Dear Father, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you to stir up within me the fullness of Your Holy Spirit. Help me to grow in my relationship with the Third Person of Your Holy Trinity and to live in His power and use His gifts.
Lord Jesus, You promised, "The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" (John 14:26). Help me to remember that I don't know everything, and that this is okay, because the Holy Spirit understands it all. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and His understanding of everything that is happening in my life.
O Holy Spirit, Jesus asked the Father to give me the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17). Help me to recognize You in the scriptures. Open my mind to understand Your truths, and open my heart to accept Your truths in faith even before I gain right understanding.
O Holy Spirit, Jesus said, "The one who receives the seed that falls on good soil hears the word and understands it. He produces an abundant crop" (Matt. 13:23). Be the gardener of my life. Nourish the seeds of heaven that You have already placed within me and make it grow so that Your love, Your ways, and Your kingdom will always grow within me and produce much good fruit for others.
O Holy Spirit, Jesus said, "Do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say" (Luke 12:11-12). Help me to trust in You always. Help me to remember that with You, nothing is impossible, and that You work everything according to what is good and right and timely, even if it doesn't seem so to me.
O Holy Spirit, Jesus said, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and everything else you need will be given to you as well" (Matt. 6:33). Help me to let go of all my earthly attachments. First help me to recognize what I am attached to that is not of You, and then hold my hand as I walk away from the things of the world. Give me the determination and the strength to let go so that I have no other gods before me. I want only You.
O Holy Spirit, You are the Comforter. Help me to let go of the losses in my life. Heal my heart. And help me to face my sinfulness and to feel genuine sorrow for the damage ~ both intentional and unintentional ~ that I have inflicted on others and in so doing have inflicted on Jesus. Comfort me as I mourn my need for forgiveness, and give me Your spirit of rejoicing over this new growth in me.
O Holy Spirit, Jesus freely chose to suffer and die for me because of His tremendous love for me. I have pains in my life ~ hurts, wounds, sufferings, trials, difficulties ~ and I want to run from them. Strengthen me to follow in Jesus' footsteps so that I can walk my road to Calvary without fearing evil, and lead me into my new life of victory and resurrection.
O Holy Spirit, Jesus said that He would not leave us orphans, but would send You to us (John 14:18). How often I have wept or complained because it seemed like You were not with me in my sorrows and sufferings! Help me to recognize Your presence in ALL situations. Help me to turn to You and find You, for You never leave me nor abandon me. You care even more about me and my problems than I do. You are working a plan for my benefit, to make good come from everything that happens to me. Help me to discover Your presence in every moment of my life.
O Holy Spirit, by the cross of Jesus we are healed! By His resurrection we live in the new life of total, unconditional love. Help me to share that healing love with all those around me. Jesus commanded, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Help me to declare with power the Good News of Jesus Christ. Send me to where You can use my gifts and talents to make a difference.
O Holy Spirit, You gave Yourself to the Virgin Mary and she said "yes" to becoming the mother of the Messiah. Help me to say "yes!" to whatever it is You are calling me to do. I want to serve the Father and make Jesus' love more evident in the world around me.
O Holy Spirit, I have my own expectations about what I should and should not do. I now surrender to You my ideas, my limitations, my preferences, and my goals. Fill me, Holy Spirit, with all Your supernatural gifts! Empower me to accept and grow in the supernatural life as much as the early disciples did. I want to be useful to You. I want to go where You lead me. Holy Spirit, send me forth gifted and empowered to make a difference spreading the Good News of God's forgiving love.
Come, Holy Spirit; renew me. In Jesus' name, Amen!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
St. Padré Pio's Statue Wept Blood - 2002
Italian statue 'weeps blood'
Police wipe the statue with handkerchiefs from believers
Police wipe the statue with handkerchiefs from believers
 Police are to analyse the red liquid coming from the statue's eyes |
Though claims of weeping statues are not unusual in Italy, the popularity of Padre Pio has made this a special case.
More than 2,000 people rushed to the statue overnight in the square in front of the Church of Madonna of Pompeii.
