Love endureth all things

Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. May the Lord bless thee out of Sion: and mayest thou see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.

And mayest thou see thy children's children. Peace upon Israel.
Psalm 127

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Well, psalm 127 would have been a good one to pair with “Fear of the Lord” in the novena, but I did not read ahead. Dear Rebecca, If you want to come back, we can try to do this over, some other time.

I joke, of course. You must wait patiently until the time God has ordained before you will be reunited with your body. Let us pray for patience and trust in God's providence.

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Act of Consecration

Our Father who art in heaven...

Hail, Mary, Full of Grace, ...

Glory be to the Father... (7 Times)

Abide in Rebecca's soul, O Good and Holy Spirit.
In Thy care may she find healing.
May she whom the doctors could not cure
find comfort and peace in Thee
from now until the day of judgment.

Teach her all things
so that she may patiently endure all things
without resentment or fear,
and obey you in all things,
with a joyful and undivided heart
conquering every temptation
that would pull her from Thy path.

May she walk the path of righteousness forever
as a child of the light,
manifesting Thy goodness in her every action.

Bless her, Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
with a steadfast trust in Thee.

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost

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Saints Marcellinus, Peter and Erasmus, who endured torments and death for the Lord, pray for us, that we may learn courage from your example.

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Two readings from today's Mass:

...For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us. For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope: Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now. And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:18-23

The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.
Psalm 33:18-19


And one more, for fortitude:

Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him that endured such contradiction from sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

In striving against sin, ye have not yet resisted unto bloodshed. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children: “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked by Him, for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards and not sons.

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not far rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? For verily they chastened us for a few days according to their own pleasure, but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto those who are exercised thereby. Therefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.
Hebrews 12:1-13

Novena to the Holy Ghost, Day Four

In labore requies,
in aestu temperies,
in fletu solatium.

The Gift of Fortitude
By the gift of Fortitude the soul is strengthened against natural fear, and supported to the end in the performance of duty. Fortitude imparts to the will an impulse and energy which move it to undertake without hesitation the most arduous tasks, to face dangers, to trample under foot human respect, and to endure without complaint the slow martyrdom of even lifelong tribulation. "He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved." [Matthew 24:13]

Prayer
Come, O Blessed Spirit of Fortitude, uphold my soul in time of trouble and adversity, sustain my efforts after holiness, strengthen my weakness, give me courage against all the assaults of my enemies, that I may never be overcome and separated from Thee, my God and greatest Good. Amen.

Our Father Who art in heaven...

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, ...

Glory be to the Father... (7 times)

Act of Consecration

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost

(Go to Day Five)

Novena to the Holy Ghost, Day Four

Thou in toil art comfort sweet
Pleasant coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

The Gift of Fortitude

By the gift of Fortitude the soul is strengthened against natural fear, and supported to the end in the performance of duty. Fortitude imparts to the will an impulse and energy which move it to undertake without hesitation the most arduous tasks, to face dangers, to trample under foot human respect, and to endure without complaint the slow martyrdom of even lifelong tribulation. "He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved." [Matthew 24:13]

Prayer

Come, O Blessed Spirit of Fortitude, uphold my soul in time of trouble and adversity, sustain my efforts after holiness, strengthen my weakness, give me courage against all the assaults of my enemies, that I may never be overcome and separated from Thee, my God and greatest Good. Amen.

Our Father who art in heaven...

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, ...

Glory be to the Father... (7 Times)

Act of Consecration

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost

(Novena to the Holy Ghost, Day Five)

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen

"I am sent to you to confute, not to embrace your heresy. The Catholic religion is the faith of all ages, I fear not death."

- St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, to the protestant soldiers who killed him

On this day 385 years ago, St. Fidelis received the crown of martyrdom, the foreseen culmination of a life of faithful service to our Lord in dangerous times. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIII on the 24th of March, 1729, and canonized on the 29th of June, 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV.

Blessed counsellor and advocate for the poor, pray for us who have become spiritually poor.
Courageous refuter of heresy, pray that your Church may find again the zeal for truth it once possessed.
Zealous advocate of the Faith of all ages, please pray that your Church may once again freely pray the Mass of ages.
And may it please God that you, who have been honored by two popes named Benedict, will have your prayers answered through the good offices of a third.
We ask this through Christ our Lord, Who, with our Father in Heaven, reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ages of ages until the end of time. Amen.

Fasting from Anger

Being a lover of meekness no less than of wisdom, I determined within myself to spend some days without yielding to anger; just as I might have bound myself to abstain from drunkenness and wine, as is the custom in certain feasts, where the use of this drink is forbidden. I next continued to exert special efforts for one or two months, and made short trials of my strength. Thus, in course of time, I came to bear with greater troubles and annoyances, being able to maintain my mastery over myself, so as to remain calm, gentle, and devoid of all anger. By these means I kept myself unstained by evil words, debasing actions, and the shameless lusts which, for a passing gratification, leave the soul pierced through and through with deep remorse and poignant regrets.

- Plutarch (as quoted by Fr. John Baptist Scaramelli, S.J.)

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In my own eccentric and wavering path towards perfection, I hope to use Plutarch's example as a model; anger is my predominant fault and sin. When the anger of my heart is tamed, I hope next to cultivate a greater gratitude towards the Lord for the good things He has given me.

I went to confession today. I never mentioned ingratitude as a problem, but the priest taught me a little prayer for patience that included thanksgiving. I was pleased to see my current goal and next goal thus tied together, and the gift of that prayer in itself helped me a little towards gratitude.

Being not necessarily the sharpest tack in the box, I immediately forgot the prayer, but I remember the general idea.

Thank you God; I'm sorry for my sins. Please help me more.

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I hope the Holy Ghost guides you gently but irresistibly towards becoming the saint that you are meant to be, good reader.

Reepicheep

"God writes straight with crooked lines", using the sin of vandals to school one young soul in the need to protect and defend the Faith.

What is essential is invisible to the eye

Posted by Diogenes in Off the Record:

... But worshiping the body of Jesus under the species of bread also coaches us in a particular disconnect between appearance and reality, where the underlying reality is infinitely more precious than the surface appearance. Now it's comparatively easy to minister to poor people when they're cooperative and grateful and make the minister feel a sense of accomplishment. But sometimes, we're told, they're cantankerous to the point of being positively repellent. That's the point at which the self-congratulatory do-gooders quit and go home and where the real charity kicks in. That's the point at which it's impossible to see the face of Jesus in the destitute (or sick, or deranged) except as a pure act of faith. And that's the point at which it matters whether Jesus is divine or not, because belief in the repulsively disguised spark of divinity is the only reason to keep on giving love in exchange for contempt.

Novena to the Holy Spirit, Day 4 (Monday)

Thou in toil art comfort sweet
Pleasant coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

The Gift of Fortitude

By the gift of Fortitude the soul is strengthened against natural fear, and supported to the end in the performance of duty. Fortitude imparts to the will an impulse and energy which move it to undertake without hesitation the most arduous tasks, to face dangers, to trample under foot human respect, and to endure without complaint the slow martyrdom of even lifelong tribulation. "He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved."


Prayer

Come, O Blessed Spirit of Fortitude, uphold my soul in time of trouble and adversity, sustain my efforts after holiness, strengthen my weakness, give me courage against all the assaults of my enemies, that I may never be overcome and separated from Thee, my God and greatest Good. Amen.


Our Father who art in heaven...

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, ...

Glory be to the Father... (7 Times)

Act of Consecration

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Day 5 of the Novena