A New Year in The Lord Jesus 2008

Happy New Year 2008 in The Lord Jesus!

Four months have passed since I have posted anything into this Blog and it is time to regroup my thoughts with the Lord’s direction and voice guiding me. I was in the midst of a great dark night in my soul by my own choices that took me away from hearing the Lord speak to me. No one is to blame but my selfish heart that has caused me to run from the Lord’s work in my life. As I have often heard in the past from the Lord “ Feed my sheep” and out of hardness of heart and personal ambitions or prosperity I turn a deaf ear to His voice. Woe is me a man in need of continual brokenness and humility.
Here is the prayer for me this year and everyday to come.

Psalm 17


Hear my plea of innocence, O LORD;
give heed to my cry; listen to my prayer,
which does not come from lying lips.
Let my vindication come forth from your presence;
let your eyes be fixed on justice.
Weigh my heart, summon me by night,
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.
I give no offense with my mouth as others do;
I have heeded the words of your lips.
My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law;
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.
I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me;
incline your ear to me and hear my words.
Show me your marvelous loving-kindness,
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.


Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me under the shadow of your wings,
From the wicked who assault me,
from my deadly enemies who surround me.
They have closed their heart to pity,
and their mouth speaks proud things.
They press me hard, now they surround me,
watching how they may cast me to the ground,
Like a lion, greedy for its prey,
and like a young lion lurking in secret places.
Arise, O LORD; confront them and bring them down; deliver me from the wicked by your sword.
Deliver me, O LORD, by your hand
from those whose portion in life is this world;
Whose bellies you fill with your treasure,
who are well supplied with children
and leave their wealth to their little ones.
But at my vindication I shall see your face;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied,
beholding your likeness.
AMEN

"Keep our hearts in all diligence"

Lord Jesus,
You lived in obedience to your Father in working out our salvation in silence of heart. Let us then guard our hearts, let us guard our mouths.
May we receive from the Father a pure heart like David
“to build a temple for My name.” (I Kings 8:18)

Give us the fortitude of Soloman to,
“Keep our hearts in all diligence.” (Proverbs 4:23)
We cry out to You as Isaiah did,
“Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5)
In Your Divine Mercy, “Hedge thy possession about with thorns,
(Hosea 2:6) and bind up thy silver and gold, (Exodus 20:23) and make a door and a bar for thy mouth, (Nehemiah 7:3) and a yoke and a balance for thy words.” “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me,
and His word was on my tongue.” (2 Samuel 23:2)
Amen
Francis Ambrose of Divine Mercy T

Yea, the Lord Himself in the Gospel worked out in silence the salvation of
men.45 David rightly therefore enjoined on himself not constant silence, but watchfulness.
10. Let us then guard our hearts, let us guard our mouths. Both have been written about. In this
place we are bidden to take heed to our mouth; in another place thou art told: “Keep thy heart with
3
all diligence.”46 If David took heed, wilt thou not take heed? If Isaiah had unclean lips—who said:
“Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man, and have unclean lips”47
“Hedge thy possession about
with thorns, and bind up thy silver and gold, and make a door and a bar for thy mouth, and a yoke
and a balance for thy words”?48 Thy possession is thy mind, thy gold thy heart, thy silver thy speech:
“The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire.”


A good mind is also a good
possession. And, further, a pure inner life is a valuable possession. Hedge in, then, this possession
of thine, enclose it with thought, guard it with thorns, that is, with pious care, lest the fierce passions
of the flesh should rush upon it and lead it captive, lest strong emotions should assault it, and,
overstepping their bounds, carry off its vintage. Guard thy inner self. Do not neglect or contemn it
as though it were worthless, for it is a valuable possession; truly valuable indeed, for its fruit is not
perishable and only for a time, but is lasting and of use for eternal salvation. Cultivate, therefore,
thy possession, and let it be thy tilling ground.

"What good can a protestant convert do?"

Thank you for this open dialog to comment on what good can a protestant convert do in the Church. I agree with your example of the cradle Catholics being much like us 3rd and 4th generation Americans taking much of the freedoms and blessings for granted. But I don't see that true with all cradle Catholics! I too am a new convert totally excited with my relationship in Christ Jesus now lived out in the one true Catholic and Apostolic Church. Earlier today, I was blessed to be in a Catholic men’s fellowship group where we pray together and review the readings for Sunday Mass. During our time together the group leader Dan who is cradle catholic expressed how he was praying with a friend that has a view that his life won’t change till he gets to heaven. Dan discussed with his friend that he believed that he could experience heaven now, and that it’s not a place. I then spoke up and shared with the group that Dan’s perspective comes directly from his Catholic upbringing and my Protestant upbringing had that heaven after we die mentality for real change to take place. So I believe this blessing goes both ways leaving the Protestant ways of thinking and embracing the sacramental culture traditionally kept in the Catholic Church but taken for granted needs to be encouraged in our brothers and sisters life of faith in Christ when we see it manifest. So when I see my Catholic brother or sister who may seem to have no clue as to what they are here for during Mass, it gives me the opportunity to pray that they may receive the fullness of the grace that their baptism as offered them in Christ Jesus. Steve I agree that the time is now and “Cradle Catholics are coming alive and the Church is like a sleeping giant awakening”. God Bless your efforts by His grace!

