Offer it UP!

What goes through your mind when you hear that phrase?
Do you know anyone who seems good at doing this?
Ask around. Let me know what you find out. Is this a strictly Roman Catholic thing?
If not, how do other traditions teach this virtue?
If so, what do other faith traditions do with pain or discomfort?

I know a family in Indianapolis who really makes me want to learn this discipline.
Tell you why later - for now, I want to hear from you.
Thanks!

An Update On Praying The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

During Holy Week this year, Michael posted a request that we join him in praying the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy. We included information on how to pray the Chaplet in the column at right along with the Divine Mercy novena. Today, I'm removing that post so that we can add the content to our new prayer section - launching in the coming weeks. I'll announce in this blog when the transition is complete and direct you to the restored instructions and revised commentary.

Stories of Mercy

Please bring up the concept of mercy in your conversations and if you can gather any stories of forgiveness, pass them along to us here. How do YOU forgive? Do you forgive and forget? What has helped you move in the direction of forgiveness? Bring it on! We want to hear from you.

Reclaiming The Imagination

I hate flicking channels on T.V. It usually leaves me feeling car sick at best; heart sick at worst. Never before have there been so many devices with such bright graphics and bold designs engineered to hijack – I mean – entice our imaginations. Why is that? And what were our imaginations created for in the first place? To dream, to hope, to remember… to pray.

This message is an invitation to join us in a short prayer with a powerful punch. ‘Punch’ may not the best word to use when speaking about the mercy of God, but it is perfect when fighting to reclaim the imagination.

It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to pray. Beginning today, Good Friday, and each day for nine days we will ‘gather’ a different group of souls and ‘present’ them to God the Father ‘through the wounds’ of His resurrected Son. Are you seeing it? Is your imagination coming back yet? Here, let me help a bit more.

Imagine the resurrected Christ standing before you with one hand raised in blessing and the other pointing to his heart. From his heart shine rays of light. One side white; the other red to symbolize the blood and water that flowed from his side when his heart was pierced with a lance after he died.

The meditation goes like this: God the Father is looking at the world through the wounds of His resurrected Son. He desires that none be lost. Those souls gathered in the rays of mercy shining from the heart of Jesus are seen as pure in the eyes of the Father. Of course we place ourselves there each day as well. Our family will be praying this at 3PM each day to recall the hour Jesus completed the one perfect sacrifice that changes the history and future of creation forever.

Please join our family as we begin nine days of prayer today (Good Friday).
If you come across this invitation one or more days after we’ve begun – some will have time to go back and retrace the earlier days and some won’t – no pressure here. Mercy does not pressure. The last thing we need is stress and this prayer is a wonderful antidote to stress. I’ve been praying this prayer since the mid 1980’s – long before the Sunday after Easter began to be called “The Feast of Divine Mercy”. In 1990, after my grandmother was murdered during a burglary in her home, the root of this prayer, “Jesus I Trust In You” was at times the only prayer I could offer in my grief. It was enough. It held my broken heart together long enough for it to begin healing.

A Note About Rosary Beads
Recall that never once did Jesus condemn ritual or repetitive prayer. Rather he rejected empty ritual and empty babblings of those giving a show of prayer with their lips only. I have done both and there is a world of difference between praying empty words from memory and speaking the same words from the heart. If I walk in place but act as if I am going somewhere either I am joking or I have mentally snapped. But the same movement makes total sense when I am actually going somewhere. In the same way it is cute to watch our little girl try to take a step and though it takes so long to go a few inches – we know she is just learning to walk and we are proud of her huge accomplishment. Now if I were to behave the same way, Mary would assume I am in rehab from an injury.
Pray from the heart. Go somewhere in your prayers. If it is hard to do at first, become as humble as a toddler and do not give up out of pride or frustration. Rosary beads are meant to be used as a tool to assist in prayer. They are not magic.

