August 12, 2020
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 EZ 9:1-7, 10:18-22
The LORD cried loud for me to hear:
Come, you scourges of the city!
With that I saw six men coming from the direction
of the upper gate which faces the north,
each with a destroying weapon in his hand.
In their midst was a man dressed in linen,
with a writer’s case at his waist.
They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.
Then he called to the man dressed in linen
with the writer’s case at his waist, saying to him:
Pass through the city, through Jerusalem,
and mark a “Thau” on the foreheads of those who moan and groan
over all the abominations that are practiced within it.
To the others I heard the LORD say:
Pass through the city after him and strike!
Do not look on them with pity nor show any mercy!
Old men, youths and maidens, women and children–wipe them out!
But do not touch any marked with the “Thau”; begin at my sanctuary.
So they began with the men, the elders, who were in front of the temple.
Defile the temple, he said to them, and fill the courts with the slain;
then go out and strike in the city.
Then the glory of the LORD left the threshold of the temple
and rested upon the cherubim.
These lifted their wings, and I saw them rise from the earth,
the wheels rising along with them.
They stood at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord’s house,
and the glory of the God of Israel was up above them.
Then the cherubim lifted their wings, and the wheels went along with them,
while up above them was the glory of the God of Israel.
Responsorial Psalm PS 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (4b) The glory of the Lord is higher than the skies.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever. R.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory. R.
Who is like the LORD, our God, who is enthroned on high,
and looks upon the heavens and the earth below? R.
Alleluia 2 CORINTHIANS 5:19
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
71 God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings (cf Gen 9:16). It will remain in force as long as the world lasts.
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, Pray for us.
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12th Mt. 18:15-20 “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
In the particular situation we are in with Covid-19 and restricted access to our prayer community, we can still “pray together”—either in our own family or on our own, but for the good of all through Prayers of Reparation!
ENRICH YOUR PRAYER LIFE WITH PRAYERS OF REPARATION by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
We should constantly be striving to improve upon our prayer life. What air is to our lungs, so is prayer to our soul. It is essential; it is a matter of life and death! The forms of prayer are multiple. One of the most simple ways to understand the key forms of prayer is by means of this four-letter acronym: A. C. T. S.
A—stands for Adoration, the highest form of prayer that we can offer to Almighty God. This is the prayer of the highest choir of angels in heaven.
C—stands for “Contrition”—meaning? We are all sinners and we are called to repent firmly for our own personal sins, trusting always in God’s mercy!
T—stands for “Thanksgiving”. All that we are and all that we have—aside from our own personal sins—are gifts from the infinite bounty and generosity of Almighty God’s love!
S—stands for “Supplication”. Not a word well-known or used in common parlance. It simply means the prayer of petition. Saint Augustine says with great clarity: “We are all beggars before God.” We all need God desperately for everything!
In this short meditation we would like to focus most specifically upon the prayer form of Contrition—which means sorrow for our sins. However, an integral part of Contrition should also be our desire to make many forms of reparation for our sins, as well as for the sins of the world at large. We pray in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy that Jesus gave to the world through Saint Faustina Kowalska: “Have mercy on us and on the whole world.” That is to say, our prayer should take on a universal dimension; actually the word Catholic means “Universal”—all embracing, open to all people who live upon planet earth and also all those who have passed from this world to the next! Without further ado, let us launch into a prayer in which we want to beg pardon and reparation—meaning to make up for and to satisfy God’s justice—for all people, for ourselves and for the whole world!
You might be wondering, then whom should we pray for, in what order of importance, how should we pray and with what disposition of heart? We would like to offer a list of those for whom we should pray, and remember, with true contrition and for the purpose of Reparation!
1. ME, MYSELF AND I! Well, you might be thinking, that is somewhat egotistical, self-centered or even narcissistic! Not true! God created each and every one of us with a specific purpose in mind: to praise Him and to save our own individual soul. It is not egoistical to pray for our conversion, sanctification, growth in holiness and final perseverance. Rather, it is a matter of life and death. We all must individually, in the words of the Apostle Saint Paul, “work out our salvation in fear and in trembling.”
2. OUR FAMILY MEMBERS. Our prayers should extend to our family members, first and foremost! Spouses should pray for each other, then their children, their parents, and finally other blood-relatives. God brought you together in a family; you should pray fervently prayers of reparation for the many sins of all of your family members. May your prayers serve to make up for the damage that they have done through their many sins.
3. CATHOLIC CHURCH AT LARGE IN ITS ENTIRETY! The Catholic Church is the church that has the most members in the entire world—more than one billion members presently! To be dead honest, not all are ready to be canonized right now! We all are sinners, and to make things worse, most Catholics do not even practice their faith—that is to say, they do not even attend Sunday Mass. Just this one comment merits a huge dose of prayers of reparation from many fervent souls!
