Category Archives: Prayer

Five AM should not exist

I awakened at 5AM this morning, a few hours before I normally have to (and on my day off, to boot!) so I can drive a ways past the village to get blood drawn and urine collected for testing. Had to switch to a new doctor for a few resentful reasons that won’t be explicated here. So the bleedin’ and the peein’ was requested at my physical a few weeks ago.

Five ante meridian does not exist on my homeworld. Denizens of my planet need sunlight to awaken, otherwise we are foggy of brain and need mass quantities of coffee later. So foggy was I that I almost opened MS Word instead of LibreOffice to write this post’s draft.

The world looks almost post-apocalyptic that early in the morning, when all is dark and sentients are missing. There are all these buildings standing about, but few humans anywhere. Those that are about, all look, well… as if they have agendas that differ from the norm.

I’m back home after a nap, and as I’m too blurry-brained to be able to do my Morning Prayers (not even the Rosary) all I’ve been capable of is to fly through StumbleUpon sites. I picked my “Fantasy Books” and “Fantasy Art” categories as I’ve reading “The Lord of the Rings” again.

This post is an attempt to get over my typical “blogger’s block;” that feeling that if I haven’t blogged in quite some time, I can’t again, ever. It’s usually cured by forcing myself to write about something, anything, and then the block is broken.

I sincerely wish to blog most every day, across my three blogs (see feed links in the sidebar). But I’ve been saying that since I started blogging in 2007. {{{sigh}}} Perhaps someday.

Off to pray.

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Peter and John rushing to the Tomb

I saw a beautiful painting in an article yesterday while perusing the news online. “The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection” by Swiss painter Eugène Burnand, is an image that draws you into it. You are just THERE.

Peter-and-John-Running-to-the-Tomb-1898-590x320

Source is right here:

The Greatest Easter Painting Ever Made.

In my opinion, John looks like Roddy McDowell and Peter kinda looks like James Farentino, who played him in the epic TV miniseries, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Divine Mercy Novena for One’s Country

Most Catholics who are familiar with The Divine Mercy Message also know of the popular The Divine Mercy Novena for Divine Mercy Sunday. But Paragraphs 32 and 33 of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska’s Diary, “Divine Mercy in My Soul,” there is also another Novena that is mentioned. It is a Novena for one’s Country.

32 Another time I heard these words, Go to the Superior and ask her to allow you to
make a daily hour of adoration for nine days. During this adoration try to unite
yourself in prayer with My Mother. Pray with all your heart in union with Mary, and
try also during this time to make the Way of the Cross. I received the permission,
though not for a full hour, but only for whatever time was left me after I had carried out my
duties.

33 I was to make this novena for the intention of my Motherland. On the seventh day of the
novena I saw, between heaven and earth, the Mother of God, clothed in a bright robe. She
was praying with Her hands folded on Her bosom, Her eyes fixed on Heaven. From Her
Heart issued forth fiery rays, some of which were turned toward Heaven while the others
were covering our country.

So, if we are to take the instructions in the Novena, we are to go to Eucharistic Adoration and make a Holy Hour for nine consecutive days, and during the Holy Hour I would suggest that praying the Rosary might be the most efficacious way of praying “with all your heart in union with Mary,” followed by saying the Stations of the Cross. I don’t think that most Adoration Chapels have the Stations in them, but a Stations of the Cross prayerbook should suffice. If all you have is time for the Rosary and the Stations, that might be fine. 😉 And do not forget to offer up your Country’s intentions. This may be good for the time prior to a national election or holiday (either a national secular holiday, or the feast day or your country’s patron saint).

For more information on St. Faustina, click here:

The Divine Mercy Message from the Marians of the Immaculate Conception

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

A Writer’s Prayer Upon Finishing a Work

I was randomly perusing the Old Testament today and chanced upon this passage from the Second Book of Maccabees:

2 Maccabees 15: 37-39: “Since Nicanor’s doings ended in this way, with the city remaining in the possession of the Hebrews from that time on, I will bring my story to an end here too. If it is well written and to the point, that is what I wanted; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that is the best I could do. Just as it is unpleasant to drink wine by itself or just water, whereas wine mixed with water makes a delightful and pleasing drink, so a skillfully composed story delights the ears of those who read the work. Let this, then, be the end. “

(Via USCCB.)

I thought that it would make a good prayer for any writer to say upon finishing a work. You can replace “Nicanor’s doings ended in this way, with the city remaining in the possession of the Hebrews from that time on,” with something relevant to your novel or short story, but you get the idea.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)