• Calibration to grace and for recognizing sin will increase as you journey with your halo.

• Be amazed: what was written by Saints hundreds or thousands of years ago so often seems written for me, today, with what is happening.

#Halo #Marriage #Parenting #Catholic #Shepherding #SpiritualDirection

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Every wife and husband are joined by God to reveal God's love to the world, bear new life into the world, and provide, protect, and defend hearth, rearing their children to come to know God's breath in them and breath it into the world. Wives and husbands, each in their own way, reveal Christ to each other and are called to be humbly obedient to Christ in each other, running toward Jesus our sweet Christ hand in hand, sharing the delights and challenges of this pilgrims' journey. For each married person the path to salvation is their marriage, serving each other in Christ ... their primary halo, their marriage.

#Halo #Marriage #Parenting #Catholic #Shepherding #SpiritualDirection

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Heavenly Father,

Forgive me for being foolish! Help me see how ridiculous (name the temptation) is!

Jesus,

Grant me the humility to accept your gift of the grace of (name the counter virtue for that temptation’s deadly sin), which always defeats the temptation of (name the deadly sin that tempts you).

Holy Spirit,

Guide me to see and immediately take the one next step to breathe my Breath of God into the world. Specifically, my next step is to (name the immediate next step). Give me the fortitude to go and do it now. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen! ____

A few notes

God always answers this prayer.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7).

Asking for the weapons of the Salvation Arts always remains in God, making His words remain in us. The prayer to the Father asks for the Salvation Art of Mindfulness to see how ridiculous sin is. The prayer to Jesus asks for one of the virtues, another Salvation Art. And the final prayer to the Holy Spirit asks for the gifts needed to breath our inner breath of God into the world.

The Father’s Gift

Freedom and laughter. If you don’t feel light and free immediately after calling Satan’s temptation ridiculous, you didn’t name the temptation clearly or specifically enough. Satan fights us in this prayer and does all he can to hide behind rocks on the battlefield that he may attack us with renewed vigor when we arrogantly think we’ve won. As long as Satan remains hidden behind a rock, we aren’t able to accept the gift of wild freedom God the Father always offers us. We have to exercise our will against Satan and name with clarity the temptation — not the detailed circumstances, but the flavor of the deadly sin.

Thus, “help me see how ridiculous my sin is!” fails because it isn’t specific in naming the deadly sin, leaving lots of rocks for Satan to hide behind. Likewise, “help me see how ridiculous it is when Sam is praised at work and all my hard work, which was hours and hours and which Sam needed to do his work, for which he was praised … is!” fails because rather than being prayer that simply names the temptation it repeats and deepens the sin itself.

Instead pray: “Father help me see how ridiculous it is when I am jealous of Sam for succeeding!” This removes all hiding places without entering into the turmoil of the sin, inadvertently repeating the sin anew. Instead, it is short, simple, specific and clear.

If you pray to the Father and do not immediately experience the gift of wild, jubilant freedom, you prayed it wrong. Dig deep, examine how to name the specific deadly sin without repeating the sin, and pray it again. Like using any weapon, the more you wield the Trinity Sword Prayer, the more effective you will become! This is spiritual warfare, you are exercising your will to trust God over Satan, to choose your inner Saint over your inner Sinner. Satan attacks where you are weakest, so naming where his attacking frees you to accept God’s abundance, and graces (weaponry). Fight to get this prayer right, and you will be stunned by God’s loving abundance!

Jesus’ Gift

Courage. Being emboldened. Again, if we do not immediately feel emboldened on praying it, we are allowing our Sinner to hide in how we are praying, preventing us from being able to accept the gift Jesus freely offers us. One way this happens is in our asking for something that isn’t a grace. If it isn’t one of the seven heavenly, life giving virtues, it may not be a grace. As long as what you ask Jesus for is a grace, it will be given and you will feel emboldened.

The Holy Spirit’s Gift

Action. If you don’t immediately find yourself with your first two gifts (wild abandon and and courageous) doing the next step to breathe your Breath of God into the world, free of the burden of temptation, you prayed it wrong. Take some time to get to know your Breath of God. Understand that it is through everyday ordinary tasks that miraculous things happen to transform the world, to help build God’s kingdom here and now. Make your next step simple and specific and something you can do right now. Open the gift of the Holy Spirit by going and doing it, right now!

Pray without Ceasing

Saint Paul extolls us to “pray without ceasing.” A powerful way to do this is to realize all activities worth doing ought to be prayer. Promote that way of seeing the world by praying the Trinity Sword Prayer, changing the prayer to the Father to:

“Father, thank you for your wild abundance in the beauty of today. Help me build your kingdom!” Then continue with the prayer to Jesus and the prayer to the Holy Spirit.

Suddenly, your value, meaning, purpose as a gift of wild abundance from God is clear, as is the single thing you need to do next to breathe God’s breath into the world! Go get ‘um!

As seen in Scripture!

