Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

A powerful prayer weapon in our arsenal against Satan written by the late Pope Leo XIII.

St. Michael, the Archangel defend us in this day of battle. Be
our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him
we humbly pray, and do you oh prince of the heavenly host by the power of God
cast into hell, Satan and all evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the
ruin of souls.

Prayer, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments are very important tools for us to grow in our relationship with God and to protect our loved ones and ourselves from the temptations of the evil one.

Pax vobis,

J.E.

Silence

In silence we discover who we truly are and why we are here.

It is the Holy Spirit who will show us.

Pax vobis,

J.E.

As the love grows.

When I first saw Lucille it was at daily Mass in our city's Basilica. At that moment my heart leapt! I saw that she was very beautiful.

I kept an eye out for her every day and eventually worked up the courage to say hello. Once I looked into her eyes I was hooked. Within those eyes I saw an inner beauty that I had never seen before.

Through the gift of the Sacrament that we now share, we become Christ for each other and also discover how the other is Christ for me. As well, God is the source of the love that we share. We recognize this, and try and work hard at deepening our understanding of God's love as well as deepening our love for each other.

A neat thing about our working so hard at building up the love in our relationship is how I see Lucille today after a day of tension between us. We are truly blessed to have the courage and strength to sit down and work things out, even when that can be very difficult. I look at her now, and she is radiant! I am in awe of just how beautiful she is and how blessed I am to have her as my wife.

Love and marriage, even with the various bumps and obstacles on the road, is pretty neat!

Pax vobis,

J.E.

Charity

"If Christ had become incarnate now and were a thirty-year-old man today, he could be here in the cathedral and we wouldn't know him from the rest of you - a thirty-year-old man, a peasant from Nazareth, here in the cathedral like any peasant from our countryside. The Son of God made flesh would be here and we wouldn't know him - one completely like us." Archbishop Romero Dec. 17, 1978

I read a story in the newspaper that spoke of a lady at World Youth Day who was in a bad situation with no food. Many groups of various "Christians" refused to help her. Eventually she was told to go to the Salvadorans because they would. They did indeed.

A number of different situations happened where people were in need occurred during the World Youth Days in Cologne. Eventually they received the same answer, "Go to the Salvadorans".

Finally, a reporter spoke to the Salvadorans and asked them why they were so generous. They said, "how could we not help? Our place of origin is named for the Lord Jesus Christ! Because of this, we must take extra care to live the Gospel today!"

Jesus is clear about how we are to live the Gospel. In Matthew 25:31-46 He speaks of the call to generosity with all that we have been blessed with. "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me". What a responsibility we Christians have!

God bless those who refused to listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit within their hearts when that lady (Jesus) called to them for food. Bless them with a conversion of heart, mind and spirit to deeply understand the virtue of charity.

And, God bless the Salvadorans for their great generosity and response to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit within!

Reading these stories I see the grace of God at work in the Salvadoran community. I thank you Salvadorans for bringing a smile to my face, and a lightness of heart for the rest of my day! Muchas Gracias! :*)

Pax Vobis,

J.E.

Into the wind...

Just before Christmas of 1990 the Lord gave me a vision.

It was of me as a tall sailing ship that had been through many battles. The Holy Spirit would gently fill the sails moving me in the direction of my final destination. The Sea in this particular spot, was the Precious Blood of our Lord that eased ever so carefully into the wounds in my hull. The movement of the ship was always deeper into my heart and soul. It was in those depths that He waited with great anticipation for me on an Island Paradise. As the vision was ending I could see the banquet being laid out for my arrival.

I personally have been a prairie boy most of my life. I am not a sailor. However, I had a strong sense of the patience one needed to have when waiting for the wind to come. Perhaps hours, days, maybe even weeks one would have to wait. I am sure that the sound that a wind would make in the riggings, sails, and masts would bring great joy to the sailors! They were on the move yet again.

The same can be said of my spiritual life. There were periods in my prayer life where it seemed like I was sitting still, or even moving backwards with the current. This would go on for days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years!

Those are the times where I find it very easy to turn away from my prayer life, and to some extent Jesus himself. Sometimes I would be angry with Him because I had not received any consolations. Sometimes I would be "punishing" Him by ignoring His calls to come and sit with Him. In the end I was really only hurting myself. When it finally sunk in that I had distanced myself from Him and not the other way around, I would go and celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation to make things right between us. Then I would go spend time with Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Over time, I began to realize that it took a great deal of discipline to pray no matter what space I was in. I needed to be consistent and also gentle with myself and all of the distractions that came from within. It took a great deal of patience to sit still with Him!

