Here are Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer intentions for this new month (which is dedicated to the Holy Name or the Holy Childhood of Jesus),
as found here

JANUARY 2012
General Intention: Victims of Natural Disasters.
That the victims of natural disasters
may receive the spiritual and material comfort they need
to rebuild their lives.

Missionary Intention: Dedication to Peace.
That the dedication of Christians to peace
may bear witness to the name of Christ
before all men and women of good will.

God bless your prayer!

Here are our Holy Father’s prayer intentions for this month as found here:
———-

December 2011
————
General Intention:
That the nations of the earth,
through knowledge and mutual respect,
may grow in harmony and peace.

Missionary Intention:
That children and young people
may be messengers of the Gospel
and that their dignity
may always be respected and preserved
from all violence and exploitation.

…and my “short version”

General: for harmony and peace among nations
through knowledge and respect

Missionary: for the protection of the dignity of children and youth and
for their success in evangelization

God bless your prayer!

Here are Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer intentions for this month, as found here:

November 2011

General Intention:
For the eastern Churches,
that their venerable tradition
may be known and appreciated
as a spiritual treasure for the entire Church.

Missionary Intention:
That the African continent may find in Christ
the strength to fulfill the path of reconciliation and justice,
indicated in the second Synod of Bishops for Africa.

…and my “short form”:
General: for an appreciation for the traditions of the eastern Churches
Missionary: for the strength to carry out the African bishops’ plan for reconciliation and justice

God bless your prayer!

Bless us O Lord,
and these Thy gifts
which we are about to receive
from Thy bounty
through Christ, our Lord.
Amen

One line has been standing out to me: “from Thy bounty.”

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had the underlying instinct that “there’s not enough for me” (I’m sure the “reduce your carbon footprint” campaign didn’t help). Mom still recalls how mortified she was when the school informed her that I was writing with a little piece of pencil lead, insinuating that she was depriving me of necessary school supplies. It wasn’t that I needed a new pencil–stray pencils were easy enough to find (hallways, playground, school bus, etc.). But this stub of lead was still usable. I couldn’t bear to part with it. Waste not, want not, you know…

That has other ramifications, of course, (being a packrat is just one) which have followed me into adulthood.

Preparing (and listening to) RCIA presentations has introduced me to the truth at God created the world for man–for me–to provide the things I need. He created enough for me.

Logically I can grasp that. Changing my underlying instinct is quite another matter. I’ve been bringing this to prayer for quite a while.

Well, this week the farm where I usually get eggs (via a friend who’s their neighbor) was low…and so were we. Comparing the upcoming cooking projects with the number of eggs we had left & was not exactly reassuring (and with our dietary restrictions, adapting the menu isn’t trivial!). Should I make the deviled eggs I normally take for snacks at adult ed (which we host)? I was inclined to conserve (hoard).

…from Thy bounty…

I stopped.

“Well, Lord, You own the chickens on a thousand hills!
(apologies to Psalm 50:10!)
I’m going to take a chance and be generous.”

I put an egg on to boil (I know, that doesn’t sound very generous,
but when I made more I always had leftovers).

Within hours my friend called. Her neighbor has three dozen eggs today. Would I like her to bring some when she brought her daughters for crochet advice?

Would I?!

…from Thy bounty…

Thank You, God, for eggs
from Thy bounty!

Here are our Holy Father’s prayer intentions for this month dedicated to the holy rosary, as found here:

General Intention:
For the terminally ill, that in their sufferings
they may be sustained by faith in God
and by the love of others.

Missionary Intention:
That the celebration of World Mission Sunday
may increase in the People of God
the passion for evangelization
and the support of missionary activity
through prayer and economic aid
for the poorest Churches.

…and my “short form”:
General:
that the dying may be strengthened by faith and the care of others
Missionary:
that World Mission Sunday would inspire Christians to prayerfully and financially support missionary churches

God bless your prayer!

Maybe it’s just me, but I’d gotten the idea that when things were bad there were basically two verbal responses: grumble or shut up. Reading the story of the Exodus didn’t make the first option look so good–every time they grumbled they got clobbered!

…but David didn’t shut up. The Psalms are full of expressions of pain, fear and sorrow. Neither did Jeremiah–just read Lamentations! And God called David a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22), nor was He displeased with Jeremiah.

There must be a third option, a way of expressing suffering
without grumbling.

So what’s the difference?

What I’m coming up with is that grumbling turns away from God in distrust, while lamentation turns toward Him in confidence. When the Israelites grumbled, they threatened. If God didn’t solve their problems they were going to get Moses out of the way and high-tail it back to Egypt. They didn’t trust God to care for them–it was Adam’s sin all over again:

Man, tempted by the devil,
let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and,
abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s command.
This is what man’s first sin consisted of
(Cf. Gen 3:1-11; Rom 5:19).
All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God
and lack of trust in his goodness.
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 397

When David and Jeremiah (and others) lamented, they mixed their plaint with praise, reminding God of His promises, His covenants, His mighty deeds in the past. They expressed certainty in His ability and desire to rescue them when the time was right. Sometimes the laments get confusing–there’s so much praise mixed in that it’s hard to keep track of the fact that enemy armies are at the gate!

That seems to be what God wants from us. Give full expression to fear, sorrow and pain, but saturate that expression with confidence in God’s intention and ability to rescue and redeem.

