Summer–that time of vacation, cookouts, and the pool–is also a time to celebrate our fathers and the way Pentecost shapes the life of the Church. The great feasts of June–Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, the Birth of John the Baptist, and St. Peters and Paul–show how the Body of Christ in the world is sustained from within by the Eucharist and is prepared to go out into the world to witness to Christ.
Summer does not have to be a downtime in faith. In fact, with the gift of leisure, we can enter more freely into the treasures of the Church. In our June exercise, we seek to grow in our devotion to the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Most Holy Eucharist and through it to enter more deeply into the love of Jesus’s Sacred Heart. Just as our bodies become tabernacles of the Lord’s presence when we receive Communion, so our families can become places where Jesus dwells if we enthrone him in our homes. The beginning of June gives us time to pray and meditate on the love of Jesus’s heart in order to make a formal enthronement of the image of the Sacred Heart in our home on June 7th, the feast of the Sacred Heart.
As our schedules change in the summer, so we must adjust our Plan of Life seeking to maintain consistency of prayer and to remain in control of our media use and habits of eating and drinking. Not only can we hold on to our spiritual progress but we also can use the summer to grow, using our additional free time for the things that matter most: God, family, and service. Your Plan of Life allows you to tailor a plan to your own needs and schedule.
In June, we’ll also begin a book club on Bishop Erik Varden’s amazing book Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses. Bishop Varden shows us there’s much more to the virtue of chastity than we have imagined. It stands at the center of God’s plan for us to grow in mature love and to discover the true meaning of happiness. Chasity calls forth self-knowledge within the great drama of overcoming sin’s division of the person, which allows the beauty of love to blossom within and around us. We’ll meet Wednesday evenings at 8pm EST for five weeks, beginning June 12th.
Disciplines:
- Read the daily reflection
- 20 Minutes of Silent Prayer
- Examine your Day
- Regular Fraternity Meeting
- Cold Shower Fridays
- No Meat Fridays
- Make one Holy Hour each week
- Celebrate the Lord’s Day
