrant examples of holiness.

As You have taught me one of the key strategies of the evil one is to persuade us to de-emphasize our primary task – which is to assist others to get to heaven.  He does this frequently by trying to get us to focus on the here and now – such as primarily stressing the corporal works of mercy, which are very important ministries – and minimizing the spiritual works of mercy.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has been reminding us of how important our prayer life is - not only for us personally but also for the welfare of others.  You made me aware of this in a very special way when he met with the bishops of the United States several years ago in Washington, D.C..

During his talk with them he stressed the importance of not only of daily adoration of You in the Most Blessed Sacrament, but also of daily recitation of the Holy Rosary – just like Your Mother exhorted the 3 children from Fatima, and, of course, the daily praying of the Divine Office which responsibility they accepted when each one of them received the first of the Major Orders – in my time – Sub-deaconate.

Once again the evil one is stressing to members of some religious communities that they do not need to spend so much time in prayer.  They are being encouraged to minimize praying the Rosary.  Some are being encouraged to omit the offering of Holy Mass daily.

I learned about such strategies twenty years ago when I was staying at the house of one religious community and while I was at dinner with them one night the provincial superior of that community told me that he believed that to offer Mass only once a week was sufficient.

Fortunately for me, I had recently read what the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, had told a group of American bishops during their “Ad Limina” visit that we priests, whether by ourselves or with others, should offer Mass daily.

I have learned – again the hard way – that whenever I have diminished my prayer life, my ability to recognize Your eternal truth has been weakened; my ability to resist temptations has been weakened; and my ability to perceive the weaknesses within Your Church has been greatly exaggerated.

Without a strong daily prayer life, I cannot become the man, the priest that You want me to be.  Without a strong daily prayer life, I cannot help others to become the saints that You want them to be.

Lord Jesus, help the members of these communities that are being deceived by the evil one to recognize his tactics and to reject them.  Help them to be holy and to help others to become holy.

Mary, Queen of the Clergy, pray for us.  Saint John Marie Vianney, pray for us.

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 27- "On holy stillness of body and soul"

6. A monk is he who strives to confine his incorporeal being within his bodily house, paradoxical as this is.

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This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

Daily Mass and Priestly Obligation

by Fr. William P. Saunders

Does a priest have to offer Mass daily?

The simple answer to this question is, "No, a priest does not have to offer Mass each day." However, such a simple answer would be misleading since a priest, who is ordained to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, ought to do so each day.

The Code of Canon Law (#276) in the section entitled "The Obligations and Rights of Clerics" states the following: "In leading their lives, clerics are especially bound to pursue holiness because they are consecrated to God by a new title in the reception of orders as dispensers of God’s mysteries in the service of His people. In order for them to pursue this perfection ... they are to nourish their spiritual life from the two-fold table of Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist; priests are therefore earnestly invited to offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist daily."

http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/williamsaunders/straightanswers/dailymass.asp

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