How to make reparation for your sins and those you love

 

From the Fairfield OCD hermits… I pray to complete even 20% of their direction. (apologies for the formatting)

The grave necessity and healing value of reparation for your sins
There are two obstacles for receiving divine grace in your life:

1) a lack of prayer and sacrifice to obtain grace.

2) a lack of reparation for sins, which are impediments to receiving the divine blessing.

Below you can learn the importance and healing power of reparation, and it only takes about 3 minutes to read.
After celebrating the gift of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, the Church turns our attention to His Sacred Heart. The prayer of the feast of the Sacred Heart refers to our obligation of offering God reparation for sin.
What is reparation and why is it one of the most important things for you and your loved ones?
“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just: And he is the expiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments. He who says that he knows him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But he that keeps his word, in him in very deed the charity of God is perfected.”
-1 John 2:1-5
Because of the fallen condition of the human race, everyone reading this message is a sinner. All of your loved ones, both living and deceased, are deeply affected by sin, both in this world and when they depart from it.

Sin is your greatest problem, since it is the root cause of suffering, sadness, death, and eternal damnation, in addition to the offense that it offers to God. Therefore, the most important thing for you to do in your short life in this world is to:

1) Avoid all sin in the present and future, and…

2) Free yourself from the consequences of past sins.

How can you free yourself or others from the consequences sins, even those that have been confessed and sacramentally absolved? By offering to God full reparation for them. Even after receiving forgiveness for sins, the damage from sins needs to be repaired, and this is the place of reparation.

How can you offer reparation to God? Through works of charity and religion in union with Christ and His saving Cross.

Therefore, you can rejoice to know that through Christ, you are able to offer atonement to God for the evils by which His goodness and holiness have been grievously offended, and by which you have damaged yourself and others. How can you accomplish this in your life?
“It is not enough to remove the arrow from the body. We also have to heal the wound caused by the arrow. It is the same with the soul; after we have received forgiveness for our sins, we have to heal the wound that remains through penance.”
–Saint John Chrysostom (347-407 A.D.)
In His Sacrifice on the Cross, Christ Himself offered the fullness of expiation and atonement for your sins.

However, you must be personally united with Christ in His work of salvation to participate in its fruits and effects in your soul and in your daily living. His sanctity and merits must be applied to you personally for reparation from your sins or to make reparation for the sins of others. In the Sacrifice of the Mass, we present to God the merit, satisfaction and reparation that Christ accomplished on the Cross, uniting to His work of charity and sacrifice ourselves and our own works. As the priest states at Mass, the Sacrifice is offered to God for persons “whose faith and devotion are known to [Him]”.

By your works of faith (faith operates through charity, as St. Paul says) and devotion, you dispose yourself to more intimately and abundantly participate and communicate in the fruits of Christ’s Sacrifice, and thereby make reparation for sin.

Concretely, what are the fundamental works of reparation that are most effective? Sacred Scripture authoritatively tells us: 

Prayer

“And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.” – James 5:15

Fasting

“Prayer is good with fasting and alms more than to lay up treasures of gold.” – Tobit 12:8

Almsgiving

“Thy prayers and thy alms are ascended for a memorial in the sight of God.” – Acts 10:4

Penance

“Do penance…for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…Save yourselves from this perverse generation.” – Acts 2:38,40

Charity

“Purifying your souls in the obedience of charity, with a brotherly love, from a sincere heart love one another earnestly…for charity covers a multitude of sins” – 1 Peter 1:22,4:8

What if you think that you cannot do these things, or that you cannot do them enough to offer adequate reparation for sins? You should have recourse to others to offer an abundance of those works of reparation. This is because the different members of the Body of Christ, the Church, depend upon one another in their spiritual needs, just as the different organs and parts of the body depend on one another for their specific functions contributing to the life and vitality of the whole.
“I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance…unless you do penance, you shall perish.”
-Luke 5:32,13:3
The Discalced Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel are especially dedicated to the work of prayer, sacrifice, and reparation in the heart of the Church. They offer to God intercession for the conversion of sinners and reparation for the many sins that plague the world today, including in your life and that of your loved ones. Through this vital work in intimate union with Christ, they help bring divine redemption to many persons in their deepest needs. They accomplish this by daily offering to God the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, their many hours of prayer throughout the day and in much of the night, nearly constant fasting, perpetual abstinence from meat, hard manual labor, and the life-long privation of many comforts and most modern conveniences in an austere life of religious poverty and penance.

You can be encouraged to know that you can always count on the Hermits interceding for you personally as well as your loved ones. They are praying for you and for the world, presenting to God the works of reparation and constant intercession that are so gravely needed today.
5 Ways You Can Offer Sacrifice and Reparation in imitation of the Discaled Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel:

1. Fast on Fridays, imitating the Hermits who fast most of the year.

2. Add to your daily routine one extra act of devotion in union with the practices of the Hermits. Click here to see the monastic schedule the hermits live and follow.

3. Abstain from eating meat for a week. You can do this monthly, quarterly, or annually, as the Hermits perpetually abstain from eating meat.

4. Resolve to pray kneeling with more frequency, as the Hermits pray many hours on their knees on the bare floor.

5. Rise 30 minutes earlier in the morning, and consecrate this time to God, in imitation of the Hermits who rise at midnight to pray to God for you and your loved ones.

Spring Update on the Hermits

All of the Discalced Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel continue to pray for the persons entrusted to their intercession during their Lenten observances.

These months of spring have been filled with continued work on the community’s monasteries in Pennsylvania and Colorado. Even amidst the full vigor of their contemplative religious observance, the hours of manual labor in their monastic schedule have been filled with a variety of successful works: wood milling, preparing timber frames, and more intricate woodworking, in addition to stone wall building, making candles to provide light for the monastery during the night Offices, gardening, landscaping, and even blacksmithing.

Several groups of discerning aspirants have visited the community throughout the last months. Another large group of approximately 14 Postulants will be admitted to the ranks of the community in the winter, and so the Hermits have also been busy sewing additional Habits, finishing monastic Cells, and preparing other materials for their newest Brothers. The daily period of manual labor is a fruitful opportunity for the Hermits to exercise selfless charity towards their neighbor and practice other virtues that deeply enrich their contemplative life at the service of the entire Church. You can join your sacrifice to theirs!

Do you want to see more about this community?

What Are you Willing to Die For? is a short but reverent look into the life of the Discalced Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Did you find something in this message helpful? You can share the benefit with others!
x linkedin facebook email
The Discalced Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
P.O. Box 630350
Highlands Ranch, CO, 80163newsletter@edcarm.org1-719-372-4844 
The Hermits have dozens of new aspirants this year! The ever-increasing number of Hermits labor daily for the salvation of souls and authentic spiritual renewal in the Church and the world. But they cannot live this vocation without your support.

Click here to make the Hermits part of your regular charitable giving through a recurring donation.

Even your smallest recurring donation is a real and meritorious participation in our crucial spiritual work and mission!
Also, you can write your Catholic Will today as a FREE gift from the Discalced Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel:
Click here to write your Catholic Will
You received this email because you signed up on our website or were signed up by a Hermit who thought you would benefit from it. You can adjust what kind of content you would like to receive by clicking on the unsubscribe link below.
Unsubscribe

2 thoughts on “How to make reparation for your sins and those you love”

  2. All very good suggestions. Personally I like to pray a full 15 decade Rosary and more when I can. Also frequent adoration when the time allows.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.