The Lord wants His Priests to Pray the Divine Office

Tribulation Times

NOTEWORTHY:  YEAR OF FAITH 

January 30, 2013   

(Mat 6:9-10) Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

FROM THE MAILBAG: Reflection by Father Ted - January 29, 2013 

My dearest Lord Jesus, today You allowed me to preach Your word not only at Mass but also to a group of Your beloved daughters who are members of Your Mother's Legion of Mary in the Cathedral parish of Bolgatunga in Ghana.

You wanted not only the members of my missionary group to hear Your message of love for all people but also for these holy women who live here in Bolgatunga.

You have been striving to teach the importance of each one of us becoming saints - which is by doing the Will of the Father.

When we agree to this calling You pour into our hearts the incredible love that You have for all people.

You first of all ask us to evangelize our brothers and sisters within our own Catholic communities.

We do this by becoming men and women, boys and girls of prayer. For prayer is the first step in getting to know You, Your Father, and Your Holy Spirit.

You have taught me to begin each day with four simple prayers - the Morning Offering, the Memorare, the Prayer to my Guardian Angel, and the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel.

If possible, You want me to offer Mass daily. Through Your Holy Father Pope John Paul II, You reminded me of this when he encouraged a group of American bishops on their Ad Limina visit with him to exhort their brother priests do so whether there was a congregation present or not. He did this back in 1998.

You want to feed us spiritually through Your Holy Words in Scripture and through the receiving of Your Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist.

You want us to spend time with you in Adoration - if possible daily. You want us to pray the Rosary daily for Peace in the world. Isn't that why You sent Your Mother to the 3 children at Fatima just a week after the Holy Father in May of 1917 requested the Catholic World to "Pray to Mary, the Queen of Peace?" 

You want us, as ordained priests, to pray the Divine Office - not just Lauds and Vespers as many of our lay brothers and sisters do. This prayer life is so important if we are to be able to recognize the Truth that You have preserved within Your Roman Catholic Church, if we are to resist the many temptations that You allow the devil to use to test us and to help us to grow in holiness.

I recall what sadly happened in the 1960's when many of us clergy and religious bought the distortion of the powerful Motto of Saint Benedict, which is "To Pray and to Work". For we were being taught that work is our prayer. And when many of us accepted this teaching we dropped praying the Divine Office.

I know what happened to me and to many of my brother priests where I taught in the Archdiocesan high school. We were not able to accept the truths that Pope Paul VI proclaimed in his divinely inspired encyclical "Humani Generis". Many gave into their temptations. Many left the priesthood for diverse reasons. 

You know that I almost left the priesthood too, but mercifully You prompted several brothers and sisters to pray for me. And they did. As a result I did not leave as did so many of my friends - including many of my classmates.

Just two years ago You exhorted Pope Benedict XVI to tell his brother bishops in the United States during his apostolic visit to the United States - to daily spend time in adoration of the Eucharistic Jesus, to daily pray the Rosary, and to daily pray the full Divine Office.

If they had only done so; if they had only urged their brother priests to do so; if we priests had only urged our lay brothers and sisters to visit Jesus in His Eucharistic Presence in our Churches and to pray the Rosary daily for Peace in the world - imagine how different our situation would be today.

As our Lord declared on Christmas Day in one alleged apparition - " I am your Peace. Live My Commandments."

Jesus, help us to live Your Commandments. Help us to urge our lay brothers and sisters to become saints. Help them to pray for the sanctification of all our Christian brothers and sisters. Encourage all of us who are Your disciples to pray that all people may come to know You as the only Savior of mankind and to accept Your Father as our Father.

Father, may Your Will be done on earth, by us, as it is done in Heaven.

Thoughts and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Love of One's Neighbor, Charity, Humility

30. This divine Heart is naught but sweetness, humility and patience, therefore, we must wait... He knows when to act.

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