Stigmata
Police have taken a sample of the liquid coming from the two-metre (seven-foot) bronze statue for analysis. He was considered the first priest in centuries to show the stigmata - the wounds to hands, feet and side suffered by Jesus at his crucifixion.
He has an enormous following and the monastery where he died in 1968 at the age of 81 attracts seven million visitors a year - similar to the numbers who go to France's Lourdes shrine.
Vatican Shocked at Britain's Hostile Reaction to Pope
The hostility that many British are voicing toward Pope Benedict XVI has shocked church officials in Rome as they prepare for the first formal state visit to Great Britain by a reigning pontiff.
The four-day papal visit, which begins Thursday, has prompted negative reactions by far exceeding anything the Pope has encountered when traveling even to non-Christian countries such as Turkey or Israel.
The protests have ranged from the mean-spirited and the tasteless to the vehemently ideological. Some even called for the Pope's arrest upon his arrival in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Queen Elizabeth II is to greet him.
At the bottom of the scale, the cost of the visit — an estimated 10 million pounds (about 15.4 million U.S. dollars) to British taxpayers — has generated repeated complaints, although such protests are never heard when other heads of state come to Britain.
More seriously, a controversy arose in April after the leak of a joke memo that a junior Foreign Office official had written suggesting that the Pope should bless a gay marriage and open an abortion clinic as part of his official program.
The government offered an apology to the Holy See, but the prank betrayed the sort of ignorant contempt that passes for cleverness in the corridors of power in Britain.
The National Secular Society, an atheist lobby group, has submitted to the government a petition against the papal tour and will demonstrate against the pontiff during the visit. The group's opinions are quoted widely and even promoted in the British press whenever the papal visit is discussed. The society’s protests against Islam, by contrast, seem limited to campaigning against the ritual slaughter of animals.
Worst of all have been the antics of those who say they want to put the Pope behind bars. Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, the evolutionary scientist and militant atheist whose book “The God Delusion” sold millions, has stated that he would try to stage a citizen’s arrest of the Pope.
Together with human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC, Dawkins claims the Pope bears guilt for the child abuse scandal. A week before the papal visit, Robertson published a book arguing that Benedict should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and explaining why he believes the Pope cannot claim sovereign immunity.
And on Monday, just days before the Pope’s plane was to touch down in Edinburgh, gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was given an hour on prime-time television to attack the Pope, the visit, and Catholicism generally in the most simplistic and virulent terms.
Indeed, so bad-tempered has been the mood in Britain surrounding the visit that the British ambassador to the Holy See felt compelled to suggest in August that it is better for the Pope to generate hostility than indifference.
But why would there be such enmity in a Christian country when there was none from a Muslim or a Jewish one?
The fact that these attacks come from people who are already discredited has done nothing to stem their resonance. Tatchell attacks the Pope over the child abuse scandal, but he himself defended sexual relations between adults and children as young as 9 in a letter to The Guardian in 1997.
Robertson, meanwhile, was sacked from his post as president of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2004 because he refused to withdraw as judge in a case whose defendants he had proclaimed guilty in one of his books. But he continues to pose as an authority on the law and due process.
On the contrary, the outpouring of anti-Catholic feeling has put British Catholics so far on the defensive that many of them now think their opponents are perhaps at least partly right.
Britain has become one of the most virulently anti-Christian countries in the world. After a few decades in which the traditional anti-Catholic prejudices fell into abeyance, the basic anti-popish reflexes of an ancient Protestant nation have come back with a vengeance, spurred on by ideological attacks on the only Christian church that seems to stand for anything at all. The Anglicans, meanwhile, having been mired in their own internal problems for years.
Common to all these attacks is an obsession with sex and a refusal to see Christianity as anything but a “teaching,” a mere series of moral “thou shalt nots.”
One might not expect militant atheists to understand the notion of transcendence or divinity, but Britain’s widespread hostility to the largest religion in the world does not square with its trashy indulgence of all other movements, however marginal or inchoate, that choose to label themselves “spiritual.”
Britain has traveled further down the road of political correctness than even traditionally permissive European societies like those of the Netherlands or Scandinavia. At a time when the basic social conservatism of some of those countries is manifesting itself in various protest movements, especially against Muslim immigration, British politics and society is now well to the left of the already very left-wing Western European average.