4. YOUR SPECIFIC LOCAL CHURCH. Now the specific local Catholic church that you attend consists of many sinners. Many of these Catholics do not attend Mass. Most likely, many question certain Church teachings and practices. Many have gaping wounds that they are not striving to heal. Many have never begged pardon for their own sins, much less the sins of the members of their families. For these in our local church, our local parish to which we belong, let us offer fervent prayers of reparation: “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
5. SOCIAL SINS THAT HAVE BECOME EMBEDDED IN THE FIBER OF THE SOCIETY. Pope Saint John Paul II has coined this long theological term. What it means is simply this: there are some serious sins that are not only individual and personal, but have actually embedded themselves into the very fiber, marrow, or if you like, the heart of society. These structural sins would be the following: legalization of abortion, legalization of same-sex unions and transgenderism, the legalization in some States of euthanasia—killing the elderly and infirm. For these social sins embedded in and encrusted onto the very fabric and heart of society, we beg pardon and willingly offer fervent and continuous prayers of reparation. About every 20 seconds an innocent baby is being murdered through the abominable crime and heinous sin of abortion. “O Lord, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
6. SINNERS WHO DENY THEY “ARE SINNERS”. There is a class of individuals—indeed very prevalent and widespread in society today—and they are those individuals who claim stridently that they have no sins whatsoever. Pope Pius XII of blessed memory, stated: “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” Many Catholics have not approached the Sacrament of Confession for years; we might even say DECADES!!! They blurt out, with an air of pride and arrogance: “Well, I have no sins!” We all know they have many sins, but unfortunately they have suppressed, anesthetized or even killed their conscience! For this large mass of individuals who claim to be great saints, we must beg pardon, and offer prayers of reparation for their sins and for their eternal salvation!
7. DEATHBED SINNERS. A very important class of people that we must pray for most urgently, as Jesus constantly reminded Saint Faustina, are those individuals who are about to die and most unfortunately they are in the state of mortal sin and their eternal salvation is in grave jeopardy. For this reason, the great woman Doctor of the Church, Saint Catherine of Siena asserted: “The two most important moments of our life are the following: now and at the hour of our death.” Why? We only have this precise moment, “the now”. However, of prime and eternal importance is the precise moment we die. If we die in the state of grace our soul will be saved for all eternity; but if we die in the state of mortal sin our soul will be lost for all eternity! Through our urgent prayers, let us beg mercy, pardon, conversion and reparation for those who are dying right now in this precise moment. “Lord, have mercy on deathbed sinners, and on the whole world.”
8. PRIESTS, RELIGIOUS, AND BISHOPS. Of prime importance, all should offer fervent and constant prayers for those who have consecrated their lives to God and the Church—namely, priests, Bishops, and men and women Religious. These individuals who are called to a very lofty mission within the Church are also sinners. The letter to the Hebrews explains this with utmost clarity: “Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset with weakness, and so for this reason must make sin offerings for himself as for his people.” (Heb. 5:1-3). The devil will often tempt priests, Bishops, and Religious all the more because if they fall they cause a greater scandal to the people and enormous damage to the Church at large. For their sins, we beg the Lord Jesus, the Supreme High Priest, to have mercy, and we beg through our earnest prayers, reparation for the damage they have caused in the Church and the world at large!
9. LOCAL AND SPECIFIC INTENTIONS. We all have within our hearts and our personal lives many intentions that we would like to present to the Lord. In this we should beg the Holy Spirit for light to see the areas in our personal life where we must beg pardon, mercy and reparation. Every time we go to Confession, we are called to confess our sins with humility, sincerity, and a firm purpose of amendment, meaning we really want to transform our lives! However, there is another important element that is part and parcel of making a good Sacramental Confession and that is the aspect of “Penance”. We must carry out the penance the priest imposes upon us. This too is Reparation. We willingly accept the penance the priest gives us, and possibly accept to do more, to repair for our past sins. A priest, who helped to form us as future priests, suggested that we should always do double the penance that the priest imposes on us in confession. Great advice so as to live out reparation!
10. SOULS IN PURGATORY. Our essay would be incomplete if we failed to mention a special group of souls that we should intercede for frequently and with great fervor: the poor and abandoned souls in Purgatory. This is a group of individuals who have passed from this life to the next and are saved, but are in need of purification for the sins that they committed in life. They are totally dependent on the mercy of Almighty God. However, a channel through which the mercy of God is actualized is through us, through our prayers and offering sacrifices for these abandoned souls in Purgatory. Apply the Golden Rule in this circumstance, which is: “Do to others what you want them to do to you.” If you were an abandoned soul in Purgatory, beyond a shadow of doubt, you would desire many of the living to offer fervent prayers for your eventual entrance into heaven. In other words, with respect to Reparation, the souls of those who have passed from this life to the next must be purified and their sins repaired for, and we the living are called to this very lofty and noble mission!
In conclusion, let us enrich our personal prayer life by learning a prayer intention that possibly we have never done or have never done well and completely: that is the prayer of Reparation. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are wounded, with thorns embedded in them. These are the sins of humanity. It is our spiritual duty and privilege, by means of our prayers of reparation, to take out the thorns and gently place roses in the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Indeed, they will rejoice because of our acts of reparation and they will have a special place for us in their Hearts in time and for all eternity. Amen.
Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