Is there reference to any of the Trinity Sword Prayer in scripture? Yes! It appears in the Gospels is concept, John 21:15–19. Peter, called Simon again in these versus by Jesus to point out how his sin (how ridiculous he has been), has fallen for the sin of cowardice in the face of his fear during Jesus’ trial — denying Jesus three times. Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him three times — to directly counter and overcome the bigger Sinner Simon Peter has because of his sin. Each time, Jesus then tells him the next concrete action he is to take: “Feed my lambs … Tend my sheep … Feed my sheep” — aka: be Pope and take care of my Body, the Church! What other scriptures reveal this pattern of seeing how ridiculous sin is, asking for grace, and concretely moving forward?

Ask and it shall be given you: multiple places in the Gospels Jesus says if we ask for things in union with God they will be given. As referenced above, John 15:7 is one of these.

It really is “Digital”!

Either our faith is “on” or it isn't (just like the zeros and ones in the digital world). One of the amazing gifts of the Trinity Sword Prayer is it helps us discover areas where we aren't trusting God as much as we might think, giving us the opportunity to exercise our will and choose to trust where trust seems impossible. “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!”

One question I've received about this prayer is what about (soon to be) Saint Mother Teresa's years of despair? Surely there must be more nuance here to the “pray right and these gifts will be given”? If a Saint, like Mother Teresa or Padre Pio experiences despair, surely they know how to pray right?

First, Saint Ignatius in his two “Discernment of Spirits” appendices to his 30 Day Retreat, reveals there are three causes of despair (desolation), all of which have some form of sin at their root. Somehow, some way, if we are in despair, there is someplace in our soul we don't yet trust God with wild abandon. This is true for all of us, Saints included.

What is amazing about Saints who experience desolation in their prayer life is they understand it is part of their purgation, or purgatory, and challenging as it is, they embrace it, trusting God to heal them even as they anguish, and they continue to persist in their ministry despite it all. This is what Jesus calls us to do, because faith bears fruit in all seasons, including desolation. In the Gospel of Mark (11:11-26), Jesus curses the fig tree because it is not bearing fruit out of season. To the eyes of the world, this seem unjust. But this is Jesus, who defines justice. Through faith, we are called to bear fruit in all seasons, even the season of despair.

Learning from Praying it “Wrong”

One of the powerful gifts of the Trinity Sword Prayer is that praying it “wrong” is an invitation to examination of consciences, as well as a guide map to discovering where we are deaf, blind, dumb, and stupid — where and how our inner Sinner is hiding. The more we discover this, the more we are able to open ourselves up to Christ's light, which always abolishes the Sinner, and receive the abundant gifts God has already given but we have yet to unwrap! Even in our despair, God is a God of wild abundance!

#Halo #Marriage #Parenting #Catholic #Shepherding #SpiritualDirection

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Weird as all this looks to an outside observer, everything seems normal to us nibble-wits on the inside, even if most other people are doing things that make no sense.

Imagine how foolish we must look to everyone else! Moving about in odd ways to a distorted vision of the world only we see. Now imagine how a bunch of us look, each with our own differently distorted pair of glasses.

“Help me, please!” I call out.

“I’m right here, how can I help?” you offer, concerned.

“No you’re not,” I respond in frustration. “You’re not near me at all. You’re by that tree.”

“What?” you reply confused and a bit agitated. “You’re crazy. There is no tree.”

In reality, we both stand together, trying to hold each other up.

“Oof! Hey!” you holler. “Why’d you punch me?”

“I didn’t. I was getting the sliver out of your eye.”

Absurd as this interaction may seem, it represents the type of miscommunication that happens so easily between two people, even if they’ve known each other for years, even if they have the best of intentions, even if they are married and deeply love each other. Strife often enters relationships because of sin’s fun house glasses.

Strife, however slight, in relationship always indicates the presence of sin. Sin makes us deaf, blind, dumb, and stupid. Join a Halo. Start a Halo. Halo together, lose the fun house glasses, and run toward Jesus our Christ, with clearer sight, together.

#Halo #Marriage #Parenting #Catholic #Shepherding #SpiritualDirection

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Sex outside sacramental marriage is a primary plot device and source of conflict in modern stories. So much so that we have come to think of extra-marital sex as normal, at least on the screen and perhaps even see it as a sign of health and freedom. That's not healthy or holy. In truth, sex outside marriage is inherently selfish and prideful and lustful. Sex outside marriage thus encompasses at least three deadly sins, severs souls from God, shatters right relationship with all they know, and risks pregnancy out of wedlock, which puts a modern woman in the near occasion of choosing murder and calling it healthcare, another mortal sin.

What if, instead, characters chose chastity? What would change? How would the story be different? Would it develop or end differently? How?

Discuss with your halo.

#CurrentlyTimeless #Halo #Marriage #Parenting #Catholic #Shepherding #SpiritualDirection

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Saints tend came in bunches, interacting with others striving to follow Christ on this pilgrim's journey. Together, they became Saints. St. Therese the Little Flower and many of her family. St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Sts. Francis and Claire, Benedict and Scholastica. Not to mention Sts. Peter and all the Apostles. As the hope of every Catholic is to become a Saint, following their example of meeting with other Catholics is a great way to “run toward Christ,” as Saint Benedict describes it.