Now we know that for those who love God
all things work together unto good,
for those who, according to His purpose,
are saints through His call.
-Romans 8:28

Dismiss all anxiety from your minds.
Present your needs to God in every form of prayer
and in petitions full of gratitude.
Then God’s own peace,
which is beyond all understanding,
will stand guard over your hearts and minds,
in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 4:6-7

He didn’t go “straight to Jesus.”
A foreigner himself, he sent a delegation of Jesus’ own countrymen
to put in a good word for him.

“He deserves this favor from you,” they said,
“because he loves our people,
and even built our synagogue for us”
-Luke 7:5

Then, as Jesus approached his house,
the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus
He needn’t trouble Himself to come further–just speak the word.

I am not worthy to have You enter my house.
That is why I did not presume to come myself
-Luke 7:6-7

He did not presume…
he sent others who were more worthy to approach Jesus than he…

Listen to Jesus’ response:

I tell you, I have never seen such faith
among the Israelites
-Luke 7:9

High praise from God Himself!

When we pray to the saints, we are asking for their intercession.
We are sending Jesus’ own countrymen
(Heaven is now their home forever!)
to put in a good word for us;
sending friends–His friends and ours–
to express to Him our faith that they will bring our needs before Him
and that He will respond.
We are sending those who are worthy of Him,
perfected now in Heaven.

And Jesus is pleased .

September 2011

General Intention:
For all teachers, that they may convey love in truth
and educate in authentic moral and spiritual values.

Missionary Intention:
That the Christian communities
spread throughout the Asian continent
may proclaim the Gospel with fervor,
bearing witness to beauty with the joy of the faith.

…and my “short version”…

General: that teachers may convey love in moral and spiritual truth
Missionary: that Christian communities in Asia
may proclaim the beauty and joy of the faith

God bless your prayer!

(month dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary)

Here are our Holy Father’s Prayer intentions for this month, as found here:

August 2011

General Intention:
That the World Youth Day taking place in Madrid
may encourage all the young people of the world
to root and found their lives in Christ.

Missionary Intention:
That Christians of the West,
docile to the action of the Holy Spirit,
may re-encounter the freshness and enthusiasm
of their faith.

And my “short form”:

General:
for World Youth Day to inspire all youth to root their lives in Christ

Missionary:
for Western Christians’ receptivity to the Holy Spirit
in renewing their enthusiasm for their faith

God bless your prayer!

Without disparaging any of that, my reading and pondering our identity as members of the Body of Christ (see I Corinthians 12, among others) has suggested an additional perspective.

In the Passion, Jesus’ Body suffered. His back was scourged, His shoulder bore the weight of the cross, His hands and feet were pierced, His Heart was thrust through. As a member of Jesus’ Body, I can expect to share His suffering. Perhaps today I’m His shoulder, weighed down by a heavy burden. Or maybe I’m His hand, pierced and bleeding. Whatever the case, if I am to remain in union with Him I need to “take it on”.

When we suffer, there’s a sense in which we’re like Simon of Cyrene, forced to pick up a cross. We can do so unwillingly, or we can choose to “take it on.”

There is a natural human response to want to absorb the suffering of one we love. “Oh, if only I could take that suffering for you.” Jesus fulfills that longing. He doesn’t leave us as helpless spectators on the outside looking in. No, we can’t substitute for Christ. But we can unite with Him. We can suffer in Him and with Him as members of His Body in communion with Him.

The sense in which we “offer it up” is the sense in which we realize that it’s not our suffering, but His. The sense in which we “take it on” is the sense in which we take our place as members of the Body of Christ in His Passion.

This ties in directly with the distinction between
a “replacement sacrifice” versus a “representative sacrifice”:

The history of man and his religion
is the story of his efforts to reunite himself with the divine.
To bring about this reunion, man offers a gift to the gods,
but in the end realizes that nothing less
than the gift of himself will suffice.
And insofar as man is not usually willing
to offer his complete self to the deity,
he searches to find a gift, an offering,
a sacrifice that “represents” himself.
A true representative gift
is one in which the giver is in some way present in his gift;
in this way the gift truly represents man
in his attempt to give himself to God.
Not all gifts, however, can be classified in this way,
for in some gifts man is not present in the offering.
These gifts are called by Cardinal Ratzinger
“replacement gifts,”
where the offerer is not present in his gift,
even though on the surface he believes himself to be
(Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p36).
The distinction, then, is this:
the “representative sacrifice”
truly symbolizes man’s genuine and heartfelt desire
to give himself over, to unite himself to God,
to divinize himself:  in a word, to “sacrifice.”
The “replacement sacrifice,” on the contrary,
is a mere empty sign or gesture
of man’s supposed desire for reunion;
the replacement sacrifice is a replacement of man,
and “worship with replacement
turns out to be a replacement for worship.
Somehow the real thing is missing”
(Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p36).
It is these latter sacrifices
that the prophets seek to correct.
-Christopher Carstens & Douglas Martis,
Mystical Body, Mystical Voice:
Encountering Christ
in the Words of the Mass, p21

When we “take on” suffering as members of the Body of Christ,
we are present in our sacrifice,
in our offering to God.
It brings us into communion with Him,
the union with the divine for which we were created.
It fulfills our destiny.

In addition, it builds up the Body of Christ.
We are not only united to the Head (Jesus–see Ephesians 5:23), but to all the other members as well, throughout time and eternity. When we “take it on,” we never suffer alone, nor are the effects of our suffering limited to ourselves. A “great cloud of witnesses” cheers us on (see Hebrews 12:1).

In my own sufferings (small and not so small),
I’m learning to both “offer it up”, and “take it on.”