Keep
your eyes open!...
June 30, 2014
(1Sa 16:7) And the Lord said to
Samuel: Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature:
because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of
man: for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the
heart.
FATHER CARLOS PADILLA:
We would like to experience Christ’s nearness. But it is so hard to
become like Christ! St. Ignatius of Antioch warned us: "Do not wish to
have Jesus Christ in the mouth and worldly desires in the heart at the
same time."
We receive Communion, eat him as food.
We are with him, but our feelings are not his. They are worldly. They
are the feelings of that “old man” who lives within us and refuses to
die.
VIA Jim J. McCrea: Is Your Striving For Perfection Authentic?
Many Christians strive for perfection, following the teaching of Jesus:
"So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew
5:48).
But we have to ask ourselves: is our perfection authentic or is it
something we merely imagine to be perfection? What is true perfection
that is pleasing to God?
We can ask: is our perfection a help and a consolation to others or is it a burden and a sorrow to others?
EXCERPT TRACT: The Requirements For Modesty In Dress
Modesty should be promoted by mothers in their children from early
infancy. Many foolish mothers train their little daughters to
consider scanty attire as the normal thing. Let such mothers take
to heart the serious admonition of Pope Pius XII: "O Christian
mothers, if you knew what a future of anxieties and perils, of
ill-guarded shame you prepare for your sons and daughters, imprudently
getting them accustomed to live scantily dressed and making them lose
the sense of modesty, you would be ashamed of yourselves and you would
dread the harm you are making for yourselves, the harm which you are
causing these children, whom Heaven has entrusted to you to be brought
up as Christians."
Purity is like a precious pearl; it is purchased at a great price,
retained only with great care and watchfulness and easily lost or
destroyed. Beware of pride and flattery, as arch-enemies of your
purity. You may not be finely dressed or pretty and graceful; you
may not have those attractions which are most admired by the world; but
if you have the virtues of modesty and purity you have something which
money cannot buy and an ornament which will outlast all the fading
treasures of earth. "How beautiful then is modesty and what a gem
among virtues it is." (St. Bernard, Confessor and Doctor of the Church)
Our Sorrowful and Immaculate Mother, who in all her apparitions is
fully covered, is presented by her divine Son to us as the perfect
model of modesty and purity. She is terribly saddened by the
immodest and impure conduct so prevalent in our society. Our Lord
speaks to us through His Blessed Mother in condemning the modern trends
of uncovering the body. In fact, Our Lady came down from heaven
to warn against this disrobing trend. Listen to what she revealed
to little ten-year-old Jacinta of Fatima while she was dying in a
hospital in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1920: "Certain fashions will be
introduced which will offend Our Divine Lord very much. Those who
serve God ought not to follow these fashions. Our Lord is always
the same." And she also revealed to Jacinta that "the sins that
lead most souls to hell are the sins of the flesh."
Now let us look at pictures of Our Lady in three of her most famous apparitions: http://olrl.org/virtues/modesty.shtml
In her appearance to Blessed Juan Diego in Mexico, she left a self
portrait which has been miraculously preserved for over four
centuries. It is on display in the Basilica in Mexico City.
The pictures of Our Blessed Mother as she appeared at Lourdes to St.
Bernadette and to the three children at Fatima are from descriptions
provided by the seers. These appearances occurred over a period
of more than four centuries, but see how her dress is always the same.
Let this paper be ended on a positive note. The eminent way to
protect and nourish an unsullied and perfect chastity, as proven by
experience time and again throughout the course of centuries, is solid
and fervent devotion to the Virgin Mother of God. St. Gregory of
Nicomedia encourages sinners by assurance if they have recourse to Our
Blessed Mother, with a determination to amend their lives, she will
save them by her intercession. To obtain favors from Our Lady, we
must perform certain devotions practiced by her servants: First,
to recite at least five decades of her Rosary every day. Second,
to wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Third, to
have a picture or a statue of Our Lady in our home and recite her
litany every day. There are other devotions by the servants of
Mary, but most of all we should recommend ourselves frequently to her
in prayer. "If you persevere until death in true devotion to
Mary, your salvation is certain." St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori,
Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
EXCERPT Deseret News: Modesty means more than apparel
Walsh then shares an excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
"Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them respect for the human person."
Walsh then reiterates a similar message to Craig's.
"Modesty isn’t virtuous because it’s ‘hot,’ it’s virtuous because it’s concerned with something far greater than being hot."
VIA
YOUTUBE: Look
Up!
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Non-Judgement
2. A brother sinned and the presbyter ordered him to out of church. But
Besasarion got up and went out with him, saying 'I too, am a sinner.'
June 27, 2014
(Mat 11:28-30) Come
to me all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take
up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of
heart: And you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is sweet and
my burden light.
VIA NIGERIA: The Feast Of The Most Sacred Heart Of Jesus by Rev. Fr. John Damian AdizIE
Today is another special day in the
history of salvation. The Catholics all over the world and some
orthodox Christians are celebrating the feast of the Most Sacred Heart
of Jesus. It is the feast that highlights the importance of the Heart,
as the symbol of love. It is on a day like this that we reflect on the
nature of the heart of Jesus as the most sacred, the most affectionate,
the most wounded and most caring heart. The heart of Jesus is so large
that it accommodates all. It is a heart that feels what we feel, a
heart that is meek and humble.
The human heart is the central or
innermost part of the body. It is an amazing organ that pumps oxygen
and blood throughout the body to sustain life. It is an indispensable
organ in the body. It is the heart that sustains the human body. The
human body ceases to exist whenever the heart seizes to pump. Whatever
affects the heart affects the entire human body. The heart represents a
person’s will or desire. It reveals one’s true nature and mortification.
The bible describes the heart as
the seat of faith. Authentic faith comes from the heart. The writer of
the book of Hebrew states clearly that “If you confess with your lips
that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Salvation comes through faith in
Christ Jesus. Faith comes through the heart. The heart is therefore the
centre of human belief. Without the heart there will be no faith and
without faith there will be no salvation.
Generally, the heart is often
depicted as the symbol of love. It is the root of true and authentic
love. True love comes directly from the heart. The Lord says, “Hear, O
Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Our love for God is incomplete without the
heart. Our love for God must come directly from the heart.
