Rosary Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of Pentecost

Rosary Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of Pentecost

Sunday, May 28 (Novena begins Friday, May 19)

As the great Solemnity of Pentecost approaches, we invite you to join us in a parish-wide Rosary Novena to ask for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our parish community.

This novena consists of praying the rosary for nine days, beginning on Friday, May 27 and ending on Saturday, June 4, the Vigil of the Solemnity of Pentecost. It is up to you where & when you will pray the rosary each day but you are invited to use the audio meditations below.

For each of the nine days of this novena there is an audio meditation on a beatitude that corresponds to one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit for you to listen to as you pray the rosary. Also included for each day is the transcript of the important points that Mike shares with us in the audio meditation. Each meditation is full of practical applications for your daily life. I will update this page with the new meditation each day of the novena. Enjoy!

You can begin this novena any time. It does not have to begin on Friday, May 19.

FYI - These nine meditations are part of an ongoing daily rosary meditation subscription put out by Dr. Mike Scherschligt from Holy Family School of Faith. Currently there are close to 50,000 people who listen to these daily meditations and pray the rosary. "Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world," Pope Pius IX once said. Without a doubt, the Rosary is a powerful weapon - and Our Lady asks that we meditate on this prayer daily!

If you would like to subscribe also and receive the daily meditation into your inbox each morning, press the black button below.

This is a time to gather around Mary as the apostles did in the upper room 2000 years ago praying for a new Pentecost in our day. “Just as he did in the 1st cenacle, the Holy Spirit will descend wherever he finds Mary.”

"Because of her fidelity to God, Mary obtained a type of jurisdiction over all the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (St. Bernardine of Siena).

"The Holy Spirit, upon entering a soul and finding his beloved spouse there, communicates his life to that soul and fills it with gifts" (St. Louis de Montfort).

"In the upper room in Jerusalem (the cenacle)...Mary together with the other disciples prepared for a new coming of the Holy Spirit which would mark the birth of the Church. In prayer with Mary, one perceives her special mediation deriving from the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (St. John Paul II).

Day One: 1st Beatitude - Blessed are the Poor in Spirit & The Gift of Fear of the Lord

SUMMARY: Pride is to turn away from God because we think we do not need him so we do not want him. The gift of fear causes us to have a horror of sin, of turning away from God. Humility is the beatitude that recognizes we have limitations therefore we need God and at the same time, humility tells that in relationship with God we are his children. Gratitude moves us from pride to humility because it helps us see all the good that comes from him, therefore we need God and want a relationship with God.

MEDITATION

Jesus ascended into heaven on a Thursday exactly 40 days after Easter Sunday. Then the Apostles went back to the Upper Room on Mt. Zion where they gathered in prayer for nine days in preparation for Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them in a new way to strengthen them for their mission to make disciples of all nations. Today, June 1, we are nine days away from Pentecost, so we will focus our next nine days of prayer on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitudes for each gift of the Spirit corresponds to one of the beatitudes.

Like the Apostles, we too are given gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can fulfill the mission we have been given to bring Jesus to others, for that is the essential identity and mission of a Christian, one who lives a deep friendship with Jesus and then goes out through authentic friendship to help others into friendship with Jesus. In fact, if you are not personally helping someone else into friendship with Jesus, well, then what are you doing? Because that is what it means to be a Christian by definition.

The Holy Spirit gives seven gifts to those who are baptized and confirmed to carry out this mission. By the sacrament of Confirmation the baptized are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly and never be ashamed of the Cross. That special strength comes from the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are:

Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are the way the Spirit helps us from within. Our job is to learn to cooperate with the Gifts of the Spirit and to cooperate with them it helps to understand them.

The gift of the Holy Spirit that works closely with the first Beatitude, Poor in Spirit, is the gift of Fear. This God given gift inspires us to fear sin so that we get away from it. Fear is a gift to move us away from danger. Sin may be pleasurable in the moment but sooner or later sin is self-destructive. Fear moves us away from things that harm us. This gift also strengthens us to get out of the temptations that end in sin. It also bestows a deeper love and respect for God as our Father, I mean, if God is my all perfect and loving Father, why in the world would I want to offend him by my sin? I wouldn’t but I need a special gift of the Holy Spirit so that I don’t. This gift of fear also preserves us from being presumptuous and complacent in the spiritual life. You have this gift, but you may not be using it. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you cooperate with this gift – I mean – why waste it if you want to be truly happy?

