Category Archives: Meditations

Meditations on the Catholic faith by Father Flader

Mary, our loving Mother

 

From the moment she conceived Jesus in her womb, Mary became the mother of his Mystical Body, the Church, and of all of us. In this meditation we use texts from Sacred Scripture, Pope St Paul VI, St Josemaria Escriva and St Bernard to consider how:

  • Mary gave birth to Jesus and to the Church in Bethlehem
  • From the Cross at Calvary, Jesus gave Mary to St John, and to each one of us, as our mother
  • Because of the pain she suffered when Christ’s body was pierced with a lance and the Church flowed from his side on Calvary, Mary has a special love for all her children
  • Mary exercises her motherly role in many moments related in the Scriptures
  • We can show our gratitude to Our Lady and honour her through such practices as the Rosary, the Angelus, Marian aspirations and pilgrimages

Mary, teacher of prayer

The Second Vatican Council called Our Lady “model of the virtues” and we can learn so much from her. In this meditation we go to her as “teacher of prayer” to learn how to pray better. Using texts from Scripture and St Josemaria Escriva we consider how:

  • In the Annunciation Mary listens to what God is asking of her through the angel, asks about what she does not understand, and then immediately accepts God’s will for her
  • In her Magnificat, Mary praises God for his loving-kindness to her
  • On two occasions Our Lady ponders in her heart God’s providence in the events of her life
  • At Cana Mary asks Jesus with great faith to do a miracle
  • In all her activities, Mary lived in the presence of God

Faith and joy in the Resurrection

The Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday fills us with faith and joy. In this meditation we consider:

  • The sadness and sorrow of Christ’s disciples after his death on the Cross
  • The various accounts in the Gospels of Christ’s appearances after his Resurrection
  • The faith and joy of the holy women and the apostles when they see Christ risen from the dead
  • We too go through crosses in life and can draw strength from them, knowing that God allows them for our greater good and that we will have a resurrection to eternal life

The Passion of Christ

Face of Christ in the PassionJesus Christ loved us so much that he suffered and died on the Cross to redeem us, to reconcile us with the Father after the original sin of Adam and Eve. In this meditation we follow the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary to see how Christ has loved us “to the end” and how we can correspond to this love:

  • The Agony in the Garden
  • The Scourging at the Pillar
  • The Crowning with Thorns
  • The Carrying of the Cros
  • The Crucifixion

 

 

St Joseph, Teacher of Prayer

Nativity scene iconSt Teresa of Avila called St Joseph “a master who teaches [us] how to pray. In this meditation we consider how:

  • St Joseph prayed in all moments and events of his life
  • We can learn from him how to find God in our work, family life, travel, recreation, etc.
  • We will benefit from having regular times for prayer each day
  • We can entrust to St Joseph our important intentions

St Joseph, great saint and powerful intercessor

St Josemaria Escriva calls St  Joseph “our father and lord”. We can learn much from this great saint and entrust all our needs to him. In this meditation we consider how:

  • St Joseph was chosen by God from all eternity to be the spiritual father of Jesus and the guardian of the Holy Family
  • God gave St Joseph special graces and virtues for his mission
  • Like Our Lady, St Joseph is a model of all the virtues and we have much to learn from him
  • St Joseph was the greatest saint after Our Lady
  • St Joseph is a most powerful intercessor, as attested by St Teresa of Avila, Pope Pius XI and Pope Francis, and we can entrust all our needs to him, assured of being heard

 

Living Lent with generosity

Living Lent with generosity

The word Lent comes from the ancient word Lencten, meaning springtime. If we live Lent well we have a true springtime, with new growth in our spiritual life. In this meditation we consider how:

  • In Lent we accompany Jesus in his forty days of prayer and fasting in the desert.
  • We respond to his invitation, if we want to be his disciples, to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him.
  • We can choose something from each of the three traditional areas of prayer, fasting and charity.
  • If we live Lent with generosity, we will be much closer to God on Easter Sunday than we were on Ash Wednesday.

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The Church is one

In the Nicene Creed we profess our belief that the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. In this meditation we pray about the first of these four “marks of the Church”, its unity. We consider that:

  • Christ founded only one Church
  • He prayed in the Last Supper for the unity of the Church
  • The Church is one because of her source, her founder and her soul
  • The Church is one because she professes one faith, has one celebration of worship and has one government
  • St Irenaeus writes about the unity of the Church at the end of the second century
  • The ecumenical movement works to bring about the unity of all Christians in the one Church of Christ

St Joseph’s docility to the will of God

St Joseph's Dream

One of St Joseph’s remarkable qualities was his docility to the will of God. In this meditation we consider:

  • How St Joseph responded to God’s will in various moments
  • Comments of Pope Francis, St Josemaria Escriva and St John Chrysostom on St Joseph’s docility
  • How we come to know the will of God in our own life
  • How our docility, like that of St Joseph, should be prompt, complete, responsible, free and loving

St Joseph and the difficulties of life

 

St Joseph flight into Egypt icon

We all face difficulties in life: sickness and pain, the loss of loved ones, problems in work and in relationships, financial worries, temptations to sin, etc. Our tendency is to complain about them and thus lose their great value. In this meditation we consider how: 

  • St Joseph faced many difficulties
  • St Josemaria Escriva dealt with his difficulties
  • God allows those he loves to endure tribulation
  • St Thomas More describes the great value of tribulations
  • We should face difficulties with trust in God and human resourcefulness
  • We can grow humanly and spiritually through our very difficulties