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        TO ADORE OUR LORD!

The Franciscan Handmaids of the Immaculate seek daily to draw closer to Our Lord.  Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament is fundamental to Our spiritual life as we seek to conform our hearts unto His.  Additionally, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Sorrows, we place ourselves in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, asking Her to bring us closer to Her Son.

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Psalm 23 - The Good Shepherd - Also a Sacramental Psalm

8/18/2019

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By Sr. Faustina Olson

Praising Jesus, through the Immaculate!

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Psalm 23 is such a comforting Psalm; it is usually read at a Funeral Mass to console the bereaved. Yet, it can also be called a Sacramental Psalm because it points to SIX of the Sacraments. How so ??


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The Lord is my Shepherd” - He is the Eternal High Priest.  “He leads me beside still waters” - The waters of Baptism - becoming a child of God, the soul is stilled as it rests in its Father's embrace. 
 
“He restoreth my soul” - The soul is reconciled to God and at peace through Confession.  “He leads me in the paths of righteousness” - the grace of Confession leads to a repented life. 
 
 “Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death... thy rod and thy staff comfort me” - The Shadow of Death brings fear, but The Viaticum, i.e. Sacrament of the Sick, brings strength and comfort to the dying. 
 
“Thou preparest a table before me" - the Fathers of the church taught that this Table points to the Banquet of the Bread of Life - the Holy Eucharist.    St. Paul of Jerusalem says of this line:  “But when You came, O Lord, You prepared a table before me, which is none other than the sacramental and spiritual table which God has prepared for us.”

“Thou anointest my head with oil” – denotes the oil used in the Sacraments of Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick and Anointing of the hands at the Ordination of the Priesthood.  The oil is mentioned in Ps. 133, “Precious is the oil upon the head, running down… upon the beard of Aaron”.  This profuse anointing of Aaron is found in Ex 30:23. God told Moses to make a holy oil with specific directions and elements.  He was ordered to make a bounteous supply and pour it upon the Tabernacle, the sacred vessels, upon Aaron and his sons who were designated as priests.  This oil was to be holy unto all generations.  No one else was allowed to be anointed by it.  It was such a holy oil that God forbade the duplication of the ingredients – else whey would die.  The oil was NOT to be poured on anyone else – so sacred was this oil! This bounteous oil was generously poured upon Aaron’s beard – like the “Dew of Hermon”.  The dews of Hermon resembled showers of rain and would be very heavy and refreshing.  The oil of Aaron prefigured the grace and unity descending and flowing from the head of the Church, (the pope) to the other priests and to all the faithful. 
                                                                                                                                                         
 “My Cup runneth over” - Eusebius of Caesarea says, “In these lines the Word clearly designates the sacramental unction (chrism) and the holy sacrifice of Christ’s table”.  St. Cyprian of Carthage teaches:  “The Holy Spirit expresses in the Psalms the same figure of the Eucharist when the Lord’s chalice is mentioned; ‘Thy cup which inebriates me, how excellent it is!’ But the inebriation which the Lord’s chalice gives is not similar to that of profane wine. It intoxicates in such a way that it does not make one lose his reason; it leads souls to spiritual wisdom...” And in Acts 2:13-17: “Others mocking said, these men are full of new wine. But Peter...said unto them...these are not drunken, as ye suppose...but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: and it shall come to pass in the last day, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
 
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!  All of these Sacraments help us on our pilgrimage to heaven.


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JESUS, WHO IS TRUTH, SPOKE

8/9/2019

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        TRUTH DOES NOT REMAIN SILENT:
JESUS DID NOT REMAIN SILENT - HE DID NOT WITHHOLD THE TRUTH

 
Even though Jesus would be killed for speaking the Truth during his mock trial, He, the Light of the world, does not leave his enemy, nor all people of all ages to come, in darkness nor in confusion --- and He speaks:
 
“Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"
 
And Jesus said, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."  -  Mk. 14:62
 
The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
 
Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together; I have said nothing secretly.   Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me, what I said to them; they know what I said."
 
When he had said this, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?"
 
Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?" 
And then Pilate questioned Him:
 Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus ...

Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence.  Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice.  -  John.  18:19-37
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