Explaining the Faith - How to Pray

hello everyone thank you for joining us um father chris aylar here from the national shrine of the divine mercy in stockbridge massachusetts where today we have sunny and 86. tomorrow it's even going to be in the 90s and so uh we're glad that we're inside at least for this talk for with you for a little bit today we're going to be bringing to you another important topic probably the most important of all that we've done and that is how to pray pray is our way to heaven and so we are so glad you are with us this is continuing my explaining the faith dvd series that you can see on your screen please visit if you would like to get a copy of my talks i have 13 talks on that dvd from divine mercy to mary to the mass to the sacraments and that is suffering and suicide and that dvd is available on our website at the excuse me shop mercy one word shopmercy.org saturday or you could just go to shopmercy.org directly but the shop mercy gives you some other things as well so please think about picking that dvd up you can also get it uh streaming live on your video uh streaming download at as it showed on the screen slash explaining the faith all right so let's get into what i call the most important of topics and that is prayer why is this so critically important well we have to start by asking what is prayer now that might seem like an obvious question to you and i put that up on the screen because basically what is it this as i said seems obvious but it's really not all right let's look at our next slide saint therese defined her as for me prayer is a surge of the heart it is a simple look turned toward heaven it is a cry of recognition and of love now here's the good part embracing both trial and joy all right it's easy to embrace the joy but to embrace the trial that's a little bit harder all right now here's the key thing prayer believe it or not is not an activity people think i gotta go pray i gotta get my prayers in in religious life i hear this all the time myself included but it's a state of being is what it is it's a state of self-giving which is what is the definition of love self-giving prayer is not about what i want necessarily and there's time for that but it's mainly about giving which is love showing your love for god and we're going to talk about all the aspects of it today all right it engages our whole being that's why it's a state of being our body our soul our emotions but in essence here's what one word prayer is now this i bet you didn't know because it seems obvious what is prayer yeah yeah but if i was to ask you what one word prayer is what would you say and you know what i challenge some of you type it type it in the comments what one word do you think prayer is i want to see if anybody gets it if everybody gets it i respond back to you but if you can think of one word that describes prayer it's communication that's why everybody's going to start typing communication it's communion with god and each other that's where we get holy communion prayer is communication and that is best found in communion that's why the eucharist is the ultimate form of prayer now it's also tied to love yes it is because love is intimacy and intimacy is communication so communication with god or intimacy with god is prayer because i just said that prayer is communication love is intimacy intimacy is communication and communication with god is prayer those who are in love express themselves through communicating words gestures feelings this is communication you know the biggest reason that people list is failed or excuse me reasons for failed marriages the number one reason lack of communication that's why i always counsel married people pray together that is the number one thing prayer together and engaging in the marital conjugal act almost every marriage couple that i have counseled that has fallen or that was falling apart was not praying together or engaging in the conjugal act this is what we have to do prayer what is it it's standing before god it's realizing what should i say if you were before god tonight what would you do how would you communicate this is what i want you to think of well the catechism tells us prayer is raising one's mind and heart to god and making requests of him not just give me give me but make me a better person help me grow in virtue and holiness basically it's a covenant relationship with god in you do you know you read in the old testament about all the covenants you actually have a covenant with god you personally and it's prayer that's your covenant with god i read to the covenant of abraham and the covenant of david and the covenant and noah you have a personal covenant with god and it is your prayer in it god slowly reveals himself to you when you go to prayer that covenant takes over and god slowly reveals himself to you and then you do the same in return this is why prayer is so critical you can't know each other if you don't reveal yourself to each other a life of prayer is actually practice in being in the presence of the holy trinity holy mackerel it's a preparation for heaven this is why it's like you know what it's like it's like dating before marriage courtship now i hear this crazy stuff that young people don't date anymore and they they don't court anymore i'm like how do you then get to know who you're gonna marry i don't get this but oh we we hang out well you need to get to know each other if you're going to get married and it's the same with our lord if we're going to be in heaven we need to go through that practice here on earth if you could define eternal life this one word would be prayer that's how we know god we know him we know him better by prayer than reading a thousand books we could read a thousand books and we would know him better in prayer this is what the saints tell us if we talk about god or read about god we know about him that's great but when we talk to him we get to know him you cannot now this is interesting listen to this if i told you what you cannot do to be a christian all right let me flip that in order to be a christian you must be what people say pro-life and believe in the eucharist and all this is true but do you know you cannot be a christian without prayer if you're say you're a christian you do not pray you cannot say you're a christian it's like needing faith and good works in the bible it also tells us in the bible we must pray if god is necessary and we know he is then prayer is necessary why because prayer is our lifeline to god so god is necessary and therefore if our lifeline to god is prayer prayer is necessary all right let's look at the next slide again obvious question why should i pray oh well father yeah i need this and you know my my mom's sick and and and all those are true we want to heal from the coronavirus and we're going to talk about prayers for our nation all right as i get towards the end please hang with me because i want to ask a special favor of you guys in prayers for our country and we're going to talk about that coming up here towards the end of the talk but why should i pray you want to know the easy answer because god wants you to it's not thinking about yourself what i need i need this i need this is why i pray father no it's because god wants you to he does because we need it for our own good it doesn't help god god doesn't need it we do to remind us of god and his importance in our life saint gregory of nanzianzen said we must remember god more than we breathe wow prayer can filter out the deceptions and the delusions in life and we're full of those why do you think the world's in such a mess if the world if each person one of the saints said if everybody on the earth prayed just 15 minutes a day we would be back to paradise we need god's spirit to prevent us from falling into sin and delusion but then somebody once asked well father then why did jesus pray he didn't fall into sin because he submitted his human will to the will of the father and that's what we need to do that's why prayer is important notice i haven't said it's about what i want yet that's coming up but not yet when jesus prayed he taught us to pray to lead us to the father remember my previous talks i talked about exetus ready to remember all comes from god all will return to god we came from the father and we will return to the father and this is what the mass is all of the mass is about us coming from god getting broken being fixed by the son and then through the power of the holy spirit he takes us back to god the father he does that through prayer so he's living an example and showing us to do the same st faustina in her diary 14 146 said every single grace you want to get to heaven i do you need grace you want grace she said every single grace comes from prayer and then with trust so we must do it all right so god knows what we need so why do we pray why do we pray if god already knows what we need i used to think that i used to think there's really no reason for me to pray god knows what he i need and it's in his providence and nothing happens without him wanting it so if he wants it it's going to happen if he doesn't it won't happen what's the point in praying don't fall into that trap he awaits our petitions because the dignity of us as human people and children lies in our freedom so he wants us to use our freedom this is a catechism 27 36 we pray to exercise our free will which is the greatest gift god give us it gave us and it shows our desire to be with him he wants us to show our desire if we never pray we're