We are headed into a time of true spiritual warfare. The signs of this are thick in the air about us now.
We would do well to get ourselves ready. We need good examinations of conscience, good confessions, good Communions – always GOOD Communions. We might also do well to unite ourselves to larger groups in specific tasks. One reader here in another thread suggested a daily Rosary until Divine Mercy Sunday for the reconciliation of the SSPX. That’s just one idea, but it is a good one, since the potential division of those many good people from the Church is one of those signs I am talking about, especially when the Church is under grave attacks from secular forces.
We need good spiritual reading, and some silence each day. We should introduce small mortifications if we haven’t already.
My I also suggest trying to cultivate a habit of saying during the day (along with your Angelus, etc.) and quite often little phrases such as “My Jesus, mercy!”?
I am talking about basics, right? Things we should be doing anyway? Prayers before meals? Examining our consciences daily? Mortifications? Turning our minds to God and calling on help from His holy saints? Asking our Guardian Angel for help? Works of mercy? Catholics should do all these things. I suppose what I am driving at, beyond just doing them, is to do them with an increasing sense of gratitude for God’s gifts and a rededication of our hearts to His.
As I have mentioned more than once, the concept of the pilgrimage, in particular the Camino of Santiago de Compostella, has been growing in my mind.
Another Catholic practice for doing penance for past sins or also readying oneself for a major change in life is a pilgrimage. Arriving at a Holy Shrine and praying there can be a grace-filled turning point, but so is the actual journey to get there.
We of the Church Militant are warrior pilgrims on the march to our heavenly Fatherland. In making a pilgrimage we manifest outwardly something of that interior identity we have as baptized members of the Lord’s Mystical Body here on earth.
Perhaps you could think about a trip to a nearby Shrine, if not that of Santiago or the other great pilgrimage places. There are any number of “National Shrines” around our respective countries. For example, in my neck of the woods there is the National Shrine of St. Paul, the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota. Near Detroit is the Shrine of the Little Flower. In Washington DC is the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. In NY state there is a Shrine of the North American Martyrs. In England there is a Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. In Quebec there is St. Anne de Beaupre. Once you start paying attention, you find shrines everywhere.
Just a few rambling thoughts, for what they are worth.
