FOUND ONLINE AT:
https://youthapostles.com/newsletters/2002-03.html
Contents:
A Mid-Lent Challenge
Prayer to Saint Joseph
Buried with Christ : CCC #628
Dear Friends,
"May He so strengthen your hearts in holiness." (1 Thes 3:13)
So, how's your Lent going? Are you feeling the pain of detaching from your sins? I mean, are you really stretching yourself to grow in holiness? No pain, no gain! You still have time to beef up your resolutions, if they weren't challenging enough already. As Fr. Corapi says, "Don't be a stinkin' wimp!" LOL!
As much as I honestly dread Lent in the beginning, I am often very joyful come Easter because I feel more free... even just a little more like Jesus. Unless of course I'm ignoring the challenges of the Holy Spirit on my heart, or my channels are so clogged that I can't hear the challenges of the Holy Spirit.
Do you know what I mean? You hear God asking you to step up to the plate and surrender something to him that has been pulling you away from Him, but everyone around you seems to take Lent so lightly. Why should you strain yourself, right? I mean, just give up something really little to make yourself feel better and coast through this Lent thing, right? Well, I know the times I've done that, I didn't really grow all that much. And when Easter came, it didn't feel like Easter. I was totally spiritually bummed at myself. Easter can't be so gloriously Easter without participating in the Cross.
Sooo... if you need a kick in the butt, I'm giving you one! If you know your being a wimp-a-zoid about Lent, go spend some time in quiet, and ask the Holy Spirit to really call you on to a deeper level of holiness. Don't be afraid to do something that will really stretch you! You won't regret it!
Let's heed the words of our awesome Holy Father, Pope John Paul II:
"Do not be afraid to be holy! Have the courage and humility to present yourselves to the world determined to be holy, since full, true freedom is born from holiness."
Until next month, I remain...
Your Eucharist loving, Blessed Mother petitioning, rockin' Catholic Church obeying, Pope John Paul II devotee and fellow sinner in need of God's grace and mercy,
Michele TePas
Youth Apostles Online
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Today, March 19th, is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph. Let us ask this glorious saint, the Chaste Guardian of the Virgin, for his intercession:
"Dear St. Joseph, be my father, protector, and guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me purity of heart and a love for the spiritual life. After your example, let all my actions be directed to the greater glory of God, in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and your own paternal heart. Finally, pray for me that I may share in the peace and joy of your holy death. Amen."
Baptism, the original and full sign of which is immersion, efficaciously signifies the descent into the tomb by the Christian who dies to sin with Christ in order to live a new life. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."
- from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph #628