MARY, OUR MOTHER: From The Friars eLetter: Empty Tabernacles (2 of 3)

Thursday, May 23, 2013

From The Friars eLetter: Empty Tabernacles (2 of 3)

Whenever I sin, I dim the light of Christ in my soul. When I sin mortally, I extinguish it entirely - I am empty & alone. I become an empty tabernacle. (Thank God for His Mercy in confession which can restore us! Yes, God can & will forgive you!!)

Whenever I choose Christ, love Him or receive His love, pray to Him, or serve Him in my brothers & sisters, His light & presence grow within me. The Divine Fire of the Holy Spirit increases in my heart. I become a shining lamp to others, to lead them to Christ, to become ever more mature children of our Heavenly Father. I am His 'living tabernacle'!

A church building is built large enough so many people can gather & worship together; but a tabernacle is fairly small - yet it is the Throne of Christ the King, the uncontainable God of the universe! The tabernacle & altar are the *heart* of every church. They are carefully adorned. This is the place of love & sacrifice, the place of God's abiding presence.

But I must freely invite Jesus to reign in my own soul in order to share the joy of the Heavenly Liturgy. And He needs a *welcome space* to enter, not a room full of useless junk.

What are some things or attachments in my life that may be cluttering the 'church' of my life or the 'tabernacle' of my soul? It's time to take inventory & clean house! Don't worry - Jesus WANTS all your garbage! He gladly changes it all into everlasting treasures... The one *true treasure* He wants is YOU!

+Br. Philip Maria, CFR

Most Blessed Sacrament Friary

Newark, NJ, USA
----------------------------------------------------We need your help!
Donate here

No comments:

Quotes from 'The Glories of Mary':

‘I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head.’

(Gen. 3:15)

“Since the devil is the head of original sin, this head it was that Mary crushed: for sin never had any entry into the soul of this Blessed Virgin, which was consequently free from all stain.”

Saint Augustine

Journeys of Faith

Special of the week: Visions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory Heaven is real beyond your wildest dreams. It is eternity with Our Lord Jesus in the Beatific Vision, our Mother Mary, the Heavenly family of Angels and Saints. Bob and Penny Lord have gone to Europe and researched the lives of many Saints and Blesseds, the teachings of the Catholic Catechism and the Catholic Encyclopedia. They have amassed volumes of first-hand information from the visions of Saints Regular Retail $14.95 320 pages Your price today $7.95

PSALM 71 SPEAKS TO MY HEART

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!

Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

I have been as a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.

For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who watch for my life consult together
and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”

O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.

But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.

With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.

I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.

And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

From The Friars eLetter: Empty Tabernacles (2 of 3)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Welcome to my Marian Blog

ALL MY SOCIAL SITES & BLOGS