August 25, 2023

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: Should We Be Practicing Extreme Mortification?”

Q: A priest at Mass was talking about mortification. He spoke of Saint Rose of Lima whose feast day it was. Saint Rose used to rub her face with lye and live in a small room she couldn’t stand up in. I know that if I started practicing mortification the way the saints did hundreds of years ago, I might be put in a psychiatric ward. Some of the saints practiced severe mortification. This priest also didn’t clarify what specific mortification to practice, but he did highly suggest doing so. I feel a little uncomfortable hearing that I should practice mortification to begin with. I thought we didn’t need to do anything to win God’s love. Thank you. – W.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: Mortification has been a standard part of Catholic piety. It is a way of making reparation for our sins and for the conversion of others.

We all sin, which means we all incur a debt of temporal punishment that needs to be paid, even apart from the sacrament of confession.

True, God loves us no matter what. But it’s because of his love that he wants us to be holier — and one step toward that end can be mortification, for love of him and for sorrow for our sins.

As a few commentators have noted, some of the mortifications of the saints of the past are more to be admired than imitated.

So, you shouldn’t consider Saint Rose’s peculiar practices as the norm for the rest of us.

A more practical form of mortification is to never complain about anything. Learn to offer up the little and big crosses of daily life with patience and humility.

If you want to practice a specific kind of mortification, think about offering up a sacrifice at each meal — less sugar in the coffee, a smaller piece of pie, etc.

If ever you feel inspired to do a tough mortification, it would be good to check first with your confessor or spiritual director. That can help ensure that you don’t go overboard.

 

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Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: Can a layperson pray the Liturgy of the Hours?”

Q: I feel God is calling me besides daily Mass to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I have prayed them before when I was single, and now married I feel God wants me to do that again. I was once a religious in an abusive order, but got a papal dispensation. I was afraid to pray at all. My cell phone and all its Catholic apps helped me. The Liturgy of the Hours moves me to deep prayer (I began it on my phone app and later ordered the whole set of volumes). Can I as a layperson pray the Liturgy of the Hours? Can I pray it with inspirational Catholic Christian music, or should it be in silence said or sung? I know these must be strange questions but I want to make sure I am not offending God in anyway. –P.B.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: By all means, pray the Liturgy of the Hours! The Divine Office, as it is also called, or simply the breviary, “is the public and common prayer of the Church, is the prayer of Christ with his body, the Church. Through the Liturgy of the Hours the mystery of Christ, which we celebrate in the Eucharist, sanctifies and transforms the whole of each day. It is composed mainly of psalms, other biblical texts, and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 243).

Priests and deacons are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, but consecrated people and laypeople can also pray it.

You should also use whatever helps you to pray better. If praying the LOTH on a smartphone works for you, that is fine. Many priests and deacons now pray the Divine Office on their Kindles or other similar devices.

Since you are under no obligation to pray the LOTH, you should feel free to pray it whenever and however you wish.  You need not pray every hour every day. Nor do you have to pray a full hour all the way to end.

You should feel free to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in whatever way it helps your relationship with God. If background music helps, it helps. You can decide if and when the music becomes more of a distraction. (Monastic orders are known for singing the LOTH in common, but in this case the music is integral to the celebration.) The Liturgy of the Hours can be prayed silently too. You might consider pursuing meditative prayer. A book that could help in this regard is A Guide to Christian Meditation, by Fr. John Bartunek, LC.

Given your difficult experience with a religious congregation, you might want to stay in touch with a spiritual director. Judging by the tone of your question, my guess is that you don’t have to worry about offending the Almighty. You are a beloved daughter of a heavenly Father who loves to hear from you. Count on my own prayers for you.

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August 25, 2023 – Being Like God

 

 

 

 

Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

 

Matthew 22:34-40

 

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

 

Introductory Prayer: Dear Lord, I believe in you, because you have a plan for me that will bring me to be like you. I hope in you, because your example and your grace give me the strength to be able to identify my will with yours. I love you, because only by loving you can I be transformed into you and be holy.

 

Petition: Give me, Lord, the grace to practice charity faithfully.

 

  1. Wanting What God Wants: What is true love? Quoting the Roman historian, Sallust, Pope Benedict showed us what the authentic content of love is: “To want the same thing, and to reject the same thing was recognized by antiquity as the authentic content of love: the one becomes similar to the other, and this leads to community of will and thought” (Deus Caritas Est, 17). This quote helps us understand that to love is to identify our will with God’s will. This leads us to be like God. This fact corrects the error of our first parents, who disobeyed God.

 

  1. Love Has Two Dimensions: True love has two dimensions: love for God and love for our neighbor. The First Epistle of John, known as the “Magna Carta” of charity, expresses frequently and clearly the close relationship between them. One cannot exist without the other: “No one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother” (1 Jn 3:10); “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God” (1 Jn 4:7); “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another” (1 Jn 4:11); “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 Jn 4:20-21).

 

  1. Loving Others: Loving God requires loving others. This is not easy, especially in a world that highly esteems individualism and permits stepping on others to get ahead. If loving others according to the Old Testament requirement, “as you love yourself” is difficult, we can imagine how difficult it is to love others according to Christ’s requirement, “as I have loved you” (cf. Jn 13:34), which is a true Christian’s hallmark: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). How many times do we judge only from appearances, or judge people only by their physical traits or defects? It’s so easy to comment on people’s defects, imperfections, and ways of acting; yet, it is so difficult to praise constantly what is positive in them. One of the best ways to love our neighbor is to seek charity in speech.

 

Conversation with Christ: Dear Jesus, give me the grace to love others with all my effort and good will. I want to contemplate you, Lord, so that I may learn from you how to love them to the point of giving my life for them.

 

Resolution: I will practice charity towards others in a very concrete way.

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Alex Kucera

Atlanta

Alex Kucera has lived in Atlanta, GA, for the last 46 years. He is one of 9 children, married to his wife Karmen, and has 3 girls, one grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. Alex joined Regnum Christi in 2007. Out of the gate, he joined the Helping Hands Medical Missions apostolate and is still participating today with the Ghana Friendship Mission.

In 2009, Alex was asked to be the Atlanta RC Renewal Coordinator for the Atlanta Locality to help the RC members with the RC renewal process. Alex became a Group Leader in 2012 for four of the Atlanta Men’s Section Teams and continues today. Running in parallel, in 2013, Alex became a Team Leader and shepherded a large team of good men.

Alex was honored to be the Atlanta Mission Coordinator between 2010 to 2022 (12 years), coordinating 5-8 Holy Week Mission teams across Georgia. He also created and coordinated missions at a parish in Athens, GA, for 9 years. Alex continues to coordinate Holy Week Missions, Advent Missions, and Monthly missions at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Cumming, GA.

From 2016 to 2022, Alex also served as the Men’s Section Assistant in Atlanta. He loved working with the Men’s Section Director, the Legionaries, Consecrated, and Women’s Section leadership teams.

Alex is exceptionally grateful to the Legionaries, Consecrated, and many RC members who he’s journeyed shoulder to shoulder, growing his relationship with Christ and others along the way. He knows that there is only one way, that’s Christ’s Way, with others!