The gift of fear matches up with the the first beatitude, poor in spirit. According to Saint Augustine to be poor in spirit means to be humble. It may be easier for us to understand humility if we begin with its opposite - pride. Pride is the beginning of all sin because it is a turning away from God, seeking to find happiness in the things of the world alone. Every sin has two elements: we turn away from God and we turn toward a fleeting good, trying to find all our happiness in the things of this world. Which never works in the end because even though the things of this world are good…nothing is perfect, it’s not lasting and it will never be enough. We desire more than the things of this world because we were made for union with God. We were made to share in His Divine, Perfect, Everlasting and Infinite Life. Nothing less will satisfy.

One aspect of pride is a radical self-reliance where we think we have everything we need and so we don’t need God. The danger is that not needing God can lead to not wanting a relationship with God. then we turn away from him. Only those who want God will go to Heaven. Therefore we need the gift of fear which keeps us from turning away. Humility has two parts. Humility recognizes God is God and I am not God. I have limitations, therefore I need God. In comparison to God I am nothing. But that is only the first half of humility. The second part of humility is that with God, in relation to God I am invited to be and in fact I am His adopted son. I am a son of God. God has placed His divine life in me which makes me an adopted son of God. that is my dignity. So Humility has two parts: Humility recognizes that we have limitations. Apart from God we are nothing but with God we are his children sharing in his very life. Do I live with the mindset that I am a son of God? or do I forget and say and do things that are not befitting of a son of God?

Gratitude is a bridge that moves us from pride to humility. If I reflect on those things for which I am grateful and to whom I am grateful, I recognize God’s concrete love in my life. Then I need to ask myself how I have I responded to His love. With gratitude I recognize my need for God and the good things coming from Him to me. Happiness follows gratitude.

Day Two: 2nd Beatitude - Blessed are the Meek & The Gift of Piety

This is the second day in our nine-day novena or run up to the Feast of Pentecost. Each of these 9 days we are reflecting on one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they relate to each of the Beatitudes. Today we focus on the Gift of Piety and 2nd Beatitude, Meekness.

By the gift of piety, the Holy Spirit enables us to love God as Our Father and to live as His children. This gift of the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul writes in Romans 8:15 “is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons and it makes us cry out ‘Abba, Father.’”

Through Baptism God has infused our human nature with his divine nature, making us His children. Now God is truly our Father. We know this. But I don’t think we really believe this and because we really don’t believe it is true, we don’t live like sons and daughters of God. Too often we live in fear, anxiety, worry, frustration and fear. Fear and frustration often result in anger. When these emotions take hold of us, making us slaves, we need to be set free by turning to the Holy Spirit, saying “Come Holy Spirit, come with your gift of piety to make me think and live as a son of God. Say this even though you don’t feel it and keep saying it. Fake until you make it.

We must begin living in reality – the way things are. You are a son of God, you are a daughter of God. God is your Father. He sees you right now. He understands all you are going through. He is working everything in your favor. Once we begin to think and operate in the reality that God is my Father, He is working all things for good, then I can relax, I can be calm and at peace. I don’t have to live in fear, worry or frustration. I don’t have to live in anger. God my Father has my back. This enables us to calmly face anything and respond appropriately and this is what it means to be meek, the 2nd Beatitude.

Anger is the good God given energy and power to:

  1. Achieve something difficult

  2. Change what is bad or evil

  3. Endure without becoming evil ourselves


Anger is good when we control it, bad when it controls us.

Most people think meekness means weakness – to be a doormat. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Meekness is the calm strength that harnesses the good power of Anger and directs it for good:

  1. To change a bad situation

  2. To Endure in patience and cheerfulness those things you cannot change, knowing God your Father is ultimately working it in your favor

  3. To Fight sadness and despair

Meekness is the virtue that keeps us free from enslavement to anger.

How to be meek: When I face something that elicits anger:
1. Stop – don’t speak, act or respond in anger or fear.
2. Think:

  • What do I not want to happen in this situation?

