“We are indeed
grateful to all of those who have helped us to bring the
relics of Padre Pio to so many faithful in these past two years,”
Lamonarca said. “The most important fact, in our opinion, was that the
majority of those attending the tour of the relics of Padre Pio would
never be able to travel to San Giovanni Rotondo or Pietrelcina to visit
the places where our Saint was born, lived and died. It has, therefore,
become a mission for us to enable these faithful devotees to have a
‘spiritual encounter’ with Padre Pio.” The relics on display for the
2019 tour include Saint Pio’s glove, the crusts of his wounds, cotton
gauze bearing his blood stains, a lock of his hair, his mantle, and his
handkerchief, which was soaked with his sweat only hours before he died.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts, passions,
and virtues"
77. There is a certain feeling, or rather habit,
called endurance of hardship. He who possesses it will never be cowardly,
nor avoid labour. Upheld by this glorious virtue, the souls of the martyrs
easily despised their tortures.
May 27,
2019
(Joh
15:12-13) This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have
loved you. Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his
life for his friends.
ATFP: Catholic Military Chaplains: America’s Forgotten Heroes
CATHOLIC EXCHANGE: Medal of Honor: Catholic Chaplains in Combat
SETON
MAGAZINE: The Servant of God Fr. Emil Kapaun, American Hero
Fr. Emil Kapaun was a priest from
the diocese of Wichita, Kansas. After ordination in 1940, he spent some
time as a fill-in chaplain at a nearby military base while also serving
in a parish. His bishop allowed him to join the service as a full-time
chaplain in 1944; Fr. Kapaun then served in Burma and India and
returned to civilian priestly service two years later. He returned to
the military chaplaincy in 1948 and was stationed in Japan when the
Korean War began. A Catholic legend was about to be born.
Fr. Kapaun and his unit were among
the first American troops to enter the Korean conflict. During the
first phase of the war, the fierce fighting resulted in defeat and
retreat for the South Korean and American armies. During this phase of
the war, Fr. Kapaun was tireless in administering the sacraments,
saying Mass and caring for the wounded and discouraged soldiers on the
front lines. Several times, his jeep and portable Mass kit were
destroyed by enemy fire. Once an enemy sniper even shot his pipe from
his mouth! On at least one occasion, he ventured out ahead of the
troops under intense fire to rescue a wounded soldier and bring him
back to friendly lines. For his bravery and selfless activity, he was
awarded the Bronze Star in September of 1950, just about one month
before he was captured by North Korean troops.
The march into captivity was marked
by great brutality on the part of the guards. If a soldier was no
longer able to march, the North Koreans would often simply shoot him.
Fr. Kapaun was alert to the soldiers who needed extra help and
convinced other soldiers to help them along and hide their condition
from the guards. Even though the priest suffered from severe frostbite
himself, he managed to save the lives of many on the way to Pyoktong
camp in Northern Korea near the Chinese border.
Pyoktong camp is still in use today
by the North Korean government. Pyoktong is the final destination for
those deemed most dangerous to the government; the reputation for
brutality there has been built over many long years. There is no
sentence other than life in prison in this camp, and usually the
sentence is of rather short duration. When Fr. Kapaun was there, the
prisoners all suffered from cold, disease, lack of food and frequent
beatings. The priest witnessed many deaths due to ill-treatment and did
his best to provide spiritual comfort to his miserable flock. He would
routinely volunteer for the most difficult and repulsive tasks, such as
cleaning latrines, in order to spare the weakest soldiers.
Often, Fr. Kapaun would give his
own meager ration of food to others. He would also secretly slip from
the barracks at night at great risk to his own life. He would steal
food from the guards to supplement the inadequate rations given to the
prisoners. These expeditions would always begin with a quick prayer to
St. Dismas the Good Thief; the priest would usually return with some
rice, potatoes or tea—and a pot in which to prepare them!