not showing any desire to be with him he wants it's not about he can do it or we're going to change his mind by praying that you let me pass this test or not it's about him wanting to see that we want to be with him it's a loving response to god all right so let's go to the next slide this is a good one what do i need to effectively pray all right the catechism tells us it says prayer does not require wisdom or saintliness because it is for fools and sinners i love that prayer is not does not require wisdom or saintliness because prayer is for fools and sinners that is me all right prayer requires three things love well actually four love faith hope and humility now humility is the foundation and remember what humility is i did a homily on this humility is not thinking less of yourself it's thinking of yourself less it's false humility for michael jordan to say you know i really wasn't a good basketball player is that humble no it's a lie he was a great basketball player so humility isn't thinking less of yourself humility is thinking of yourself less like being a better teammate remember saint francis de sales said there's many souls in heaven that did many many sins but not one is in heaven with the vice of pride and he said likewise there's many souls in hell that did many good things but not one soul is in hell with the virtue of humility it's our key to heaven so we must be humble so unless god finds our hands empty he has nowhere to place our gifts humility empties our self so that god can fill us with his wine of the holy spirit that's what the wedding feast to canaa was about remember the wedding feast of cana the jars ran out of of wine well they were then empty so then our lord filled it with the best wine you have to be empty empty yourself so that god can fill you with the wine of the holy spirit just like at cana all right let's go to the next slide i love this only when we recognize that we do not know how to pray as we ought are we ready for the gift of prayer that's romans 8 26. you've got to love that one doesn't it all right so that's the importance of humility what about love yes love is important too it's the source of prayer because it helps us to trust and be obedient the surest test of love is sacrifice putting someone's good above your own so this is why to pray as a sacrifice if i'm praying for somebody i'm putting their good above my own time i'm i'm sacrificing my free time to pray for them that's love because i've i've prayed and put their needs of the maybe they're sick or maybe they they're getting a divorce and they need prayers my praying for them is true love because it's sacrifice because i'm putting their good ahead of mind i'm giving up my free time i don't have any of that anyway so it's really it's not a huge thing for me because i don't have a lot of free time all right so we could be missing other things or whatnot watching you know tv or whatever which again i don't do that either but i do watch a game of course occasionally or a war documentary but all right so the surest test of love is our time jesus said come to me in the blessed sacrament he said this in encino yezu come to me in the blessed sacrament because the currency of friendship is time jesus said the currency of friendship is time prayer mostly comes from the heart and so the source of love is the heart so it's deeper than emotions or feelings love is an act of the will i choose to spend time with you that's true love prayer shows that god cannot be reached just through belief alone i mean people say well i believe in god i'm going to go to heaven no the devils believe in god to believe just knows that you confirm he exists but to love to live and love becomes an act of the will not just the intellect all right faith is also important because some things can't be proven scientifically they are a mystery this is what our hope is hope is the last one we need hope because i have hope in heaven i can't prove heaven exists by seeing it scientifically but i have hope and faith that it's there for me after the death that i will incur and we all will all right next slide when this isn't a fun one when and where to pray well the true answer is whenever and wherever you can obviously that's the true answer but let's go in a little bit more paul said pray always ephesians 6 18 right but this isn't always practical 24 7. we got to sleep we got to work what not but there are four what i call the big four times you don't want to forget to pray now pray throughout the day pray unceasingly then the big four what i call big four times to pray are these look at your screen when you wake up even if it's just good morning jesus mary joseph i say every morning you know thank you for the gift of life thank you for the gift of this day help keep me free from all sin and in in you know safe from all distress like we say in the mass give praise to the holy trinity next is at meals please we forget this one all the time we just grab our sandwiches we run do you realize how many people go without food i know you do but it just it's something to not forget and then another one we forget after receiving the sacraments this is a big one this is a big one after you receive holy communion don't race out the door beating each other to the parking lot squealing tires getting out of the lot when did you stop to say thank you if somebody saved your life if somebody saved your life from drowning wouldn't you say stop to thank them or would you just race home to watch the ball game heck no you would be all over them thanking them all right so don't forget after receiving the sacraments next at bedtime say lord thank you for getting me through another day for the sins i've committed i'm sorry maybe do a little examination of conscience but also pray before major decisions this is what jesus did do you know he prayed before picking the disciples well gee he's god he would have known who he wanted he still prayed before he picked the disciples all right we also need to pray before big decisions now when else do we pray we need to pray we have to make special times in our day to pray we'll talk about a holy hour coming up in a minute that's a great example making other times during the day to pray do you know that those in islam the muslims you know they have five designated times to pray a day we don't do that as christians now some religious do because we have the divine office and i'll talk about that in a minute but every muslim prays five times a day maybe that's why they're growing faster than we are all right so you will never find time to pray you've got to make the time if you're going to say i'll find the time later you won't i promise you it means that you have to unmake something else here's what's interesting if you're going to make time to pray you gotta unmake something else because pretty much all of our days are full whether or not it's filled with junk or good stuff that's for you to find out right peter creeft who i worked with in endorsing my book he's a great man a philosopher at boston college said quote the only way to install the tenant of prayer in the apartment building of your life is to evict some other tenant from that premises that prayer can then occupy such as tv sports the internet few of us have any empty rooms available so we gotta evict one of those other tenants to create room for prayer in our apartment of life when you can fit it in will never work i'll do my prayers lord when i can fit it in it's not gonna work now how long should we pray for now this is touchy as much as you can obviously but your fathers your mothers your your you got children you've got spouses you got jobs you've got careers you've got education whatever you're working on but the absolute bare minimum for even the busiest people in the world you know what it is at least 15 minutes now i say strive for an hour strive for an hour i work seven days a week 16 hour days but it's filled with stuff that if i was more efficient i could do better so we got to get prayer time try to get an absolute minimum of 15 minutes everybody can find 15 minutes i could follow every one of you around and you could follow me around and i guarantee that we could find in each other's day 15 wasted minutes i promise what do you want to offer god in the apartment building of your life do you want to offer him the worst apartment or the best you want to offer him the best all right if you wait for every other obligation i said you're not going to pray remember you're going to have to make the time let's go to the next one when is the best time the saints all tell us the morning morning you see the little prayer there see that little prayer the candle a little prayer altar there in the house the image of divine mercy prayer in the morning is really good because it gets your day started off right now some people can't do that if you can't delay these other things maybe consider getting up a little earlier that's what i started doing but give god your best time place is also important so where should we pray we should consecrate a place holy make it holy place a crucifix there a holy card a statue an icon in a church is best but obviously many of you can't get regularly to the church but you can meet god in your home even in nature about the only little free time i said to you that i get is i like to go fishing and i tell you if you ever sat there and held a rainbow trout i love to fish we catch mostly bass but if you ever catch a rainbow trout and you look at that thing you will realize there has