Ash Wednesday is coming fast! And we all know that it signals the beginning of 40 days of Lent, a time to take a good look and see what we can do to improve ourselves. Have you given any thought on what you are going to do? The Church asks us to make some sort of sacrifice along with some act of goodness during this time ... perhaps we could try to do one or more of the things that Gabriel Garcia Moreno did every day of his life or we could emulate our own patron saint and try to live one or more days as they did!
My patron saint this year is the Blessed Virgin Mary ... wow! What an amazing woman to shadow! And what a HUGE difference I will have to make each and every day of my life!
Even just beginning with "Fiat ... Thy will be done" ... Looks like I have a lot of work to do!
Thank you to the Universal Living Rosary Association for this great article!
Thanks Be To God For His Infinite Goodness To Me!
Gabriel Garcia Moreno was a Catholic, an Ecuadoran President and a Martyr. He valued his precious Faith more than anything in his life and, in his youth, he formed a program of spirituality that he kept all the days of his life in spite of the horrendous demands made upon his time and energies. He lived in times violent and corrupt, and is a wonderful ideal of father, husband and soldier of Jesus Christ.
The continual realization of the greatness of God filled his soul with a sovereign contempt for earthly things and, hence, his absolute disinterestedness: His joy at being able to give to the poor, the sick, the widows and the orphans. His patience in trials was most edifying and no complaint was ever heard to pass his lips.
The RULE of LIFE he wrote in his own hand was kept until his death:
- Every morning when saying my prayers, I will ask especially for the virtue of humility.
- Every day, I will hear Mass, say the Rosary, and read a chapter from the Imitation of Christ.
- I will take care to keep myself as much as possible in the presence of God, especially in conversation, so as not to speak useless words. Before beginning any action, I will offer my heart to God.
- I will say to myself continually: "I am worse than a demon and deserve Hell"; when I am tempted, I will ask myself: "What will you think of this in the hour of your last agony?"
- In my room, I will never sit to pray when I can do so on my knees or standing. I will practice little acts of humility, like kissing the ground for example, and desire all kinds of humiliations, while taking care at the same time not to deserve them, I will rejoice when my actions or my person are abused or censured.
- I will never speak of myself, unless it be to own my defects or faults.
- I will make every effort, through the thought of Jesus and Mary, to restrain my impatience and contradict my natural inclinations, striving to be patient and amiable even with people who bore me. Never will I speak evil of my enemies.
- Every morning, before beginning my work, I will write down what I have to do, being very careful to distribute my time well, to give myself only to useful and necessary business and to continue it with zeal and perseverance. I will scrupulously observe the laws of justice and truth, and have no intention in my actions save the greater glory of God.
- I will make a particular examine, twice a day, on my exercise of different virtues, and a general examination every evening. I will go to Confession every week.
- I will avoid all familiarities, even the most innocent, as prudence requires. I will never pass more than an hour in any amusement and, in general, never before eight o'clock in the evening.
Those who knew him, bear witness to his scrupulous fidelity to this Rule of life. No matter what the demands of office, home or war obliged, he lived up to the Rule. He never omitted any pious practice, in camp or on a hurried journey; he would kneel in some hut or corner of the tent, or in the woods, and say the Rosary with his aide or anyone else who was present.
When it drew time for Holy Mass, he would often prepare the vestments for the priest and serve Mass. In the evening surrounded by his family, servants and aides-de-camp, he would read night prayers, read from pious books and express to all his love and confidence in God.
The one ambition of his noble soul was the reign of God in the souls of men. He had a great and tender love for Our Blessed Mother. He restored the shrine of the Lily of Quito. He would ask his people, visitors or workers, "Do you love the Blessed Virgin Mary? If they answered, "Oh! YES, with all our hearts," he would say, "Well then, my children, let us kneel down all together and pray Her Rosary that we may persevere in loving and serving God."
The Catholic Church universally applauds this President of Ecuador, Gabriel Garcia Moreno. Honor and glory be to him who dared to say:
"A Catholic People Cannot Socially Deny Jesus Christ!"
The secret society of Freemasonry seeks to unite itself with the devil to destroy the reign of Jesus Christ upon earth, to destroy Christianity. It is the great enemy. Their rage against Garcia Moreno was universal and all Freemasonic newspapers throughout the world held him up for execution and he was solemnly condemned to death by their Great Council. At the opportune moment, the assassins attacked him, cutting off his arm and his hand and inflicting deadly wounds to his body. He was laid at the feet of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows where he expired.
The body of Garcia Moreno was placed in a secretly and provisionally unknown grave in order to protect it from the risk of sacrilegious profanation.
While we may not have the courage today to die for the faith, let us begin simply with the Rule of life set out by Garcia Moreno in his youth. Faithful to this Rule, with the strength of God, we will rise to the height of martyrdom, if and when we are called.
A LITTLE WHILE LONGER, AND THEN ETERNITY!