Malnutrition and brutality took its
toll on Fr. Kapaun. In early April of 1951 he collapsed, suffering from
pneumonia, blood clots and dysentery. He was of course given no
treatment or medicine and after several weeks of suffering, he died on
May 23. Fr. Emil Kapaun is buried in a mass grave near the camp along
with many of his beloved soldiers. He was awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross posthumously. In the year 2000, Representative Todd
Tiahrt of Kansas began a campaign to award the Congressional Medal of
Honor to Fr. Kapaun.
The diocese of Wichita has begun
canonization procedures on behalf of Fr. Kapaun. Several miracles
attributed to him are currently under investigation, and in 1993, Fr.
Kapaun was officially declared a Servant of God. A very real
possibility exists that Fr. Kapaun may be awarded both the highest
military award of the United States and the greatest dignity possible
in the Catholic Church.
RELATED
CATHOLIC
DIOCESE OF WICHITA: Cause for Canonization Father Emil Kapaun
BOOKLET: The Story of Father Emil J. Kapaun
ARMY.MIL: Chaplain
(Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun Medal of Honor Korean War
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts,
passions,
and virtues"
76. All the attacks
which we suffer from the demons
come from these three causes: from sensuality, or from pride, or from
the
envy of the demons. The last are blessed, the middle are very pitiful,
but the first are failures till the end.
May 23,
2019
(46:10)
Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
and I will be exalted in the earth.
BEGINNINGCATHOLIC.COM: A
Stronger Prayer Life: The Presence of God
CLASSIC:
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother
Lawrence
FROM THE MAILBAG
MEDITATIONS VIA Fr. Ron: BEING PRESENT TO GOD AND LIFE
Augustine had been searching for
love and God and he eventually found them in the most unexpected of all
places, inside of himself. God and love had been inside of him all
along, but he had hadn’t been inside of himself.
There’s a lesson here: We don’t
pray to make God present to us. God is already present, always present
everywhere. We pray to make ourselves present to God.
This is also true for our presence
to the richness of our own lives. Too often we are not present to the
beauty, love, and grace that brims within the ordinary moments of our
lives. Bounty is there, but we aren’t. Because of restlessness,
tiredness, distraction, anger, obsession, wound, haste, whatever, too
often we are not enough inside of our ourselves to appreciate what the
moments of our own lives hold. We think of our lives as impoverished,
dull, small-time, not worth putting our full hearts into, but, as with
prayer, the fault of non-presence is on our side.
Our lives come laden with richness,
but we aren’t sufficiently present to what is there. Sometimes we
aren’t as lucky, our health and our lives must be radically threatened
or taken from us before we realize how rich these in fact already are,
if only we made ourselves more present to them.
Rarely are we enough inside of our
own skins, present enough to the moment, and sensitive enough to the
richness that is already present in our lives. God and the moment don’t
have to be searched out and found. They’re already here. We need to be
here.
MORE: NEEDED: A NEW MATURITY TO MATCH OUR FREEDOM
Our freedom is so great that, at times, it is almost a burden, an
over-choice. We often find it difficult to commit ourselves to
marriage, to a vocation, to a career, and to a friendship precisely
because we are so free and have so many choices.
But something doesn’t become bad just because it’s misused. Food
remains a good thing, even when we over-eat. It’s the same with
freedom. It remains always the greatest gift that God has given us,
even though we don’t always use it maturely. Jesus came to bring us
freedom.
But it’s easy to lose that perspective and, today, it’s not uncommon to
hear sincere, good-hearted, religious people speak out against freedom,
as if it were an enemy, something that should be restricted in the name
of God, church, and morality.
While that’s sincere, it’s also misguided. What’s needed today is not
less freedom but more maturity. We don’t need to roll back freedom in
the name of God and morality: we need raise the level of our maturity
to match the level of our freedom. Simply put, we are often too
immature to carry properly the great gift of freedom that God has given
us. The answer to that is not to denigrate freedom in the name of God
and morality, but to invite a deeper maturity so as to more properly
honour the great gift that we have been given.
