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PNCC

Second Day of the Octave – For the Gift of Piety

+ Come Holy Spirit, come!
And from Your celestial home,
shed a ray of light divine!

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Light,
of Strength, and of Love. With His
sevenfold gifts He enlightens the mind,
strengthens the will, and inflames the
heart with the love of God. We should
invoke the Holy Spirit daily, for the Spirit
aids us in our infirmity. We do not know
what we should pray for, nor how we
should pray, but Scripture tells us that
the Spirit Himself asks for us.

Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, You have
regenerated us by water and the Holy
Spirit, and have given us forgiveness for
all our sins. From Heaven send forth
upon our Holy Synod Your sevenfold
Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and
Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and
Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and
Piety, and fill us with the Spirit of the
Fear of the Lord. Amen.

O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of Yours,
and our inmost being fill!

The Gift of Piety

The gift of Piety instills in our hearts a child-like affection for God as our most loving Father. It inspires us to love and respect, for His sake, persons and things consecrated to Him, as well as those who are vested with His authority, His Blessed Mother and the Saints, the Church, our parents and superiors, our country and its rulers. He who is filled with the gift of piety finds the practice of his religion, not a burdensome duty. but a delightful service. Where there is love, there is no labor.

Prayer

Come, O blessed Spirit of Piety, possess the hearts of all those attending Holy Synod. Enkindle therein such a love for God, that all those in attendance may find satisfaction only in His service, and for His sake lovingly submit to all legitimate authority. Amen.

Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be to the Father …

Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit

On my knees, before the great
multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer
myself, soul and body, to You, Eternal
Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of
Your purity, the unerring keenness of
Your justice, and the might of Your love.
You are the Strength and Light of my
soul. In You I live and move and am. I
desire never to grieve You by
unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with
all my heart to be kept from the smallest
sin against You. Mercifully guard my
every thought and grant that I may
always watch for Your light, listen to Your
voice, and follow Your gracious
inspirations. I cling to You and give
myself to You and ask You, by Your
compassion, to watch over me in my
weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of
Jesus and looking at His five Wounds,
and trusting in His Precious Blood and
adoring His opened Side and Stricken
Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit,
Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in
Your grace that I may never sin against
You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, to
say to You always and everywhere,
“Speak for Your servant is listening.” (1
Sam. 3:10b)

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before
ascending into heaven, did promise to
send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work
in the souls of the Apostles and Disciples,
grant the same Holy Spirit to our Polish
National Catholic Church that it may be
made perfect in the work of Your grace
and Your love. Grant us the Spirit of
Wisdom that we may despise the
perishable things of this world and aspire
only after the things that are eternal; the
Spirit of Understanding to enlighten our
minds with the light of Your divine truth;
the Spirit of Counsel that we may ever
choose the surest way of pleasing God
and gaining heaven; the Spirit of Fortitude
that we may bear our crosses with You
and that we may overcome with courage
all the obstacles that oppose our
salvation; the Spirit of Knowledge that
we may know God and know ourselves
and grow perfect in the knowledge of
the Saints; the Spirit of Piety that we
may find the service of God sweet and
amiable, and the Spirit of the Fear of the
Lord, that we may be filled with a loving
reverence towards God and may dread
in anyway to displease Him. Dear Lord,
mark our Polish National Catholic
Church with the sign of discipleship and
enliven our Holy Synod in all its dealings
with Your Spirit. Amen. +

PNCC,

First Day of the Octave —“ For the Gift of the Fear of the Lord

+ Come Holy Spirit, come!
And from Your celestial home,
shed a ray of light divine!

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Light,
of Strength, and of Love. With His
sevenfold gifts He enlightens the mind,
strengthens the will, and inflames the
heart with the love of God. We should
invoke the Holy Spirit daily, for the Spirit
aids us in our infirmity. We do not know
what we should pray for, nor how we
should pray, but Scripture tells us that
the Spirit Himself asks for us.

Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, You have
regenerated us by water and the Holy
Spirit, and have given us forgiveness for
all our sins. From Heaven send forth
upon our Holy Synod Your sevenfold
Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and
Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and
Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and
Piety, and fill us with the Spirit of the
Fear of the Lord. Amen.

Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!

The Gift of the Fear of the Lord

The gift of the Fear of the Lord fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread nothing so much as to offend Him by sin. It is a fear that arises from feelings of reverence and child-like submission to our heavenly Father. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, detaching us from worldly pleasures that could separate us from God. “Those who fear the Lord seek to please Him, those who love Him are filled with His law. Those who fear the Lord prepare their hearts and humble themselves before Him.— (Sirach 2:16-17)

Prayer

Come, O blessed Spirit of Fear of the Lord, penetrate our inmost hearts, that we may set You, our Lord and God, before our faces forever. Help all those attending Holy Synod to shun all things that can offend You, and make them worthy to appear before the pure eyes of Your Divine Majesty in Heaven, where You live and reign in the unity of the ever Blessed Trinity, God, world without end. Amen.

Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be to the Father …

Act of Consecration to the Holy Spirit

On my knees, before the great
multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer
myself, soul and body, to You, Eternal
Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of
Your purity, the unerring keenness of
Your justice, and the might of Your love.
You are the Strength and Light of my
soul. In You I live and move and am. I
desire never to grieve You by
unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with
all my heart to be kept from the smallest
sin against You. Mercifully guard my
every thought and grant that I may
always watch for Your light, listen to Your
voice, and follow Your gracious
inspirations. I cling to You and give
myself to You and ask You, by Your
compassion, to watch over me in my
weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of
Jesus and looking at His five Wounds,
and trusting in His Precious Blood and
adoring His opened Side and Stricken
Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit,
Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in
Your grace that I may never sin against
You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, to
say to You always and everywhere,
“Speak for Your servant is listening.” (1
Sam. 3:10b)

Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before
ascending into heaven, did promise to
send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work
in the souls of the Apostles and Disciples,
grant the same Holy Spirit to our Polish
National Catholic Church that it may be
made perfect in the work of Your grace
and Your love. Grant us the Spirit of
Wisdom that we may despise the
perishable things of this world and aspire
only after the things that are eternal; the
Spirit of Understanding to enlighten our
minds with the light of Your divine truth;
the Spirit of Counsel that we may ever
choose the surest way of pleasing God
and gaining heaven; the Spirit of Fortitude
that we may bear our crosses with You
and that we may overcome with courage
all the obstacles that oppose our
salvation; the Spirit of Knowledge that
we may know God and know ourselves
and grow perfect in the knowledge of
the Saints; the Spirit of Piety that we
may find the service of God sweet and
amiable, and the Spirit of the Fear of the
Lord, that we may be filled with a loving
reverence towards God and may dread
in anyway to displease Him. Dear Lord,
mark our Polish National Catholic
Church with the sign of discipleship and
enliven our Holy Synod in all its dealings
with Your Spirit. Amen. +

PNCC

Modlitwa Dla XXII Generalnego Synodu

Wszechmogący Boże, nasz Ojcze, Ty jesteś Stwórca wszystkiego co istnieje i do Ciebie wszystko należy. Pokornie Cię prosimy dzisiaj, ześlij na nas Twojego Ducha Świętego i napełnij nasze serca i umysły mądrością, zrozumieniem, wiedzą i bojaźnią Bożą, tak abyśmy mogli uczestniczyć w tym Synodzie i podejmować decyzje, które pomogą nam budować nasz Polski Narodowy Katolicki Kościół, który będzie widzialnym znakiem Twojego Królestwa na ziemi. Umocnij nas w Twoim Duchu Świętym abyśmy szukali nie naszej woli ale Twoją wolę i daj nam, prosimy Cię, Boże, odwagę do rezygnacji z własnych ludzkich ambicji ażebyśmy mogli lepiej służyć braciom i siostrom naszym. Prosimy oto przez Twojego Syna, Jezusa Chrystusa, naszego Zbawiciela i Pana, Który żyje i króluje z Tobą i Duchem Świętym, jeden Bóg, na wieki wieków. Amen.

PNCC

An Octave of Prayer and Fasting

In anticipation of the Twenty-Second General Synod of the Polish National Catholic Church, the Church calls on and enjoins all the faithful to undertake an octave of prayer and fasting.

Prayer and fasting are to be offered so that the Church may be one in prayerful spirit before our God, and that the work of the Holy Synod may truly represent the Will of God for the Holy Church.

I will be posting the recommended series of prayers to the Holy Spirit from Sunday, October 1st through Sunday, October 8th.

I ask all my readers and all brothers and sisters in faith to pray with and for us.

Christian Witness

About the Pontificator

I’ve been reading the Pontificator’s blog for over a year now. I’ve even commented a few times on various posts. Recently, Mr. Kimel announced that he is closing off comments on his blog. It looks like he will be ordained a R.C. Priest, and his life will take him and his family in other directions.

In a certain way I always felt intellectually inferior to those who posted at Pontifications. Things were well thought out, described, defended, and debated.

When you encounter that type of community you open yourself to various reactions. You can be offended, angry, challenged, intrigued, or even converted. I felt challenged and intrigued.

When I started blogging I used Google’s Blogspot. The simplicity and beauty (clean lines, easy to read text, not a lot of visual noise) of Pontifications challenged me to switch to WordPress as my publishing tool. More recently, Mr. Kimel’s switch to Macs moved me to consider a switch. My wife and children are now on Macs and I use the kids’ Mac Mini. While I still regularly use my PC, I await a MacBook Pro.

Above the mundane, the quotes from the Fathers, the debate between Roman Catholics and the Orthodox, and Mr. Kimel’s perspectives provided me with insight, challenged lazy thinking, and told me that I cannot sit on simplistic platitudes about my Church. There are too many people out there with enough apologetics to blow me out of the water. I was challenged to gird up my loins and prepare.

I’ve used points raised at Pontifications as fertilizer for growing my homilies (look at this week’s homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time and its tie in to Mr. Kimel’s challenge to preach predestination).

There are certain things at Pontifications that annoyed people. I never found much annoying. I took it all in light of its purpose, and from whence it came. Mr. Kimel is, after all, a convert from Anglicanism. He has the spirit of a convert, just as I have for the PNCC.