  1. What do I want in the end: God and His will.

  2. What can I do in this situation?

3. Then Act – Do what you can – Change what is possible.
4. If there is nothing I can do:

  1. Hope – have a firm confidence God will work it in my favor - Romans 8:28

  2. Accept it with trust

  3. Offer it up with love to cooperate with God for your own transformation and to help Christ save souls

This prayer of Teresa of Avila, if we keep it in mind helps us take on the Beatitude of Meekness and to live the Gift of Piety:

Let nothing trouble you / let nothing frighten you
Everything passes / God never changes
Patience obtains all
Whoever has God wants for nothing
God alone is enough

Day Three: 3rd Beatitude - Blessed are those who Mourn & The Gift of Knowledge

We are in the 3rd day of our 9 days of prayer building up the Feast of Pentecost. Today we reflect on the gift of the Holy Spirit known as knowledge and the 3rd Beatitude, blessed are they who mourn.

The gift of knowledge that comes from the Holy Spirit enables us to judge the things of this world in comparison with God. What are all things in comparison to God? Almost nothing. They exist and they are good because they come from him, but nothing compares to God. Is there anything you would choose over God so that you tried to have that thing and not God forever? What would that choice get you? In the end – its gets us nothing because all things end except for God. CCC 226 It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him:

There is a second part to the gift of knowledge: Everything true, good and beautiful in this world reflects the ultimate truth, beauty and goodness of God. These are signs pointing us to God. The truths of science are signs pointing to the truth and order of God. The goodness of our relationships with family and friends are signs pointing to the goodness of God. The beauty of a sunset, the ocean, the mountains or even a play well executed are all signs pointing to the beauty of God. The gift of knowledge helps us not become addicted and enslaved to the signs but allow them to point to God and foster in us a deeper longing for God.

This leads us to Blessed are those who Mourn

Mourning or holy sadness has two parts: to mourn is to recognize nothing in this world, not matter how good, can satisfy my longing for God. There is a sort of holy sadness when we realize, this good thing, whatever it is, will not ultimately satisfy me. And this Holy Sadness enables me not to be overly attached or expect too much from the things of this world. This is what enables me to be totally attached to God. The wonderful thing is, if I am detached from the things of this world and totally attached to God then I get all good things back in the next life. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added as well.”

The second part of mourning occurs when we sin. Then we reflect and think – why did I do that? It didn’t make me happy. In fact, it has made me sad or at least, it has left me empty. Well, what do I really want? I want God. Then learn from this experience. You gave in to temptation, weakness, fear, whatever…and you sinned and now you are unhappy. So don’t do it again. Now turn and tell God you are truly sorry, then get up and go forward. Don’t stay down. Acknowledge and move on. That is what it means to mourn.

We learn from the Prodigal Son what it means to mourn

The younger said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me". So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery. When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave is this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;

What transpired in this story?

The young man sins; He then reflects that the life of sin left him empty, hungry; His hunger and thirst cause him to turn back to the Father to be reconciled

To mourn is

  1. Reflect

  2. Realize sin does not make me happy

  3. Sorrow for the sin committed

  4. Turn back to the Father

Day Four: 4th Beatitude - Blessed are those who Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness & The Gift of Fortitude

We are in our 4th day preparing for the Feast of Pentecost by reflecting on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitudes. Today, Fortitude and those who Hunger and thirst for Righteousness.

We all have a powerful God given desire within us for infinite beauty, goodness, and truth. We have this desire because we were made for union with God. CCC 27 “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for: The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God.” Faced with this desire, we have three options: we will become a stoic who represses all desire and just follows the rules; or we become an addict who tries to fill his infinite desire with the finite pleasure that can never satisfy but only enslave; or we will become an aspiring mystic; one who longs for God. When Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” he meant you will be happy, you will have your desire for the infinite satisfied, if you hunger and thirst for God. If you long for God, He will fill you in proportion to your desire. The greater your desire for God the more He will give himself to you. Jesus said to Angela of Foligno, “If you Make yourself a capacity, I will make myself a torrent.”

How do we increase our hunger and thirst for God?