Our model here is Jesus, himself. Nobody has walked this earth as
freely as he did. But he also had the maturity to carry such great
freedom without ever misusing it. If we can believe the gospels, Jesus
wasn’t afraid of anything – satan, temptation, tax-collectors,
prostitutes, street people, rich people, poor people, church people,
non-church people, moral people, and immoral people. He went into the
singles’ bars of his time, but he didn’t sin.
The great challenge is to become mature enough to walk in the freedom
of Jesus without compromising. Whenever we are able to do that, we
become missionaries in the true sense, namely, we take God’s love and
light into places that are devoid of them. But that’s not easy to do.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts,
passions,
and virtues"
75. In every
passion, and also in the virtues,
let us critically examine ourselves: Where are we? At the beginning, or
in the middle, or at the end?
May 22,
2019
(Heb
12:1-2) And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over
our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us
run by patience to the fight proposed to us: Looking on Jesus, the
author and finisher of faith, who, having joy set before him, endured
the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of
the throne of God.
LIFESITENEWS.COM: The little-known but incredible story of the Holy Face
of Manoppello
BLOG: Servant of God Domenico da Cese, St. Padre Pio, and
the Holy Face
FROM THE MAILBAG:
Sr. Petra-Maria Steiner gave me your contact information, to let you
know about her book on the Servant of God Padre Domenico da Cese which
is now available in English. It can be obtained through fraternitypublications.com
DESCRIPTION: Padre Dominico da Cese (1905-1978) was not
only a spiritual son of Padre Pio, he also had his own charisma.
Faithful from everywhere came to him, then the redicovery of the Holy
Face of Manoppello
made him famous. The Holy Veil placed on the face of Christ is
extremely thin, has no color: it is not a painting! It shows the Face
of Jesus Christ in the very first moment of the Resurrection.
Padre Domenico da Cese was convinced of the fact that the Shroud of
Turin and the Holy Face show the same face, but at different times. In
1978, after he had venerated the Shroud in Turin, he had a car
accident: he gave his life for this truth! And he returned to the
Father’s house on September 17, 1978.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death, this book aims to
retrace his human and spiritual itinerary by presenting for the
first-time images and documents that had been collected and ordered for
his beatification process. The canonical process was in fact opened by
the Holy See in 2013, and in 2015, Padre Domenico was declared “Servant
of God.” Fraternity Publications was granted special permission to
print the English-version of this book. A portion of the proceeds will
be donated for his beatification.
RELATED: Holy Veil of Manoppello –The Human Face of God
The horrific 1915 earthquake that leveled tiny Manoppello, Italy,
brought forth from the local church’s rubble one of Christendom’s
long-lost, but most precious relics: the small cloth that lay on
Jesus’s face in the tomb.
Saint John speaks of it in his Gospel: “When Peter went into the tomb,
he saw linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on
Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a
place by itself.” Tradition says that Our Lady herself laid this cloth
on His face before He was wrapped in His shroud for burial.
This small veil — now known as the Holy Face of Manoppello — absorbed
the very first new breath of the Risen Christ . . . and at that same
instant had imprinted on itself, miraculously, a vivid image of the
now-resurrected Jesus.
Modern scholars have confirmed that this image corresponds perfectly in
all its measurements to the face of the dead Christ on the more famous
Shroud of Turin.
Unlike the Shroud, however, the Holy Face of Manoppello shows not the
grim visage of a dead man with eyes closed, but the lively face of the
living Christ, His eyes wide open, piercing us with their gaze.
In 2006, Pope Benedict made a pilgrimage to Manoppello to pray before
this image. In the decade since then, tens of thousands of other
pilgrims have followed in the Pope’s footsteps, making the trek to
central Italy to meet Jesus face-to-face.
MORE: Icon of Truth: The Faith and Works of Paul Badde
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts,
passions,
and virtues"
74. To the pious it
is natural to give to everyone
who asks; and to the more pious to give even to him who does not ask.
But
not to demand a thing back from the person who took it, especially when
they have the chance, is characteristic perhaps only of the
dispassionate.
