Lectio the Liturgy

It’s easy to get lost and give up when trying to understand the Trinity. This week, push that aside and focus on the words, “God sent.”

What’s the longest distance in the Christian life? The 12” from the head to the heart. This is the distance it takes to move from knowing to believing.

3 definitions to get to know I’ve been told the English Language falls short of words. After looking up words in this prayer, while definitions originate in Latin and Hebrew, I believe that. Look, pasture, and redeemed are three words that may surprise you.

Holy Communion is an amazing gift. By its very nature, which is Jesus, it can put our sin to death and fill us the Glory of God.

This week, as we join the Church in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, we need to remember that in order to say, “Eternal Father, I offer you...” we first need to receive.

God is calling us to great things in this day in time! We just need to be ready to move from me to we.

What to do with more palm branches? Use them like they are intended to be used! Let’s wear them out before Palm Sunday next year.

When a non-Catholic attends their first mass there are things they expect and things that catches them by surprise. The first time I attended a Mass, I was expecting incense and Latin, instead there was this prayer in the middle of the Lord’s prayer. It’s a good one.

Sometimes it feels like when you’re a convert to the Catholic Faith, you are bilingual. “Don’t Catholics pray ‘The Lord’s Prayer?’” “Yes, but we call it the ‘Our Father.‘” When this mix of Catholics & Protestants pray, there’s often a tension in the air when they get to that part - the one about “For Thine is the Kingdom…” Thanks for praying with me, Julie

The words right, just, duty, and salvation just go right past sometimes, but these words pack a punch when they’re all in the prayer of the Preface at Mass.

We hear it at every mass, but have you ever thought about what it means when we pray through Him, with Him, and in Him?

During the season of Lent this year, I thought it would be a good time to look at some prayers of the Mass that are rarely used or are prayed frequently and yet they have much to teach us if we would spend time meditating on them. I’m going to begin with the Collect for the Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ordinary time does not mean that nothing is going on, Ordinary Time just means that it’s not L...

What if we really would find peace in the way God rules the world? How would that change the Church? It’s a thought that needs to come to fruition. We should bring the good news of the justice of God to the world like it’s our job - because it is. Thanks for praying with me, Julie LectioTheLiturgy.com

The Collect this week contains within it a challenge. We pray that our words AND our deeds are always pleasing to God. The Christian life is not always an either/or. Actually, it’s mostly a both/and and this is one of them. It is true, St. Francis never said to use words when necessary. He didn’t live that, either. He used words a lot. He even preached to the birds. Thanks for praying with me, Jul...

As I meditated on this prayer, I asked God what would be a good example to use. He told me, "washing windows." The more I thought about God’s suggestion to see this prayer as washing windows, the more I know that He is right. A clean window (that’s us) lets in more light and warmth (that’s God), while it also lets others see Him shine when they look through us. Thanks for praying with me, Julie Le...

What makes plain water sacramental? What makes olive oil anointing? The same thing that makes bread and wine the Body and Blood. Imagine the care God took during creation to be sure that we were completely taken care of. Thanks for praying with me, Julie LectioTheLiturgy.com

I tried to imagine what it was like to be at the Temple that day when Mary and Joseph walked in with Jesus. I thought about how as Jesus grew, His thoughts never led His mind into the gutter. His thoughts were pure. In this prayer we implore (beg with mercy) that we have a mind made new so that we would be able to think and see and be like Christ, not just admire Him. Thanks for praying with me. T...

It just seems odd that God would give us a gift and then ask us to offer it back to Him. He’s done it to me, and for good reason! When we offer our gifts back to Him, our work becomes His work. Our work is now fruit that will bear fruit that endures. LectioTheLiturgy.com

Imagine the Persons of the Trinity standing in a triangle. Between them is a constant flow of love and grace. Now imagine sticking your arm into that flow. You are now caught up in the flow: the Father giving grace to participate in the memorial of the Son and the Spirit bringing us deeper into redemption each time we participate. Thanks for praying with me, Julie

At His Baptism, when Jesus came out of the water and as He was praying, the heavens opened up, and the Holy Spirit, the love between the Father and the Son, was so great, that it was seen in the form of a dove. The voice of the Father was heard, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” This is why our mortal nature must be inwardly transformed. This is our identity. God did not take o...

There are more than one Epiphanies in the Bible, and I believe that God is puts an epiphany, a manifestation of Himself, in front of us every day. We just need to watch and listen, and then respond, behold, and receive. LectioTheLiturgy.com

Living in an eternity that we are already in is a fascinating topic. We do want to live today to be able to live in the company of the Holy Family for eternity, but eternity has already begun. Thanks for praying with me, Juilie @ LectioTheLiturgy.com

Partake. The word partake, in this week’s Prayer After Communion, has stood out to me for weeks. Partake is a two-way street. In many cases, it is true, that what we get depends on what we give. Advent is a time to not only go through the external motions of getting ready for Christmas, but to observe the spiritual motions of preparing for our Lord. Thanks for praying with me! Julie