This short prayer is usually said using regular rosary beads – but if that scares you because of your upbringing – then use your fingers. In the entire prayer I believe there is one “Hail Mary” – but if that scares you because of your upbringing – skip it as well and instead recite the following verses from Sacred Scripture:

LUKE Chapter 1 26-28, 42-43

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." (26-28)

(Elizabeth) cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? (42-43)

---

BEGIN THE NOVENA




We begin with the above scripture verses followed by one Our Father and the Apostle’s Creed.

On the single bead we pray:

ETERNAL FATHER

Eternal Father
I offer you the body and blood
The soul and divinity of your dearly beloved son
Our lord Jesus Christ
In atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

After the single bead are ten beads. On these we pray:

FOR THE SAKE…
For the sake of his sorrowful passion
Have mercy on us and on the whole world

We pray these prayers five times in all while presenting souls to God. It sounds a bit complicated to explain but is very easy to do. Please do as the scriptures tell us: “Test all things; retain what is good”

Wherever you happen to be in your journey toward the Mercy of God, please continue forward. Don’t be afraid. Let your voice be counted among the thousands around the world as together we become louder than division, arrogance, hatred, and hopelessness in a resounding acclamation that God’s mercy is infinite beyond our ability to imagine. As we try to imagine, something is healed within us… As we pray for so many different groups of souls, the body of Christ on earth grows strong… As the Church grows stronger, the world begins to heal. Mercy is real. Mercy is infinite. Mercy is meant for that very person who feels the least deserving.

Each day a new story of mercy will be included with this prayer. A guide to praying The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy appears at right. I thank you in advance for joining us in this spiritual work of mercy.

In Thanksgiving, The Poirier Family

The Beginning of Holy Family Now!

JOE: Hello and welcome!
MICHAEL: Hello. Thank you – I feel welcome.


This is how Michael John Poirier and I started our first podcast in the "Light A Fire" series. It doesn't seem nearly so silly in print because you can't type in laughter or spontaneity, or even fully convey a spirited display of congeniality. Nonetheless, the sentiment as written or spoken reflects our desire for you - that you feel welcome!

So... who are we? Simply put, we're just two regular guys who love their Catholic faith. Michael John Poirier is a Catholic Recording Artist with 13 published CD's who performs throughout the United States and Canada. Joe Elbow is the Executive Director for Holy Family Apostolate, the non-profit organization founded by Michael and his wife Mary. We are not theologians or professors, but we do want to introduce you to the Catholic faith. Whether you are Catholic or not, practicing or not – or even if you're practicing but not practicing very well and need to practice some more – this blog is for you!

Michael and I work to encourage EVERY Catholic family to become a Holy Family! We hope when you join us in this online community, you find things that make you smile, make you think and make you keep trying - because we are ALL called to holiness: "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt 5:48)

OK... a few obvious questions.

Q: Why do we specifically encourage Catholic families, rather than all families?
A: We believe that the world would be radically transformed if all people who call themselves Christians would follow their call more closely: to pray more, to obey more, to love more! Representing the 1 in 4 Americans who identify themselves as Catholics, our hope and trust is centered on Jesus Christ, to live a life rich in the Sacramental Graces he instituted and bound by a specificity of moral teaching that is fully underpinned by the Word of God. If we start from within our own Catholic family, we believe that we WILL inspire ALL families and together, “we will set the world ablaze!"
"When we are whom we are called to be, we will set the world ablaze!" (St. Catherine of Siena)

Q: Is this blog open to non-Catholics or non-Christians?
A: In a 1995 address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, Pope John Paul II spoke of the Catholic Church’s obligation to engage others in respectful dialogue. “The Church asks only to be able to propose respectfully this message of salvation […], to be able to promote, in charity and service, the solidarity of the entire human family."

Another "living saint" of the twentieth century, Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote, "There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people. [No matter their faith,] they all come to our prayers."

So… in this place, we ask that you join our late Holy Father John Paul II's call to respectful dialogue. Catholic or not, Christian or not… we can engage in a thoughtful and conspicuous exchange of ideas, mutually casting the bushel basket off of the lamp so that we may all be guided unto the Truth.