to be an intelligent designer that thing could not come about by fluke or chance when you look at a rainbow trout you are going to see god's creative beauty beyond how beautiful of course the human person is the most perfect but i'm talking about just the beauty of nature so you can find god praying while you walk is a good combination of physical and spiritual exercises most important thing though is not how you pray or how you do it but that you do it just begin just do it so that's our next slide how to pray how do we want to pray the types of prayer all right i'm going to go through these prayer doesn't have to be done always on your knees in the church which is beautiful if you do keep it up but prayer can be private or public private is called personal prayer public prayer is called the liturgy so prayer can be in the church by yourself or or in community in the liturgy but prayer is this it can be private or personal it can be public or liturgical it can be vocal with words or silent in your heart it can be formal meaning i read the words of the our father where i say the words of the hail mary those are formal written prayers given to us or it can be informal like when we pray before a meeting i just pray whatever god puts on my heart you just say it as it comes to you that's informal it's in our own words it can be active where we do the talking it can be receptive where we listen to god you talk as active god talks is receptive both private or personal prayer and public or liturgical prayer are necessary people say well father you only talk about the mass no private prayer is why we're here today in addition to the mass the bible tells us go to your room close the door and pray but it doesn't say that's all to do you need to worship god publicly as well but let's start with private or personal prayer that's what most people think of when they think of prayer that form has three types that's our next slide so the three types of prayer from a personal or private prayer standpoint are vocal meditation and contemplative contempl contemplation this comes right from the catechism of the catholic church and i want to help summarize that for you all of these forms have one common denominator the heart the heart now let's start with vocal all right what is vocal prayer vocal prayer you all know you learned as a child the our father the hail mary the glory be but do you also know probably the most powerful of all vocal prayers i bet you don't know this and i would bet many of you don't pray it the psalms now some of you do god bless you but this is an example of private prayer that's formal meaning the words are given to us when we say vocal prayers when we say the ones that were given to us like the psalms or the our father we are praying in union with the whole church especially if you pray the psalms in the divine office because then you're united with hundreds of thousands of people around the world praying those same prayers the most powerful form of those vocal prayers is the our father because jesus gave it to us in the psalms because it's his own book in the bible it's the only whole book of prayer in the bible you know there are psalms for everything for every mood situation or person they're prayed by the jews and the christians so it unites us they were prayed by christ he prayed the psalm 22 on the cross and he fulfilled it you know i mentioned the our father too why is this important because jesus gave us this and it's important to pray because the our father captures our entire existence not just the present moment but it captures the past the present and the future how's that father well jesus says pray forgive us our trespasses that means touch the past lord i've made mess-ups in the past then he says give us this day our daily bread that's the present so we have to pray in the present and ask for his blessings but then it says and lead us not into temptation so even the future is brought to the throne of god lord forgive our past help us in the present and protect our future this is powerful stuff but sometimes we want to pray our private prayer informally where we make up our own words or we just talk from the heart you know i'll say something like uh heavenly father please send down the holy spirit i say this before mass this is an informal prayer i just make it up it's not a written prayer of a saint i just pray it heavenly father please send the holy spirit down upon us to open our minds and our hearts to receive the grace you wish to bestow give us this grace to lead us to eternal life and we ask this through christ our lord just whatever comes into the heart that's informal personal private prayer it's it's sometimes good because then we don't say our prayers but we really pray them the problem with the formal written ones is hail mary full of grace lord hail mary full of grace you know we we can not pray them we can just recite them we want to pray them so what makes our prayers heard is not the number of words but the love by which we pray all right this is important this is what's important let's go to the next slide all right the simplest form of vocal prayer is simply invoking the name of jesus that's the simplest form jesus christ son of the living god have mercy on me a person here it's called the jesus prayer and our youth are not being taught it anymore and it's a shame because it is one of the most powerful prayers you can ever make it's called the jesus prayer and we don't say it anymore lord jesus christ son of the living god have mercy on me a poor sinner that prayer has everything it invokes the name of jesus when you pray the name of jesus you have it all you have him as god you have him as man and you have all creation because all creation was created through him so some of the best form of prayers is just the name of jesus all right let's continue to go on let's start with vocal or excuse me continue with vocal prayers so i just told you some examples the our father hail mary glory be the psalms the name of jesus the jesus prayer those are all vocal prayers but let's go to another form called acts and this vocal prayer as you see on your screen is called a c t s what does that stand for a is adoration c is contrition meaning i'm sorry adoration means glory to you praise to god contrition as i'm sorry lord i messed up t is thanksgiving always thank god especially after receiving the eucharist when you get up in the morning for having another day when you go to bed for surviving the day supplication what does that mean that means intercessory prayer for others and yourself petition prayers all right let's look at this let's start with adoration that's basically adoring god all right acknowledging that you are the creature and he is the creator lord i come before you as your creature i'm the creature i'm the lowly creature you are the mighty creator i adore you i praise you before you chat with god before you just start chit chatting which is good we must adore him first he's not your lunch pail buddy even though he wants you to take him along in your lunch to work but he's still your god this is why parents do not think it is the best thing in the world to be your child's best friend you are a parent yes you need to be there for them but you have to first be a parent god is our friend absolutely but he's first our god and we must adore him just like you are first the parent before the the child's friend not saying you can't be friends i'm just saying you got to know the order and in god it comes that way too first adore him as god then we do our conversations with him but god is due our praise in worship this is the virtue of justice what is justice an eye for an eye tooth for a tooth no justice is giving someone their due and god is do our worship praise and adoration so that's a adoration c contrition it's best to come into god's presence on our knees not maybe physically if you can that's great but spiritually jesus christ son of a living god have mercy on me a poor sinner basically the tax collector publican you know the tax collector says i fast and i'm this good holy man and they excuse me the um the the um pharisee i fast and i'm a good man and the tax collector put his head down he's like lord i'm not even worthy to look at you that's contrition to do this examine your conscience daily when you go to bed at night walk through your day just don't hit the pillow and crash out if you need to go to bed then go into your room a couple minutes early and walk through your day it's a very important part of church tradition called an examination of conscience where you walk through your day and you say okay i did good here lord thank you for the blessings oh man i really messed up here lord i yelled at my cameraman giuseppe all over again i said i wasn't going to do it but i did it i yelled it he forgot to hit record i yelled at him again so lord forgive me all right now tell god that you're sorry but don't get depressed you know what if i if i mess up again i'm a liar no god said say you're sorry and try to do better remember i think it was saint teresa said saints are simply sinners who keep on trying she never said they don't sin remember every saint sinner has a saint has a a past and everyone has a sinner has a future or saint has a future because we look at this as i may not be perfect but i can try perfectly so saints are simply sinners who keep on trying confess your sins privately every day lord jesus christ son of the living god have mercy on me a poor sinner forgive me i'm sorry but then