May 20,
2019
(Rev 12:10-12)
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation and
strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ:
because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them
before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb and by the word of the testimony: and they loved not their lives
unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell therein.
Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil is come down unto
you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.
LIFESITENEWS.COM: Catholic historian: Satanic revolution against Church,
Christian civilization is happening now
CATHOLIC HERALD: The abuse crisis is Satan’s masterpiece – but he will
be defeated
CRISIS MAGAZINE: The New Primitives
EXCERPT
MARK MALLET: The Diabolic Disorientation
THE late Servant of God Sr. Lúcia
of Fatima once warned of a time coming when people would experience a
“diabolical disorientation”:
People
must recite the Rosary every day. Our Lady repeated this in all her
apparitions, as if to arm us in advance against these times of
diabolical disorientation, so that we would not let ourselves be fooled
by false doctrines, and that through prayer, the elevation of our soul
to God would not be diminished…. This is a diabolical disorientation
invading the world and misleading souls! It is necessary to stand up to
it… —Sister Lucy, to her friend Dona Maria Teresa da Cunha
When doctors, who signed up to heal
and save lives, are then forced by the courts to refer their patients
to be killed, that is diabolical disorientation. When public libraries
bring pedophiles in drag to read storybooks to children, that is
diabolical disorientation. When governments and courts overturn the
universal, biological and rational definition of marriage, that is
diabolical disorientation. When anyone can invent a new gender, and
demand it be legally recognized, that is diabolical disorientation.
When some bishops of the Church make individual conscience supreme over
the divine law, that is diabolical disorientation. When clergy are
accused all over the world of sexual aberrations, that is diabolical
disorientation. When Catholics look to the pope for clarity and feel
they cannot find it, that is diabolical disorientation.
We are in a spiritual battle unlike
anything we’ve ever seen, perhaps since the dawn of creation. Indeed,
John Paul II said it is “the final confrontation between… Christ and
the antichrist.” [1] Thus, we have to close the cracks in our life to
sin as, in any battle, the enemy will look for the slightest weakness.
Satan will exploit them if we don’t; he will try to ruin your marriage,
divide your family, and destroy relationships. He will play with your
mind, planting judgments, seeding lies and destroying peace if you open
it to him. This is why, in many cases, we are seeing crazy
things—people throwing public tantrums, acting brutally and becoming
more obscene; why suicide, STD’s, the occult, and the need for
exorcists are exponentially on the rise. It’s just eery how St. Paul,
2000 years ago, described our narcissistic generation, saturated in
violence, lust, rebellion, vile language, and the ease of attacking
others through social media.
Understand
this: there will be terrifying times in the last days. People will be
self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient
to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable,
slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors,
reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, as
they make a pretense of religion but deny its power. (1 Tim 3:1-5)
EXCERPT HOMILY FR. ALTIER:
The grace to remain faithful, however, is not a guarantee that we will
remain faithful. It is wonderful to know we are in the hands of our
Lord and our Heavenly Father and that there is no way anyone can take
us out of their hands. At the same time, we need to realize we have a
free will; God will not force us to remain in His hands. In other
words, even though no one can take us from His hands, we can freely
choose to leave His hand.
This is happening in two ways. First, there are those who continue to
claim they believe in God and in Jesus, but they do not want to come to
Church anymore. They offer a variety of excuses: the abuse scandal, the
rules, I’m too busy, I can worship my own way, etc. Then there are
those who no longer believe in anything except themselves. For the
first time in the history of America, atheism is the number one
religion. For years Catholicism has been the number one religion in
America and fallen away Catholics have actually made up the second
largest religious body. Now who those profess to believe in nothing
have edged out those who call themselves Catholic.
When we consider the rapid decline in the number of people attending
Mass and the rapid increase in the number of people claiming no belief
or those who are glorifying evil (Wicca has been the fastest growing
“religion” in America for many years in a row), each of us has to ask
“what would it take for me to fall away?” With about a third of our
population on the wrong side of the faith question, there is building
pressure to conform to the cultural mores.