Cultivate my heart Oh God!

Cultivate my heart Oh God
Turn me not unto my own ways of self-indulgence
for spiritual prosperity.
Keep me as your child crying out as
a beggar for your mercy and grace.

Make my heart unto your own in vocation
to carry out your will.
May the eyes of my new heart be always
fixed on your face Lord Jesus.
Transform my vision to see through Your
eyes of Love for Your Children:
Who are starving, even though they may appear full;
who are in poverty, even though they may have riches;
and are dead, even though they act fully alive.

I ask Mother Mary to help me consecrate my self
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be His vessel;
to help feed the hungry, and help care for the poor,
and bring the dead back to the true Life in Him.

Amen
Francis Ambrose of Divine Mercy T

Experiancing the Seven Joys of Mary

To follow through with my blog statement on May 26th, 2007; “I hope to explain in an upcoming article my journey that brought me to start praying the Franciscan Crown thanks to Saint Francis of Assisi.” The following is my attempt by sporadic means of communication to fulfilling that promise.
Finding the crown on the Franciscan website and the rosary on John Michael Talbot website both on December 24th,2005 was providence on God’s timing to break me out of shooting from the hip type prayers. I was undisciplined and unfocused in my prayer life, and still am at times, but I have no excuse for not having the tools of devotion in front of me. These tools have been past down to us in the Church by beloved Fathers like Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Bonaventure who had a great impact on Marian devotion.

In addition to developing this Marian devotion, the Franciscans are credited with adding the final words to the Hail Mary, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. In 1263, Saint Bonaventure, Minister General of the Order, encouraged liturgical devotion honoring the mystery of the Visitation. Saint Bonaventure also popularized the daily triple recitation of the Angelus which it is believed Saint Francis initiated after visiting the Holy Land. Francis was deeply impressed by the Muslim practice of stopping to pray several times a day, and desired to Christianize this pious custom. A Franciscan pope, Sixtur IV (1471-1485), introduced the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the feast of Saint Joseph as husband of Mary. He also issued the first papal pronouncement encouraging the rosary as in invaluable instrument of personal and societal conversion.
Taken from The Franciscan Crown a beautiful booklet available in most Catholic Book stores
Courtesy of The Franciscan Friars of Marytown

A Franciscan master brought the devotion into the Church as a discipline among the Franciscan monks, but a young boy devotee of Mary was
the initial receiver of the devotion.

The Franciscan Crown, or the Rosary of the Seven Joys of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an ancient sacramental
treasured by the Franciscan order. Father Luke Wadding,
a well-known Franciscan historian, dates the inception of
this chaplet to 1422, the entrance date into the novitiate
of the order of an unnamed pious young man. This young
devotee of Mary had been accustomed, before his entrance,
to decorate a statue of the Virgin with crowns of fresh
flowers. This practice was forbidden to him in the
novitiate, and fearing a lack of devotion to his Queen,
he determined to leave the order. In a vision, Our Lady
appeared to him and told him, "Do not be sad and cast
down, my son, because you are no longer permitted to
place wreaths of flowers on my statue. I will teach you
to change this pious practice into one that will be far
more pleasing to me and far more meritorious to your
soul. In place of the flowers that soon wither and
cannot always be found, you can weave for me a crown
from the flowers of your prayers that will always remain
fresh."Thereupon, Our Lady requested the young friar to
say one Our Father and ten Hail Mary's in honor of seven
joyous occasions in her life:
(1) the Annunciation, (2) the Visitation, (3) the birth
of Christ, (4) the adoration of the Magi, (5) the finding
of Jesus in the Temple, (6) the resurrection of Our Lord,
and (7) the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven.
As the vision faded, the overjoyed novice began to recite the
prayers as she had instructed him to do. While he was
devoutly praying, the novice master passed by and saw an
angel weaving a wreath of roses. After every tenth rose, he
inserted a golden lily. When the wreath was finished, the
angel placed it on the head of the praying novice.The novice
master demanded under holy obedience that the novice
explain to him the meaning of the vision. The novice
complied, and the novice master was so impressed with what
he had heard that he immediately told his brother friars.
The practice of reciting the Crown of the Seven Joys soon
spread to the entire Order.
Taken from "A Handbook of Catholic Sacramentals" by Ann Ball,
published by Our Sunday Visitor.

