Death of Jesus – Vincentian Humility – God’s Got This! – Praying the Rosary

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast

Death of Jesus

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty. At the time crucifixion was the “worst” death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet. Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. The nails were driven into His wrists, not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There’s a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist, that tendon would tear and break; forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support Himself so that He could breathe. Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support Himself with His legs because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate between arching His back and using His legs just to continue to breathe. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, and the courage. Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over 3 hours!  Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from His wounds.  He did this for us.  He was born for us and He suffered and died for us.  Always Remember.  Vincentians are called by Him to be a servant to the poor.  We answer “Yes Lord”! And we do His will.

Vincentian Humility

Oh Lord it is hard to be humble!  Jesus will always be with us as we serve Him.  He is the face of the poor for us.  Broken, scarred and still standing over us to help us tend to His Lambs and feed His sheep.  Our humility comes from Jesus.  Our goal is to conquer poverty, one day at a time.  We do this with prayer and humility.  We see the poor as the face of Jesus and that will always make us humble.  We are blessed to be called and those we serve are friends.  We are part of their families.  We are blessed to be called to serve.  Recognizing humility is our goal and that of our Lord.  It is not special; it is what we are called to do in the name of Jesus.  Truly holy people are always humble. If you are not humble, you have not experienced the Holy One. If you don’t see humility and patience in service to those in need you know it’s not on the right course. Pray with humility each day so Our Lord may be with us every step of the way.  It will always work, when He is our leader and guide.  Talk to Him regularly.  You will see the difference in yourself and your course of action.  It comes from God and we say “YES.”

God’s Got This!

When you face something that seems overwhelming, put it in the hands and declare, “God’s got this!” We are a Vincentian Community. To be a Vincentian is to be in community, working, praying, learning, and serving with others. We learn by doing. As a community we are on a mission to serve which is a gift from God.   We all experience the gift of faith differently. How we experience our faith may change as our lives change, but for the baptized Christian, faith is always there. It is a gift from God, ready to be opened, waiting to set hearts on fire. This is who we are and we are called.  So we say, “Yes Lord” and we serve.  We come together as a community to share and connect. We thank Him for calling us to be disciples.  “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to thy name O Most High, to declare thy steadfast love O Most High, to declare thy steadfast love in the morning and thy faithfulness by night.  (Ps. 92: 1, 2)  At our Baptism God infused His spiritual DNA into our souls. The blood of Christ not only washes us clean but transforms us into children of God! We are sons and daughters of the living God! We are servants of our Lord, Disciples and we know He has us in His hands.  We feel His gentle touch.  We bring that touch to the poor with love, charity and justice.

Praying the Rosary

Father Gabriel, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican writes: One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism, “Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end.” The secret that makes this prayer so effective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation. It is addressed to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin, and to the Holy Trinity, and is a meditation centered on Christ. Make your conversation personal and listen to Mary, She and Jesus are joined at the heart and cannot be separated so she brings Jesus with her. And Jesus cannot be separated from the Trinity so He brings the Father and the Holy Spirit with Him.  Your Mother comes as Our Lady of Grace with her hands outstretched. This is your inheritance which was poured out from the heart of Jesus on the Cross, when the centurion pierced His Heart with the spear, into the only pure vessel ready to receive such graces at that time, Your Mother. Now as you pray the Rosary, or even just recite one Hail Mary, you receive your portion of these graces. He also said at this time, “Anyone who goes to Mary and prays the Rosary cannot be touched by Satan.  Pray for those we serve asking Mary and the Trinity to be with them as they are lifted from their poverty.

Blessings,

Lynn