Day 33 – Let Freedom Ring: Freedom from Theft
ANNOUNCEMENT! We are getting very close to concluding “Let Freedom Ring” and beginning the 54-Day Rosary novena entitled, “Novena for Our Nation” (August 15 – October 7). Both on August 15, the Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption. You can find information for “Novena for Our Nation” HERE.
“Let Freedom Ring” has acted as a kind of cleansing/purifying, or exorcism, as “Novena for Our Nation” acts as a call out to God to bless and heal our land. Please join us for “Novena for Our Nation!!”
Let Freedom Ring: Freedom from Theft
My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
At a word from You, the devil and his minions flee in terror.
You are the source of all truth. You are the source of all strength.
By the power of Your Cross and Resurrection, we beseech You, O Lord
To extend Your saving arm and to send Your holy angels
To defend us as we do battle with Satan and his demonic forces.
Exorcise, we pray, that which oppresses Your Bride, The Church,
So that within ourselves, our families, our parishes, our dioceses, and our nation
We may turn fully back to You in all fidelity and trust.
Lord, we know if You will it, it will be done.
Give us the perseverance for this mission, we pray.
Amen.
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception … pray for us
St. Joseph … pray for us
St. Michael the Archangel … pray for us
(the patron of your parish) … pray for us
(your confirmation saint) … pray for us
“Freedom from Theft” by Fr. Jim Altman
Dear family, Our Father gave us the Ten Commandments for a reason, a good reason. Few people will do it, but we all should look in the mirror and say, “MY Father gave me Ten Commandments because He knew very well I, myself, needed such COMMANDS – not suggestions – because otherwise I would tend to misbehave.” After all, if we all were greatly inclined to holiness, we would not have needed those Ten in the first place. In fact – and again, few like to admit it – Our Father pretty much had us pegged as to the main areas we would sin.
So He gave us these Commands like stripes along the highway, to keep us within the boundaries of the narrow road to Heaven. To stray outside those boundaries – to disobey those Commandments – to SIN – well, welcome to the broad road to destruction. Sometimes there are immediate consequences, like running into the ditch of sin, hitting a tree and dying. Other times there are less immediate consequences. We might “get away” with doing something – or so we erroneously think. Like that secular hymn to Santa, Our Father actually does know when we’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness’ sake.
Life itself tends to have consequences when we violate those Ten Commandments, when we sin. If we sin in smaller matters, maybe those consequences will be like straying over the “chatter-bumps” intended to alert us when we stray onto or over the highway stripes. Maybe we will get away with texting while driving most of the time. That’s what makes it so dangerous. Without immediate consequences; we are lulled into a false sense of security, we are emboldened, until that day when our distracted driving actually does result in a real accident and we and others are maimed or killed. So it is with venial sins. The consequences are not immediate or are minor, so we are emboldened to continue and push the envelope further. That is such dangerous ground. Sin causes darkness in our souls, and the more we sin, the more it gets dark, dark, dark in there. It gets darker and darker until the time when we cross the line into grave sin and do not even recognize it for what it is. Then, dear family, we have definitely chosen to drive down the broad road to destruction.
Dear family, I say all this because too many people do not appreciate Commandment #7, thou shalt not steal. Other words for stealing include “Theft” and “Larceny.” In the secular world, Theft is often defined as the unauthorized taking of property from another with the intent to permanently deprive them of it. Within this definition lie two key elements: a) a taking of someone else’s property; and b) the requisite intent to deprive the victim of the property permanently.
As an aside, it permanently leaves out “unauthorized borrowing” – but just try and tell the store that you only were borrowing something you shoplifted! Similarly, if we put on our thinking caps, it just “doesn’t fly” when a criminal alien suggests his “unauthorized entry” simply was a moment of “undocumented immigration.” Our Federal Government – and every government on the face of this planet – has immigration commandments for a purpose. Get it straight, dear family: unauthorized entry, illegal aliens, are thieves, and have just stolen from every other citizen of this country, and no amount of left-wing lib changing of the language to “undocumented” can change that.
Understand this, dear family. Our Father had to COMMAND us not to steal precisely because we were inclined to steal. We were inclined to take that which was not ours. And the more we take, the more darkened are our souls to the reality and the gravity of the taking that which was not ours. Eventually, we get to the point of not even realizing the “taking.” That is when we are blithely driving down the very center of the road to destruction.
Dear family, most of us know what is ours and what is not ours. You don’t need me to tell you taking what is not yours is a sin, and there will be consequences, now or in eternity. You know this. For today, please recognize that many do NOT know this, or do not care. I do not believe for a second that all those rioters, looters, burners and shooters do not know that what they are taking or destroying is not theirs to begin with. They just do not care. They are lawless, which means – get this straight – they are Godless. Disregard the Law, disregard God. It really is just that simple. Let us recognize it for what it is. This Godlessness can be less evident, like when all those people took over the Wisconsin State Capital in a “protest,” ultimately causing about seven million dollars in costs and damages – all paid for by the Badger taxpayers. Dear family, apart from the fact that many of them were teachers taking unauthorized leave and stealing time from the parents and students, they literally stole from every taxpayer every penny of costs and damages. They. Are. Thieves.