Soon after David Cameron was elected to power, the new “Conservative” prime minister hosted a garden party at 10 Downing Street for the nation’s most prominent homosexuals. This kind of demonstrative support for gays is something not even the progressive Dutch have ever done, and certainly not something a right-wing politician would normally deem necessary.
The contrast also is striking with the United States, which is, like Britain, a country with a strong Protestant ethic, but unlike Britain, a country where religion plays a big role in public life.
Whereas a Florida pastor’s desire to burn the Koran is widely denounced as extremist, even in the United States itself, the prevailing mood in England regards virulent attacks on Catholicism in England as mainstream. The BBC treats opponents of the Pope as decent campaigners with a voice that deserves to be heard but derides opponents of a mosque at ground zero as redneck right-wingers and racists.
How times have changes since the pastoral visit of John Paul II in 1982, when the pontiff was received with generosity and good grace. The country Joseph Ratzinger will get to know this week has changed unrecognizably since then, and for the worse, to become little but an uncouth, boorish, and sex-obsessed Rude Britannia.
John Laughland, a British citizen, is studies director at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Michael Voris' 2¢ on the matter:
The four-day papal visit, which begins Thursday, has prompted negative reactions by far exceeding anything the Pope has encountered when traveling even to non-Christian countries such as Turkey or Israel.
The protests have ranged from the mean-spirited and the tasteless to the vehemently ideological. Some even called for the Pope's arrest upon his arrival in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Queen Elizabeth II is to greet him. At the bottom of the scale, the cost of the visit — an estimated 10 million pounds (about 15.4 million U.S. dollars) to British taxpayers — has generated repeated complaints, although such protests are never heard when other heads of state come to Britain.
More seriously, a controversy arose in April after the leak of a joke memo that a junior Foreign Office official had written suggesting that the Pope should bless a gay marriage and open an abortion clinic as part of his official program.
The government offered an apology to the Holy See, but the prank betrayed the sort of ignorant contempt that passes for cleverness in the corridors of power in Britain.
The National Secular Society, an atheist lobby group, has submitted to the government a petition against the papal tour and will demonstrate against the pontiff during the visit. The group's opinions are quoted widely and even promoted in the British press whenever the papal visit is discussed. The society’s protests against Islam, by contrast, seem limited to campaigning against the ritual slaughter of animals.
Worst of all have been the antics of those who say they want to put the Pope behind bars. Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, the evolutionary scientist and militant atheist whose book “The God Delusion” sold millions, has stated that he would try to stage a citizen’s arrest of the Pope.
Together with human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC, Dawkins claims the Pope bears guilt for the child abuse scandal. A week before the papal visit, Robertson published a book arguing that Benedict should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and explaining why he believes the Pope cannot claim sovereign immunity.
And on Monday, just days before the Pope’s plane was to touch down in Edinburgh, gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was given an hour on prime-time television to attack the Pope, the visit, and Catholicism generally in the most simplistic and virulent terms.
Indeed, so bad-tempered has been the mood in Britain surrounding the visit that the British ambassador to the Holy See felt compelled to suggest in August that it is better for the Pope to generate hostility than indifference.
But why would there be such enmity in a Christian country when there was none from a Muslim or a Jewish one?
The fact that these attacks come from people who are already discredited has done nothing to stem their resonance. Tatchell attacks the Pope over the child abuse scandal, but he himself defended sexual relations between adults and children as young as 9 in a letter to The Guardian in 1997.
Robertson, meanwhile, was sacked from his post as president of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2004 because he refused to withdraw as judge in a case whose defendants he had proclaimed guilty in one of his books. But he continues to pose as an authority on the law and due process.
On the contrary, the outpouring of anti-Catholic feeling has put British Catholics so far on the defensive that many of them now think their opponents are perhaps at least partly right.
Britain has become one of the most virulently anti-Christian countries in the world. After a few decades in which the traditional anti-Catholic prejudices fell into abeyance, the basic anti-popish reflexes of an ancient Protestant nation have come back with a vengeance, spurred on by ideological attacks on the only Christian church that seems to stand for anything at all. The Anglicans, meanwhile, having been mired in their own internal problems for years.