do it sacramentally at least once a month now technically the church teaches you have to once a year but i suggest trying once a month all right so that's contrition let's go on to t a c t t is thanksgiving count your blessings even in the poorest and most most wretched life there are things to be thankful for immeasurable riches such as life itself salvation eternal life the church god's patience with you it doesn't matter if you're sick or poor you still have a lot to be thankful for i know you're saying father it's easy for me to say no i got as many health problems as anybody between my pulmonary embolisms blood clots coronary artery disease non-benign polyps in my colon kidney stones i've got it pretty rough health-wise but you know what i still got a lot to be thankful for and so this is what thanksgiving is remember god only asks that we give him thanks he does not demand that we feel thankful did you get that that's important father i feel hypocritical because you know i just go into prayer and i just don't have this warm and fuzzy feeling i'm distracted no an act of the will is that you go and say thank you lord he only makes you say thank you or i want you to say think i'm sorry not makes he doesn't make us do anything we have free will he only wants us to say thank you he does not demand that we feel thankful so don't worry it'll come this is important all right and last is supplication what does that mean first means pray for others intercede for others and petition for yourself petition for others and ourselves you know the word pray means petition that's what the word pray means intercessory prayers for others are great but you know what don't just say lord i want you to heal this person invoke the saints get the big guns faustina saint peregrine if it's cancer saint faustina if it's somebody that's struggling with trusting god all right it's not just interceding by ourselves invoke the saints to intercede for our loved ones when we pray to saints we do not adore or worship them god bless you non-catholics listening in today but we catholics do not worship or adore the saints we pray to them but that's not the same thing as friends of god we are asking them to intercede for us and our loved ones as we would as you do with your friends on earth how many non-catholics go up to their friends and say hey would you pray for my mom she's got to have a knee replacement tomorrow that's intercessory prayer we're doing the same with the saints oh but they're dead father well jesus talked elijah and moses on the mount of tabor and the transfiguration they had long since died but they looked pretty alive to me and jesus says in gospel he's a living god our father is the living god of abraham isaac and jacob who they had long since died when jesus lived so when you pray for others many times your problems don't seem as bad i had one employee that came to me and he said we we do adoration at the marian helper center my association of marion helpers and one of our guys is managing the press department he's been there for over 50 years and he said man father when i go into that chapel and pray for these prayer intentions because you know what you we have a prayer line you can call our prayer line and have any prayers said our prayer lines are there for you if we don't answer personally leave a voicemail all prayers are prayed for whether or not later in a transcription or live with the person all our your prayers are prayed for you can call our marion helper center ask for the prayer line you can visit micprayers.com again that's m for marian i for immaculate c for conception one word mic prayers dot com and enroll to be a marian helper and then you will receive all the graces of our prayers rosaries penances everything i'm sorry i didn't make a slide for it but it's m-i-c actually i think brother mark may have it up there now if not again m-i-c-prayers.com and we pray for you or dot-org i'm sorry we'll both work both work dot com or dot org they both work okay and we will pray for you but anyway this charlie who runs our printing press said not until father chris i started praying for these intentions but our employees actually pray for your intentions if you're a marian helper you can call the line and have us pray for your intentions he said not until i started doing that did i realize how thankful i am for the blessings i have from god and that i hope god will bless these people that's awesome then prayers for ourselves are last and only for what we need god sometimes may withhold things from us until we ask because what we need first is to pray so if we need something god may withhold it so that we first go and pray for it because the first thing we need is prayer you see that's kind of interesting isn't it so through petition we admit to god that we are beggars and the only thing that we are without him is miserable that's what saint faustina told us she said without god i am miserable and she said you jesus told her you are miserable if you don't have me and you're left to yourself you have nothing but misery and so when we go to god we acknowledge that all right let's keep going next one meditation this is the next remember the three forms of vocal prayer that i wanted to focus on are i'm sorry the three forms of prayer personal prayer is vocal which we already did like the our father hail mary glory be now we're getting into meditation vocal also included acts but now we're getting into meditation all right what is it this uses more internal words or themes this is more mental prayer it engages more of our thoughts our imagination our emotions and it takes it to a higher level most people do their vocal prayers but they don't get into the meditation and this is important you need it you need a blend you just can't recite prayers you're not fulfilling the fullness of your being it's good but in meditation it don't confuse it with junk like yoga and this kind of stuff meditation you don't empty your mind and and and think you're the center of the universe you empty your mind and fill it with christ that's why yoga is not what we do as catholics we fill our things with christ it's meditation and in it we allow the holy spirit to illumine our minds about the truth of god can you use other things absolutely books the bible images icons even sacred music things of creation i like to look out at the mountains in the valley and the brookshire mountains and think of god now another form of meditation go to the next slide is lectio divina what does lectio davina mean it means divine reading of scripture one powerful form of prayer i do every day and i invite you to join me is read the daily scripture passage for the mass and do lectio divina what does that mean divine reading so okay so what you basically do is you read it step one there's four r's i should have made a slide for this i'm sorry you do four r's the first r is you read it then you let it sink in and you re second r is reflect what is god's message for the world you reflect on what jesus is trying to tell us the third r is to respond what does it mean for me personally and then the fourth r is just rest silent let god's word fill you and i tell you a half an hour which i do every day on this seems like three minutes so let me just randomly pick an example i didn't make a slide i'm sorry let me pick one off the top of my head um the other day i did the four men in the paralytic one of my favorite bible passages all right so i'm gonna read it what's it about jesus is in the house and a bunch of people are there the uh visitors couldn't get to him so four men wanted to bring their paralyzed friend to jesus they couldn't reach them so they climbed up on the roof and they lowered him through the roof and laid him at the feet of jesus jesus looked at the four men he didn't look at the men on the mat and he looked at the four men who brought him and he said your faith to them their faith has healed you get up and walk so you read this so the first r is read you read it and then the second ours you reflect what's our lord trying to tell us here okay he's jesus christ he has all power in the universe he can make a crippled man walk he just forgave sins not only did he hear him physically he healed him spiritually so in the healing of sins he's the savior only god can forgive sins he is god he later delegated that to the priest well we talked about that before all right so that's that's the reflect now what's the respond the respond means what's in it for me well what's in it for me is that this is my personal lord and savior and that he can heal me physically if i trust but if he doesn't there must be a reason god's will allows it but you know what he definitely will heal me spiritually if i go to confession my sins too will be forgiven just like the man on the mat lord i want to be like the man on the mat i want my sins forgiven he's going to say okay your sins are forgiven but how does he tell us to do it go to the priests throughout scripture get get to confession that's the teaching of the church so lord i want to be healed this is my responding and then finally our fourth r i rest i just let it sink in i'm telling you a half an hour will go like that and you are meditating envision yourself there in the house as the as the paralytics being lowered to the roof imagine yourself pushing through the crowds not at disneyland or cedar point in ohio but imagine pushing through the crowds to get to jesus and then you see him heal this guy this is powerful stuff you can also meditate about