  1. Everyday take a few minutes to reflect on your life. You have many blessings and many good things for which to thank God. But if we reflect honestly, we must admit that while all these things are very good, none of them can satisfy our desire for the infinite, perfect and everlasting. Only God can satisfy that desire. Remind yourself of this often and this will cause your desire for him to grow. In this way you grow in your hunger and thirst for God.

  2. Secondly, spend time with God each day in prayer. Intimacy makes the heart grow fonder and absence makes the heart go wander. The more we spend time with God in prayer, the more he fills our soul with himself, the more we desire him and the more he fills us. It is a powerfully good cycle to get into of feeding your good desire for God.

  3. Third, receive God as often as you can in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the most intimate union with God this side of heaven. When you receive him, don’t rush off in distraction. Give God your full attention for the 15 minutes that he resides within you physically. This is a powerful way to grow in your desire for God and be literally filled by Him.

The world, our fallen human nature and the devil are always at work to destroy our desire for God. We will have to fight to desire God more and more and to enter a more intimate union with Him. For this reason, we need the gift of the Holy Spirit called fortitude. The gift of fortitude gives us the courage to undertake great things for God and to bear crushing trials for the love of him and for the love of souls. This gift comes to the aid of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because it helps us to go forward despite all obstacles and to maintain an unshakable confidence in the help of God.

Prudence is the virtue that enables us to know that the only thing that can ultimately satisfy our desires is union with God. Prudence is the virtue that helps us get our priorities straight. Union with God is the most important thing. Fortitude is the gift that enables us to sacrifice what is lesser for what is greater. With fortitude we can face temptations that might cause us to choose something lesser over God but overcome this temptation and choose God over what is lesser. To do this we have to practice. Before you do anything, pause and ask yourself a simple question: will this help me grow closer to God or further away from him. Then choose that which brings you closer to him and you will continuously grow in happiness.

St Faustina in the Diary (287) writes: My Jesus, when I look at this life of souls, I see that many of them serve You with some mistrust. At certain times, especially when there is an opportunity to sow their love for God, I see them running away from the battlefield. And once Jesus said to me, Do you, my child, also want to act like that? I answered the Lord, “Oh, no, my Jesus, I will not retreat from the battlefield even if mortal sweat breaks out on my brow; I will not let the sword fall from my hand until I rest at the feet of the Holy Trinity! Whatever I do, I do not rely on my own strength, but on God’s grace. With God’s grace a soul can overcome the greatest difficulties.

Day Five: 5th Beatitude - Blessed are the Merciful & The Gift of Counsel

We are in our 5th day of prayer preparing for the Feast of Pentecost and reflecting each day on one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitude to which that gift corresponds.

Today we reflect on the Gift of Counsel which shows us in particular the best choice to make to achieve our goals. It shows us what to do and what to avoid; what to say and when to remain silent; what to undertake and what to abandon. This gift helps us avoid rash decisions; it prevents us from being paralyzed when we don’t know what decision to make; and it helps us follow through and bring things to completion once we have made a choice. Ask the Holy Spirit often for the Gift of Counsel so that you can be better at the art of making good decisions.

The Gift of Counsel corresponds to the Beatitude, Blessed are the Merciful.

The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. There are spiritual and bodily works of mercy.

The bodily or corporal works of mercy consist in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to brotherly love. The spiritual works of mercy are almost completely forgotten even though they are more important as the soul is more important than the body. The spiritual works of mercy are Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting, forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. Counsel, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, helps us carry out the spiritual works of mercy.

We have given into a lie of the devil. That lie is this: your faith is to be personal but it shouldn’t be public. Keep your faith in your private life and don’t force your faith on someone else. While its true we cannot force faith on anyone, it is a lie that we keep our faith private. Jesus told the disciple continuously we are to proclaim the good news. To proclaim is to make public. Now the key is this – how do we make our faith public in the right way? Through the relationships established by our family and friends. Family and friends want what is good for the other person and they try to help them achieve this good. The happiness of deep friendship with Jesus is the greatest good – so that is what I want for my family and friends and I use these friendships as an opportunity to help them. If you truly love and care for me, if you are truly my friend, then you will help me grow closer to Jesus rather than keep your mouth shut either because you don’t care about me or because you’ve given into the lie of the devil or because you are paralyzed by what I may say or do, which is just your own pride and timidity holding you back from which you just need to get over.