Common to all these attacks is an obsession with sex and a refusal to see Christianity as anything but a “teaching,” a mere series of moral “thou shalt nots.”
One might not expect militant atheists to understand the notion of transcendence or divinity, but Britain’s widespread hostility to the largest religion in the world does not square with its trashy indulgence of all other movements, however marginal or inchoate, that choose to label themselves “spiritual.”
Britain has traveled further down the road of political correctness than even traditionally permissive European societies like those of the Netherlands or Scandinavia. At a time when the basic social conservatism of some of those countries is manifesting itself in various protest movements, especially against Muslim immigration, British politics and society is now well to the left of the already very left-wing Western European average.
Soon after David Cameron was elected to power, the new “Conservative” prime minister hosted a garden party at 10 Downing Street for the nation’s most prominent homosexuals. This kind of demonstrative support for gays is something not even the progressive Dutch have ever done, and certainly not something a right-wing politician would normally deem necessary.
The contrast also is striking with the United States, which is, like Britain, a country with a strong Protestant ethic, but unlike Britain, a country where religion plays a big role in public life.
Whereas a Florida pastor’s desire to burn the Koran is widely denounced as extremist, even in the United States itself, the prevailing mood in England regards virulent attacks on Catholicism in England as mainstream. The BBC treats opponents of the Pope as decent campaigners with a voice that deserves to be heard but derides opponents of a mosque at ground zero as redneck right-wingers and racists.
How times have changes since the pastoral visit of John Paul II in 1982, when the pontiff was received with generosity and good grace. The country Joseph Ratzinger will get to know this week has changed unrecognizably since then, and for the worse, to become little but an uncouth, boorish, and sex-obsessed Rude Britannia.
John Laughland, a British citizen, is studies director at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Michael Voris' 2¢ on the matter:
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
7 Sorrows of St. Joseph
To increase one's devotion to the Blessed Spouse, one may meditate on the Seven Sorrows and Joys of St. Joseph with the following prayers:
(If you prefer to use a rosary, the Servite Rosary would work well, as it does for the 7 Sorrows of Mary)
O chaste Spouse of Mary most holy, glorious St. Joseph, great was the trouble and anguish of thy heart when thou wert minded to put away privately thine inviolate Spouse, yet thy joy was unspeakable when the surpassing mystery of the Incarnation was made known to thee by the Angel! By this sorrow and this joy, we beseech thee to comfort our souls, both now and in the sorrows of our final hour, with the joy of a good life and a holy death after the pattern of thine own, in the arms of Jesus and Mary. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O most blessed Patriarch, glorious St. Joseph, who was chosen to be the foster father of the Word made flesh, thy sorrow at seeing the Child Jesus born in such poverty was suddenly changed into heavenly exultation when thou didst hear the angelic hymn and beheld the glories of that resplendent night. By this sorrow and this joy, we implore thee to obtain for us the grace to pass over from life's pathway to hear the angelic songs of praise, and to rejoice in the shining splendor of celestial glory. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O glorious St. Joseph, thou faithfully obeyed the law of God, and thy heart was pierced at the sight of the Precious Blood that was shed by the Infant Savior during His Circumcision, but the Name of Jesus gave thee new life and filled thee with quiet joy. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us the grace to be freed from all sin during life, and to die rejoicing, with the Holy Name of Jesus in our hearts and on our lips. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O most faithful Saint who shared the mysteries of our Redemption, glorious St. Joseph, the prophecy of Simeon regarding the sufferings of Jesus and Mary caused thee to shudder with mortal dread, but at the same time filled thee with a blessed joy for the salvation and glorious which, he foretold, would be attained by countless souls. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us that we may be among the number of those, who through merits of Jesus and the intercession of Mary the Virgin Mother, are predestined to a glorious resurrection. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O most watchful Guardian of the Incarnate Son of God, glorious St. Joseph, what toil was thine in supporting and waiting upon the Son of the most high God, especially in the flight into Egypt! Yet at the same time, how thou didst rejoice to have always near you God Himself, and to see the idols of the Egyptians fall prostrate to the ground before Him. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us the grace of keeping ourselves in safety from the infernal tyrant, especially by flight from dangerous occasions; may every idol of earthly affection fall from our hearts; may we be wholly employed in serving Jesus and Mary, and for them alone may we live and happily die. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O glorious St. Joseph, an angel on earth, thou didst marvel to see the King of Heaven obedient to thy commands, but thy consolation in bringing Jesus out of the land of Egypt was troubled by the fear of Archelaus; nevertheless, being assured by the Angel, thou dwelt in gladness at Nazareth with Jesus and Mary. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us that our hearts may be delivered from harmful fears, so that we may rejoice in peace of conscience and may live in safety with Jesus and Mary and may, like thee, die in theri company. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O glorious St. Joseph, pattern of all holiness, when thou didst lose, through no fault of thine own, the Child Jesus, thou sought Him sorrowing for the space of three days, until with great joy, thou didst find Him again in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors. By this sorrow and this joy, we supplicate thee, with our hearts upon our lips, to keep us from ever having the misfortune to lose Jesus through mortal sin; but if this supreme misfortune should befall us, grant that we may seek Him with unceasing sorrow until we find Him again, ready to show us His great mercy, especially at the hour of death; so that we may pass over to enjoy His presence in Heaven; and there in company with thee, may we sing the praises of His Divine mercy forever. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
Antiphon: And Jesus Himself was beginning about the age of thirty, being (as it was supposed) the Son of Joseph.
V: Pray for us, O holy Joseph,
R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let Us Pray.
O God, Who in Thine ineffable Providence didst vouchsafe to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of Thy most holy Mother, grant we beseech Thee, that he whom we venerate as our protector on earth may be our intercessor in Heaven. Who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
(If you prefer to use a rosary, the Servite Rosary would work well, as it does for the 7 Sorrows of Mary)
O chaste Spouse of Mary most holy, glorious St. Joseph, great was the trouble and anguish of thy heart when thou wert minded to put away privately thine inviolate Spouse, yet thy joy was unspeakable when the surpassing mystery of the Incarnation was made known to thee by the Angel! By this sorrow and this joy, we beseech thee to comfort our souls, both now and in the sorrows of our final hour, with the joy of a good life and a holy death after the pattern of thine own, in the arms of Jesus and Mary. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O most blessed Patriarch, glorious St. Joseph, who was chosen to be the foster father of the Word made flesh, thy sorrow at seeing the Child Jesus born in such poverty was suddenly changed into heavenly exultation when thou didst hear the angelic hymn and beheld the glories of that resplendent night. By this sorrow and this joy, we implore thee to obtain for us the grace to pass over from life's pathway to hear the angelic songs of praise, and to rejoice in the shining splendor of celestial glory. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O glorious St. Joseph, thou faithfully obeyed the law of God, and thy heart was pierced at the sight of the Precious Blood that was shed by the Infant Savior during His Circumcision, but the Name of Jesus gave thee new life and filled thee with quiet joy. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us the grace to be freed from all sin during life, and to die rejoicing, with the Holy Name of Jesus in our hearts and on our lips. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O most faithful Saint who shared the mysteries of our Redemption, glorious St. Joseph, the prophecy of Simeon regarding the sufferings of Jesus and Mary caused thee to shudder with mortal dread, but at the same time filled thee with a blessed joy for the salvation and glorious which, he foretold, would be attained by countless souls. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us that we may be among the number of those, who through merits of Jesus and the intercession of Mary the Virgin Mother, are predestined to a glorious resurrection. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O most watchful Guardian of the Incarnate Son of God, glorious St. Joseph, what toil was thine in supporting and waiting upon the Son of the most high God, especially in the flight into Egypt! Yet at the same time, how thou didst rejoice to have always near you God Himself, and to see the idols of the Egyptians fall prostrate to the ground before Him. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us the grace of keeping ourselves in safety from the infernal tyrant, especially by flight from dangerous occasions; may every idol of earthly affection fall from our hearts; may we be wholly employed in serving Jesus and Mary, and for them alone may we live and happily die. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O glorious St. Joseph, an angel on earth, thou didst marvel to see the King of Heaven obedient to thy commands, but thy consolation in bringing Jesus out of the land of Egypt was troubled by the fear of Archelaus; nevertheless, being assured by the Angel, thou dwelt in gladness at Nazareth with Jesus and Mary. By this sorrow and this joy, obtain for us that our hearts may be delivered from harmful fears, so that we may rejoice in peace of conscience and may live in safety with Jesus and Mary and may, like thee, die in theri company. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
O glorious St. Joseph, pattern of all holiness, when thou didst lose, through no fault of thine own, the Child Jesus, thou sought Him sorrowing for the space of three days, until with great joy, thou didst find Him again in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors. By this sorrow and this joy, we supplicate thee, with our hearts upon our lips, to keep us from ever having the misfortune to lose Jesus through mortal sin; but if this supreme misfortune should befall us, grant that we may seek Him with unceasing sorrow until we find Him again, ready to show us His great mercy, especially at the hour of death; so that we may pass over to enjoy His presence in Heaven; and there in company with thee, may we sing the praises of His Divine mercy forever. (Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be)
Antiphon: And Jesus Himself was beginning about the age of thirty, being (as it was supposed) the Son of Joseph.
V: Pray for us, O holy Joseph,
R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let Us Pray.
O God, Who in Thine ineffable Providence didst vouchsafe to choose Blessed Joseph to be the spouse of Thy most holy Mother, grant we beseech Thee, that he whom we venerate as our protector on earth may be our intercessor in Heaven. Who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Church Militant, Suffering and Triumphant
On September 5th a dear friend that buried my parents passed away, Fr. Louis Soucey .. he was 92. On September 10th, Frank Shriever, a man that dispatches for the local cabs here passed away very suddenly shortly after Carl spoke to him for what would be the last time, he was only 63. Today, I hear my sister in law's father Peter Lyon is in a coma waiting to die with blood pressure 30/45. Our friend in Kansas's wife, Sandra Chimick who has battled cancer for so many years now has given up the fight and is in hospice after learning she has yet another brain tumor with 3 large new tumors in her abdomen and something else in her blood. I don't think she's yet even 50.
It's something how bad news generally seems to come in 3's. Perhaps a superstition, but it gives one pause none the less.
I have been even more so inclined to pray for the souls in purgatory lately. Many of you might know (and for those that don't, please feel free to join me in this) that daily, during the hour of Mercy 3pm, one of my major petitions is that I beg for purgatory to be emptied into heaven at that time. I also say a purgatory souls chaplet at bedtime as well asking for even more to be released then too.
I think it's very important to unite all our every day actions to the Perfect Passion of Jesus and His Precious Body and Blood truly Present in every Tabernacle and on every altar in the world. This makes me remember that Jesus asked us to pray without ceasing. I think uniting every breath, heartbeat, joy, sorrow, tear, action, reaction, step and utterance to Him daily brings us closer to His request and it also makes me feel more united to the communion of saints.
The world is hard. It often hurts. It's unjust much of the time. It seems it's getting worse rather than better. No wonder Jesus wondered if He'd find any FAITH on earth when He returned. Yes, we must live in this world now but as St. Paul tells us, we do not have to be OF the world, just IN it till God calls us home. How often do we really think of our HOME? Our FINAL DESTINATION? Do we really believe we are merely sojourners here or do we feel like this IS IT and that's all there is? How do we live? Our thoughts, words and deeds reflect our beliefs. Actions speak louder than words. Do we keep our eyes fixed on temporal goals or heavenly treasures?
