Weekly Reflections
Current Reflection
Archived Reflections

Hello everyone, 

Today, Saturday 15th. November we have 1602 people from all over the world and from many Christian and some non-Christian denominations joining together in prayer. Our reflection this week is all about choices and the little reflection below is called 'To be like Jesus' from Bob and
Debbie Gass of The Word for Today.

This week's reflection is short and sweet coz you folks got a real long one last week and coz time is of the essence. I've just spent over 2 hours trying to upgrade my group mailing programme without much success, and this past week's been hectic, up to me gills in Holy Souls stuff. But all week the word 'choice' has been on my mind. So here goes.

Life's journey is one big set of choices and they bring us down some strange roads. Some can be beautiful, others can be a nightmare, and some seem to come at us without us seeming to have any choice in it at all. But, you know, for absolutely every situation in life we have a choice.

We can choose to do the right thing or the wrong thing, we can choose to be in the right place or the wrong place, we can choose to speak out or stay silent, we can choose to give or to ignore and pass
on, we can choose to be at peace or in turmoil, we can choose to let go or hold on, we can choose to forgive or resent, we can choose to love or to hate, we can choose to moan and groan or to offer our pain for the salvation of others, we can choose to focus on God or focus on self. I could go on and on!

But so often those choices are so difficult and here's where the Holy Spirit comes into the equation. The Holy Spirit gets very little press yet is so powerful when we ask Him for help and allow Him to get into action.

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the sanctifying category are:

wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord. 

Rev. William G. Most tells us that:

"They each perfect certain basic virtues. Four of them perfect the intellectual virtues. Understanding gives an intuitive penetration into truth. Wisdom perfects charity, in order to judge divine things. 
Knowledge perfects the virtue of hope. The gift of counsel perfects prudence.

The other three gifts perfect virtues of the will and appetites. The gift of piety perfects justice in giving to others that which is their due. This is especially true of giving God what is His due. Fortitude 
perfects the virtue of fortitude, in facing dangers. Fear of the Lord perfects temperance in controlling disordered appetites."

Sounds a bit technical doesn't it, but read it over again and relate it to our daily lives. Can you see where each of the Gifts fit in with all those choices above? So, with the Holy Spirit on our side when we are faced with them all, we're on a winner. All it takes is the grace to acknowledge that we need help, the wisdom to seek His help, and the courage to put His help into action when our conscience
tells us what is right and wrong in any given situation. More often than not the easy way out is not always the right way and here's where all the gifts come into play. 

St. Basil writing on the Holy Spirit, De Spiritu Sancto, says:

"Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God "Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory."

I suppose, because my focus this month is on the Holy Souls, I got to thinking about the 'final leg of the journey home'. That part of the journey we all have to make when life on this earth is over and we make our way to Heaven. At the beginning of November the reflection was on Purgatory and I got an email from someone who didn't prescribe to it at all, stating that God isn't so mean. No, He isn't one bit mean, but He is just.

So back to our choices again. We choose how long that final leg of the journey is going to take us by the choices we make on the earthly leg of the journey. If our life's choices weren't so great then we have a bit of tidying up to do before we can take that spot that's waiting for us in heaven. If we aren't prepared to choose well and tidy up, then we have chosen our final rest in the place that none of us really want to go to - hell. Some would say there is no such place and that there is no such person/spirit/thing as the devil. If that's the case, what was the whole point of Christ's birth, suffering and death? What did He come here to save us from? 

So, God gets bad press too when He's blamed for 'sending us to Purgatory'. He doesn't! We do it all by ourselves. When our souls come before the Glory of God and we know we aren't yet ready for Heaven, we accept that time delay for the tidy-up. Thing is though, we can't do it for ourselves once we get there. We can only do it when on earth by our choices. Once we leave this earth we need the prayers and sacrifices of those we leave behind. Hence the need to pray for our deceased - that's another of our choices. And boy, will we ever need the prayers of those we leave behind too. Get back to trying to explain to children the need to pray for those who have gone before us coz they're the very ones we'll be depending on to shorten that final leg of the journey for us, if the choices we make here aren't so hot.

************************************************** 

To be like Jesus

".WE BECOME MORE AND MORE LIKE HIM." 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 (NLT) 

Becoming like Christ doesn't mean losing your personality or becoming a mindless clone. God created your uniqueness, so He certainly doesn't want to destroy it. Christ-likeness is about transforming your character, not your personality. Paul writes,'.take on an entirely new way of life - 
a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces His character in you' (Ephesians 4:23-24 TM).

Every time you forget that character, not comfort, is God's first priority in your life, you become frustrated and wonder, 'Why's all this happening to me?' Abundant living isn't the absence of adversity, it's growth in the midst of it and victory over it!

Listen: '.As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him...' 'Yes, but how does this happen in real life?' you ask. Through the choices we make - we choose to do the right thing and then trust God's Spirit to give us the power, love, faith and wisdom to do it. Since His Spirit lives inside us, these things are available just for the asking.

