Spiritual Enrichment
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Spiritual Benefits of Membership in Catholic Daughters
CDA gives us the opportunity to come together with other women who share our faith and our call to service. Membership in a court allows us to have sisters who will pray with us and for us. They are there in happiness and in sorrow. They help us to hear God’s voice as He gives us His counsel and His consolation. Court members who pray together are powerful intercessors. Christ says to us in Scripture,“Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am in their midst.”
Belonging to a court ensures that we are never alone; as we pray together, God is with us, and with Him, “All things are possible.” CDA gives us the ability to answer God’s call to service. As you may know from our old Baltimore Catechism days (if you are very young, this may be before your time), we were created to know, to love, and to serve God. CDA retreats, days of recollection, corporate Communions, and private and collective prayer, all help us to come to know God so that our love for Him grows. It is that love of God that calls us to service.
The fact that we belong to a CDA court then allows us to use our gifts to answer that call to service. As court members, we live out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy by praying for and taking care of God’s people. When we feed the hungry, build Habitat Houses, visit the sick, pray for those in need, teach children, support our clergy, all of that is part of living a life of service.
Even when we raise money, we are serving. Where will the money for our seminarians come from? How will we buy rosaries so that we can teach children to pray? How will the local women’s shelter get money for school supplies or clothing for battered women? Some of it will come from our bake sales, Christmas raffles, and chicken dinners. Even when we raise money, we serve and answer God’s call.
In the end, we becomeCDA and CDA becomes who we are. We live out our lives praying and serving God’s people, and when the time comes, it is our CDA sisters who will be there to pray for us as we pass from this life into the next. by Olga Samaniego, Past National Regent
In the state of Iowa, our deceased members receive the following spiritual benefits from membership: remembered at the local court’s annual Memorial Massand every two years at the state convention they are remembered at the Memorial Mass. All members, living and deceased, are remembered at the state chaplain’s monthly First Friday Masses.Faith is a Gift from God
As Catholic Daughters and members of our Courts we nourish our faith. Our faith inspires us to have strength in today’s world. Quoting from Pope John XXIII, “All work becomes supremely great when it is done in the Spirit of our Lord”. As I read the Spiritual enhancement reports from our Iowa Courts I see our Courts are inspired for prayer and service. Our Courts support those receiving the Sacraments by sending cards, by giving rosaries and by providing breakfasts or dinners. RCIA members are encouraged by our CDA Courts. In our communities, we are providing needed articles to the Crisis Centers and other organizations.
CDA members are volunteering at our nursing homes and hospitals as many Courts are praying the rosary with the residents. Courts are providing prayer blanketsfor Hospice and other health care facilities. Our CDA members are supporting our Seminarians with spiritual bouquets, with cards and small gifts. In one Court the members have small jars in their homes entitled, “Prayers-Pennies-Priests. They say a prayer as they drop coins in the jar. The money is used for cards and small gifts for our Seminarians.
At Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, one of our campus Courts,the members have been knotting rosary bracelets for their own spiritual need, or to give to friends. And the rosaries will be ready for the college service trips in the US and other countries. I encourage all Courts to use the Catholic Daughter website for ideas for Spiritual enhancement, also all the other sites that provide prayer services. Our “Voice” has many informative ideas for service and prayer.
At the National Board meeting a resolution was passed that we pray one minute each evening for the safety of our troops, for our citizens, for peace in the world that the Bible will remain the basis for laws governing our land, and that Christianity will grow in the United States and in the world. I encourage everyone to continue to pray the rosary daily. Our faith inspires us…. “Remember…our work becomes supremely great when it is done in the Spirit of the Lord.” Blessings, Cleo Harder, Iowa Spiritual Enhancement Chair
Ideas for incorporating spirituality in your local court:Include prayers in your court meetings Celebrate the living rosary
Offer retreats to members Participate in the national Life Chain
Offer guided meditations Offer Eucharistic Adoration
Visit the Blessed Sacrament during the 40 Days for Life
Pray the rosary for your court’s deceased members Sponsor a Healing Mass
Have a Mass said for the living and deceased members monthly
Include prayers in your program booklets
Add spiritual information & pictures to your agendas
Ask that the First Friday monthly Mass be offered for CDA
Start a secret prayer pal project: pray for your pal and send a card on her bithday