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: is
one of the most widely practiced and well-known Roman Catholic
devotions. This devotion takes the physical heart of Jesus as the
representation of his divine love for humanity. According to the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The prayer of the Church venerates
and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It
adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he
allowed to be pierced by our sins (CCC 2669). We Adore the Heart of
Jesus because it is the most sacred and most caring heart. It is a
heart that is wounded by love.
The heart of Jesus was physically
pierced with a lance. After his crucifixion on the Cross, the Soldier
broke the legs of the two thieves that were crucified with him but
“When they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not
break his legs But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear,
and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:32-34). The lance
pierced through the heart of Jesus. His heart was wounded because of
our sins.
The prophet Isaiah gave a spiritual
interpretation of this wounded heart of Jesus. The Prophet wrote
concerning Jesus, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with
his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). The heart of Jesus was
wounded not because he committed any sin; he was wounded because of our
transgression. Each time we commit sin we are wounding the heart of
Jesus a second time.
Our Lord Jesus Christ possesses the
most humble, the most caring and most affectionate heart. Jesus said,
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29).
Jesus is not as heartless as most
leaders. He is compassionate and love. When people are hungry Jesus is
hungry with them; when they are sick he is sick with them. When Jesus
saw the hungry crowd he was moved with pity for they were like sheep
without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). Out of compassion, He took his time to
teach them. He even fed five thousand men with uncountable women and
children.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus: emphasizes the purest love, the long-suffering and compassion of
the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ towards humanity. The origin of this
devotion in its modern form is derived from Saint Margaret Mary
Alacoque, a Roman Catholic nun from France, who learnt the devotion
from Jesus during a series of apparitions which occurred between 1673
and 1675.
In one of such apparitions, Our
Lord appeared to Mary and revealed devotions to His Sacred Heart. Jesus
said to her: “Look at this Heart which has loved people so much, and
yet they do not want to love Me in return. Through you My divine Heart
wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth.” Jesus made some
promises to her telling her how he would help those who honor His
Sacred Heart. The following promises were made by our Lord Jesus Christ
to those who are devoted to his sacred heart:
1). I will give them all the graces
necessary for their state of life. 2). I will give peace in their
families. 3). I will console them in all their troubles. 4). Hey shall
find in my heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the
hour of death. 5). I will pour abundant blessings on all their
undertakings. 6). Sinners shall find in my heart the source and
infinite ocean of mercy. 7). Tepid souls shall become fervent. 8).
Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection. 9). I will bless
the homes in which the image of my sacred heart shall be exposed and
honoured. 10). I will give to priests the power to touch the most
hardened hearts. 11). Those who propagate this devotion shall have
their name written in my heart, and it shall never be effaced. 12) The
all-powerful love of my heart will grant to all those who shall receive
communion on the first Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of
final repentance; they shall not die under my displeasure, nor without
receiving the sacraments; my heart shall be their assured refuge at the
last hour.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus consists in attending Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion in
reparation for those who do not receive Our Lord, who do not love
Him and who wound Him by their sinful lives. The Feast of the Sacred
Heart has been in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar since 1856,
and is celebrated on the 19th day after Pentecost. As Pentecost is
always celebrated on Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls
on a Friday. Besides, First Fridays of the month is also set aside for
special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Child of God, you don’t necessarily
have to go through all the rigorous devotions to the Sacred Heart for
you to be devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A journey of many miles
begins with a step. You can start with the invocation of the Sacred
Heart as revealed to Mary: “O Heart of love, I put all my trust in
Thee; for I fear all things from my own weakness, but I hope for all
things from Thy Goodness.”
You can as well start with short
ejaculatory prayer such as: “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus – Have mercy on
us!” Immaculate Heart of Mary – Pray for us! The more you say this
prayer in your heart the more your heart is purified and transformed
into the temple of God. Repeat this prayer wherever you find yourself.
Say it when you are in examination hall. Say it while you are cooking,
or when you are walking along the way and even when you are driving or
travelling. As you are about to sleep let this prayer be on your lips.
If you form the habit of saying this prayer, you will never experience
bad dreams again. You will start experiencing inner peace. Your heart
will be filled with love and joy. You will never be separated from the
presence of God. You will succeed in all your endeavors and it shall be
well with you, in Jesus name – Amen!
ASIANEWS.IT: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in China
VATICAN RADIO: Hymns in honour of the Sacred Heart
NCR: Open Your Home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done For Show
24. A hermit said, 'When you flee from the company of other people, or
when you despise the world and worldlings, take care to do so as if it
were you who was being idiotic.'
June 26, 2014
(Eph 6:11-13) Put
you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the
deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood;
but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world
of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.
Therefore, take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to
resist in the evil day and to stand in all things perfect.
POPE FRANCIS:
“God has called us to know him and to love him precisely by loving our
brothers and sisters, by persevering in the fellowship of the Church
and by seeking in all things to grow in faith and holiness as members
of the one body of Christ.”
AINA NEWS: Christians and Other Non-Muslims of the Middle East Face Extinction
EDITORIAL: Politics As Usual, Or Spiritual Warfare?
Well-meaning statesmen and politicians strive mightily for political
solutions such as an Israel-Palestine accord – or moving the Muslim
Brotherhood to “democracy.” They are living in a fool’s paradise.
Islam’s hatred of the USA and Israel is not political; it’s spiritual
at its very core. Political solutions have yet to work; but like
insanity, we keep doing the same thing over again.
The West has strangely dug itself into a deep hole by denying
Christianity, creating an enormous spiritual vacuum. It denies what
created its beauty and prosperity. Russia is trying to sort out its
renaissance – choosing between her once lost beauty or power unleashed.
China has found itself the largest beneficiary of American companies
selling out their own customers by removing their opportunities to
learn, innovate, work, earn, and buy – trading “Yankee ingenuity” for a
“Yangtze ingenuity” that is devoid of human or environmental
stewardship (or compassion.) Now politicians talk about “creating jobs!”
While the West plays politics against the powers of evil within and
without, its spiritual vacuum is being filled with two competing (yet
complicit) forces. One is Islam, its rules of law an absolute counter
to history’s freest economic/human accomplishment system. Islam only
evangelizes by the edge of the scimitar, the bomb vested jihadist who
seeks an eternal reward, and a highly developed spiritual malady of
lying. Its masses wallow in poverty and fear, while the rulers live
grand lifestyles.
The other is “Eugenic progressivism,” which has no care or concern for
the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. Its
extremes look to a world population reduced to 500 million, human
experimentation in the lab, and new ways to eliminate the unwanted. The
current scandals at the Veterans Administration hospitals are not just
poor administration, but part of the intended spiritual corruption of
our health care system to achieve eugenic goals with a minimum of
resistance.
Our only hope is to regain the spiritual roots so beautifully given us
in the US Declaration of Independence, coupled with the Ethics of her
Constitution and the protective Logic of her Bill of Rights. With one
exception, adherents of nearly all the world’s races and religions have
found a safe home in the United States with its predominantly Christian
foundations. America is far from perfect, but nowhere on earth can
freedom and liberty be found on such a broad human scale.
The war against these foundations has been waged for over 100 years by
“eugenic progressivism” and its money manipulators. In recent years,
the war has been joined by Islamic radicals with their jihad against
all they see as infidels – including competing Islamic sects, but
especially “The Great Satan” of individual liberty and Israel. They
compete to dominate a one world government – fascist/communist or
supreme caliphate. Neither bodes well for the human race.
If complete lack of respect for human life and the hope of eternal
reward for murdering innocents isn’t spiritual warfare, please explain
what political strategy will drive out the demons of the culture of
death? Just ask your local jihadist or eugenicist. They can both be
found crawling around the halls of government, wearing suits and ties
and living grand lifestyles. These are the very halls where freedom
must ring.
MORE: The Fall of Mosul- For anyone who cares about Christian history, it’s like the end of the world.
REVIEW: Taking the Devil Seriously
FATHER LONGENECKER: The
way to counter this? Don’t compromise now and you won’t compromise
then. Stay faithful now in all the little things so you will one day be
faithful in a great thing. Stay loyal, true, bold. Stay honest and
informed, sympathetic and alert. Live the life of faith now with joy,
zeal, courage and love. Then if a test comes you will pass the great test because you have passed all the little tests building up to it.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done For Show
23. A hermit said, 'If a man prepares for the next day, it cuts away the fruit of his spirit and leaves him dry.'
June 22, 2014
(Joh 6:52-54) The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto
you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood,
you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.
POPE FRANCIS:
"Jesus, keep us from the temptations of worldly food, from the poisoned
food that makes us slaves; purify our memory, so that it does not
remain captive to selfish and worldly selectivity, but that it may be a
living memory of your presence throughout the history of your people,
as memory becomes 'memorial' of your act of redemptive love."
CORPUS CHRISTI: The Miracle of the Real Presence in the Eucharist
VIA Jim J. McCrea: How Can Jesus Fit Into the Little Host?
EXCERPT: Feast of Corpus Christi, a Sermon by Father Francis X. Weninger, S.J., 1882
There is not one moment In the day,
not one moment in the night, in which the sacrifice of the Mass is not
offered up in one or another quarter of the globe. Not one single
moment wherein some priest in one or another portion of the world is
not elevating the Sacred Host to heaven, surrounded with a glory and
splendor which our eyes can not behold, and beside which the glory of
the saints and angels seems dim. There is not one moment of time in
which this Adorable Victim is not presented to the Eternal Father— an
offering so precious that all the praise and homage ever offered by the
Angels, or that ever will be offered, is as nothing compared to it.
...We are objects of envy to the
very Angels. They wonder and adore when we receive our Saviour; when we
are united to the divinity and humanity of Christ; when we hold captive
the Author of grace, our God and Redeemer, in the poor dwelling of our
hearts. Return thanks, O Christian, for every Holy Communion which has
been administered since the Last Supper, and for those which will be
given until the end of time. Thank God especially for every worthy
Communion which you have received yourself; and beg of the Lord to
grant you occasion, from this day forward, often to enjoy the same
happiness. Beg Him also for grace to employ His presence in your hearts
as profitably as possible; yes, in a manner so perfect as to initiate
you into His personal love and knowledge.
EXCERPT ALETEIA: The Real Presence? How Can We Be Sure? The real question is "How can we doubt It?"
Those who struggle to believe in
the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, don’t have to rely on
Gospel passages and the opinions of Church fathers and converts alone.
For hardcore skeptics, our merciful
Lord has permitted 153 approved Eucharistic miracles attesting to his
Real Presence in the Eucharist, across the ages and in many countries
of the world. In this Internet age, it is easy to learn more about
them. The most famous are the miracles that occurred in Italy in
Orvieto (1263), Lanciano (8th century) and Siena (1730).
In each miracle where bread and
wine have taken on the appearance of flesh and blood, the flesh has
been confirmed to be cardiac tissue and the blood is always Type AB. A
website called therealpresence.org
gives details about the 153 approved miracles of the Eucharist and
other miracles that are well-documented but not formally
approved.
In light of Jesus’ words, in light
of the central mystery of our faith, the constant teaching of the
Church and hundreds of miracles through the centuries, how will you
approach Communion today? As a routine, without giving it much thought?
If it’s been months or years since
you’ve been to Confession, do you get in the line for Communion anyway,
to prevent other people from thinking that you’ve committed some awful
sin? Actually THAT, receiving the Eucharist unworthily, is a truly
grave sin. It is a sacrilege to receive Holy Communion while being in a
state of mortal sin. If you’ve not fulfilled the obligation for once
yearly Confession, if you’ve intentionally skipped Mass on a Sunday
without adequate reason, such as illness, you may not be in a state of
grace to later receive the Eucharist unless this grave sin has been
confessed and absolved.
Quoting St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, the Catechism warns:
“Whoever,
therefore, eats of the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an
unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the
Lord. ... For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body
eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Cor 11: 27-29). “Anyone
conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of reconciliation
before coming to communion” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1385).
