A Pathway Under the Gaze of Mary.

I just recently got a Rosary of the 7 Sorrows and had it blessed. I am trying to say it every day but I don't always manage it. I love it.

 

I admire you for finding the time. Maybe before bed at night I could do it.

 

I heard that if you fall asleep saying your
Rosary, your Guardian Angel will finish it.

 

What a huge pity to have Guardian Angels and never to take any notice of them. It is a bit like winning the Lottery and never spending it.

https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2018/10/st-robert-bellarmines-hymn-for-guardian.html

 

I don't find it always easy to find a good Catholic Book. For me a good Catholic book is one that stirs me up to pray more and think about God and the things of God a lot more. A good Sign is that I find myself turning a lot to Sister Lucia a lot in prayer at the moment. I know she has not been declared a saint yet but it seems pretty well inevitable. The two fellow seerers St Jacinta and Saint Francesco were basically witnesses to Sister Lucia, I think. She was the main deal. Although of course they were very holy in and off themselves.

I have reached the point were she joined the Order of St Dorothea as a Postulant. The book is really very detailed about Lucia's life. It reminds me of how the Spiritual Life is very much day by day of simply putting one faltering foot step in front of another and carrying on carrying our various Crosses.

So assuring. The path she once walked we must walk too.

 

That's my daily weapon of choice... I've been at it 10, 12 maybe 15 years - practically haven't missed a day. There are a number of promises attached to its daily recitation.
I can attest that these promises (if you look them up) are upheld by our lady and our Lord.
One of the greatest is that you'll be taken upon death, from this life - straight into heaven -- no purgatory! Another is the protection of your family in this life...

 

No, no.... I do it when I'm driving, washing dishes, cutting grass... Just whenever you get a minute to yourself. If it's going to be done everyday for the rest of your life, that's the only way you can do it. If you leave it till bedtime, you'll never manage it everyday. Or if you try to make half an hour at lunchtime or in the evening - something will come up over time to put you off, oul Nick will make sure of it.
I try to say some of it before I get out of bed. If I don't, I do it when I'm driving my first journey of the day.. as soon as I'm alone I'm on it. It doesn't have to be said in one go....

 

Its funny you mention the lottery...
I often tell our lady that she giving me the grace to say the 7 sorrows rosary everyday is like her just nonchalantly handing me a solid gold, diamond encrusted, winning lottery ticket... (For its daily recitation is a pass straight into heaven, no questions asked... Er you go. Batter on in there.. wow!)

 

This is how i do it too jack. At night I am too tired.

 

I can very much relate to your descriptions of going to the Sacrament of Penance to a Traditional Catholic priest vs. a Novus Ordo priest, as I have similar experiences. Over here, I try to go to Traditional Catholic priest whenever I can and I take their advice on board. I think the traditional priest's advice is the one to go with, perhaps he was simply trying to stop you from doing too much penance.

I heard Martin Luther was extremely penitential when he was a Catholic monk. This turned into the other extreme when he became a Protestant and basically said we should embrace our sins.

 

Wow, this is impressive and inspiring. I like the promise that our families will be protected. Do you pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows daily in addition to or instead of the standard Rosary?

 

I love the way St Paul compared the Christian life to an athlete in training to win the race.

I was reading last night a long list of Penitential practices Lucia carried out as a young Dorothean nun. It made my jaw drop open. I assume she had the permission of her Superiors and Confessor for this nowadays. They would probably fall over in a faint if they discovered her doing this today.

I think people can't get over the idea of it being Masochistic or self punishing. Yet no one would think for an instant this about an athlete. I am afraid as with so much else we have kinda lost the plot with penance.
As to fear of folks hurting themselves, well athletes and sports people often get hurt, some seriously, some even killed. Generally we just take it as par for the course.

We have grown so very,very nice about everything. Like maiden aunts.. It is depressing.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27

25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

 

Sister Lucia was very badly treated by her Superiors and fellow clergy as a nun. It reminds me of Saint Bernadette. A for instance a priest sent her photo to the newspapers and it got published all over Portugal. This caused Sr Lucia very great grief.

It seem to me that Lucia was rather like a trophy to them. Rather like something they owned to be used as they wished. No longer a human being but the sister who saw lady at Fatima and so to be used as such. For their own purposes and agendas. An article rather than a human being.

I was thinking of Lucia and Bishop Strickland last night someone who has also been subject to grace injustices recently. It seems to a good way to avoid these in the future would be to institute a system of courts and a Supreme Court in the Church to which everyone in the Church Clergy and laypeople, even the Pope would have to give account. To insure justice and fair play in terms of Canon Law. Courts with real teeth and powers. A question of Constitutional balance to ensure fair play and basic justice.

This would not restrict Popes and Bishops in their ordinary spiritual duties and functions but in a human managerial level stop them from being Dictators. Also stop the cover up of sexual abuses. The Vatican itself appears full of such Demonic individuals at the moment even at the very highest levels. Good Courts might stop this.

Also may some kind of internal policing force at a local and global level to which the faithful and clergy could address canonical crimes to have them dealt with.

 

This is very apt comparison, the way of holiness is a form of athleticism. I never thought of that. I am very weak when it comes to penances, and I very much lack self-discipline in all areas of life apart from praying the Rosary daily.

But in my youth in East Germany, I practiced rowing, then kayaking (including being selected to attend a Sports School). We trained several times a day, six days a week, including many kilometers on the water, many long runs, lots of hard work in the gym (which we nicknamed "torture chamber" as it was located in the basement). These days are long gone, and I have become very soft, unfortunately.

 

Life itself brings many, many Penances. Let us do our best to embrace them with a great big welcoming hug.

 

Does that include challenges, difficulties, disappointments, setbacks, even my own shortcomings? Or sicknesses I have caused myself through my very lack of self-discipline?

 

This can be arduous, as well. The ordinary mortifications which come our way daily can bring much fruit if we have the right attitude. I hate standing in line, and being cut off on the road Our drugstore pharmacy waiting line is so arduous that our priest included it in his homily.
“Offer it up”

 

Yes so long as we give them a big hug and welcome them.
I would guess of all penances the biggest penance can be other people....

Just as we can be the biggest penance to them.

Mother Teresa said that people come into our lives as either lights or lessons.

 

I think it is no accident that people start to fall apart physically and mentally. Our aches and pains.

This is God scrubbing our pots and getting us clean and shiny for heaven. The little mini purgatory of old age.