An Orchid By Jerry Torres
Our Blog is inspired by The Holy Spirit.
Wednesday of the Second Week in Lent
By mistake,(or was it?) we did Thursday March 5 readings, sorry I ‘m getting old.
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,
he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,
and said to them on the way,
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.”
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”
Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”
He replied,
“My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and said,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Emphasis mine: Matthew 20:17-28
Two or three weeks ago Steve and I met on Wednesday as we do almost every week.
Steve said I should learn The Litany of Humility Prayer.
Sadly, my first thought was, “I don’t need another prayer.”
But as you probably figured out by now, The Holy Spirit told me to look up the prayer right now. I Google the prayer, and when I read it I was stunned.
Jesus on the Cross, and I have and will pray this powerful prayer everyday from now on.
Ever since the day I first prayed this prayer I’ve wanted to write about it in our blog and share it with all of you,
But,
The Holy Spirit blocked me until today when I read the Gospel by St. Matthew, which said “Whoever wishes,” and I knew right away what we would talk about.
Litany of Humility Prayer
O Jesus meek and humble of heart, hear me
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being Loved, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being honored, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being praised, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being approved, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being despised, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being rebuked, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me O Jesus
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me O Jesus
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus grant me the grace to deserve it
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus grant me the grace to deserve it
That, in the opinion of the world, that others may increase and I decrease, Jesus grant me the grace to deserve it
That others may be chosen, and I set aside, Jesus grant me the grace to deserve it
That others may be praised and unnoticed, Jesus grant me the grace to deserve it
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus grant me the grace to deserve it
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as Holy as I should, Jesus grant me the grace to deserve it.
Calumniated –As the past participle of “calumniate,” it describes someone who has been the victim of malicious lies or defamation. (Google)
The first time I read this prayer I was convicted on every count, and decided many changes have to happen to me to have a deeper relationship with my Father, Brother, The Holy Spirit.
Prayer:
If you want to grow in Love, Joy and Peace, this is a result of growth in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Two quick notes:
- In a men’s faith group meeting we prayed and I noticed, Father, Son, AND The Holy Spirit. As you all should know by now I believe the Holy Spirit is a forgotten Person in the Triune God, and that day when we prayed AND The Holy Spirit, it dawned on me, (The Holy Spirit), that the AND becomes a modifier which is wrong. Correct English, but a modifier, so from now on we will take the AND out as we did above.
- At the same Men’s Faith group meeting, I suggested to Nick who is Italian, and very knowledgeable of the Bible, that how we pray the Our Father in English is wrong.
Nick said, “I will explain where you are wrong Fred.” We couldn’t talk until after the meeting, which was a God send. We said God the Father doesn’t lead you into temptation.”
And to prove our point we showed Nick Tuesday’s reading from St. James, and I love St. James because he pulls no punches.
Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation,
for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him.
No one experiencing temptation should say,
“I am being tempted by God”;
for God is not subject to temptation to evil,
and he himself tempts no one.
Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.
Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,
and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.
Underlining mine James 1
Remember the Prayer is called The Our Father.
Anyway, I mentioned to Nick that the Spanish and French say, “Do not let us fall into Temptation,” and the Italians something slightly different. Bishop Francios who we talked about before said the Italians say something different, but he didn’t know what that was.
Nick prayed the Our Father in Italian, and remarked that when he got to the words “lead us,” the Italians pray INDURRE (Italian) or ENDURE (English) instead of lead us, which still suggests something other than “lead us into Temptation.”
Why are we mentioning this again? I for one have the tendency of saying prayers and not always thinking what the words truly mean. Just say the prayer, and get on with life.
That’s wrong, and we all know it. I also believe The Our Father with ‘Do not let us fall ( or endure) into temptation really sends a strong message to God the Father, of my true wishes, and I will not go back to the original English, do not lead into temptation.
Picture:
Hello again Fred. Here are the orchid pics I said I would send. I (like many) think orchids are beautiful. In addition to the flower, I see a bird element in all of these. God sure does have the most fascinating ways of entertaining us and making us aware of His majesty. At least to those who have eyes to see.
Please keep Snapping!
And if you want the ten calling cards shown above, email me and I will send you my address, send me a STAMPED self-addressed envelope and I will send you ten cards.
The offer for the cards is for American readers only. The Post office won’t accept foreign stamps.
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed.
Send an email to: fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