We do not begin to help others grow closer to God by telling them stuff, by convincing, arguing or nagging.

The First Step to help someone desire and grow closer to God is by your Intercessory Prayer and Sacrifice. I shared this with you before but not many of you are putting it into practice (Jack Fiorella is). Jesus said to St. Faustina:

“My daughter, I want to instruct you on how you are to rescue souls through sacrifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone.”

Commit to pray every day for those you hope will desire and grow closer to God and offer sacrifice for them by “Making everything a sacrifice and offer it to God…”

What you did not choose,

  • What you do not like

  • What you cannot change

  • Accept with trust

  • Offer with love to Jesus for the conversion of others

Mother Teresa: Accept what He gives and give what He takes with a big smile.


The Second Step to help our family and friends grow closer to God is to enter a meaningful conversation. The problem with most people is not that they are evil and have rejected God, the problem is that they get caught up in life and never reflect on the more important things. The goal of your conversation is to help the other person reflect upon their life. We do this by asking them questions:

  1. to understand the way they see and understand things,

  2. so that you can understand them better,

  3. and in the process they will come to understand themselves better

  4. This may also cause them to uncover their hunger and thirst for God which is built into every person – we just don’t recognize it.

  5. As you uncover their hunger and thirst for God, then invite them to satisfy that hunger – invite them to pray the Rosary with you, invite them to pray on their own, invite them to go to confession with you, or to a book club or a discussion among other friends, or back to Mass. But once they have expressed their hunger, don’t leave them starving to death. That is not what a friend would do.

Day Six: 6th Beatitude - Blessed are the Pure of Heart & The Gift of Understanding

Today we meditate on the gift of Understanding and the Beatitude, Blessed are the Pure of Heart.

We begin with Revelation and Faith

Revelation is one of the three basic ways to know the truth:

  1. Observation / Experience / Scientific Method

  2. Reason - thinking through something logically

  3. Revelation – the testimony of another


God has revealed to us things we could not know through science and reason, things that go past science and reason that we need to know to be happy and reach our full potential.

Jesus is God and He Reveals the answers to the most important questions about:

  • The origin of the world

  • Meaning of life

  • Cause of evil

  • The purpose of suffering

  • What awaits us after death

The Full Revelation of Jesus is called the Deposit of Faith

The Deposit of Faith is found in

  • Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church

The best synthesis of the Deposit of Faith is the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Faith is our response to God by:

  1. A total gift of oneself to God

  2. To believe the whole truth of what Jesus teaches through the Church

  3. To do what Jesus teaches

    • If I don’t do it

    • Then I did not believe Him in the first place

While faith is a simple assent to what God has revealed, understanding is a special gift of the Holy Spirit that enables us to progressively understand all that God has revealed and taught us through Christ and the Church. By faith we say I believe this thing or that thing Jesus taught is true. By understanding we say, I understand what Jesus meant. The gift of understanding helps us live in reality and truth rather than feelings which are deceptive.

For example: I may feel like something I am suffering is the result of random bad luck – I got this virus that triggered an auto-immune disease and now my life is diminished. A series of unfortunate events. But that is not reality. There is no luck and no fate. Yes, bad things happen, but we are not at the mercy of unfortunate events. God is providentially guiding all things to good for those who love him. If I am experiencing this or that, I must remind myself of reality – God is there, He is guiding all of this; He understands it even if I don’t. And so I can learn to live not according to feelings and fears but according to trust in the Providence of God.

How does all of this relate to the Pure of Heart
The pure of heart are Not those who never have an impure thought or experience temptations. The pure of heart are those who are not controlled by misplaced desires or temptations but instead direct their desires toward God and make the choices that lead to union with God Mark 7:14-23 He called the people to him again and said, 'Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean…Can you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because it does not go into his heart but through his stomach and passes out into the sewer?'… 'It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. For it is from within, from men's hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.'

We can become Pure of Heart by learning to control thoughts and feelings?