When Joshua stood at the Jordan River, its floodwaters receded only after he stepped in. Obedience unlocks God's power! God waits for you to act first! Don't wait until you feel capable or confident. Just move ahead in your weakness, doing the right thing in spite of your fears. That's how you cooperate with the Holy Spirit. That's how Christ-like character is developed in you. 

**************************************************

So there you have it folks till next week. Two little reminders for this week - Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations, the form on the website has the address included where they can be forwarded. And prayers for the Holy Souls, with prayers for them below.

http://www.circleofprayer.com/vocations-poster.html
http://www.circleofprayer.com/vocations-form.html

Here's the Vocations website:

http://www.vocation.com

And here's the Holy Souls Crusade website:

http://www.holysoulscrusade.org

May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you and yours and
may Mary keep you in Her heavenly mother's care.

Mary Mullins in Galway, Ireland

**************************************************

Chaplet of the Holy Souls

This Chaplet can be prayed on a set of Rosary Beads.

Begin with: The Creed, then 1 Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be for the Pope’s intentions.

On Large Beads Pray: 

O holy souls draw the fire of God’s Love into my soul to reveal Jesus crucified in me, here on earth, rather than hereafter in Purgatory.

On Small Beads Pray:

Crucified Lord Jesus have mercy on the souls in Purgatory

End with: Glory Be three times

Cardinal Newman’s Prayer for the Holy Souls

O most gentle heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the souls of Your servants. Bring them from the shadows of exile to Your bright home in Heaven, where we trust You and Your Blessed Mother have woven for them a crown of unfolding bliss. Amen.

Prayer of St. Gertrude for the Holy Souls

Eternal Father, I offer you the Most Precious Blood of your Divine Son, 
Jesus, in union with all the masses said throughout the world today for 
all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the 
Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."

Prayer for Your Family

"O Dear Jesus, I humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family this day. In Your Divine Mercy make our home a shrine of peace, love and faith. I beg You, Dear Jesus, to protect and bless all of us and our families absent and present, living and dead. O Mary loving Mother of Jesus and our Mother, pray to Jesus the Divine Mercy for our family, and for all the families of the world. Ask Him to guard the tiny infant in the womb, the cradle of the newborn, the young in the schools and those about to start their vocations in life. Amen"

Prayer for Your Adult Children

"Heavenly Mother, keep us always in mind of Your Son's great mercy and understanding as we pray for our children. They are grown up now and have left us and are living their own lives according to their own ideals. We feel anxious and worried because they do not seem to feel the need for Christ. to understand the wisdom of His ways, or to be fully at ease with us or themselves. Intervene, dearest Mother, in their lives at the moment You know to be right and help them to understand the things that lead to their peace. Help them to see the need of Christ and to experience the greatness of His love, so that we may all proclaim as You did, that His mercy truly is from generation to generation. Amen"

Prayer for the World

"JESUS of NAZARETH has triumphed over Death. His Reign is Eternal. He is coming to conquer the
world and the time.

"Mercy, my God on those who blaspheme You,
Forgive them, they know not what they do.

"Mercy, my God, for the scandal in the world,
Deliver them from the spirit of Satan.

"Mercy, my God, on those who run away from You
Give them an appreciation for the Holy Eucharist.

"Mercy, my God, on those who come to repent at the foot of the Glorious Cross. May they find Peace and Joy in God our Saviour.

"Mercy, my God, so that Your Kingdom may come, but save souls, there is still time; for the time is near, behold, I am coming. Amen

Come, Lord Jesus."

Recite one decade of the Rosary

"Lord, pour out on the whole world the treasures of Your Infinite Mercy."

"Through the Mystery of Your Holy Incarnation,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Nativity,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Baptism and Holy Fasting,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Cross and Passion,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Death and Burial,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Holy Resurrection,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Your Admirable Ascension,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete,
deliver us from all evil, Lord.

Through Him whose Name reigns eternal,
deliver us from all evil, Lord."

Prayer of Protection

Blessed Michael the Archangel, protect us in the hour of conflict. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God restrain him, we humbly pray, and do thou, Oh Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the Power of God, thrust satan down to hell and with him all the wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen

**************************************************

All of the Reflections to date are available to read in the Archives on the website for anyone who's interested.

The Weekly Intentions are available on a plain page to be able to print off and kept to hand for your own prayer time. The list has become too long now to include each week but please say the
two wee prayers below. The Loving Father knows the heart of each person requesting prayer.

"Father, bless all those who have requested prayers in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! Father, we ask You to heal the broken bodies, broken minds, broken spirits, broken hearts and broken marriages and may all their lives be full of Your peace, prosperity, and power as they seek to have a close relationship with You. Amen."

"Thank You Jesus for answering our prayers because we know You hear every prayer and never refuse to answer. You are providing answers and healings from the prayers of all these wonderful people. Praise God!"

"Breathe in me O Holy Spirit that my thoughts may all be holy;
Act in me O Holy Spirit that my work, too, may be holy;
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit to defend all that is holy;
Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I always may be holy."

"O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what I should do. Give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your will. Amen"

May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless and guide you and yours and may Mary keep you in Her heavenly mother's care.

Mary in Galway

'The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.'