things in your life events you can meditate look at the next slide on the rosary what's the rosary the rosary's not just a bunch of hail mary's it's it's the hail mary's are background music what are you meditating on the scriptural passages of the mysteries of the rosary so if our lady's talking about or if our rosary is is the visitation literally envision yourself meditate walking with mary through the hill side of judea through the rocks and the thorns trying to get to an act of charity scourging at the pillar think of your sins of the flesh and how your sins of the flesh and my sins of the flesh cause our lord to be whipped on the back and how he must feel it just think i've been whipped a couple times by mistake when we were swimming by branches and stuff like that there is no worse feeling in the world envision feel that whip on your back i'm not saying grab a whip and have somebody whip you i'm saying you can meditate on that that's what the rosary is it's not a bunch of hail mary's this meditation on scripture all right what about next slide stations of the cross brother mark who's running the slides today took this actual picture that's not photoshopped in that a beautiful picture that's the stations of the cross here on our grounds of the shrine of divine mercy you can meditate on his passion that's what jesus said to do at the three o'clock hour he didn't say actually pray the chaplet he said meditate on my passion you can do this through stations of the cross he said to do stations of the cross the reason we do the chaplet is because it's a meditation on his passion for the sake of his sorrowful passion so we do this at three o'clock all right let's go on to the next slide after vocal prayer we had meditation now let's go into the big dog contemplation contemplation this is the big dog this is the most interior of all prayer it's wordless and it's also the easiest why is it the easiest because you don't say anything you don't do anything it's silence and surrender listening to god not doing the talking hearing the word of god again like meditation it's not without object it's not necessarily objectless our attention is fixed on the lord himself catechism tells us this 2709 it doesn't strive to reach a mental void or place ourselves at the center of the universe just like i said a second ago about yoga it's about being in god's presence you know what have you ever unfortunately had a friend in the hospital unconscious like in a coma or an accident and you go to visit them they're not up they're not conscious and you don't say a word to them you're just their present at their bedside that's it contemplation is just simply being finding the time to simply be with god in loving communion and silence just being presence like you ever lay in the arms of your loved one i mean it it's incredible i remember as a little boy laying in my mom's arms that sense of security and love i remember with my fiance same thing now god has taken me another direction to the priesthood but it was a loving beautiful precursor to something of infinitely greater being in the arms of god it's funny because it's hard this contemplative prayer because it's so simple it's a gaze of faith just fixed on jesus you gaze in him and he gazes back either in the eucharist or on the crucifix or in the image of divine mercy do you know that this child-like method of prayer is actually the highest form of prayer the church teaches it is silent love with forgetting about ourselves no self-awareness it's a renunciation of self-will it's all about god you're not saying anything i need this i need that you're you're saying lord fill me your servant is here i am listening and you just relax and rest in his arms what replaces the self is not nothingness but jesus again catechism 27 15. it's actually training for future ecstasy in heaven how is that well do you know what the word ecstasy means it means standing outside of oneself you always hear that the saints were in ecstasy that means standing outside of oneself it is a sharing in the very life of god many reject this grace unknowingly they feel well nothing's happening father i'm just sitting here prayer seems to be unproductive it's therefore useless well if that's useless then all beauty and love in joy in the universe is useless and i don't think anybody will say that we are simply resting lovingly in god's presence like the arms of our loved ones but to a greater degree and we can't force this god gives it as a gift it's a gift that can only be accepted in humility and in poverty paul john the baptist said he must increase i must decrease so prayer it's not psychological but it's supernatural when you get to this level wow all right what i just showed you is personal private prayer so again to recap you have vocal prayer meditative and contemplative vocal prayers like our our fathers hail mary's our psalms acts adoration contrition thanksgiving supplication that's vocal prayer then we add meditation we envision being in a scene with god being in the scripture passage but then contemplation is just freeing ourselves quietly and being in his presence you mix these different forms of prayers and let the holy spirit lead don't go in saying i'm going to do this or i'm going to do that or i'm going to do this at 3 30 i'm going to do this at 5 30. let the holy spirit lead you that's your private personal prayer but there's a greater form of prayer father what could be greater than that public or liturgical prayer let's turn to the next slide this is my famous church slide from saint albertus in detroit the most beautiful churches saint holy swedish the name of mary saint jehoshaphat detroit has these beautiful downtown detroit churches but the mass the mass is the perfect form of prayer why because as good as your private prayer is we just went through it acts and meditation and contemplation as good as that is we got stain blocking it and the stain that blocks it is like if i pull the window shade down in my bedroom god's love is like the sun it never stops shining even if there's clouds and it's raining the sun is still shining the clouds block it my shade blocks some of that light of god's grace coming in so my personal prayer because of my sins and yours too is imperfect it's necessary we need to do it why because it sets the stage for the perfect form of prayer what's the perfect form of prayer the mass catechism 26 43 says the eucharist contains and expresses all forms of prayer it's the sacrifice of praise this is amazing the mass is the perfect form of prayer because it is the prayer of the son to the father remember my old talks you can kid of on youtube and facebook the mass is god offering god to god god the holy spirit offering god the son and sacrifice to god the father in atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world so this is the perfect form of prayer it's god offering god to god and you can be part of it but it the mass actually models what a perfect christian life a prayer should be both in the church and outside the church we'll talk about that in a minute the goal is to bring and unite your personal prayer with the public prayer of the mass and perfect your personal prayer well father what do i do if my personal prayers broken and sinful come to confession wipe out the mortal sins come to mass you've wiped out your venial sins and the penitential right now all of a sudden you're perfect your prayer is perfectly united to the perfect form of the public prayer called the mass god offering god to god god the holy spirit offering god the son and union in sacrifice to god the father in atonement for your sins and the sins of the whole world catechism 1071 tells us that we are to be active participants in the prayer of the mass in the liturgy all christian prayer finds its source and goal the structure of the mass as i said reveals a pattern that we should follow in our christian life of prayer what father i should pray outside at home like the mass yes listen to this the parts of the mass taken as a whole com provide us a complete model for our life of prayer let's look at this when the mass begins we bless ourselves in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit amen this serves as the foundation of all prayer why because we are united to the passion of christ we just made a cross we share in his sacrifice with our spirit soul and body we've engaged our whole spirit soul and body by making the sign of the cross we call god by name as the reason we are worshiping we are praying not on our own but in the name of the trinity and the sign of the cross brands us just like a cowboy brand's cattle that it belongs to me or to him when you make the sight of the cross you're branding yourself that you belong to god so on the last day when the devil comes to claim his and god comes to claim his you've got the brand on you saying uh-uh satan i belong to god then we go into the penitential rite here we lay before our god our sins and as for forgiveness this was see in acts contrition then we pray the glory we praise god for his redemption that's adoration then we do the reading of the gospel the liturgy of the word this is like lectio divina i just said you read scripture you meditate on it it's reverent reading reflecting on the sacred texts then we have the prayers of the faithful that's basically intercession supplication a-c-t-s supplication is in the mass the prayers of the faithful we ask god to assist in the lives of all the people ourselves included then we have an offertory where we