I never much cared for all the discussion about Anglicanism, but that was his hurt point. After all, a blog, even if run by the Pope, is a personal endeavor, an insight into personal thoughts and feelings. It is a publicly shared journal —“ and journals work best when they help us discover ourselves and grow. I hope Mr. Kimel has found growth and edification through his blog.

I wish Mr. Kimel well as he enters, once and for all, the Holy Priesthood. I pray that he continues to post his thoughts and insights. I know that they will challenge my thinking and that they will help me grow.

Homilies,

The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

As I stood at the altar this past Wednesday I experienced the most wonderful sensation, a beautiful feeling of love. I experienced that moment as Jesus was placed, body and blood, into my mouth.

Every so often God comes to us in a way that touches us deeply. He is, of course, always there. His presence is always real, but this particular moment was a step above the extraordinary.

It was a moment of savoring; a moment of sweetness and beauty. No words can describe it, but there I was, with Jesus in my mouth, and He enveloped me in His love.

He said, I’m here for you Jim.

Jesus says that a lot —“ to all of us. I am here for you Mary, John, Alice, Henry. I am here for you.

As in Moses’ day, God’s coming to us elicits a response. Listen to what happened:

The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses,
the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders;
and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.

The elders who received the Spirit of God prophesied. They could not contain or suppress the immense joy they experienced at receiving God’s Spirit.

God’s Spirit, His laws, His precepts give us joy. Joy is our response and our assurance —“ an assurance that we have found our place, our home, in God.

Jesus certainly spoke to me in that moment of communion. He was telling me to talk about the beauty, the peace, the joy found in Him. The beauty, the peace, and the joy found in His assurance.

Earlier in the week I sat down and considered topics for my homily. I prayed, read the scriptures, checked out websites, and considered our shared experience.

I looked at what happened during PolishFest. I thought, perhaps I should talk about the questions people asked —“ essentially, what differentiates the PNCC.

I could do a nice long homily teaching about, and touching upon, one-hundred and fifty points of difference. But to what end —“ to scream about differences?

The key concept, the source of our joy, the unifying aspect of our community, of the Church, is our election. This is Jesus’ assurance. We are the predestined, we are the elect, we all share in Christ and are heirs with Christ. We are bound together in Him and are all sons and daughters of the Father.

Jesus saved the world. His offer is on the table for everyone.

Our election, our sharing in Christ is not a symbol of our exclusivity, us but not them, but rather is the result of our answer to His offer.

We step forward saying yes, Amen, it is You Lord, You are for me Lord. We do that as individuals and in the way Jesus asked us to, as a community of believers, as the body of Christ.

St. James tells us:

Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.

If your joy is in the things you can count, gather, and store your joy is not a lasting one. If your joy is in your exclusivity, it is not a lasting joy. If your joy is found in that sublime moment, holding Jesus in your mouth, consuming Him so He can consume you —“ you have joy that lasts forever.

If we focus on differences, on enumerating points of conflict, then we miss the point of Jesus’ instruction to John:

Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.

Be assured, your presence here, your sharing in the Body and Blood of the Lord, your choice in taking up and living by the name Christian, surely marks you as the predestined, the chosen, and the elect. You are sharers in the salvation of Jesus Christ. Washed in His Blood you stand here in His presence accepting His promise of eternal life. Rejoice, be filled with His joy, a joy that will last forever.

Saints and Martyrs

September 30 – St. Jerome (Św. Hieronim)

St. Jerome

Boże, któryś dozwolił, aby święty Hieronim przez nauczanie Pisma świętego w poczet najznakomitszych nauczycieli Kościoła Twego policzony został, spraw prosimy Cię niech przez wielkie zasługi jego, zdołamy za Twoją pomocą wykonać to, czego on usty i czynem nauczał. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.

Christian Witness, PNCC

Living God

Norman Lee - Praise CD

Norman Lee, a PNCC member and Christian music artist has hit number one on Indieheaven with his song Living God. You can hear his work at Indieheaven as well.

The picture above is from a performance at St. Paul’s PNCC in Belleview, Florida.

Mr. Lee has a great sound and his music has a distinctively Catholic – Christian witness. Living God is about —“ the Eucharist. It is an amazing feat in a realm that is almost exclusively Evangelical.

Both of his albums, Praise, and God is with me are available from iTunes.

The following bio is from Mr. Lee’s website – Pray On:

As a lifelong entertainer, Norman Lee has raised the bar, bringing a faith based presentation to a population striving to find substance in their daily lives. Based out of central Florida, Norman has toured across the country for many years, performing on concert stages, charitable events and churches. He has appeared on numerous local and national television shows and his music has had national radio air play. Norman has opened up for such acts as George Jones, Temptations, Lou Rawls, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Brenda Lee, Travis Tritt, Lori Morgan, Loretta Lynn, Marty Stuart, Ray Price, Juice Newton, LeAnn Rimes. Norman Lee the singer songwriter is a charismatic performer who’s music appeals to all ages. His music combines praise and worship, contemporary Christian and gospel into one spirit filled sound.

Check out his music… it is worth a listen (free at Indieheaven).

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