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    • May Resources

      Spiritual Fruit: Modesty, Prudence and Chastity
      Reflection on the fruits of Modesty and Chastity: https://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/learn-about-the-fruits-of-the-holy-spirit-part-4

      Gift of the Holy Spirit: These are concluded for the year, but we continue to ask for the increase of all seven within us, and ask the Holy Spirit to help us know in what gift(s) we are particularly strongest and how God desires that we use it/them to build up his Kingdom especially in our own family, parish, and wider local community.

    • Saints of the Month

      Exemplifying the Fruit of Modesty:  St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
      Link to reflection on Modesty by St. Alphonsus: Extracts from, "The True Spouse of Christ"

      Exemplifying the Fruit of Chastity: Saint Maria Goretti, Saint Agnes and St. Gemma Galgani
      Link to reflection on St. Gemma’s Life: St. Gemma Galgani (url: url: http://stgemmagalgani.com/2009/04/st-gemmas-heroid-chastity-and-purity.html

      Exemplifying the Fruit of Prudence: St. Thomas Aquinas
      Link to Reflection on Prudence: https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/453/prudence.htm
      Bio on St. Thomas Aquinas: http://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&sitebuilder=1&pgid=13038&cid=27402&ecid=27402&ciid=319644&crid=0

    • Bulletin Announcements

      Jubilee Year of the Holy Spirit: Bearing the Fruit of Chastity
      From the online Catholic Encyclopedia (from catholic.com), we read, “Chastity is the virtue which excludes or moderates the indulgence of the sexual appetite. It is a form of the virtue of temperance, which controls according to right reason the desire for and use of those things which afford the greatest sensual pleasures.” What may be surprising is that chastity is not only for the unmarried, but for the married. Note that chastity can exclude, but also moderates the indulgence of the sexual appetite. While for the unmarried, it must exclude, but for the married, it must moderate. The conjugal acts which are proper to marriage must always be open to life and never contraceptive in nature. St. John Paul II writes prolifically and profoundly about the “mutuality of gift” between the spouses. In the conjugal acts of the married couple is signified the “I-thou” of the couple, the vows exchanged which are to be lived out through the daily self-sacrifices of one to the other. John Paul II speaks of the mutuality of “self-gift”. Each person in the marriage freely and generously giving of themselves to the other. It is the hard work of self-sacrifice, after the example of Christ who sacrificed himself for his Bride, the Church, even to the point of painful death. This gift includes the hard work of dying to oneself each day, and husbands, this is not one-sided! Thank your wives for what they do for you each day, the hidden things you rarely see or can appreciate.  

      Jubilee Year of the Holy Spirit: Bearing the Fruit of Prudence
      In addition to being one of the twelve fruits of the Spirit, prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues. Prudence enables practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right course of action in achieving it. It consists of the art of blending judgment with the experience and good sense that comes about when one knows and lives in complete faithfulness to the laws of God as Jesus taught us and as elaborated upon by the apostles in the letters of the New Testament. Thus, it is the practical application of the teachings of the Gospel in any particular circumstance. Since it is the role of the Holy Spirit to enlighten our intellects, to apply the virtue of prudence requires our right relationship with God and a close relationship with his Holy Spirit in which we continually seek His counsel, especially when we are in doubt about what to do in a given situation. We must be open to the quiet suggestions that the Holy Spirit lays on our heart, or that maybe spoken through others or some other medium such as Sacred Scripture, something said on Catholic radio, a homily, or some Catholic spiritual reading or even of a friend if what is said is in keeping with Church teaching.

      Jubilee Year of the Holy Spirit: Bearing the Fruit of Modesty
      When we think of modesty, the first thing we normally think about is how we dress and act, but modesty is much more than that. The Catechism states that modesty “is an integral part of temperance” that “protects the intimate center of the person”…”is ordered to chastity”, and “guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity” (CCC#2521).  In his Theology of the Body, Pope John Paul II stated that modesty is an interior disposition from which one’s outward appearance and behavior stem. It is “a concrete manifestation of life according to the Spirit,” which is another way of simply repeating what St. Paul said, that it is a fruit of the Spirit.
           Modesty is also a virtue that is tied to humility. It is the understanding that everything we have, including our own gifts and talents, intellect, skill and aptitudes come from God who created us---and he could have created us so that we had few if any at all! As a result, we must be patient with and understanding towards those whose skills, gifts, and aptitudes are lesser than ours. Depending on our patience level this can be frustrating for us, but then this is the cross we are called to carry, and our charity and patience towards them must be no less than what we expect of God towards us!
       

    • Prayer of the Month

      Heavenly Father, in this month of May, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit to increase within us the fruits of prudence, modesty, and chastity that we may with pure minds and hearts serve you by serving others not for our own gain and own sense of self-fulfillment but out of that love which is pure and chaste for others because each person is created in your divine image and by virtue of that fact alone has infinite dignity and is worthy of our love and attention. Help us to see Christ in each person whom you place in front of us. May Mary, our Mother, be our model of prudence, modesty, and chastity and pray for us to draw us ever closer to her Son.  We ask this through your same Son, Our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, God forever and ever. Amen.
       

    • Cenacle Resources

      Prayer of Saint Augustine to the Holy Spirit (said in addition to the other opening prayers to the Holy Spirit)
      “Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen.”

      Cenacle Readings for the Month:
      Week 1: Matthew 11:28-30
      Week 2: Colossians 3:12-17
      Week 3: 1 Peter 3:13-22
      Week 4: Hebrews 12:14-29
      Week 5 (if needed or may be used as a substitute reading): Proverbs 1:1-9

    • Cenacle Prayer

           Holy Spirit, we ask you for the gift of Wisdom to better know You and Your divine perfections, for the gift of Understanding to clearly discern the spirit of the mysteries of the holy faith, for the gift of Counsel that we may live according to the principles of this faith, for the gift of Knowledge that we may look for counsel in You and that we may always find it in You, for the gift of Fortitude that no fear or earthly preoccupations would ever separate us from You, for the gift of Piety that we may always serve Your Majesty with a filial love, for the gift of the Fear of the Lord that we may dread sin, which offends You, O my God.
           Finally, in this month dedicated to your Virginal Spouse, Mary Most Holy, increase within us the fruits of chastity, modesty, and prudence. That we may live holy lives in the purity of your love. We ask these things through Christ, Our Lord, Amen.

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