Our belief in the Real Presence
must, therefore, guide our reception of the Eucharist and permeate all
of our actions when we are in church. Sacred silence, reverent
genuflections and proper attire for worship are all manifestations of
deep reverence and faith. But don't confine your reverence and
gratitude for this greatest imaginable gift to the interior of the
church. When you leave Mass after receiving Communion worthily, you
carry Jesus within you and you live in him. Let us try always to be
aware of this extraordinary grace, into the parking lot and beyond.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done For Show
20. She also said, 'The same thing cannot at once be seed and a
full-grown bush. So men with a worldly reputation cannot bear heavenly
fruit.'
June 20, 2014
(Mat 6:9-13) Thus
therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our supersubstantial bread. And forgive us our debts,
as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But
deliver us from evil. Amen.
Reflections by Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI: A CANOPY UNDER WHICH TO PRAY
Do we ever really understand or master prayer? Yes and no.
When we try to pray, sometimes we walk on water and sometimes we
sink like a stone. Sometimes we have a deep sense of God’s reality and
sometimes we can’t even imagine that God exists. Sometimes we have deep
feelings about God’s goodness and love and sometimes we feel only
boredom and distraction. Sometimes our eyes fill with tears and
sometimes they wander furtively to our wrist-watches to see how much
time we still need to spend in prayer. Sometimes we would like to stay
in our prayer-place forever and sometimes we wonder we even showed up.
Prayer has a huge ebb and flow.
I remember an incident, years back, where a man came to me for
spiritual direction. He had been involved for several years in a
Charismatic prayer-group and had experienced there powerful religious
emotions. But now, to his surprise, those emotions had disappeared.
When he tried to pray, he experienced mostly dryness and boredom. He
felt that there was something wrong because his fiery emotions had
disappeared. Here’s how he expressed it: “Father, you’ve seen my bible,
seen how most every line is highlighted with a bright color because the
text spoke so deeply to me. Well, right now, I feel like pitching my
bible through a window because none of that means anything to me
anymore! What’s wrong with me?”
The quick answer could have been: “God is wrong with you!” I pointed
him towards the experience of Theresa of Avila who, after a season of
deep fervor in prayer, experienced eighteen years of boredom and
dryness. Today, I would have him read the journals of Mother Theresa
who, like Theresa of Avila, after some initial fervor in prayer,
experienced sixty years of dryness.
We nurse a naïve fantasy both about what constitutes prayer and how we
might sustain ourselves in it. And what often lies at the center of
this misguided notion is the belief that prayer is always meant to be
full of fervor, interesting, warm, carrying spiritual insight, and
carrying the sense that we are actually praying. Coupled with this
notion is the equally misguided notion that the way to sustain feeling
and fervor in prayer is through constant novelty and variety or through
dogged concentration. Classical writers in spirituality assure us that,
while this is often true during the early stages of our prayer lives,
when we are neophytes at prayer and in the honeymoon stage of our
spiritual lives, it is becomes less and less true the deeper we advance
in prayer and spirituality.
Much to the relief and consolation of anyone who has tried to sustain a
prayer life over a long period of time, the great mystics tell us that
once we are beyond the early, honeymoon, stage of prayer, the single
greatest obstacle to sustaining a life of prayer is simple boredom and
the sense that nothing meaningful is happening. But that doesn’t mean
that we are regressing in prayer. It often means the opposite. MORE
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA [email protected]: Distractions at Prayer
While journeying on horseback one day, St. Benedict met a farmer
walking along. "You've got an easy job," said the farmer. "Why don't I
become a man of prayer? Then I, too, would be traveling on horseback."
"You think praying is easy," replied the saint. "If you can say one
'Our Father' without any distraction, you can have this horse."
"It's a bargain," said the surprised farmer. Closing his eyes and
folding his hands, he began to say the "Our Father" aloud: "Our Father,
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come..."
Suddenly he stopped and looked up, "Shall I get the saddle and bridle, too?"
VIA Jim J. McCrea: How to Pray Better
To pray better, pray to pray better.
Pray that your prayer improves and becomes what it should be.
God is simplicity itself.
MORE FROM JIM J. McCREA
God's Judgments - How Strict? How Lenient?
The Existence and Nature of God
Why Does God Exist?
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done For Show
19. Syncletica said, 'An open treasury is quickly spent; any virtue
will be lost if it is published abroad and is known about everywhere.
If you put wax in front of a fire it melts; and if you pour vain
praises on the soul it goes soft and weak in seeking goodness.'
June
19, 2014
(Joh 16:33) These
things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the
world you shall have distress. But have confidence. I have overcome the
world.
POPE FRANCIS:
“We run the risk of forgetting the suffering which doesn’t affect us
personally. May we respond to it, and may we pray for peace in Syria”.
ICN: Syria: Aleppo without water, churches reopen ancient wells
HERALD STANDARD: UN Panel: Syria, Iraq edging into regional war
A U.N. commission on Syrian war crimes is sounding the alarm that the entire region is on the brink of war. In
its latest report Tuesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the
commission said "a regional war in the Middle East draws ever closer"
as Sunni insurgents advance across Iraq to control areas bridging the
Iraq-Syria frontier — drawing in Washington and Tehran.
That, along with a fourth year of civil war in Syria and the paralysis
of "inaction" on the U.N. Security Council, threatens to topple the
region, according to the four-member commission. The panel is
investigating war crimes and other abuses in Syria, where President
Bashar Assad was re-elected to another seven-year term in a highly
contentious vote held amid fighting that has killed more than 160,000
people.
"The conflict in Syria has reached a tipping point, threatening the
entire region," said the head of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry,
Brazilian diplomat and scholar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, in a speech to
the 47-nation rights council in Geneva. The atrocities and terrorist
attacks in northern Iraq by forces affiliated with the
al-Qaida-inspired militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,
or ISIL, will likely draw in more foreign fighters and other outside
involvement, the commission said. It said the Sunni Muslim militant
group has shown itself "willing to fan the flames of sectarianism both
in Iraq and Syria."
Syrian opposition groups and extremists like ISIL and Al Nusra Front
are fighting each other for control of the region while also battling
the Syrian government, which benefits Assad, according to the
commission.
"We are possibly on the cusp of a regional war," commission member
Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai professor who has investigated human rights
in North Korea, told reporters. "That is something we are very worried
about."
REPORT: Demographic Upheaval: How the Syrian War is Reshaping the Region
AMERICAN SPECTATOR: IRAQ BREAKS APART- And it can't be put it back together again.
