Daily Lent Archives

PoC-39 5th Saturday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .Justice

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Do I see myself as a child of God?

Seek——Focus on the crucified Christ as you meet him throughout the day. Stand up for your brother or sister, always appealing to the brother or sister who might seek to harm him or her.

Knock—Meditate on Micah 2:12–13.

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men. He who opens the breach will go up before them; they will break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass on before them, the LORD at their head.

Micah prophesies that the Lord will lead his sheep out of their captivity. In the violent journey of Christ out of the walled city of Jerusalem, we see a literal fulfillment of this prophecy. Are you one of the followers of Jesus on his way of the cross?

Transform Your Life—Realize that you are a child of God, reborn in Baptism when you shared in the death and resurrection
of Jesus. Live out your Baptism, dying to yourself whenever you find yourself tempted to be a child of something other than
the one true God.

The author of The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ in Your Life, Michael Dubriuel, passed away in 2009. His wife, author Amy Welborn, has made his book available as a free e-book! We HIGHLY encourage you to download this exceptional work.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-38 5th Friday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .The Dignity of Work

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Am I doing what God wants me to do?

Seek—To pray, to put God first in all things, in every aspect of your life. Ask God to bless your home and your work, making all that you do fruitful.

Knock—Meditate on Genesis 2:2–3.

And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done. (. . . )So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.

How do you rest from your work? How do you sanctify the Sabbath in your life? Do you trust enough in God’s providence to take a day off? Spend some time reflecting on Jesus’ Sabbath rest on Holy Saturday and what it could mean for you.

Transform Your Life—Allow the cross of Christ to restore the dignity of your work. This may not involve leaving behind your job, even if you took that job for the wrong reasons. God can transform anything into good. So what matters is what your motivation is in your work: are you building up the kingdom of God or are you trying to build your own kingdom?

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-37 5th Thursday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .Obedience

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Am I obedient to the commands of Jesus?

Seek—To be open to God. Receive the Eucharist and ask God to enrich you with his Body and Blood, enabling you to be an obedient son or daughter, abiding in Christ.

Knock—Meditate on 1 John 2:3–6.

We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments. Anyone who says, ‘I know him’, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, refusing to admit the truth. But when anyone does obey what he has said, God’s love comes to perfection in him. We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who claims to be living in him is living the same kind of life as Christ lived.

How well do we know him? How much of our disobedience is due to our own ignorance of Christ? Are we disobedient children because we do not really believe that the Father loves us, and wants what is best for us?

Transform Your Life—Accept the transfusion of life that is the Eucharist, an exchange of our sin-tainted, mortal flesh for the immortality of the God-Man. Live the Eucharist realizing that Christ remains in you. When you are tempted, call upon the presence of Christ to empower you to be obedient.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-36 5th Wednesday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .Our Freedom

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Are there areas of my life where I am still enslaved?

Seek—Persevere in the teaching of Jesus. Experience the joy of the small victories when standing your ground against the enemy, especially when he seeks to seduce you back into the slavery of sin.

Knock—Meditate on Romans 6:22–23.

Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What does it mean to be a slave of God? Are you a free person? If not, what still enslaves you? If so, from what has God freed you?

Transform Your Life—St. Ignatius of Loyola taught that we should make use of created things inasmuch as they aid us in praising, reverencing, and serving God, for that is the purpose of our existence. Spend your life seeing all of creation in these terms, remaining in the teaching of Jesus, and witness how your life is totally transformed.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-35 5th Tuesday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .The Image of God

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—What can make me more like Christ in his humility?

Seek—Ask God to reveal to you his purpose for your life. When you do not feel accepted by others, look to the rejection that Jesus endured on the cross and unite your suffering to his.

Knock—Meditate on Numbers 21:8–9.

The Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

Imagine the people being bitten by serpents, then being healed by staring at the serpent on the pole (which is still the symbol for the medical profession). What do you think healed the people?

Transform Your Life—Learn the acceptance of God. Confess your sins and anything that you think makes you unacceptable to God. Learn to love your physical imperfections and to help others accept theirs and yours.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

St. Joseph Novena – Day 9

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O glorious Saint Joseph,faithful follower of Jesus Christ,
to you we raise our hearts and hands
to implore your powerful intercession
in obtaining from the benign heart of Jesus
all the helps and graces necessary
for our spiritual and temporal welfare,
particularly for the grace of a happy death
and the special favor we now request…

(State your request here.)

