6:
- Glory be…
- O my Jesus…
- Lord assist me to know the times where my greed and desire for Earthly possessions has drawn me away from the heavenly, as I reflect upon the sins of greed:
• Have I been stingy with my money during mass?
• Have I refused to give alms to those who need it more (there is always somebody who needs it more)
• Have I more personal possessions than I require?
• Have I been frivolous with money?
• Have I placed the pursuit of earthy wealth over spiritual wealth e.g missing mass for extra shifts at work
• Have I been failed to do charitable work because it was unpaid?
• Have I failed in my spiritual duties for the sake of personal gain e.g failing to evangelise for the sake of networking and wanting to be liked?
• Have I been resisting a call to Holy Orders for the sake of world possessions?
- Our Father

To be continued

7.
- Glory be…
- O my Jesus…
- Lord assist me to know the times where my gluttony has led me to overindulge in the bread of this world which will leave me hungry, rather than focuses on the bread of eternal life, as I reflect upon the sins of my gluttony:
• Have I failed to observe the fast days of the church or my own fasts I undertook out of personal piety?
• Have I eaten far beyond my own requirements?
• Have I eaten purely for decadent reasons
• Have I failed to thank God for the food I have an been ungrateful?
• Have I eaten foods which I know are bad for me purely for decadence’s sake?
• Am I overweight due to a lack of self control?
• Have I failed to observe days of abstinence such as during lent or on a Friday (without adequate substitution through minor penances/acts of piety, if your archbishop is lenient on Friday abstinences)
• Have I eaten and rejected the primary endpoint of food I.e sustenance e.g ensuring vomiting to eat more etc
- Our Father

8. Glory be…
- O my Jesus
- Lord assist me to know the times where my envy has led me to covet what it has been your will to provide for another and not myself, forgive my conceit and help me to know the sins of my envy:
• Have I been scorned God for not providing for me what others have?
• Have I stolen?
• Have I been jealous of another’s property?
• Have I resented others for God’s graces?
• Have I conspired to deprive others of their blessings or otherwise been spiteful toward them?
• Have I been unforgiving in my spite?
• Have I questioned God’s will?
• Have I felt that God isn’t “Holding up his end of the deal”?

(Gosh darn this has taken longer than I expected)

9. Glory be…
- O my Jesus…
- Lord assist me to know the times that my sloth has led me to be slack in the most important things, and negligent of my duties to you and to your children, help me to know the sins of my sloth:
Sloth:
• Have I neglected work/school tasks?
• Have I neglected chores?
• Have I slept longer than I should’ve?
• Have I neglected daily prayer?
• Have I let others do work that was assigned to me?
• Have I neglected going to Mass on Sunday?
• Have I been consistently late for Mass for no good reason?
• Have I neglected helping others because it was “inconvenient”?
• Have I failed to reproach others for their sins because I couldn’t be bothered with the argument?

Tip for trusting in God and mitigating the spiritual and mentally deleterious effects of unfortunate events:

When one is confronted with an event which unsettles you or even goes so far as to make you suffer, the most fruitful thing to do is ensure it doesn’t happen again. We are reminded constantly in our churches that God permits suffering as a pathway to grace. This is easy to go unnoticed when the situation - or Satan - distracts and bombards us with only thinking of our present circumstance. My advice in such situations is simply to write a list, a list which contains instruction on where it is you went wrong and how it may be prevented in the future, so you can see your own shortcomings and therefore realise what it is that God is trying to teach you. For example, if you missed out on a lovely Airbnb because you were trying to lowball the host into giving you a discount, then write it down, say what it was I.e greed and stinginess and see perfectly the lesson that must be learnt to avoid it in future. It illuminates the fruitful effects of life’s many sufferings and misfortunes and God’s plan which is often so hard to follow blindly.

A thinly veiled venting also helps.

St Fracis's prayer: "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. ... to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life". Amen

I shouldn’t have to point this out (but I will). Christ does not say to Peter - whom he loves - be the perfect man and then receive my love. He loves him despite his shortcomings, despite he repeatedly lets him down. If we love only who are worthy of our love we would not love at all, or be worthy of love ourselves.

Mental Prayer by Gerann Chan

St. Teresa says: “He who neglects mental prayer needs not a devil to carry him to hell, but he brings himself there with his own hands.” St. John of the Cross says: “Without the aid of mental prayer, the soul cannot triumph over the forces of the demon.”

In my experience, there are two things that the faithful (clients from the Spiritual Life Coaching and friends) complained about mental prayer, 1.) They do not know how to do mental prayer or 2.) They are doing mental prayer but because the mental prayer is not suitable for their level and state of life they give up.

There are various forms of mental prayer, it is finding the right mental prayer that suits your state of life, as Saint Francis of Sales says in the introduction to the devout life, Devotion must be compatible with Vocation and I rephrase "Prayer life must be compatible with the state of life" Holiness is not about the quantity of prayers but quality, when quality(prayer life) is met, quantity follows, there are who for 3-10 years in prayer, yet never advances in the spiritual life, never acquired the necessary virtues for sanctification and sadly, mediocre in the Catholic Faith (In my experience I met so many people,who we can see daily in prayer groups but lacks right judgement, material heretics or worst heretics), because they are contented only with Vocal Prayer, how unfortunately if we do not desire to advance, let us advance in the service of God.

In my experience if you do not do daily mental prayer sooner or later you will fall into a series of sins and in the end you will see yourself weekly in the confessional.

Prayer and Penance are the wings to advance in Spiritual Life.

"...God loves us far more than we think, especially in times of trial when He appears to desert us; for it is then He bestows upon us His most precious, most profound, most life-giving graces.

At such times as these, let us say with St. Theresa: “Lord, Thou knowest all things, canst do all things, and Thou dost love me.”

Such in essence is the love God has for us, a creative and life-giving love; supremely generous and supremely free."

- Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

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