contemplative prayer as you wait out the coronavirus19

Today, my Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5) was about how fortunate I am to have time to focus on Christ and taking time to meditate on various topics and look up things on the Internet to help me do that. Yes, the coronavirus is bad. Yes, I am 79.7 years old and have to take extra precautions. Yes, I am bound to the house in self exile, much like the Fathers of the desert were. I asked myself the question, What would I want you to know and to look up on the Internet to make your time meaningful? Instead of watching movies and television shows to fill up the space, here is what I would recommend, in no order of importance. It is what I am doing.

INTERNET SIGHTS THAT WILL FILL UP ANY TIME YOU HAVE WITH THE LOVE OF CHRIST.

DON’T MISS THIS SITE: If there is one site you should visit and bookmark, it is this one. The text is from 250 AD, a Marian prayer, where it came from and other very valuable things about the Coronavirus around the world. https://aleteia.org/2017/04/29/the-oldest-known-marian-prayer-is-from-egypt/

Here is the Marian prayer that has been in use since well before 250 AD (that is just the papyrus fragment dating).

Latin Text  Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus nostris, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta

English Text We fly to Thy protection, O Holy Mother of God; Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen.

USCCB: This is a great site and I use it frequently to find out what is going on. There are so many resources on this URL that I want you to access it yourself and just browse around. http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings-audio.cfm

LAY CISTERCIAN SITES WORTH READING:

I am going to go to Confession for the sin of Pride for telling you to read my blog site. https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org

https://laycistercians.org/ This is an ecumenical lay cistercian group.

PRAYING THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS EACH DAY

If you want to practice the most difficult but most rewarding experience in your prayer life, try praying the Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer (two of the seven hours of prayer) each day. The best site for this is http://www.divineoffice.org If you look at the bottom right hand column under “Resources” you will find my blog site.

STUDY THE RULE OF ST. BENEDICT

https://christdesert.org/prayer/rule-of-st-benedict/

WATCH VIDEOS ABOUT ALL THINGS CHRIST

One of the best theologians is Scott Hahn. Look at this website and, by all means, view one of his video clips. http://www.scotthahn.com/

Bishop Robert Barron is another wonderful speaker. Watch his videos. https://www.wordonfire.org/ You can sign up for a free course on evangelization.

HOMILIES

Listen for homilies from your local parish website. Two I like are: https://goodshepherdparish.org/homilies. Listen to anything by Fr. Tom Dillon. https://www.trappist.net/homilies. Trappist homilies you must hear.

READ CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, ETC…

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/ Read the Fathers and Mothers of the Church in this site. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/index.html

http://www.newadvent.org/library/index.html All the documents of the Holy Father and much more. http://www.newadvent.org/library/almanac_14388a.htm Check out a list of Ecumenical Councils.

CISTERCIAN SOURCES

https://www.google.com/search?q=CISTERCIAN+AUTHORS&oq=CISTERCIAN+AUTHORS&aqs=chrome..69i57.5039j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

These resources are just a few of the many resources you can abandon yourself in as you wait out the Cronavirus19. That in all things, may God be glorified. –St. Benedict