BAPTISMAL GRACES—ACTIVATE THEM

  

The following is a brief numerical recall of the graces that flow from your Baptism; then following are practical ways that you can activate these many graces!  Activate the spiritual time bomb that you have within you through the wonderful Sacrament of Baptism. Recall your own Baptismal date and give God abundant thanksgiving!

1.     Son of God the Father—Pray the Our Father with real depth and meaning! Recognize your sonship. Through Baptism you are truly a son of God

2.    Brother to Jesus Christ—Get to know, love and follow Jesus all the more, the Ignatian grace for the 2^nd week!  What “Name” for Jesus most appeals to you?

3.    Friend to the Holy Spirit—He is your constant and intimate Friend. What name of His most appeals to you?

4.     FAITH—Grow in your faith by studying all the more! Have a thirst to know your faith better and better!

5.    HOPE—in this year of Divine Mercy read the Diary of Faustina and trust in God. In trials trust in God all the more. JESUS I TRUST IN YOU!

6.    CHARITY—Strive to love God more in deeper prayer but in the way that you treat your neighbor. Contemplate Jesus hanging on the cross for love of you and for love of me!

7.    JUSTICE- Learn to be fair to self and others. Justice is giving each his due—St Thomas Aquinas.

8.    TEMPERANCE- Use your body properly in food, rest, and proper exercise. Learn that the virtue lies between the two extremes- Aquinas and Aristotle.

9.    PRUDENCE—Learn and apply the three steps to make a prudential act or decision: 1) think, 2) decide, 3) act… Allow this virtue to be perfected by the Gift of Counsel. Pray for the great to make good decisions utilizing both faith and reason. Read St. Pope John Paul II encyclical “Fides Ratio”(Faith and Reason)

10.FORTITUDE—Endure patiently evil that God allows to enter your life in imitation of Christ, and for your own perfection as well as for the salvation of souls. Pray to the martyrs. They are the brilliant examples of patience in suffering!

11.SANCTIFIYING GRACE—Allow the grace of God to permeate all of your life! Call upon the “full of grace” Our Lady. Be open to God’s heavenly inspirations!

12.MEMBER OF THE CHURCH—do not ask what the church can do for you; ask what you do for the church…  Tell others that to love Christ is to love the Church, which is His Mystical Body!

13. EXORCISM—Renounce Satan and his pomps at all times. Pray to St. Michael and St. Joseph, as well as St. Benedict!

14. BURNING CANDLE—be a light in the world; this is a call to good example! Christopher Movement’s motto:  “Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”

15. HEAVEN—Recognize that through Baptism you are called to become a follower of Christ, which means to become a saint. The end of the journey of all of the saints is HEAVEN. Rejoice that your name is written in Heaven, in the Book of life. Live then according to this dignity. Become a saint!