STRATFOR: The Intrigue Lying Behind Iraq's Jihadist Uprising
ACN: Iraq - Foreign intervention won't help
A local Catholic has stated that
the international community should not intervene in the struggle
against ISIS extremists in Iraq, insisting that the priority is for
Iraqi leaders to "work together" to overcome the crisis.
In an interview today with
international charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Archbishop Jean
Sleiman of Baghdad stressed that political “consensus” within Iraq
would be critical in overcoming the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIS), which last week pulled off a series of military
take-overs of key northern cities including Mosul, the country’s
second-largest city.
Speaking from Baghdad, the
archbishop described how many people were trying to leave the city,
fearing an onslaught from ISIS amid reports of it pressing south
towards the capital. He reported that, with many roads out of
the capital blocked, departures from Baghdad’s airport were fully
booked until the end of the month.
The archbishop, who became
Latin-rite Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad in 2001, said, “In responding
to this crisis, the international community should think of the common
good, not their own interests. They should think of peace.”
RELATED EDITORIAL: Hands Off Iraq
ICEJ: Christians Facing Increasingly Desperate Situation in Iraq
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done For Show
16. Ammon (of the place called Raithu) brought this question to Sisois:
'When I read Scripture, I am tempted to make elaborate commentaries and
prepare myself to answer questions on it. ' He replied, 'You
don't need to do that. It is better to speak simply, with a good
conscience and a pure mind.'
June
17, 2014
(Rev 6:4) And
there went out another horse that was red. And to him that sat thereon,
it was given that he should take peace from the earth: and that they
should kill one another. And a great sword was given to him.
POPE FRANCIS:
"I invite all of you to unite yourselves with my prayer for the dear
Iraqi nation, especially for the victims and for those who most suffer
the consequences of the growing violence, in particular the many
persons, among whom are so many Christians, who have had to leave their
homes. I am following with lively concern the events of these
last days in Iraq."
FIDES.ORG: The Chaldean Patriarchate: Day of fasting and prayer for peace
The Patriarchate of Babylon of the Chaldeans, with a widespread appeal
on Sunday 15 June, called on all Chaldean communities in Iraq and the
world to "dedicate next Wednesday June 18 to fasting and prayer for the
restoration of security and stability in Iraq.
"Fasting and Prayer" - reads the statement released to promote the
initiative - "are capable to change the hearts of people and encourage
them towards dialogue and respecting each other through the blessing of
God".
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako addressed the invitation to all
Chaldean churches directly from the United States, where, along with
other Bishops, continues his pastoral visit to the Chaldean communities
present in North America. The dramatic developments of the situation in
Iraq, triggered by the capture of Mosul by militant jihadists of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), are followed with concern
by the Chaldean Patriarch and the Bishops, who will return back home in
the current week and for now have decided not to cancel the meeting of
the Synod of the Chaldean Church in program from June 24 to 28.
Originally the important summit of the Chaldean episcopate was to be
held in Baghdad. Instead, with a significant change in the program, the
meeting will be held in Ankawa, near Erbil, the capital of Iraqi
Kurdistan. The transfer of the seat in a region controlled by the Kurds
and not affected by the conflict will facilitate the participation of
the Bishops of Mosul and Kirkuk. The agenda of the synod was initially
focused on pastoral and jurisdictional issues concerning the life of
the Church, such as the choice of new Bishops for the vacant episcopal
sees and the unification of the rituals in the liturgical celebrations
of baptism and marriage. "Obviously", explains to Fides Agency Father
Albert Hisham, a spokesman for the Patriarchate, "the new situation in
Iraq will lead to a change in the agenda. The Bishops will evaluate new
emergencies that mark the condition of the Christian community and
those concerning the Country".
OPINION: The War on Christians
RELATED HEADLINES
Iraq: As chaos grows, priest fears civil war
Christians from Mosul say they have been targeted for months
Iraqi Christians flee homes amid militant push
ANALYSIS:
Today I am simply reviving what other westerners (both Protestant and
Catholic) have brilliantly predicted from the Bible, People like John
Wesley explaining the iron teeth as the Islamic threat: “Ever since the
religion of Islam appeared in the world, the espousers of it…have been
as wolves and tigers to all other nations, rending and tearing all that
fell into their merciless paws, and grinding them with their iron
teeth” and Hilaire Belloc, “Will not perhaps the temporal power of
Islam return and with it the menace of an armed Mohammedan world, which
will shake off the domination of Europeans—still nominally
Christian—and reappear as the prime enemy of our civilization? … I
cannot but believe that a main unexpected thing of the future is the
return of Islam.”
And Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen, “Today (1950), “the temporal power of
Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West
which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great
anti-Christian world Power.”, And Vernon Richards, “The true Islamic
concept of peace goes something like this: Peace comes through
submission to Muhammad and his concept of Allah (i.e. Islam). As such
the Islamic concept of peace, meaning making the whole world Muslim, is
actually a mandate for war. It was inevitable and unavoidable that the
conflict would eventually reach our borders, and so it has.” “This is
Islam’s latest attempt to conquer the infidel world. Why do you suppose
they waited until three centuries after the siege and battle of Vienna
before they tried again? Was it because they saw an opportunity to get
after us for the first time since 1683, because political correctness
and the apologists it brought in train softened us up, and made us
totally unaware of how evil and intolerant Islam really is, and gave
them that window of opportunity to once again threaten our civilization
with doom.”, and Josiah Litch (1840), who interpreted the star of
Revelation as the ushering in of Islam: “A star, in the figurative
language of Revelation, is a minister of religion. See Revelation 1:20…
A fallen star then would signify a fallen or heretical minister of
religion. This was undoubtedly the Arabian imposter, Mahomet.
[Mohammed]. There is so general an agreement among Christians,
especially protestant commentators, that the subject of this prediction
is Mahommedism [Islam]”.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done For Show
12. When Nesteros the Great was walking in the desert with a brother,
they saw a dragon and ran away. The brother said, 'Were you afraid,
abba?' Nesteros answered, 'I wasn't afraid, my son. But it was right to
run away from the dragon, otherwise I should have had to run away from
conceit.'