prepare gifts we offer to god our gifts we in prayer offer our very selves then the big one look at your next slide what part of the mass is that that's not the consecration consecration is already done but this is the high point of the mass it goes with the consecration it's called the concluding doxology through him and with him and in him oh god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever and ever what's happening god the holy spirit is offering god the son in atonement for our sins to god the father god all came from god now all is returning to god and guess what in that slide the priest and the person of christ is returning all creation back to god the father from which it came incredible unbelievable this doxology we unite ourselves to christ and we're taken back to the father the very place from which we came then we say the lord's prayer we went through that it's the perfect form of vocal prayer we pray for the past the forgiveness the bread of the of the present and the leading us not in temptation in the future then ultimately the source and summit we receive holy communion we are fully united with god liking contemplation but even greater sacramentally wow so the greatest form of public prayer is the mass let's go to the next slide because there's something else that we call the liturgy of the hours or the divine office and this all consecrated religious around the world pray in unison these prayers every day that i pray the divine office i'm united with hundreds of thousands of other consecrated religious and lay people around the world who are reading the very same prayers it's called liturgy of the hours of the divine office it's an extension of the mass now i had a whole talk on this i wanted to put a whole section i'm sorry i'm running behind i got to wrap up my talk here but the liturgy of the hours is basically the public prayer of the church to sanctify the hours of the day so some pray seven we pray five we pray uh five offices we pray in office of the readings which can be done any time of the day we pray a morning prayer we pray a midday prayer we pray an evening prayer and we pray a night prayer it is called liturgy of the hours because we are sanctifying the hours of the day it's an extension of the mass all right now as i'm running out of time here let's finish with what's important there's some other important things to do let's look at the next slide one of the things you want to do is mix everything we just said and that's called a holy hour if you want to take everything we just said mix them together take the best of all of it you got the holy hour because you got the eucharist god is present you've got the time of silence and contemplation you've got time to do your vocal prayers you've got a time to come before the lord asking for forgiveness it's got it all the holy hour started with jesus in the garden when he said could you not watch with me yet one hour it's the story of man and his need for god it's very very you know there is an example i want to tell real quick uh a woman told me this story and her husband was there with her they visited us here at the shrine and she told me the story i want to share with you real quickly she said you know father um i was begging my husband to go with me to eucharistic adoration for years and his ants were always and he's standing right next to her and his answer always was you know i don't need to god knows i love him she's like please come with me he's like no no no i don't need some brick wall of a church god knows i love him and he'd go about his football game or going to the grocery store whatever it might be and she used to say no this is a way to show no no no god knows i love him so he wouldn't go to adoration well then one day he had to have a hip replacement surgery and or no i'm sorry it was a outpatient ortho orthoscopic surgery like on a knee or something and he was supposed to be in and out in just a few hours so his daughter took him and the wife stayed home and he was going to be home in a few hours but there were some complications and he ended up getting admitted to the hospital and he called her home that night or that afternoon and said listen they're admitting me to the hospital and she said okay and he goes what time are you going to be here to see me now this woman in her wisdom got a jolt of grace from the holy spirit and she said well i think i'm going to run to the grocery store i got these errands to run i got to do this i gotta do that he's like what and she's like yeah you know what we gotta get these bills paid they're overdue i gotta get groceries the kids are coming over tomorrow he's like did you just hear me i'm alone here i'm waiting for you and he goes don't you love me and all of a sudden she paused and he goes oh all right i gotcha if you love me you'll come see me and he realized what she was teaching him he said to her don't you love me if you love me you'll come visit me and she goes you know i love you i don't need to come visit you and he went holy back so the couple's telling me the story right here in the shrine a couple years ago and they're laughing changed his life now he goes to the holy hour every week isn't that beautiful i love stories like that all right so loving starts with making quiet time to be with someone and this is what you're doing with god in a holy hour you know there's another example a mother just use this had three grown children i read this in a book somewhere she had three grown children the first kept in touch with his their mother these were three three girls and the three girls the first daughter kept touch with her mother regularly calling her all the time sharing all aspects of life the second daughter phoned but only once a month dutifully regularly but more of a just i'm checking in the third daughter only contacted her mother when she was in trouble or needed money i read this somewhere but while the mother loved all three who do you think she felt closest to it's hard to get to know someone that you rarely talk to so father i mean okay i gotcha i hear you i want to pray but i'm no good at it all right your very willingness to pray is itself a prayer even if we aren't doing it perfectly if you are desiring to pray more that shows god's grace is actively working in you this is powerful stuff moments spent with god even if they're frustrating are moments of prayer even if you're in the chapel don't say gee i wasted this whole hour i got no grace just the fact that you're there the fact that you made an act of the will love is not just an emotion this is why divorces happen all the time my own brother-in-law said to my sister you know i don't feel see the fireworks when you walk in the room anymore he asked for a divorce after 24 years if you feel fireworks every time that that spouse walks in the room you could be a case study love is not just an emotion love is an act of the will i choose to love you even when you frustrate the daylights out of me does a mother or a father feel like getting up to change a dirty diaper at two o'clock in the morning do they jump up and down and go oh goody i get to change a dirty diaper of course not but they do it because they love the baby that's why love is an act of the will even if i don't feel like it because i love you i'm gonna change that diaper and it's the same with the chapel sometimes i don't feel like going to the chapel i've worked all day i'm tired i'm hungry i'm exhausted but i go in there and i say lord i'm here you know me it's not because i want to be but because i love you that's what we got to do don't feel hypocritical and stay away i used to do that all the time and sometimes i still do that's not the answer all right confide all of your distractions and anxieties that you're in prayer to him lord i'm being distracted right now i give you these distractions you need to confess that god is in charge and you are not all right the highest vocation of a human being is to become the most perfect of adorers and you can do that in the holy hour wow if someone saved your life i said before would you what would you say to them say that to our lord in adoration in the holy hour treat it like the offertory at mass but not only bread and wine that's given in the offertory but you're you yourself give to him when we offer ourselves god can do to us what he does with the eucharist he accepts us he accepts our lives our gifts our talents even our weaknesses that we bring to him then he gives thanks to the father because he's going to bring all of us back to the father so he gives thanks to the father that we came to him because it's through him that he'll give give us back to the father and he offers us he basically breaks us just like the host he basically breaks us first and then offers us his food for the world your food for the world of nourishment in the way you live your life like christ the breaking is purifying us getting us out of our own comfort zones snapping us out of our bad ways all right think of the holy hour as spiritual radiation therapy like radiation coming out of the eucharist sorry i'm getting worked up here but this is amazing stuff all right jesus didn't just reveal the father to us he reveals ourselves to us we see who we are and many times we should see ourselves like a small child someone who is dependent on a mother and a father this is mary our mother god our father so our prayers should always ask for god's will to be done they give him permission that gives him permission you know they say well father god's