Experiencing the Franciscan Crown as devotion to Christ has opened the door for the Holy Spirit to teach me a greater respect and reverence of the work of God reflected in the gospel. In stating the sentence above it may sound correct, but on a deeper level the Holy Spirit is bringing me to a place of a personal communion of relationship with Jesus’ family with heart-felt interaction.


· The Holy Spirit spoke to me about letting go of my previous thoughts about Mary and receiving her for whom she really is.
· Mother of our Lord who gave her body as the Holy of Holies, the tabernacle of God in her whom, and raising Him out of complete obedience to His Father.
· She is full of grace… full of the Holy Spirit with all purity and love for all that God bestows upon her.
· When a casual friend wants you to be a close friend they invite you to meet their family. Jesus makes clear in during His ministry that all those that are His disciples are His Mothers, and Brothers, and Sisters(Matthew 12:46-50). “ Friendship with Jesus fellowship Divine O’ what blessed sweet communion Jesus is a friend of mine.”
· Mary finding Jesus in the Temple became to me a real vocal point of relationship with the real Jesus. I can see the picture now Mary and
Joesph running back into Jerusalem where they had left Him three days prior, not knowing where He may be. Jesus is twelve, the age of Jewish rite of passage for a boy entering into manhood, now illegible to converse with other men. We find Him inside conversing with Canon lawyers and doctors of the law about Holy Scripture. When questioned by His Mother He answer's;"Did you not know that I would be found in my Fathers house?" I believe that the joy that filled Mary's heart was that she found her son Jesus after anxious searching. But Mary and Joesph totally missed Jesus point stated in His rhetorical question. How many times do we run around thinking we lost Jesus when His same rhetorical question is spoken into our busy, narcissistic, relativistic, instant gratification, high tech, information overload, and cynical age?
The gospel according to Luke makes clear that they didn't understand His statement, even though Mary witnessed the depth of that relationship with the Father in her son(Luke 2:40-52). The perfect preadolescence of Jesus childhood shared in the Holy family was already aligning with the Fathers plan of salvation birthed in their hearts at the time the angel spoke His name"Jesus"(Luke 1:26-33). They continued to listen to the Father by living dependent on the Word of God in their hearts(Luke 2:4-19).
· All seven joys give me a deeper heart felt appreciation to be in the family of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the blessings of our Mother Mary. She welcomes me to experience the joys of her Son Jesus by taking me to the very moment of life experience in devotion with Him, in Him , and by Him. Thanks be to God for the riches of devotion past to us through our Holy Mother and ever Virgin Mary!

"The Loss of the Sacred"

Most Reverend Arthur J. Serratelli,

I applaud you for your article “The loss of the Sacred”.
I was baptized, confirmed, and received holy Eucharist this past Easter Vigil.
Being raised in the protestant church all my life I felt something missing deep in my heart for a more tangible faith with historical roots in Christ that has respect for the sacred. I have visited many parishes and find your comment about a social hour prior to mass seems to be the norm. I was expecting to find a parish somewhere that expresses a reverence of the holy presence of God, which invites us to a holy hush of atmosphere prior to mass. I cry during the mass on most occasions hearing the pain in God’s heart for His people. Times of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is very special to me in experiencing that holy hush prior to mass as our Holy Father encourages us. It would be wonderful to walk into a parish where the whole body is experiencing the sacred together. We don’t have to wait to get to heaven for this to happen. I agree we can make this change in our own lives to bring a respect for the sacred back into our parishes. God bless your efforts!

In His Mercy and Grace,

Wade Marsh
+Francis Ambrose

The Fire of God ignites us.

The fire of God ignites us.
He purifies our soul,
from the chafe and the stubble,
that keeps us from being whole.
He takes the coals off His alter,
by the Angle of God,
to place them on our lips,
where only saints have trod.
He is the Lamb placed on the alter,
for you and me.
The Fathers Love is the consuming Fire,
that ignites the Lamb who sets us free,
by His passion for you and me.
Now the Angle of God stands before
us in Christ Church today,
beckoning us to receive from
off the alter the coal that ignites
by fire of God’s Spirit in you and me.
Will we receive the Body of the Lamb
from off the Alter today?
The same Body that rose from the dead,
And gives a new life to you and me.
Will we allow the fire of God to burn
away all the chafe of our rebellion,
and stubble from lack of Love that
causes a world of decay?
With the Virgin Mary our Mother
let Christ Church say; Yes!
Amen, be it unto us according to Your Word!

By Francis Ambrose of Divine Mercy

Inspired by 2 Samuel chapter 22 David’s Hymn of Victory and Isaiah Chapter 6 Vision of the Alter in Heaven.