The media pushes the agenda of darkness and there is a fast growing
persecution of Christians in the world. In fact, Christians top the
list of persecuted people in the world. I hope and pray we are all
resolved to remain faithful to Jesus, even if we are persecuted or have
to die for our faith. That said, we can never trust in our own
strength. We absolutely must develop a strong prayer life so we can
develop a strong relationship with the Lord. Love will keep us
faithful; but even love, by itself is not enough. Only by the grace of
God can we remain in the hand of our Good Shepherd, but only a heart
open to love is able to receive that grace.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts,
passions,
and virtues"
73. The Fathers
state that the active life consists
in two virtues of the most general kind: fasting and obedience. And
rightly,
for the first destroys sensuality, and the other reinforces this
destruction
with humility. That is why mourning also has a double power, for it
destroys
sin and produces humility.
May 18, 2019
(1Th
5:17-21) Pray without ceasing. In all things give thanks for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all. Extinguish not the
spirit. Despise not prophecies. But prove all things: hold fast that
which is good.
CATHOLIC
EXCHANGE: The Morning Offering – Pray Without Ceasing!
VIA JIM McCREA: St. Bonaventure, From On the Life of Perfection
To make progress in the spiritual
life it is especially important for a bride of Christ to train her soul
in unflagging zeal for prayer. If a religious lacks devotion and is
lukewarm, and prays only infrequently, she is miserable and
unprofitable. As a matter of fact, in God’s sight her soul is dead
though her body is still alive.
The power of persevering prayer is
such that it is efficacious under all circumstances. We can derive
profit from it at all times: in winter and summer, in fair weather and
foul, day and night, on holydays and work days, in sickness and in
health, while standing, sitting, or walking, when in choir and out of
choir. In fact, through an hour’s prayer one can gain more than the
world is worth. By a single devout prayer, a man can gain the Kingdom
of Heaven.
Now, there are three requisites for
perfect prayer. First, when at prayer close your senses and concentrate
with all your being, body and soul, and calmly dwell with sorrow and
contrition on all your weaknesses past, present, and future.
The second requisite in prayer for
a bride of God is thanksgiving. Thank the Creator in all humility for
blessings already conferred and those still to be granted by Him.
Nothing renders man so worthy of God’s gifts as to thank Him always for
those that have been received.
The third requisite for perfect
prayer is for the mind to think of nothing else except that for which
prayer is being offered. In speaking with God it is very improper to
speak one thing with the lips and another with the heart so that only
half one’s heart is directed to Heaven while the other half remains on
earth.
Make no mistake, be not misled, nor
lose the rich fruit of prayer. Do not forfeit its sweetness, nor cheat
yourself of the delight you should derive from prayer. Prayer is the
cup for drinking the Grace of the Holy Spirit from the abundant
Fountain of delight, the Blessed Trinity. Be recollected during prayer,
enter the chamber of your heart with your Beloved and tarry there alone
with Him. Forget everything outside and with all your heart, all your
mind, all your longing, all your devotion rise above yourself. You must
not grow weary of praying but soar aloft in ardent prayer till you
enter the wonderful dwelling place, the house of God.
VIA
MARK MALLET BLOG: Faustina's Creed
The duty of the moment that i most often fail to obey, i will do my
very best to improve.
I will keep silent before others
who grumble.
I must take no heed of the opinion
of others.
I must do everything and act in all
matters now as i would like to do and act at the hour of my death.
In every action i must be mindful
of God.
I must be faithful in my spiritual
exercises.
I must have great appreciation for
even the most minute task.
I must not let myself become
absorbed in the whirl of work, but take a break to look up to heaven.
I must speak little with people,
but a good deal with god.
i must pay little attention as to
who is for me and who is against me.
I must not tell others about those
things i have had to put up with.
I must maintain peace and
equanimity during times of suffering.
In difficult moments i must take
refuge in the wounds of jesus. I must seek consolation, comfort, light
and affirmation in them.
In the midst of trials i will try
to see the loving hand of god.