will is going to be done anyway in your life god's will may not be done if you don't give him permission god's will was for me to become a priest but i was not going to give him permission for many many years i was going to get married when you give him permission you say your will be done in my life are you now giving him permission to work his will so our prayer should ask for god's will let's look at the next slide this is who you should use mary and the saints holding you like that little baby jesus put yourself in her arms use mary and the saints the catechism 2683 says so quote mary is the perfect prey er meaning she's the prayer we can pray with her and to her the prayer of the church is sustained by the prayer of mary and the saints as well mary fills in us what is lacking in our prayer so take mary with you into the chapel she'll perfect in your lack of prayer what is missing all right close to being done here next slide what about the obstacles to prayer oh man there's a ton of those isn't there all right so obstacles to prayer prayer is both a gift from god yes but it's also a response from us so it requires effort and sometimes that's met with obstacles prayer the catechism actually can you believe this this is surprising to me the catechism says prayer is a battle it's a battle it's against ourselves and the evil one who doesn't want us to have union with god the battle of prayer is infinitely more important than any military battle in human history think about that most as i said most merit comes get a load of this and there's one thing that i think will help you get to prayer today more than anything else it's this there is more merit when you pray when you don't feel like it than when you pray full of consolation and giddiness there's more merit because you make it an act of the will like i said a second ago i don't want to be here but because i love you i'm coming here that's an act of the will and there's more merit when you pray when you don't feel like it don't hide from the chapel because you say lord i'm a hypocrite i don't feel like praying and me being here is just hypocritical that's the devil all right so what are some of these obstacles discouragement during periods of dryness father my prayer is dry i get discouraged all right god tests us right he tests us to strengthen us these are the times that we can grow if we offer our dryness we can also participate in the dark night of the soul sometimes god does test us and he wants to know are we going to choose christ without comfort or are we going to choose comfort without christ all right another obstacle sometimes i feel guilty lord i have a lot of people who are wealthy tell me this i feel guilty because i haven't given all my belongings away to jesus and when i go into prayer i feel guilty no you shouldn't god has given you those things to be used for his greater glory however you do that tom monahan who i stayed at his cabin he's a very wealthy man but he's one of the greatest catholics i know he's not living on the street corner and gave away every dollar but he's using what god gave him remember money is not the root of all evil the inordinate love of it is what about the disappointment that our prayers go unanswered father my prayers are never answered remember we don't go to prayer to bend god's will to us it's to bend us to god's will and we'll talk about that here in just a second to finish last page amen hallelujah right another obstacle father i'm hypocritical because i'm a sinner and i am going before god seriously that's exactly why you do need to go before god that's why you need prayer but i don't feel like praying i said prayer like love is an act of the will what about this one here's another obstacle distraction father i can't keep my mind straight i'm thinking about making dinner i'm thinking about shopping getting my kids to school and sometimes people will tell me i'm even getting pure thoughts in prayer more than any other time again that's the evil one but our lord has an answer don't try to squash and hunt down and follow your distractions and beat them up you can't distractions reveal what we are attached to it's actually an enlightenment of god if you are getting distracted in prayer don't get frustrated and beat yourself up say oh wait a minute god's showing me what i'm attached to if your distraction is a particular person or or whatnot you you may have an attachment or a particular thing or maybe your facebook page or whatever it is it might show you that you have an area to work it's a self-awareness this can be very helpful ask god to take the place of those things and finally a lack of faith can be an obstacle turn to an act of the will like i said feelings are not important just make that decision lord i'm going to come pray here god wants you to rely on faith in prayer it's really trust like abraham remember our father in faith he was trusting he asked him to take isaac into to to sacrifice him he's like how well he trusted because i don't know how you're going to do it lord but you promised me that through this boy my progeny is going to spread all over the world my descendants will be great how am i going to do that how's it going to happen if you're going to if you're asking me to kill him he trusted he had faith so if all of this is still a problem ask the lord to deepen your prayer life you must pray for the grace to deepen your prayer life all right two slides to go next to last slide why didn't god answer my prayers none of you have ever asked this question before right all right all prayers are answered it's just sometimes the answer is no like my mom right mom why can't i get this no why because i said so god doesn't work that way but sometimes he does say no why because what we ask for is not best for god's plan for our life he has something better plan for us you know i used to pray for a wife i dated a lot i always had a girlfriend and and and and i kept thinking lord how come you haven't sent the perfect person yet and and and i know i've got my faults and in in sometimes it's incompatible with this person sometimes we do very well but lord how come you haven't sent me the perfect wife yet well you know what i'm super glad he didn't because you know what greater thing he had in store for me the priesthood so i thank god now he didn't answer that prayer i was even engaged this is god at work god doesn't grant what appears to be goods and even though they may be truly good a wife is a beautiful thing but he only wants us to sometimes get those things that are the best for us and for me it was the priesthood all right what about this one sometimes god's answer is to wait i know we all hate that one right i'm very impatient that's the one i struggle with the most i'd rather you tell me no than tell me to wait because you're holding me on i feel like you're you're dragging me on but god does this sometimes he tells us to wait why because in god's timing is wiser than ours like i said i waited to become a priest and that was by god's hand only if i would have become a priest right out of high school i never would have made it and the reason is because i would have wondered sometime what's it like to have a house what's it like to own a business what's it like to work in corporate america what's it like to have a girlfriend what's it like to do these things and and i now experience and i'm not looking back i'm praising god for my past but i only look to the future god bless that he took me on that path if i would have become a priest right out of high school that's just me personally i never would have made it now other men are better than me they can come right out of high school and be great priests it just depends on who we are so sometimes god tells us to wait god knows what you need before you ask him this is another reason that people say why didn't he answer my prayers well if god knew what i needed before he asked him then why do i need to ask if god knows what i need i don't need to bother asking him he already knows because he awaits our own petition as i said before because the dignity of his children lies in their freedom this is catechism 27 36 as i said before all right a couple more sometimes god waits for us to pray before giving us what we pray for wait a minute why didn't the lord answer my prayer because he wants you sometimes to pray more he wants you to pray even more before giving you what you want because what you need the most is prayer so sometimes he doesn't give you what you want so you'll pray more because what you need most is prayer you need prayer more than maybe that new fishing rod well maybe that's not a good example we all need a new fishing rod but you know maybe a new car all right we need prayer and patience and conformity of to god's will and prayer provides all of that and finally god sometimes waits with his answer in order to make us pray without ceasing that's kind of tied to the last one it's to elicit our love all right this then is to finish kind of a summary what all we talked about today wow we covered a lot of ground i can't go over all of it to summarize it but you know what some of the highlights prayer doesn't have to be even though i gave examples of words meditations contemplation it doesn't have to be just those ways you can pray through fasting for other people or the benedictines aura at labora prayer and work while you're working in the shower or driving before making your prayer request though did you ask god his will did you spend time in reflection and discernment