So, when I would "hear" the rigging start to creak, and then sense the sails start to fill, I would be very diligent to steer myself into the wind. How sweet that sound of the wind filling the sails, and how wonderful it felt as it brushed across my face! Sweet consolation, your touch is joy, help me not to cling to you!

Pax Vobis,

J.E.

A Lesson from Ecstatic Love and Innocence

Lately I have had to work a lot. Our business has been greatly blessed thanks be to God.

The drawback to having to work so much is that I get up and leave before our little one gets up (she is 17 months now) and come home after she has gone to bed.

Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon Lucille and Anne-Marie stopped by to say hello. When I came out the back door into the parking lot where they were waiting in the car, Anne-Marie's eyes lit up and she started squealing ecstatically. Lucille's comment was that I was Anne-Marie's superstar!

I have had what can be called a very colourful past. Unfortunately that involves many types of sometimes very violent abuse that happened in a variety of different ways. So, one of the most difficult steps that I have had to make in the Journey is to trust and let go to God.

What does this have to do with Anne-Marie's ecstasy you ask? I still haven't connected the dots between her very deep and innocent love for me and the very deep and redemptive love that Jesus has for me.

To me, our little one is teaching us a very important lesson. I am loved just as I am, unconditionally. And, every time I turn back to our Lord after I have committed sin, or after a struggle with depression, or whatever I had done to turn away, I get the same kind of ecstatic joyful reception from our Lord.

"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner!" Says Jesus in Luke 15:7.

Perhaps another two part gift of teaching from our little one is this: I still have a long way to go towards abandoning myself in trust to the Lord, which leads to the realization that I still have barriers between me and my family as well as my Lord.

How do I come to these last two? I am still resistant to the Truth that I am very much loved.

Pax vobis,

J.E.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament prayer method.

I have made a commitment to be in the Adoration Chapel early on Saturday mornings.

When coming into the Blessed Sacrament Chapel I get down on both knees and bring my head to the floor in a deep gesture of love and respect.

I then try and find a place in the chapel where I will be able to prostrate myself before the Lord, or if there is not enough room, to at least be able to go down on my arms and knees, head to the floor in adoration.

I will prostrate myself for as long as my heart needs. Once I sit up, my preferred sitting position is the lotus cross legged one.

After settling myself in, I pray for silence in my mind, heart, and spirit. I focus right in on Jesus in the Monstrance and make an act of my will recognizing His presence there.

I then have a visual prayer that I use. With my eyes closed, I see the doors of my being opening up to Jesus and my welcoming Him in. I sometimes visualize my ribs opening up to reveal the deepest places in my being to Him. Together we move deeper into my being to the place that He wants to go. The time we spend there can be short, or it can be long.

Sometimes, I open my eyes to focus right in on Him again in the Monstrance.

Sometimes, I have so many distractions in my mind, body, and spirit that I am not able to come to any form of silence. During these times I consciously make an act of my will to say no to the distractions and bring my eyes back to the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Near the end of my stay with Jesus (usually around an hour), I will pull out my PDA and begin writing in my journal. I will spend some time writing about what the Lord and I were working on together, or talking about, or whatever it was that had happened during our close time.

I will then conclude the prayer time on my arms and knees praying for any intentions that come to my mind and heart.

Many fruits come of spending time with our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We here in our Archdiocese are fortunate to have a Perpetual Adoration Chapel that our Archbishop has implemented. I pray all bishops do this!

The main fruit that I see at this point, is that my relationship with the Lord is growing deeper and stronger. Like a marriage, my relationship with Jesus would not last very long without spending time communicating. This fruit, and the many others flow into other areas of my life too.

Pax Vobis!

J.E.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

I just saw the preview last night for the new movie. We do not watch too much television in our house, so I don't often have opportunity to see things like that.

As soon as the preview came on I sensed the demon associated with the film and its attempt to enter our home. Offering a prayer of protection for our family (only Lucille and I were up fortunately) I placed Our Lord and His Cross in front of the spirit. It did not come any further.

This film, and others in this particular genre beg the question: What are we feeding our spirit on? I will not even enter the horror section of the video rental store because of the spirits there!

I do hope the triumph of our Lord on the Cross and his victory over Satan will be portrayed in this film, but I somehow doubt it.

It also brings to mind and heart the importance of having our house blessed, which we have and repeat regularly, as well as having our favourite priest come and celebrate Mass and dine with us to bring Our Lord concretely into our home. Keeping holy water, blessed salt, and blessed objects around are extremely important weapons in our spiritual warfare armaments chest!

Pax vobis,

J.E.

Hello there!

Hi,
I am John Everett. I, and my wife Lucille, have a web site called CatholicLove.com. I am not entirely sure what I will be blogging yet, however, whatever comes will be from my very opinionated and somewhat Catholic point of view.