O guardian of the Word Incarnate,
we feel animated with confidence that your prayers
in our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.

O glorious St. Joseph,
through the love you bear to Jesus Christ
and for the glory of His name,
hear our prayers
and obtain our petitions.

Amen.

DAY NINE

O good Saint Joseph, help us to be like you,
gentle to those whose weakness leans on us;
help us to give to those who seek our aid,
succor that they may journey unafraid.
Give us your faith,
that we may see the right shining above the victories of might.
Give us your hope that we may stand secure,
untouched by doubting, steadfast to endure.
Give us your love that as the years increase
an understanding heart may bring us peace.
Give us your purity that the hour of death
finds us untouched by evil’s breath.
Give us your love of labor
that we shirk no lot in life that calls us for honest work.
Give us your love of poverty so that we live contented,
let wealth come or go.
Give us your courage that we may be strong;
give us your meekness to confess our sins.
Give us your patience that we may possess the kingdom
of our souls without distress.
Help us, dear Saint,
to live that when life ends
we pass with you to Jesus and His friends.

O Glorious Saint Joseph,
hear our prayers and obtain our petitions.

Amen.

Saint Joseph, pray for us!

PoC-34 5th Monday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .Forgiveness

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Do I believe in the power of Jesus to forgive?

Seek—Acknowledge your sinfulness before God. Make a daily examination of conscience. In whom are you placing your trust, in Jesus or yourself? Frequently ask God to help you to sin no more.

Knock—Meditate on Philippians 3:8–11.

Not only that, but I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him.

I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith.

All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead.

What does Paul mean when he speaks of his faith in Christ? Why would he count everything else as a loss and garbage? How can one become more like Christ in his death?

Transform Your Life—See yourself as no different than the greatest sinner or greatest saint. Potentially, you could be one or the other; the outcome depends more upon the one in whom you place your trust than any personal merit of your own.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

St. Joseph Novena – Day 8

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(State your request here.)

O guardian of the Word Incarnate,
we feel animated with confidence that your prayers
in our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.

O glorious St. Joseph,
through the love you bear to Jesus Christ
and for the glory of His name,
hear our prayers
and obtain our petitions.

Amen.

DAY EIGHT

O blessed Joseph,
to whom it was given not only to see
and to hear that God whom many kings longed to see and saw not;
to hear and heard not;
but also to carry Him in your arms,
to embrace Him, to clothe Him,
and to guard and defend Him,
come to our assistance and intercede with Him
to look favorably on our present petition.

(State your request here…)

Amen.

Saint Joseph, pray for us!

PoC-33 5th Sunday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .Life

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—What still binds me?

Seek—See the restorative power of the cross to see all things made new by the death of Jesus—spend some time allowing your past failings, relationships, and the deaths of loved ones to come forward, and present them to the Lord.

Knock—Meditate on Acts 9:40–41.

Peter sent them all out of the room and knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to the dead woman and said, ‘Tabitha, stand up’. She opened her eyes, looked at Peter and sat up. Peter helped her to her feet, then he called in the saints and widows and showed them she was alive.

The early Church continued the ministry of Jesus, as does the Church today. In the raising of Tabitha, we see Peter doing what Jesus did. How much do we act on our faith in Christ when we encounter the results of sin in our lives?

Transform Your Life—Remember life; too often we live in the past. Live for the present moment in Christ.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

St. Joseph Novena – Day 7

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(State your request here.)

O guardian of the Word Incarnate,
we feel animated with confidence that your prayers
in our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.

O glorious St. Joseph,
through the love you bear to Jesus Christ
and for the glory of His name,
hear our prayers
and obtain our petitions.

Amen.

DAY SEVEN

O faithful and prudent Saint Joseph,
watch over our weakness
and our inexperience;
obtain for us that prudence which reminds us of our end,
which directs our paths and which protects us from every danger.
Pray for us, then, O great Saint,
and by your love for Jesus and Mary,
and by their love for you,
obtain for us the favor we ask in this novena…

(State your request here…)

Amen.

Saint Joseph, pray for us!