We must not forget that no matter how hard things are here, we ARE NOT ALONE! We are ONE BODY IN CHRIST! We, the Church militant struggling here must support the Church suffering in purgatory with alms, Masses, prayers and penance. They cannot pray for themselves and they desperately need our help, especially those that have been forgotten and I feel so STRONGLY that there are MANY MANY :-(
We also must not forget to call upon the Church Triumphant in heaven. Those saints that have gone before us (proclaimed and yet unproclaimed) that have a special place in heaven for their faithfulness and can intercede on our behalf tirelessly. Today in fact, I received word and confirmation of just this. A lady placed an order for some chaplets and I felt compelled to enclose a little St. Therese prayer with a golden rose. I nearly didn't because I only had 2 left, but I really did feel compelled! Come to find out today, she tells me that she was in the middle of a novena to St. Therese which concluded on the day she received her order. She knew St. Therese heard her prayer being the rose was there. (Interesting about St. Therese and prayers and roses, google it. :))
It just makes me tearfully smile and fills my heart with joy when I see God's people strengthening each other, whether militant, suffering or triumphant. We are all one in Him!
So I guess I'm writing this thing that most of you already know, but I want to remind everyone not to take this for granted ... our daily lives can be so cluttered with LIVING! LOL
Let's never forget the riches that our dear Lord has left for us. Particularly HIMSELF in the Holy Eucharist ... TRULY Present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Please pray for the soul of Fr. Soucey and for Peter and Sandra above and all of us struggling here in this valley of tears for however long the Good Lord deems us do His Will here on earth. Pray hard for each other and never forget the souls in purgatory, especially those that are abandoned and have no one to pray for them.
It's something how bad news generally seems to come in 3's. Perhaps a superstition, but it gives one pause none the less.
I have been even more so inclined to pray for the souls in purgatory lately. Many of you might know (and for those that don't, please feel free to join me in this) that daily, during the hour of Mercy 3pm, one of my major petitions is that I beg for purgatory to be emptied into heaven at that time. I also say a purgatory souls chaplet at bedtime as well asking for even more to be released then too.
I think it's very important to unite all our every day actions to the Perfect Passion of Jesus and His Precious Body and Blood truly Present in every Tabernacle and on every altar in the world. This makes me remember that Jesus asked us to pray without ceasing. I think uniting every breath, heartbeat, joy, sorrow, tear, action, reaction, step and utterance to Him daily brings us closer to His request and it also makes me feel more united to the communion of saints.
The world is hard. It often hurts. It's unjust much of the time. It seems it's getting worse rather than better. No wonder Jesus wondered if He'd find any FAITH on earth when He returned. Yes, we must live in this world now but as St. Paul tells us, we do not have to be OF the world, just IN it till God calls us home. How often do we really think of our HOME? Our FINAL DESTINATION? Do we really believe we are merely sojourners here or do we feel like this IS IT and that's all there is? How do we live? Our thoughts, words and deeds reflect our beliefs. Actions speak louder than words. Do we keep our eyes fixed on temporal goals or heavenly treasures?
We must not forget that no matter how hard things are here, we ARE NOT ALONE! We are ONE BODY IN CHRIST! We, the Church militant struggling here must support the Church suffering in purgatory with alms, Masses, prayers and penance. They cannot pray for themselves and they desperately need our help, especially those that have been forgotten and I feel so STRONGLY that there are MANY MANY :-(
We also must not forget to call upon the Church Triumphant in heaven. Those saints that have gone before us (proclaimed and yet unproclaimed) that have a special place in heaven for their faithfulness and can intercede on our behalf tirelessly. Today in fact, I received word and confirmation of just this. A lady placed an order for some chaplets and I felt compelled to enclose a little St. Therese prayer with a golden rose. I nearly didn't because I only had 2 left, but I really did feel compelled! Come to find out today, she tells me that she was in the middle of a novena to St. Therese which concluded on the day she received her order. She knew St. Therese heard her prayer being the rose was there. (Interesting about St. Therese and prayers and roses, google it. :))
It just makes me tearfully smile and fills my heart with joy when I see God's people strengthening each other, whether militant, suffering or triumphant. We are all one in Him!