are you asking god what is best for you rather than telling him prayer doesn't change god it changes us we need to center on the gifts not excuse me we need to not center on the gifts but we center on the giver that's god himself you know here's the final word saint alphonsus liguori said those who pray are certainly saved and those who do not pray are certainly damned whoa wake up jesus told many who were lost that the reason was because they didn't pray saint faustina wrote in her diary jesus told her that the salvation of thousands of souls depends on your prayer and we can help these people even years later because god is outside of time if you listen to my suicide talk that's still online you can see me do a whole talk about god being outside of time and when you make your prayers it doesn't matter if they're past present or future god can apply them to your loved ones even at the moment of their judgment i prayed for my grandmother 10 years after she died of suicide and i believe god took those graces and gave them to her because of the catechism and the diary of saint faustina god gives the people the chance to accept his grace at the moment of their death that's in this faustina diary 1486 he comes to the soul three times and a soul if it's not been praying they won't recognize god that's why your prayers are so important even years later they can come in and be showered over the soul of that person that even as they are being at the moment of their judgment your prayers can help them even if you make it years later because god is outside of time he's omniscient he knows all prayers will ever make and he's omnipotent he has the power to apply those graces to our loved ones at any point in time it doesn't mean you can change history what it means is you can help your loved ones so as jesus said to saint faustina and the she said in the diary 872 persevere in prayer all right so i want to finish with just a couple last things the next slide is a slide of a family please pray the catechism emphasizes prayers for your family with your family together remember father payton the family that prays together stays together the christian family is where the child first learns education and prayer it's the domestic church it's where we learn from the prayers of the parents the kids learn god bless you now i told you and i'm sorry i went along that a special favor of you i favor is this if you are in the united states i beg you to pray for your country jesus all over the diary of saint faustina i'm going to get to this in a minute joan and dave moroney talked about this in their divine mercy for america ministry i'll talk about that in a second and i'm wrapping up here if you are from the united states please pray for your country wherever you are pray for your country throughout the diary jesus tells saint faustina to pray for her nation to do novenas for her nation pray for your nation if you're in the united states especially pray for the end of the civil unrest and and and and peace and not the loss of our religious freedoms but opening of the churches and bringing back god in the sacraments but i have a special favor for two types of people that i hold dear in my heart that i feel are the two chosen people of today the philippines and poland if you are listening from the philippines or poland i beg you if us americans do not know how to pray for ourselves and we're not doing it i implore you guys would you please say a prayer not only for your own nation but the united states the filipinos are a special people no nation suffered at the hands of japan and world war ii more than the philippines yet no nation remain more catholic i believe you are chosen people today to fan the spark of divine mercy you have filipino ladies all over the world spreading divine mercy i love the filipinos they're god's chosen people and poland that's the spark from which divine mercy john paul faustina came jesus said the spark will come from poland to prepare the world for my final coming so you will pray pray i ask you for your own nation but pray for the united states too we are your allies and no nation suffered greater at the hands of the nazis in world war ii than poland no nation pray pray for your country pray for the united states if we can't do it ourselves i ask your help that's intercessory prayer and now i want to finish please throw the last slide joan and dave moroney i have a ministry called divine mercy for america you can see the slide there you can go to their website that's listed on the screen the website divinemercyforamerica.org is an opportunity for you to learn and grab resources for your nation and i want to highlight something that they have on their website that you can visit their website has a breakdown of the novenas that jesus said to pray for your country the holy the um uh basically the holy hour nevina the litany of the saints novena the novena of chaplets and the novena of the holy of holy communion so jesus said to faustina pray these four novenas for your country the novena of holy hours the novena of the litany of the saints the novena of chaplets and the novena of holy communion so joan and dave have it on their website where you can get this where jesus talks about praying for your nation it is not about the destruction of borders and the wiping out of nations it's about praying for our country to be safe and to be protected but most of all to be loving and willing to bring in all those who want to come but to come under the auspices of helping their own lives and the lives of our fellow americans and on your nations around the world so god bless all of you please visit our webpage thedivinemercy.org or divinemercyforamerica.org pray that novena for your country pray for your own nation but i beg your help for the united states as well prayer is the key prayer is the answer prayer is the only way out of this mess jesus told us when the demons are so great prayer and fasting is the only way so god bless all of you and i apologize i forgot to mention the beginning it was announced that today's topic was going to be the church scandal and i apologize greatly because we had a shift in schedule you can see the new schedule it'll be on shrine of divine mercy webpage you can see the schedule but we're going to keep going with these talks every saturday and i'll post up on there the talk for next week and we'll gonna keep on going every saturday at 11 o'clock sorry i went a little bit longer but through the intercession of saint faustina mary and all the saints may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit and may almighty god bless america and the whole world thank you and we'll see you next saturday at 11 a.m hello everyone if you're like us in the state of massachusetts where our governor has extended the non-essential business closure you're going to be at home looking for things to do there is probably no better time ever before or after than right now than to get closer to god you see you cannot love what you do not know so we want to help you to love god a little bit more by knowing him instead of sitting at home on your couch watching reruns of miami vice like my cameraman giuseppe no i don't i think that we have an opportunity now more than ever to learn our faith that is why i have produced a new video dvd series that can be used as small groups and parishes or right at home on your own couch it is called explaining the faith these are my 13 favorite talks i've ever done that are regarding what we need to know about jesus mary confession communion why would a good and loving god allow suffering and especially a walk through of the entire mass from the start to the finish and everything that you need to know about it tell you what here's a quick clip in the church it's just not come to stand sit and kneel it's to engage in this most incredible mystery this is what it is the church what makes the catholic church the church of christ is the sacraments the sacraments are just symbols they do something they're actual grace sacraments if you remember your definition from catechism are efficacious signs meaning efficacious they do something they're not just symbols they're efficacious signs of god's grace instituted by christ and entrusted to the church by which divine life is given to us we have it so that christ can enter into us and live in us now if we don't receive him worthily what happens we lose that grace so please consider now is the time to get closer to god and we're going to show you how as i said this dvd series has 13 talks that you'll be able to learn more and share your faith with everyone that you love to help get yourself and them to heaven so please visit shopmercy.org or call 1-800-462-7426 to understand our faith better than ever before and to hear it explained in a way like never before thank you and god bless you you

Channel: Divine Mercy

Views: 586,635

Rating: 4.8527327 out of 5

Keywords: Mass, vocal prayer, meditation, contemplation, explaining the faith, alar, chris alar, father alar, fr. alar, divine mercy, image of divine mercy, shrine of divine mercy, chaplet of divine mercy, Catholicism, divine mercy sunday, jesus christ, mary, catholic, catholic church, catechism, faustina, saint, marians, marian fathers, MIC, Marians of Immaculate Conception, calloway, gaitley, pray, prayer, religious, faith, God, Liturgy, feast of mercy, priest, Divine Office, suffering, sacrament

Id: bWp9tUW7cR4

Length: 93min 38sec (5618 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 18 2020