  • Put a Stop to the wrong thought or emotion

  • Replace it with the right one

  • Do the right action

Putting a stop to the wrong thought and replacing it with the right one and doing the right action is what we call self-mastery and this is what it means to be Pure of Heart.

Day Seven: 7th Beatitude - Blessed are the Peacemakers & The Gift of Wisdom

Wisdom enables us to judge everything by this fact: God is the first cause of all that is good; and evil occurs only when it is permitted by God because he will turn it into an even greater good. With God all things work for good for those who love him. The world and our lives are not governed by random chaos. They are governed by our all good and loving Father. It takes the gift of wisdom to see this and live by the fact that God in His providence is ordering all things for good. But if we do live by this truth then we will be at peace. Recognizing and living by the order that comes from God governing the world leads to peace and tranquility. Peace is the tranquility of order. The gift of wisdom reveals the admirable order of God’s providential plan. In this way, wisdom which enables us to see that everything good comes from God and any evil we experience, God will turn it to our greatest good if we love him which results in peace.

Peace is the tranquility of order. A person who lives by the truth that all good comes from God and all evil God will turn to his good – that person possesses peace and can communicate it to others. This kind of person does not allow itself to be deeply troubled by painful, unexpected events. It receives all from the hand of God as a means or an occasion for growing closer to God. Mature sons and daughters of God are aware of his presence and care at all times. When we were young, we were absorbed in ourselves. As we mature we turn our thoughts more and more to our heavenly Father and his care in all things. The result is peace.

Philippians 4

"I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near. There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honor, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you."

Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

St Augustine in the City of God and Thomas Aquinas in the Summa teach that peace is the fruit of order. If we have a well ordered and balanced life then we will have peace.

C.S. Lewis: “put first things first and we get the second things thrown in; put second things first and we lose both first and second things.”

That is one of the great struggles of life. Firmly believe that God is the most important thing in our life and right after Him, our spouse, family and friends come second. But too often we allow work and the busyness of life to keep us from friendship with God in prayer; and we allow our concern for our kids to prevent us from time one on one with our spouse. There is a myriad of other examples I could give – but the fact remains – we allow lesser goods in our life squeeze out the greater goods. We are out of balance and that is why we lack peace. Remember – peace is the fruit of order.

St. Benedict gave us a great tool to bring order to our lives so that we can have peace. That tool is called a Rule of Life. A rule of life is a structure, a plan, a schedule – whatever you want to call it that enables you to get the most important things in your day every day. I like to call it a recipe for life. Every recipe has specific ingredients, in the right proportion and in the right order. Likewise, there are specific ingredients necessary for happiness and to become fully alive. We need specific ingredients to be happy and fully alive…

  • Physical goods – sleep, food, water, shelter, healthcare, exercise

  • Friendship with family and friends

  • Achievement through noble work

  • Knowledge,

  • Beauty through reading good books, walking in nature, listening to beautiful music, watching the sun set…

  • Most importantly – we need to possess God to be happy – we receive God through prayer and the sacrament

When you have the right ingredients, in the right proportion and in the right order - the result is PEACE. Which of these ingredients are you missing? Do you have wrong ingredients in your life you need to remove? Do you have too much of some and too little of others. Which ones are out of order?

Day Eight: 8th Beatitude - Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake & The Gift of Wisdom

We have been reflecting on the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit as they correspond to each of the 8 Beatitudes this week in preparation for the Feast of Pentecost – Sunday. 7 Gifts of the Spirit, 8 Beatitudes – that means there is one Beatitude left –

Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are they who suffer well for righteousness sake – righteousness means to be in union with the will of God. This Beatitude means happy are those who see that the real meaning and purpose of their suffering is to bring them and their loved ones into union with God.

The gift of wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit enables us to see that God our Father is the first cause of everything and the last end. This means that nothing can happen unless God wills it directly or allows it – whatever it is – it didn’t come from random chaos or luck or whatever. The first cause of all things is God your Father.

Secondly – God wills or permits things for only one purpose – to bring you into union with God and to glorify you – that is – to make you reach your highest potential with God.

Our great temptation when we suffer is that either God is punishing us or He went awol and is not helping us because surely the all good God does not want us to suffer.

