I’ve been reading a book by St. Louis de Montfort called “Secrets of the Rosary.” It has completely changed how I look at and pray the rosary. There is so much even within a simple Hail Mary; it literally blows the mind. There is one little chapter where he explains the Hail Mary bit-by-bit, and I wanted to share his prose on the last part of the prayer which goes: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” I hope that you enjoy it.

Holy Mary

Holy in body and in soul

Holy because of thy incomparable

And eternal devotion

To the service of God—

Holy in thy great rank

Of Mother of God

Who has endowed thee

With eminent holiness,

A worthy attribute

Of this great dignity.

Mother of God—

And our Mother—

Our Advocate and Mediatrix

Thou who art the Treasurer of God’s graces

And who dost dispense them

As thou seest fit—

Oh, we beg of thee

Obtain for us

Soon

The forgiveness of our sins—

And grant that we may be reconciled

With God’s infinite Majesty.

Pray for us sinners—

Thou who art always filled with compassion

For those in need—

Thou who wilt never despise sinners

Or turn them away—

For but for them

Thou woulds’t never have been

Mother of the Redeemer,

Pray for us

Now,

During this short life

So fraught with sorrow and uncertainty.

Pray for us now,

Now—because we can be sure of nothing

Except the present moment.

Pray for us now

That we are being attacked night and day

By powerful and ruthless enemies…

Pray for us now

And at the hour of our death,

So terrible and full of danger,

When our strength is waning

And our spirits are sinking

And our souls and bodies

Are worn out with fear and pain

Pray for us then

At the hour of our death

When the devil is working

With might and main

To ensnare us and cast us into perdition.

Pray for us

At the turning point

When the die will be cast once and for all

And our lot for ever and ever

Will be heaven—

Or hell.

Come to the help of thy poor children,

Gentle Mother of pity:

And, oh, Advocate and Refuge of Sinners,

Protect us

At the hour of our death

And drive far from us

Our bitter enemies,

The devils our accusers,

Those with frightful presence

Fills us with dread.

Light our path

Through the valley of the shadow of death.

Please, Mother

Lead us

To thy Son’s Judgment Seat

And do not forsake us there.

Intercede for us

And ask thy Son to forgive us

And let us into the ranks of the blessed

Thy elect

In the realm of everlasting glory.

Amen. So be it.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”   John 3:16

Even though I posted a new entry last night, I wanted to share a poem I composed for all you Xangans who visit my blog. I hope you enjoy it, and have a very blessed and happy St. Valentine’s Day!

The First Valentine

For you, my dearest love, for you would I

put aside my riches, kingdom, and lie

among sheep and cattle, and in rags dress;

over pleasure, comfort, I’d choose distress,

that you might see my love.

For you, my dearest love, for you would I

 allow from my humble tongue loose to fly

words of eloquence and beauty unknown,

my words given you for your very own,

that you might hear my love.

For you, my dearest love, for you would I

wander the deserts and climb mountains high

to find you, reach you and heal all your ills,

soothe your pains, kiss ‘bye your hurts; O God will

that you might feel my love!

For you, my dearest love, for you would I

 spread before you a banquet unmatched, my

very self bread for your body, my blood

the finest wine, that your heart might have food,

that you might taste my love.

For you, my dearest love, for you would I

face ridicule, torture, march off to die

 broken, naked for all the world to see,

 that forever we might together be,

 that you might know my love.

For you, my dearest love, for you would I

 go to Hell and back, rise up to the sky

 and build you a home amidst Heaven’s clouds,

 and ere you mourned me long, cast off Death’s shroud,

 that you might live my love.

 I was too busy yesterday, though, to update my blog! Yesterday there was a big funeral that I was altar server at. An elderly couple in their late seventies were hit head-on by a drunk driver. The wife was killed instantly and the husband died on the way to the hospital. The husband was also a respected elder in the tribe here. There were a few hundred people filling the gym where the funeral was held.

Although funerals are sad affairs, Arapaho funerals, as I have so far experienced them, are so beautiful. There is usually a drum group; a group of men sitting around a large drum and singing traditional songs, and after the funeral there is a viewing. Then is the burial, and in yesterday’s case the two caskets were laid side-by-side in the same large hole. What an enduring testimony to the sacrament of their marriage!

Once the caskets are blessed by the priests and people have sung traditional songs, family members will put some of the personal belongings of the deceased in the grave before they start filling the grave. After the burial there is usually a large gathering where they have more drum songs, a memorial song where everyone dances around in a circle (clock-wise, mind you!) and sometimes there is a paint ceremony where a man (I assume a medicine man) comes to you as you are kneeling and pretends to wipe away all the sadness and remorse from you, dusting his hands off when he is done. Then a woman puts red ochre (kind of like rust-colored mud) as a kind of paint on your forehead and cheekbones to signify that you are done mourning a person. Traditionally, this doesn’t happen for a year after the person(s) have passed, as it was in the case of yesterday (no paint yesterday!), because the husband was very very traditional. Then, when all of this is over, there is a HUGE feast with fried bread, stew, and all manner of salads and things. During or after the feast the family of the deceased gives away gifts to everyone who came, usually things that are handy like blankets, towels/washcloths, clothing, dishes, etc.