So I guess I'm writing this thing that most of you already know, but I want to remind everyone not to take this for granted ... our daily lives can be so cluttered with LIVING! LOL
Let's never forget the riches that our dear Lord has left for us. Particularly HIMSELF in the Holy Eucharist ... TRULY Present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Please pray for the soul of Fr. Soucey and for Peter and Sandra above and all of us struggling here in this valley of tears for however long the Good Lord deems us do His Will here on earth. Pray hard for each other and never forget the souls in purgatory, especially those that are abandoned and have no one to pray for them.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Eucharistic Prayer
O most sweet Jesus, who came into this world to give to all souls the life of Your grace, and who, to preserve and increase it in them, willed to be the daily remedy of their weakness and the food for each day, we humbly beseech You, by Your Heart so burning with love for us, to pour Your divine Spirit upon all souls in order that those who have the misfortune to be in the state of mortal sin may, returning to You, find the life of grace that they have lost. Through this same Holy Spirit, may those who are already living by this divine life devoutly approach Your divine table every day when it is possible, so that, receiving each day in Holy Communion the antidote of their daily venial sins and each day sustaining in themselves the life of Your grace and thus ever purifying themselves the more, they may finaly come to a happy life with You. Amen. -- Pope St. Pius X
Social Engineering Bill In Senate Will Force You Into City
If anyone has further info on this ... please advise!
taken from Personal Liberty
taken from Personal Liberty
September 10, 2010 by Bob Livingston
A social engineering bill to restrict residence in the suburbs and rural areas and force Americans into city centers has passed the United States Senate Banking Committee and is on the fast track to passage in the Senate.The bill is called the Livable Communities Act (SB 1619) and it was introduced by corruptocrat outgoing Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.). It seeks to fulfill the United Nation’s plan Agenda 21, adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and signed onto by “New World Order” President George H.W. Bush.
This bill is designed to destroy your community. According to the non-profit American Policy Center the bill:
- Is a blueprint for the transformation of our society into total Federal control.
- Will enforce Federal Sustainable Development zoning and control of local communities.
- Will create a massive new “development” bureaucracy.
- Will drive up the cost of energy to heat and cool your home.
- Will drive up the cost of gasoline as a way to get you out of your car.
- Will force you to spend thousands of dollars on your home in order to comply.
The stick will be denial of the funds and bad publicity generated by “Green” organizations criticizing government officials for turning down free money.
The rub is the grants will come with strings attached that force local governments to bend to the will of the Feds.
The idea of these social engineering initiatives is to force people to live in a congested area in high rise buildings with housing on the upper floors and stores on the bottom. The whole area will be linked by mass transit creating the “utopian” communities loved by socialists.
The result will be higher costs for housing (because overcrowding will make housing space a premium) and goods and services (because of less choice and competition) and less freedom to move about (because cars won’t be necessary and parking space will be prohibitively expensive).
As we pointed out here President Barack Obama is — not surprisingly — an advocate of this type of nonsense. And his cabinet is populated by elitists who think they know better than you how you should live.
It is imperative that you call your two Senators immediately and tell them to oppose Dodd’s SB1619.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Don't Miss the Priestville Video Homilies
I just want to point out and encourage my readers not to miss the great Priestville homilies I've found as well as some of the other static pages in this blog. I may, in the future, add other good video homilies I find so this may not be exclusive to the Priestville homilies forever. I only get 10 static pages here, so must conserve a little! ;)
When I update "Quotes" or "Prayers" or any of the other static pages, it's not dynamic content, so you have to click on the side bar links to go to the pages you wish to view. Some great Vortex videos there as well as personal and traditional prayers and even a little Humor.
These pages and more are found under "What's Inside" on the right sidebar :) God bless!
Unfortunately, it appears that they've discontinued the homilies .. however they have replaced it with daily readings which is good too.
Join my PriestVille Diocese! http://apps.facebook.com/priestvillegame/invitations/8001-46dac20c53?reference=invite_link
When I update "Quotes" or "Prayers" or any of the other static pages, it's not dynamic content, so you have to click on the side bar links to go to the pages you wish to view. Some great Vortex videos there as well as personal and traditional prayers and even a little Humor.
These pages and more are found under "What's Inside" on the right sidebar :) God bless!
Unfortunately, it appears that they've discontinued the homilies .. however they have replaced it with daily readings which is good too.
Join my PriestVille Diocese! http://apps.facebook.com/priestvillegame/invitations/8001-46dac20c53?reference=invite_link
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