When you face this temptation immediately pray to the Holy Spirit for the wisdom to see that the first cause of all things is God and no matter what it is, God my Father is guiding this to my greatest good and the greatest good of those I love – if we trust Him and don’t panic an do stupid stuff out of fear or anger or despair.

Jesus, who is God, did not come to take away suffering; he came to enter our suffering and transform it from the inside out to give it meaning and purpose. Now our suffering is good for us because it is the most effective means for uniting us to God and our suffering is good for others because we can unite our suffering to the cross of Jesus and this enable us to help save other people – especially our family and friends.

Our Suffering is good for us: how so?

  • God’s immense blessings can only fit in a heart that is empty (John of the Cross)

  • Suffering empties us of self-reliance and self-centeredness

  • Do I love God for what he gives me?

  • Do I just love God for who He is?

  • Which takes the greater faith, hope and love?

Suffering increases our Faith, Hope and Love

The more faith, hope and love I have the greater capacity I have to receive God.

Our Suffering can help others

Col. 1:24
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake; and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church.

What could be lacking in the suffering of Jesus? Our participation!

Jesus is inviting us to help him:

  • Rescue sinners from Hell

  • Help souls to holiness

  • By prayer and sacrifice

What you

  • Did not choose

  • Do not like

  • Cannot change

Accept with Trust.
Offer with love for the conversion and holiness of others.

Archimedes: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

The Cross is a lever to move souls.

Don’t waste your suffering.

  • Leverage your suffering by uniting it to Christ’s to move souls from hell to heaven!

Day 9: The Solemnity of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-11
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak

Before Pentecost the Apostles had a deep personal faith in Jesus; but their faith was kept in private – in the Upper Room. Then everything changed, on the day of Pentecost they received the Holy Spirit in a new way; after this they were emboldened to share their faith in Jesus publicly. On Pentecost Peter preaches openly and 3000 people were baptized that day. Soon after Peter and John heal a cripple in the court of the Temple, and when all the people gathered to see this miracle Peter again shared his faith in Jesus and 5000 more were converted. Immediately Peter and John are arrested by the Jewish authorities and were charged not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Once the Apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak about Jesus publicly. We were filled by the Holy Spirit at our Baptism and then we received an increase of the Spirit and the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit at our Confirmation and at that time the Bishop gave us an official mandate to go and make the good news of a relationship with Jesus public – share it with other – go and become a disciple maker. But we don’t. Why not? Partly because we have given into the lie that our faith should be personal but keep it private. No! That is the weapon of the devil. Your faith should be personal but if you keep it private then the devil wins – and look around – the devil is winning everywhere because Catholics are keeping the good news of Jesus and what he teaches private. We would not be Christian today if the Apostles kept it private. You have been given the same Holy Spirit as the Apostles received. It is time to stop being timid and to start being bold. Not annoying but bold! Fearless!

What do we need to do to change from timid to bold?

In general we need to live the DNA of a Christian. The DNA of a Christian is to live deep friendship with Jesus every day in the Rosary and daily meditation on the Word of God. The live authentic friendship with others by personally investing in them one on one, having meaningful conversations with others and sharing life together. Finally, we constantly multiply by inviting others into this way of life. That is the DNA of a Christian.

Specifically, we need to take our relationships to a deeper more meaningful level. Seek to know and understand other people by asking good questions about their life and show a genuine fascination in them. Then don’t be afraid to ask questions like: where did you grow up? Did you grow up Catholic? Tell me more about what that was like. Their answers will tell you much. What parish do you belong to now? This will tell you more. If they practice their faith you can talk about that; if they have fallen away you can say, “I am sorry to hear that, do you mind if I ask what happened?” Americans feel obligated to answer questions. Then, as you read the conversation, it might be appropriate to invite them to your house for a meal and once you’ve got them at your house – invite them to pray the Rosary with you. Or invite them to a book club or a to a good conversation with other friends where you will have the chance to discuss the faith. Ask good questions, follow up with other good questions and then invite them to something and follow up. It is not complex, it just means you have to get over yourself. It is not about you, it is about them and it is about Jesus. It never was about you. By the way, this is precisely the same strategy we should use with our kids.