While I do not need to define taking of anything tangible, like a candy bar from Kwik Trip or a Wrangler from the Jeep dealership, the above example of the teachers stealing intangible time is instructive for another type of theft of which so many are clueless. For today, let us relate theft of intangible time by relating Commandment #7, “Thou shalt not steal,” to Commandment #3, Keep Holy the Lord’s Day. The Commandment was a day. That means 24 hours. I sometimes say it this way, “God commanded us to keep holy the DAY. That means 24 hours. Commandment #3 does not say ‘keep holy the Lord’s 55 minutes and get mad if father’s homily is a little long!” A day is a day, and a day has 24 hours. Remember that bit about how if we sin our soul gets darker until it gets really dark? All those people who cannot be bothered to show up for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Sunday – they commit grave sin because they have stolen God’s time. Usually it does not happen all at once. Usually they start by playing fast and loose with just some of the 24 hours – doing unnecessary work, or making someone else do unnecessary work by shopping or eating out on Sunday. They start down that very slippery slope until one day – boom, they find any excuse good enough to blow off their Sunday OBLIGATION. That will not end well for them. If they do not want to be with God on Sunday, they will not be with Him in eternity. Period.
Dear family, most of us – excluding the rioters, looters, burners and shooters – know that we should not steal tangible things. How about for today let us ponder how so many of us steal intangible things – like time – like God’s time? As part of our next Confession – how about if we examine our consciences and ask ourselves how much time have we stolen. That is an important examination, dear family, because stealing time makes us thieves. To help with that examination – let us ask ourselves if we have made it a point to do what Jesus told us to do: spend an hour a day with our Lord in this life, so we really can spend an eternity with Him in the next. Then let us, in these troubled, troubled times, resolve to be free from our attachment to time, and start giving back the Lord one hour for every 23 other hours of the day He gives us.
Prayer of Reparation
My Lord and my God,
We have allowed the temptation of the devil to move our hearts toward theft.
Maybe our greatest theft is the theft of time, our stealing from the Lord what really is His time.
We are so immersed in temporal pleasures that we are blinded to our purpose in life, which is to know, love and serve God in this world so we can be with Him in the next.
Serving takes time, and so many are so stingy with their time.
We intentionally justify leaving God out of our daily lives because we have so many other priorities other than God.
So often we drive so far outside the God-defined narrow lines of life that we do not even recognize we are on the broad road to destruction.
We turn to You Lord, in our weakness, and beg Your forgiveness for our own theft of time – especially for the times we have not even kept Your day holy, all 24 hours of Your day.
We love you, Lord, and we beg for the wisdom and strength to love you more.
We know, Lord, if You will it, it will be done.
Trusting in You, we offer our prayer to You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Prayer of Exorcism
Lord God of Heaven and Earth,
In Your power and goodness, You created all things.
You set a path for us to walk on and a way to an eternal relationship.
By the strength of Your arm and Word of Your mouth
Cast from Your Holy Church every fearful deceit of the Devil
Drive from us manifestations of the demonic that oppress us and beckon us to faithlessness and fear.
Still the lying tongue of the devil and his forces so that we may act freely and faithfully to Your will.
Send your holy angels to cast out all influence that the demonic entities in charge of fear have planted in Your church.
Free us, our families, our parish, our diocese, and our country from all trickery and deceit perpetrated by the Devil and his hellish legions.
Trusting in Your goodness Lord,
We know if You will it, it will be done in unity with Your Son and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever.
Amen.
Litany of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.
Heart of Mary, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, like unto the Heart of God, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, united to the Heart of Jesus, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, instrument of the Holy Ghost, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, sanctuary of the Divine Trinity, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, tabernacle of God Incarnate, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, immaculate from thy creation, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, full of grace, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, blessed among all hearts, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, throne of glory, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, most humble, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, holocaust of Divine Love, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, fastened to the Cross with Jesus Crucified, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, comfort of the afflicted, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, refuge of sinners, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, hope of the agonizing, Pray for us.
Heart of Mary, seat of mercy, Pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Immaculate Mary, meek and humble of heart,
Make our hearts like unto the Heart of Jesus.
Let us pray.
O most merciful God, Who, for the salvation of sinners and the refuge of the miserable, wast pleased that the Most Pure Heart of Mary should be most like in charity and pity to the Divine Heart of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, grant that we, who commemorate this sweet and loving Heart, by the merits and intercession of the same Blessed Virgin, may merit to be found like unto the Heart of Jesus, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
To see the Goals, Methods and Levels of “Let Freedom Ring,” go HERE.
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