O Jesus, i will let no one surpass
me in loving you!
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts,
passions,
and virtues"
72. It is impossible
for those who have not first
lived in obedience to obtain humility; for everyone who has learned an
art on his own fancies himself.
May 16, 2019
(Mat
19:13-15) Then were little children presented to him, that he should
impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But
Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to
come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such. And when he had
imposed hands upon them, he departed from thence.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Since the first century the
Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This
teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion,
that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely
contrary to the moral law" (No. 2271).
USCCB FACT SHEET:
Respect for unborn human life: the church's constant
teaching
NCR
HEADLINE: Supreme Court Session Includes Key Cases for
Catholics: Abortion and Religious Liberty
EXCERPT
HLI ESSAY: What Links Contraception to Abortion?
Because of successful propaganda
and the rejection of Judeo-Christian values concerning marriage, human
sexuality, and family life, many people in our society have the
attitude that human life is sometimes inconvenient and an unnecessary
burden. Pope St. John Paul II saw this “mentality” as a root cause of
abortion. When we see any human life as a troublesome burden that we
must manage, rather than a sacred gift entrusted to our care, there is
a dangerous temptation to get rid of the burden by any means necessary.
As Father Marx predicted, we see this same attitude and behavior today
with the euthanasia movement.
Proponents of the “sexual
revolution,” supported by legalized contraception and abortion, have
successfully inflicted upon this generation the burdensome and
insidious manifestations of their revolution. Faith and the family are
no longer the custodians of our nation’s (our world’s) and culture’s
values. Sadly, many of today’s youth have embraced a secular,
laissez-faire attitude toward religion, life, sex, marriage, and family
life.
Sex is now seen primarily as a
matter of “self-expression” or “self-fulfillment.” Responsibility,
morality, self-mastery, self-giving, and sacredness which belong to any
Christian view of the human person or human sexuality are absent and
outwardly rejected. The inevitable consequence of such a point of view
is the “contraceptive mentality.” One can’t, after all, have sex
without being “free” from the burden of conception and “free sex” is
clearly incompatible with any sound idea of marriage and family life.
Sexuality is thus divorced not only from possible procreation but also
from marriage itself. This explains why many young people delay
marriage or opt not to marry at all.
Contraception laid the groundwork
for this evolution of thought.
The indoctrination has been
successful in creating a sex-saturated culture – I would dare say a
sex-addicted culture – fixated upon satisfying any and all urges,
supported by the “contraceptive mentality.” This indoctrination is now
being systematically introduced into school classrooms, mostly through
courses in so-called “sex education or family life education,” in
social science courses, and in “population education.” I have
personally witnessed these programs in action. I have seen children as
young as five being introduced to sexual experimentation and modern
contraceptive devices. Our young are being indoctrinated,
propagandized, and convinced that contraception, like abortion, is a
positive good. They are taught that it is good for themselves and for
society in general, and that they have a “moral” obligation to embrace
these so-called “truths.” The moral judgments of religion and their
parents are passé; “anything goes” is now in vogue.
In this great battle for life and
family, we can no longer ignore the proverbial skunk in the room – the
“contraceptive mentality.” Our effort to end the violence and plague of
abortion requires that we address this fundamental, underlying issue.
The “contraceptive mentality” is the root from which abortion flows,
and failure to address it enables juggernauts like Planned Parenthood
Federation of America and IPPF to flourish. As Father Marx said, “while
we need a variety of pro-life groups hacking away at the anti-life
monster, it is enormously futile and indeed grossly short-sighted to
overlook the chief source of baby-killing, which is contraception.” To
come full circle to Amina Khamis Juma at the beginning of this article,
she outright rejected contraception after her abortion, a failed
marriage, terrible effects on her health and even forcibly implanted
birth control. After hearing HLI Tanzania on the radio, she reached out
and our staff got her immediate help at a Catholic hospital; she is now
recovering and learning safe, natural natural family planning (NFP),
which is fully open to life.