June
12, 2014
(Mat
5:10-12) Blessed
are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and
persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my
sake: Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in heaven. For
so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.
CHALDEAN PRIEST FR. QAIS:
"We have suspended catechism and activities with young people for
safety reasons but the churches are open. In this month dedicated to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we celebrate Mass every day and pray asking
the Lord to save us from new outbreaks of sectarian violence."
HEADLINE: Christians among 500,000 fleeing Mosul after Islamist
forces seize city
AINA EXCERPT: The
Cleansing of Iraq's Christians Is Entering Its End Game
The
government of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, fell overnight to the
jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, also called the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Mosul's panic-stricken Christians,
along with many others, are now fleeing en masse to the rural Nineveh
Plain, according to the Vatican publication Fides. The border crossings
into Kurdistan, too, are jammed with the cars of the estimated 150,000
desperate escapees.
The population, particularly its Christian community, has much to fear.
The ruthlessness of ISIS, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, has been legendary.
Its beheadings, crucifixions and other atrocities toward Christians and
everyone else who fails to conform to its vision of a caliphate have
been on full display earlier this year, in Syria.
As Corner readers will remember, in February, it was the militants of
this rebel group that, in the northern Syrian state of Raqqa, compelled
Christian leaders to sign a 7th-century dhimmi contract. The document
sets forth specific terms denying the Christians the basic civil rights
of equality and religious freedom and committing them to pay protection
money in exchange for their lives and the ability to keep their
Christian identity.
Since 2003, Iraq's Christian community has suffered intense religious
persecution on top of the effects of the conflict and, as a result,
it's shrunk by well over 50 percent. Mosul, the site of ancient Nineveh
of the Assyrians, who converted to Christianity in the first century,
has become the home of many Christians who remained. Considered by
Christians the place of last resort inside Iraq, Mosul and the
surrounding Nineveh Plain has been home to many Christian refugees
driven out of Baghdad and Basra. Mosul has the only university, the
best hospitals, and the largest markets serving the Christian towns and
villages of the Nineveh Plain. The plain, itself, is now at grave risk
of direct jihadi attacks and the possibility of being cut off from an
essential city.
Once upon a time, some of the Mosul Christians might have fled to
Syria, but they now have few options. More will give up on the region
altogether and join their relatives and former neighbors in Michigan,
California, Sweden, and elsewhere in the West. The fall of Mosul is a
serious blow for the Iraqi state, and the implications for Iraq's
Christian community are devastating.
RELATED EDITORIALS
After Mosul, Al Qaeda seizes 38,000 sq. km of Iraqi
territory, division-size armored vehicle fleet
The Battle to Establish an Islamic State Across Iraq
and Syria
Did al Qaeda win the Iraq war?
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done For Show
8. Another brother spoke with the same Theodore, and he began to talk
about matters of which he had noe experience. Theodore said to him,
'You've not yet found a ship to sail in, nor put your luggage aboard,
nor puto ot to sea, and you're already acting as if you were in the
city which you mean to reach. If you make some attempt to do the things
you are discussing, then you can talk about them with understanding.'
June
10, 2014
(Mat
7:21-23) Not
every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that
day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out
devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work
iniquity.
POPE FRANCIS: "The Church is not a house to rent.
It is a home to live in.”
THE CATHOLIC THING: The Final Confrontation by Fr. C. John McCloskey
MARK
MALLET BLOG: The Rising Morning Star
COURAGEOUS PRIEST:
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: We Are In The Fourth
Great Crisis Of The Church!
Liberals, collaborating with the “new paganism”, are driving the
Catholic Church towards a split, according to Bishop Athanasius
Schneider, the liturgical specialist who is carrying on a rearguard
fight against “abuses” in the Church.
So serious are the problems, Bishop Schneider said in an interview last
week, that this is the fourth great crisis in the history of the
Church, comparable to the fourth-century Arian heresy in which a large
part of the Church hierarchy was implicated.
If you have not heard of the Soviet-born bishop, you will. The sincere,
scholarly clergyman is auxiliary bishop of the distant Archdiocese of
St Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan. But this month he has received a rock
star welcome from congregations across the country on his tour of
England and he has embraced cyberspace to put over a trenchant,
traditional defence of the Church. “Thanks be to God, the internet
exists,” he said.
His views are not popular with everyone, especially not some of his
liberal colleagues, or, he says, with the mainstream media of the
secular world. But his audiences tell another story.
Vatican II Documents Need Clarification
Bishop Schneider is best known for arguing that Holy Communion should
be received on the tongue while kneeling, which he insists is the more
efficient way to foster respect for the Sacrament and to prevent abuse
of the Sacred Hosts. The 53-year-old bishop has called also for
clarification (a new Syllabus of Errors), aimed at the clergy, to put a
stop to liturgical and doctrinal freewheeling on a range of issues in
the “spirit of Vatican II”.
In his interview, Bishop Schneider said the “banal” and casual
treatment of the Blessed Sacrament is part of a major crisis in the
Church in which some laity and clergy, including some in positions of
authority, are siding with secular society. At the heart of the
problems, he believes, is the creeping introduction of a man-centred
agenda, while in some churches God, in the tabernacle, really is
materially put in a corner, while the priest takes centre stage. Bishop
Schneider argued that this situation is now coming to a head. “I would
say, we are in the fourth great crisis [of the Church], in a tremendous
confusion over doctrine and liturgy. We have already been in this for
50 years.”
How long will it last?
“Perhaps God will be merciful to us in 20 or 30 years.” In the autumn,
the synod of bishops will meet in extraordinary session to discuss the
family, in the light of the questionnaire which Pope Francis invited
the faithful to complete, giving their views on marriage and sexuality.
Expectations are growing that rules will be relaxed on a range of
sexual matters and in terms of divorced people receiving Communion as a
sign of “mercy” from the Church.
Pope Francis Has Taught Beautiful Catholic Doctrine In His
Official Homilies
Pope Francis is perceived to be at the forefront of a new liberal
attitude coming from Rome. But Bishop Schneider says: “Thanks be to
God, Pope Francis has not expressed himself in these ways that the mass
media expect from him. He has spoken until now, in his official
homilies, very beautiful Catholic doctrine. I hope he will continue to
teach in a very clear manner the Catholic doctrine.” The bishop said he
hopes “the majority of the bishops still have enough Catholic spirit
and faith that they will reject the proposal and not accept this”.
