Day 15 – Let Freedom Ring: Freedom from Wastefulness
Let Freedom Ring: Freedom from Wastefulness
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 Wastefulness” by Fr. Jim Altman
Dear family, maybe you, like me, would hear your mom say something to the effect: “finish what’s on your plate, don’t waste it, you know there are people starving in Africa.” It’s safe to say that when it came to peas and carrots, I was not much concerned about who might be starving. Frankly, if they were hungry, I gladly would have shared my excess peas and carrots.
The same anti-wastefulness doctrine would be drilled in many different ways: “quit standing there with the refrigerator door open” – “close the door, we’re not heating the outside” – “don’t waste your money on that” Whatever it might be, we came to understand that wastefulness was a bad thing. In these “green” times, the culture really has hammered us with wasting any natural resources.
Further, depending on the gravity of what was wasted, the consequences could be great indeed. If we failed to work hard in school, we will have “wasted” our opportunity to get a good education. If we failed to further God-given talents in any other field, like music or sports, we might hear “what a waste.” Pope St. John Paul II said “artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”
If we failed to take advantage of any opportunity for such development, it would be an opportunity “wasted.” Who among us would want to bear the brunt of the accusation, “what a waste”? Jesus the Lord taught about wasting talents in the Parable of the Talents, and we all know what became of the guy who buried his talents in the back yard: “… throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” -Mt 25:30
Ironically, when I was younger, there was a phrase bantered about essentially as a badge of honor, “I got wasted” when referring to having done some hard partying. Somehow “getting wasted” was a good thing. To my shock, when researching the theology of waste, one search turned up the following: “Guidance on Cannabis Waste Management Requirements.” Seriously? What’s this world coming to?
Dear family, we all know we are supposed to eat our food, conserve on energy, take good care of our bodies, and make something of the talents God has given us. We probably all do a credible job at not being wasteful in those departments. Rather, at the Last Judgment, the thing that likely will be the downfall of money is something few people even think about: wasted time. Victor Hugo (Les Miserables, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) said: “Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waster of time.” Unfortunately, it seems not many pay attention to this waste of time until they run out of time. We all have heard the line: “on their deathbed nobody ever says I wish I would have spent another day in the Office!” What I never have heard anyone say is “I wish I would have spent another day in church.”
So much of our thought processes about waste, maybe all of them, consider waste only as regards to temporal things. Do we ever consider waste as regards preparation for eternity? How much time do we waste that better could be spent in prayer and contemplation of eternal Truths upon which our salvation actually does depend? Perhaps if we spent more time in prayer and contemplation, we would not feel so great a need to waste so much time immersed in activities that do not promote an increase of Grace in our lives. Perhaps we would not waste so much time on the accumulation and maintenance of temporal goods, and spend a lot more time in accumulation and maintenance of spiritual goods. Unfortunately, sometimes trying to tell someone this is like “talking to the wall,” as the saying goes. In other words, it may seem like “you’re wasting your breath!”
St. Vincent de Paul said “our business is to attain Heaven; everything else is a sheer waste of time.” That pretty much says it all. How many of us devote even a small portion of time, much less spend adequate and sufficient time, on the business of attaining Heaven? How many of us hear and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd Himself who told us point blank: “When [Jesus] returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, ‘So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test.’” -Mt 26:40-41 Do we not know that the time for testing is upon us?! Are we even attempting to waste less time on frivolous and temporal matters and spend more time on the only thing that counts?
Even this thought does not give us the fullness of our calling, our duty of service to others. All of us actually are called to suffer for others, suffer for their souls. That is why the great Archbishop Sheen said “Much suffering in hospitals is wasted.” It is why Mother Angelica said, “Suffering in itself does not make us holy. It is only when we unite it, out of love, to the suffering of Christ that it has meaning. Suffering without love is wasted pain.” It is why Pope St. John Paul II said “each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.”
Dear family, time is the only thing we cannot buy. No amount of money can perpetually delay our inevitable suffering and death. When that time comes for all of us, we will be called to account for our time. Did we waste it or did we make good use of it? Did we take the toughest times of suffering and offer it up to share in the redemptive suffering of Christ? Let us once again stop and ponder those ultimate words of St. Vincent de Paul “our business is to attain Heaven; everything else is a sheer waste of time.”
Prayer of Reparation
My Lord and my God,
We have allowed the temptation of the devil to move our hearts toward a gross waste of time.
We have fallen into countless and endless distractions when we have not lived up to the call of our Baptism by not giving back to You a just tithing of our time.
We cling to so many meaningless distractions that fill up our day, leaving little energy to spend time with You.
In our weakness, we have been weak in Faith, and clung to our time as if it was our own, even to the point of acting like the Rich Fool who himself did not realize: “his time was up.”
Why is it we are afraid to come to You in time, so we can be with You in eternity?
We turn to You Lord, in our weakness, and beg Your forgiveness for our selfish waste of the time You have given us.
We love You, Lord, and we beg for the courage to live out our lives giving generously to You of our time, especially our time in suffering, as St. Paul urged us to do: “Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil.” -Eph 5:15-16
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 St. Michael the Archangel
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, etc.
God the Holy Ghost,
Holy Trinity, one God,
Holy Mary, Queen of the Angels, pray for us, etc.
St. Michael, the Archangel,
Most glorious attendant of the Triune Divinity,
Standing at the right of the altar of Incense,
Ambassador of Paradise,
Glorious Prince of the Heavenly armies,
Leader of the Angelic hosts,
The standard-bearer of God’s armies,
Defender of Divine glory,
First defender of the Kingship of Christ,
Strength of God,
Invincible Prince and warrior,
Angel of Peace,
Guide of Christ,
Guardian of the Catholic Faith,
Champion of God’s people,
Guardian Angel of the Eucharist,
Defender of the Church,
Protector of the Sovereign Pontiff,
Angel of Catholic action,
Powerful intercessor of Christians,
Bravest defender of those who hope in God,
Guardian of our souls and bodies,
Healer of the sick,
Help of those in their agony,
Consoler of the Souls in Purgatory,
God’s messenger for the souls of the just,
Terror of the evil spirits,
Victorious in battle against evil,
Guardian and Patron of the universal Church,
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.
Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
Relying, O Lord, upon the intercession of Thy blessed Archangel Michael, we humbly beg of Thee, that the Sacrament of the Eucharist which we have received may make our souls holy and pleasing to Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
To see the Goals, Methods and Levels of “Let Freedom Ring,” go HERE.
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