Sadly, there is much confusion and
dissent within the Church regarding contraception, but as faithful
Catholics (Christians), we must reclaim an authentic understanding of
the human person, life, marriage, and human sexuality, along with the
language to articulate these truths to an errant culture. If we truly
want to put a permanent end to the violence of abortion, heal the deep
wound it causes, and protect the sacredness of human life, marriage,
and the family, then we must continue to confront contraception
head-on, along with its “mentality” feeding the entire abortion
industry.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts,
passions,
and virtues"
71. Often Divine
providence leaves certain slight
passions in spiritual people so that, by unsparingly condemning
themselves
for those trifling defects, they may obtain that wealth of humility
which
none can steal.
May 14, 2019
(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:
"So many people say, 'Oh, why do you talk about the devil when it is so
old-fashioned? The devil doesn't exist.' Well, look at what the Gospel
teaches. Jesus faced the devil and was tempted by Satan. But Jesus
rejects every temptation and is victorious in his battle against evil
no matter the difficulties and anguish it causes."
NCR: Exorcist: Temptation — Not Possession — Is the Most
Significant Demonic Activity
Though dramatic representations of demonic possessions, as seen in
Hollywood, can make them appear to be the primary method of the devil,
one Dominican priest and exorcist has warned that the greater and more
common threat to a person’s salvation is the temptation to sin.
“The most common manifestation of the demonic is temptation, which is
much more significant than possession,” Dominican Father Francois
Dermine told CNA May 10.
An exorcist for more than 25 years, he explained that possession is not
a spiritual threat in the same way temptation is, and that a person who
has been possessed by the devil may still make “extraordinary spiritual
progress” and could even one day be a saint.
This is because demonic possession of a person’s body occurs without
that person’s knowledge or consent. The possession in and of itself
does not make the victim morally blameworthy.
“We must not undervalue the significance of temptation. It’s not as
spectacular as possession, but it’s far more dangerous [to the soul],”
Father Dermine said.
“To resist temptation is simple,” he encouraged, although it might not
always be easy. “You must avoid the occasions of temptation, of course,
and you must have a Christian and spiritual life. You must pray, you
must try to behave correctly, and to love the people you meet every day
and the people with whom you live.”
NEWS REPORT: As satanic groups rise, Vatican opens up exorcism
summit to non-Catholics
MEDITATION: The Rosary: The Way of Perfection
Praying At All
Times
“Watch ye,
therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son
of man.” (Luke 21: 36)
Never in Christian history has it
been more imperative that we pay heed to the scripture quoted above.
Never have we more needed an escape from the “things to come”, and
never, therefore, has it been more incumbent upon us to “pray at all
times”.
The five-decade Rosary of course
requires a period of extended time. There are therefore many
limitations in our over-busy world placed upon how many times we can
pray such a Rosary during the day. There would seem to be no such limit
placed upon Hail Mary’s prayed according to the method we have
described above. A Hail Mary takes about twenty seconds. We all need to
think about what this means in terms of the potential for being
immersed in the “cellars of divine love” of Our Lord and Our Lady, of
receiving Jesus in spiritual communion innumerable times during the
day, and of protecting ourselves from evil and all “the things to come”.
One of the most wonderful times to
pray Hail Mary’s in this way is when we are in bed and trying to fall
asleep. This is especially true if we go to bed with worries on our
mind, and enormously so if there is any kind of despair,
discouragement, depression, anger, etc. At such times, the truths
concerning Mary as being the “Refuge of Sinners” and the Rosary as the
“Way of Perfection” are verified beyond any possible doubt.
CATHOLIC
EXCHANGE: Exorcists Witness: Mary, Defender Against Demons
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts,
passions,
and virtues"
69. When confronted
by evils, we should choose
the least. For instance, it often happens that we are standing at
prayer,
and brothers come to us, and we have to do one of two things; either to
stop praying, or to grieve the brother by leaving him without an
answer.
Love is greater than prayer, because prayer is a particular virtue but
love embraces all the virtues.
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