A Coming Split?
Nevertheless, he can foresee a split coming, leading to an eventual
renewal of the Church on traditional lines. But, he believes, this will
not be before the crisis has plunged the Church further into disarray.
Eventually, he thinks, the “anthropocentric” [man-centred] clerical
system will collapse. “This liberal clerical edifice will crash down
because they have no roots and no fruits,” he said.
In the turmoil, Bishop Schneider, fears traditional Catholics may, for
a time, be persecuted or discriminated against, even at the behest of
those who have “power in the exterior structures of the Church”. But he
believes those involved with the “heresy” will “not prevail against the
Church”. And, in hope, the bishop said: “The Supreme Magisterium will
surely issue an unequivocal doctrinal statement, rejecting any
collaboration with the neo-pagan ideas.” At this point, Bishop
Schneider believes, the modern thurificati et traditores will leave the
Church. “I can presume that such a separation will affect each level of
Catholics: lay people and even not excluding the high clergy,” he said.
Such comments are unlikely to win Bishop Schneider popularity in some
circles, but he argues: “It is quite insignificant to be popular or
unpopular. For every member of the clergy, their first interest should
be to be popular in the eyes of God and not in the eyes of today or of
the powerful. Jesus said a warning: ‘Woe to you when people speak well
of you.’”
FIRST THINGS: The Pope is
Catholic- Why the Synod Will Surprise Skeptics
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done
For Show
6. Once a brother came to Theodore
of Pherme, and spent three days asking him for advice. Theodore did not
answer, and he went sadly away. So Theodore's disciple asked him,
'Abba, why didn't you speak to him? Look, he has gone away sad.' He
replied, 'As a matter of fact, I said nothing to him because he's only
interested in getting credit by repeating what others have said to him.'
June
7, 2014
(Joh
20:21-22) He
said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent
me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he
said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
"PEACE" IN THE HEADLINES
Pope Francis Gets Involved In Middle East Peace Process
Peace in the Holy Land: Patriarch Bartholomew in Rome
Different
faiths, same witness: How Vatican explains prayers for peace
VATICAN RADIO: Cardinal Parolin: Prayer at centre of Peres-Abbas
meeting on June 8
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: Pentecost 2014 and the birthday of the Church
FROM THE ARCHIVES
EXCERPT HOMILY FATHER ALTIER:
Feast of Pentecost
The day is coming when there is going to be a New Pentecost and we are
going to see things that have never been seen in the history of the
world, extraordinary outpourings of the Holy Spirit that are going to
make the greatest saints that the world has ever known with exception,
I think, to Our Lady, Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Baptist. Beyond
that, we are going to see the greatest saints that have ever been known
in the history of the world.
Now whenever there is truth, there is going to be falsehood. The devil
is the great imitator and he does everything he can to mock Christ and
everything that the Lord does. So we need to be very careful because we
have all kinds of people running around claiming all sorts of things
for the Holy Spirit these days, really for the last forty years. We
need to be very cautious about this because initially what appeared to
be an extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit back in the 1960’s
has proven to be anything but. The Holy Spirit is given to lead us into
all truth, and what has happened is that we live now in a society where
the second largest Christian body are fallen-away Catholics. The
largest Christian body is Catholics. The second largest body of
Christian people are fallen-away Catholics, all because the Holy Spirit
supposedly descended upon them and led them right out of the Church.
That was not the Holy Spirit. There are numerous unholy spirits that
are given to mock the true Spirit. We need to be very cautious.
When we look for signs and wonders and extraordinary things, the devil
is always more than happy to provide them. God too can provide them
without any problem, but that is not always the way He works. In fact,
most often it is not. Recall the tiny whispering breeze, the little
breath. That is not God manifesting Himself in extraordinary ways. What
He is doing is asking us for extraordinary faith. When we cannot see
the working of the Holy Spirit in clear manifestations, we have to
believe and trust that He is there working in our hearts and leading us
to Christ. What would indeed be easier is if there were great signs and
flashing lights and bells and whistles and everything else. It would be
obvious what we were supposed to do, but that would not require a lot
of faith. To listen intently to a tiny whisper, to believe that your
sins are forgiven when you do not feel anything different, to believe
that Jesus Christ is truly present in the forms of bread and wine when
you do not see any change requires much more faith than if there were
extraordinary signs and wonders being worked.
With regard to the false manifestations, let me simply say this: The
first person in the modern world to speak in tongues took place in
Wichita, Kansas on January 1, 1901, the first day of a new century – a
century which I may remind you, from the vision of Pope Leo XIII, was
handed over to Satan. Within thirteen years, it had spread like
wildfire out into California (where else?!). And by 1917, several
churches had come together that were all these Pentecostal groups and
they formed what is today called the Assemblies of God, which is the
largest-growing Christian body – almost entirely fallen-away Catholics
led by the Holy Spirit, supposedly, into the worship of self and away
from Jesus Christ and His sacraments. It was not until the 1960’s that
this entered into the Catholic Church, and people left in droves
supposedly led by the Spirit. Now they were indeed led by a spirit; we
need not discuss which one.
Following signs and wonders, following extraordinary things, people
started looking not for the ordinary but for the extraordinary. They
wanted to see things, they wanted to experience things, rather than
doing things in the ordinary way that God has chosen. They wanted to go
back to Moses on Mount Sinai with the lightning and the thunder and the
earthquake and the wind and all of the extraordinary phenomenon. They
forgot about Elijah and the tiny whispering sound. They wanted the
strong driving wind and the tongues of fire coming down, and they
forgot that Jesus breathed on His disciples. We need to be very careful.
There is indeed a New Pentecost coming. It has not yet occurred. We
will see extraordinary things unknown in the history of the world only
because they will be absolutely necessary at that time, because it will
be a time unparalleled in human history where evil will have run its
course and God will then raise up the greatest saints to crush the head
of Satan through the power of Our Blessed Lady, the spouse of the Holy
Spirit.
SURVERY: Culture Upside Down: There Has Been A Colossal Shift
In America’s Values Since 2001
CBN NEWS: Capturing America's Heart: A Third Awakening?