By the end of the day, people are pretty exhausted, especially since many funerals are preceded the evening before by a rosary/wake that can go very late. I think that this is a great way to come together and honor the dead, mourn them, celebrate them, and say goodbye. You are almost glad, by the end of it all, to see them go!

But enough about me; how about Jesus?

Mark 12:28-33

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

It is amazing to think about how many billions of people in the world long for love; true, real, deep, intimate love, and do not even realize that it is right there in the center of their heart, waiting for them to reach back. Imagine! God who created everything loves us, yet most of the people in the world go about their day not realizing it. How different would a person’s life be if instead of reaching for alcohol and drugs to bring them out of despair, they reached for God, to be completely inebriated on His love? 

A person drowning in sorrow could instead drown in the kisses of God, crushed in the depths of His embrace!

How many people are in emotionless, meaningless relationships because of the sex that at least gives them the illusion of being loved, an illusion that is no more substantial than food that sates an appetite or water that slakes a thirst might feel loved? These people could be tangled up with God instead, who loves them to the point of His own heart bursting at the prick of a Roman spear, the greatest arrow Cupid ever loosed!

There are so many saints and blessed that have shared their experiences of God’s personal love for them, and some of their writings and stories could move even the heart of a mountain to shed tears of spring in the midst of the coldest winter. St. Clare of Assisi, for example, or St. Gemma Galgani, St. Terese of Liseaux, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier- thousands of people whose very existence was transformed by accepting the love of God and returning it with all their being.

How could anyone settle for chocolates and roses when God has given us His own Body and Blood? Who could be satisified with a poem when we have Scipture that is thousands of years ancient and contains the most beautiful words ever put to parchment? Who could be satisfied with the way a romantic notion makes your heart quicken or cause a warm feeling to surge through you when we have been given the very Spirit of God to dwell in our hearts?

All the love, all the romance, all the passion and intimacy we could possibly desire as human beings is just waiting to be quested for and claimed. But you have to pass through the briar of your past sins and conquer the fortress of your own heart before you enter the inner keep of your being and find the tabernacle of your heart where, kept safe and quiet, lies the great and glorious God of all the universe, waiting for you to let Him out into your life. Once that happens, everything begins to change; things desired become things received, every gift you receive becomes a gift from God, and you begin to pick out the notes of the symphony that God has written of your life, and you see how He has taken the dissonance of our sins and written them harmoniously into His greater work.

God bless you all tomorrow on St. Valentine’s Day, and for those who enter that day feeling unloved and unwanted, never forget that there is someone out there who loves you more than anyone ever possibly could, and He has given you everything He has every had- all of creation, His Son, His Body, His Blood, and His Spirit.

What a Valentine!

Really, there is no story more romantic, more thrilling, more relevant than the story of salvation. No being has sacrificed more for us, loved us more than our God. This week of Valentine’s, I’m going to try selecting some particularly lovely texts that express God’s love for us. I hope they warm your hearts and remind you that you are always dearly loved by God, who created everything in existence, who died for us, and who dwells in each of our hearts.

Isaiah 43:1-4

Psalm 36:8-12

How precious is your love, O God! We take refuge in the shadow of your wings. We feast on the rich food of your house; from your delightful stream you give us drink. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light. Continue your kindness toward your friends, your just defense of the honest heart. Do not let the foot of the proud overtake me, nor the hand of the wicked disturb me.

Psalm 42:2-3

And He thirsts for us, too. What better Valentine could we give God than our very own hearts, as He has given us His? What better flowers could we give Him than our prayers? St. Louis de Montfort calls the Rosary a mystic rosebush. For those here who pray the rosary, why not offer one for God this Valentine’s Day, a bouquet of our very own prayers in thanksgiving for His love?

…Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, the darling whom I have chosen.  -Isaiah 44 

For the last few weeks I’ve wanted to talk about the pro-life issue a little bit. A couple of weekends ago was a sort of Pro-Life weekend, but I was out of town and I’ve been fairly busy since then! But I found the time to compile a little quiz of sorts (thanks for the help maje_charis!) that I hope will challenge some people. It is mainly for Christians who may support abortion, because it revolves around Christ, and non-Christians might not find Him very relevant in the abortion matter. I don’t believe that a person can be both Christian and support abortion, and I’m hoping this little quiz will illustrate why. If you fellow Xanganites will be so kind, please feel free to take this little quiz and offer your thoughts and suggestions on how it might be improved, clarified, etc. The “answers” to the quiz will be left as a comment. Also feel free to join in the discussion.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah, foretold in the Old Testament?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human, except for sin?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin?

Do you believe what the angel told Mary before He was conceived, that the child’s name is Jesus, that He is the Son of God, descendant of David, and will be king forever?

If Jesus is fully human, as we are human, and at His conception had all of the above traits (name, gender, identity, history and purpose/future), do you believe that we all have the same traits at our own conception, as Jesus had at His?

Do you believe that, once conceived, Jesus grew from a zygote, to an embryo, to a fetus, and so on, passing through all of the normal stages of human development in the womb, as we all once did?

Imagine that, for one reason or another (economical reasons, Joseph’s possible rejection of her, social stigma/pressure, etc.), Mary chose to terminate her pregnancy with Jesus (such methods have existed for much of human history). Would a human life (Jesus’ life) have been terminated?

Bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth: everyone who is named as mine, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

-Isaiah 43