A halo is simple. Like all things simple, it takes five minutes to learn, a lifetime to master.

Who do you want to invite to join your halo? Ask them, and determine what you want to read and discuss (Saint Therese the Little Flower is an excellent place to start!). Meet at home, a coffee shop, park, video conference, phone, even by snail mail. Meet with family, friends, someone new at church... whomever God and you bring together. That's it. That's all there is to starting a halo.

So, What’s a Halo?

A group of 2-12 Catholics who meet weekly to monthly to discuss their life journey running toward Jesus our Christ.

For focus, a halo may read and discuss sections of a work from a Doctor of the Church, sharing quotes that struck them and why.

How Do I Start?

Join or start a Halo. That’s it. Gather in prayer and faith and discuss life and faith and triumphs and challenges with one to eleven other people.

Don’t I need to Register … or Something?

Nope. Meet. God knows. You’re registered with God. Grin. It’s seriously that simple … which is why it’s also so powerful and life changing. May God startle you with joy!

#Catholic #Halo #Shepherding #SpiritualDirection #Marriage #Parenting

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Human? Or Humanist?

What does it mean to be human? Saint Pope John Paul II described anthropology, which fundamentally seeks to answer what it means to be human, as critical to our faith journey toward God. To understand who we are, we must come to know who God, our Creator, in whose image we are made, is. And, it turns out, God became fully human, remaining fully divine, to show us what it means to be human. So, when we screw up and proclaim “Och! I'm only human!” what we really mean is, “Och! I was less than human!” and, seeking something greater, we strive to do greater ourselves, with Christ as the North on our compass as we navigate toward God.

Society, on the other hand, gives a very different answer to the question of what it means to be human. Society, fallen into sin, and incapable of self-rescue, has declared the more we advance, the more we solve our own problems and rise out of the quagmire. This is called humanism. Over the last five-hundred years, society has slowly abandoned its Christian foundation, supposedly advancing as intelligentsia (a fruit of unaided human thought) replaced intellect (a graced fruit of faith). The result? Human institutions now crumble and are a shadow of their former selves, all the while proclaiming their supposed progress.

Thus, what it means to be human is the fundamental question of our time. One answer is the height of hubris, the other is bold humility.

Being infused into the fallen world, though we hunger for something greater, it is all too easy to stumble and fall; or head off in the wrong direction, mistaking a lesser good for a greater good, as Saint Augustine explains in his “Confessions.” How do we seek something greater when we are so obviously fallible on our own? Simple. We journey with others of faith.

Good, Beautiful, and True

The something greater we hunger for is the Good, the Beautiful, and and the True. Every seed of Good, of Beautiful, and of True yearns to be Catholic when it grows up. But we are each sheep, and need the grace from our Good Shepherd to cultivate eyes to see and ears to hear the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. We can't do it on our own. We need a guide. Christ's full revelation, given us through His Church, is the shepherd Christ has given us.

Reading the stories of the Saints, they all had spiritual directors in some form or other. We need spiritual direction also, but we need it free from the poison infused into it of the intelligentsia of the modern world.

Spiritual Direction, er, Orienteering

Since the founding of the Catholic Church by Christ, Saints have had spiritual directors to aid them in their battle to choose holiness over sin. We wage that same battle in our daily lives, and we benefit from the same faith-filled companionship spiritual direction provides. Not counseling or psychological, spiritual direction is actually far more, aiding the journey of our eternal soul toward heaven. In this sense, it could be called spiritual orienteering, for we each have our own soulscape to navigate, and having companions along the way helps.

Join or Create a Halo

Saints also travel with other saints. Saints Benedict, Scholastica, Patrick, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Theresa the Little Flower, Francis, Claire, and many more traveled with others, often family, who also became Saints. Consider these groupings a halo ... sharing the challenges of running toward Christ over rough terrain; helping pick each other up, when they fall.

We at Cor Sacrae Familiae Quarterly strive to help you deepen the halos you already have (if married, your spouse is your primary halo), and form new ones, and give structure and ideas for how to shepherd each other as companions running toward Christ. In fact, subscribing to Cor Sacrae Familiae Quarterly is much like joining a halo. You become part of us via the comments section (for subscribers).

Who is Cor Sacrae Familiae Quarterly for?

Anyone bold, daft, crazy, brilliant, brave, and humble enough to yearn for something greater and know the only way to answer that call is bold humble obedience to Jesus our Christ.

Whether we're teens seeking to better understand our faith and puzzle out what our free will means, or seeking someone to marry or perhaps discerning our vocation to religous life or the priesthood, or newlyweds wondering what's next after marriage formation, or new parents wondering how faith can help with diapers, work, dinner, the in-laws visiting, parents wondering how to handle toddlers or teens or kids leaving the nest, or retirement, or job loss, or any of life's other many challenges.

Where to End? A New Beginning

Subscribe to Cor Sacrae Familiae Quarterly and share the journey running toward Christ, as we strive to live up to who God made us to be and wield the gifts Christ gives us to build anew the City of God amidst the city of man.

Tags: #Halo #Catholic

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