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done
For Show
5. Zeno (the disciple of Silvanus)
said, 'Never stay in a well-known place nor sit with a famous man, nor
lay a foundation on which you might sometime build yourself a cell.'
June
5, 2014
(Joh 2:3-5) And the wine failing, the
mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to
her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come.
His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.
POPE FRANCIS:
"And 'the Virgin of readiness' is now ready to help us when we pray,
when we ask for her help and protection."
YOUTUBE: The Biblical Mary The REAL TRUTH EXPOSED
CATHOLIC
ONLINE: Fr Dwight Longenecker: Do Catholics Pray to Mary?
A MOMENT WITH MARY: A Mother's Rosary (II)
A few years later, God's will
called this young priest to work as a chaplain in a hospital. One day,
a poor sick patient was brought in. He exclaimed to the priest as he
entered, "Don't you start speaking to me about religion. I believe in
nothing and nobody." Nevertheless, the chaplain kindly visited this man
as often as possible, only to be pushed away scornfully. So one day the
priest said, "In that case, my friend, I will recite the Rosary for
you." "Don't mention the word Rosary around me," answered the patient.
"But this prayer can only make you feel better," replied the priest.
"You don't understand, Father, the Rosary is the reason for my bad
luck," confided the patient. "How can that be, my friend? What are you
trying to say?" asked the priest. "Well, I will tell you, since you
seem to really want to know. When I was little, my mother made me
recite the Rosary with her, every day. Then I grew up and I had to go
to the nearby town to learn a trade. There, bad comrades influenced me
to do evil things and I began to feel contempt for God. I was in pretty
bad shape, when my family called me back home because my mother was
dying. I didn't want to hurt her, so I lied and promised her that I
would say a part of the Rosary, every day as often as possible. Then my
poor mother gave me her own rosary. After her funeral, I returned to
the workshop in town. On my journey, the Devil made me think this
thought, "Get rid of that Rosary; throw it away on the ground!" So I
did it. I threw the rosary on the road, but since then, I have been so
unhappy that I think I must be cursed."
The priest was very moved and asked, "When did this happen? What is the
date of your mother's death?" Upon hearing the patient's response, the
priest drew the rosary out of his pocket and said, "My friend, do you
recognize this one?" The patient could only shout, "It's my mother's
rosary!" He took it in his hands lovingly and kissed it with tears in
his eyes.
"Assuredly," said the chaplain, "this rosary that you call the reason
of your bad luck, was for me the reason of my happiness! I owe my
priesthood to it. And now, my friend, it will become the occasion of
your happiness too."
"Yes, Father, and let me confess my sins," replied the patient. The
priest answered, "I will come back tomorrow and administer the last
sacraments to you. In the meantime, I will leave you the rosary so that
you can repair your sins. I will take it back again later."
A few days later, the patient died happy and sanctified, kissing his
mother's rosary... And then the priest took his simple rosary back
again, and these dear memories never left him.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done
For Show
3. They said of Arsenius and
Theodore of Pherme that they hated fame and praise more than anything.
Arsenius avoided people likely to praise him. Theodore did not avoid
them, but their words were like daggers to him.
June 2, 2014
(Act 1:8) But
you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you
shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria,
and even to the uttermost part of the earth.
POPE FRANCIS:
"We
must tell the truth: Christian life not just one big party. Not at all!
We cry, we cry so many times. When we are sick; when we have a problem
with our son, in the family, with our daughter, or wife, or husband;
When we see that our salary does not reach the end of the month and we
have a sick child; when we see that we cannot pay the mortgage on the
house and we must somehow survive ... So many problems, we have so
many. But Jesus tells us: 'Do not be afraid!'. 'Yes, you will be sad,
cry and people will even rejoice, the people who are against you'".
"But
- he continued - there is another sadness: the sadness that comes to
all of us when we take the wrong road". When , "to put it simply", "we
try to buy happiness, joy, [the happiness and joy] of the world, of
sin. In the end there is a void within us, there is sadness". And
this, he reiterated , "is the sadness of the wrong sort of
happiness". Christian joy, "is a joy in hope, which comes".
"However, in times of trial we do not
see this. It is a joy that is purified by trials, our everyday trials:
'Your sorrow will turn to joy'. But it's hard to go to a sick person
who is suffering greatly and say: 'Come on! Come on! Tomorrow you will
have joy!'. No, you cannot say this! We have to help them feel what
Jesus made us feel. When we are in the dark, we do not see anything ,
'I know, Lord, that this sorrow will turn to joy. I do not know how,
but I know it!'. An act of faith in the Lord. An act of faith!".
To help us understand the sadness
turns to joy, Jesus takes the example of a woman in labor: "It’s true,
women suffer a lot in childbirth - the Pope said - but then when she
holds her child, she forgets". What remains is "the joy of Jesus,
a purified joy". That is "the joy that remains". The Pope acknowledged
that this joy is "hidden in some moments of life, we do not feel it in
bad times, but it comes later: a joy in hope". This, then, "is the
message of the Church today: Do not be afraid!".
"Be courageous in suffering and
remember that after the Lord will come, after joy will come, after the
dark comes the sun. May the Lord give us all this joy in hope. And the
sign that we have this joy in hope is peace. How many sick, who are at
the end of life, in pain, have that peace of soul ... This is the seed
of joy, this is the joy of hope and peace. Do you have peace of soul in
times of darkness, in times of trouble, in times of persecution, when
everyone else rejoices at your suffering? Do you have peace? If you
have peace, you have the seed of joy that will come later. May the Lord
help us understand these things”.
VATICAN RADIO: Pope Francis opens 37th National Convocation of the
“Renewal in the Spirit”
VIDEO:
Pope
Francis meets the Moviment of the Holy Spirit Renewal
RON SMITH REPORT: The Gift of Tongues
Note from Ron: To receive my Catholic Q&A reports please contact me with your
correct email address.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Nothing Done
For Show
2. The monks praised a brother to
Anthony. Anthony went to him and tested him to see if he could endure
being insulted. When he saw that he could not bear it, he said to him,
'You are like a house with a highly decorated outside, but burglars
have stolen all the furniture by the back door.'
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