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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Daily Miracles

Jesus performed miracles for those who suffered.  If You want daily miracles, empty yourself and ask for the 'Hand Of The Lord'.
 
There are all kinds of miracles. There are huge miracles -- healings, rescues. There are times when miracles are so awesome that folks simply don't believe it. Then there are the "little miracles" -- the miracles that are hard to describe, that come as a sequence, the kind you have to "be there" to appreciate.
 
Whichever you are about to receive (and God has a reservoir for every one of us), we open ourselves best for them when we pray, empty ourselves, work at eliminating all selfishness, and let God fill us.
Make room for God, and He will come -- on a daily basis!

You will feel the "Hand of the Lord."

The Hand of the Lord is the biblical term for God's power in the lives of His people (see Joshua 4:24 and Isaiah 59:1). 

Read rest here


 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Personal Relationship

A personal relationship with God is essential.
 
“Look at me. ” In other words to be able to say, “This word, this teaching, is true, because in the laboratory of my own life, I have tested it, and found it to be true, and here’s how. And Jesus is real, because I have met him and here’s when, and here is how. And here is how I’m experiencing him today in my life. Yes, when I pray, I am heard. The Lord speaks in the depths of my heart, sometimes in wordless contemplation, at other times vividly through his proclaimed word, and in my mind, and in the experiences and interactions of my day. I see him, I know him, and I experience his presence, and this is changing my life.”
  • Can you authentically speak like this?
  • Have you met the Lord,?
  • How, when?
  • Do you know him?
  • And how is your relationship with him changing your life?
  • What has your walk with him done?
  • Have you encountered him in his word, and in the sacraments celebrated?
  • How, when, and what has this liturgical experience of the Lord done for you?
  • How is it changing you?
These are essential questions and truths to ponder to be able to answer briefly and articulately if we are going to personally evangelize others today.
 

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Silence

Embrace silence during suffering.  Do not react to anger and resentment.

Pope Francis recently stated:
"Only silence guards the mystery of the journey that a person walks with God, said Pope Francis in his homily at Mass on Friday morning at the Casa Santa Marta. May the Lord, the Pope added, give us "the grace to love the silence”, which needs to be guarded from all publicity.

In the history of salvation, neither in the clamour nor in the blatant, but the shadows and the silence are the places in which God chose to reveal himself to humankind. The imperceptible reality from which his mystery, from time to time, took visible form, took flesh. The Pope’s reflections were inspired by the Annunciation, which was today’s Gospel reading, in particular the passage in which the angel tells Mary that the power of the Most High would "overshadow” her. The shadow, which has almost the same quality as the cloud, with which God protected the Jews in the desert, the Pope said.

"The Lord always took care of the mystery and hid the mystery. He did not publicize the mystery. A mystery that publicizes itself is not Christian; it is not the mystery of God: it is a fake mystery! And this is what happened to Our Lady, when she received her Son: the mystery of her virginal motherhood is hidden. It is hidden her whole life! And she knew it. This shadow of God in our lives helps us to discover our own mystery: the mystery of our encounter with the Lord, our mystery of our life’s journey with the Lord.”

"Each of us,” affirmed the Pope, "knows how mysteriously the Lord works in our hearts, in our souls.” And what is "the cloud, the power, the way the Holy Spirit covers our mystery?”

"This cloud in us, in our lives is called silence: the silence is exactly the cloud that covers the mystery of our relationship with the Lord, of our holiness and of our sins. This mystery that we cannot explain. But when there is no silence in our lives, the mystery is lost, it goes away. Guarding the mystery with silence! That is the cloud, that is the power of God for us, that is the strength of the Holy Spirit.”

The Mother of Jesus was the perfect icon of silence. From the proclamation of her exceptional maternity at Calvary. The Pope said he thinks about "how many times she remained quiet and how many times she did not say that which she felt in order to guard the mystery of her relationship with her Son,” up until the most raw silence "at the foot of the cross”.

"The Gospel does not tell us anything: if she spoke a word or not… She was silent, but in her heart, how many things told the Lord! ‘You, that day, this and the other that we read, you had told me that he would be great, you had told me that you would have given him the throne of David, his forefather, that he would have reigned forever and now I see him there!’ Our Lady was human! And perhaps she even had the desire to say: ‘Lies! I was deceived!’ John Paul II would say this, speaking about Our Lady in that moment. But she, with her silence, hid the mystery that she did not understand and with this silence allowed for this mystery to grow and blossom in hope.”

"Silence is that which guards the mystery,” for which the mystery "of our relationship with God, of our journey, of our salvation cannot be… publicized,” the Pope repeated. May the Lord give all of us the grace to love the silence, to seek him and to have a heart that is guarded by the cloud of silence.”
 

Friday, December 20, 2013

Prepare for Christmas Through Silence

If silence is not one of the sounds associated with Christmas preparations, people might miss an experience of the love and tenderness that is at the heart of the holiday, Pope Francis has said.
Celebrating Mass yesterday in the chapel of his residence, Pope Francis offered a reflection on the tone of voice and the endearments God uses to speak to people and communicate his love.

It’s not so much what God says as how he says it, the Pope said in his homily.

“When a child has a bad dream and wakes up crying,” he said, “Dad goes and says, ‘Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared. I’m here.’

“The Lord speaks this way, too,” he said, pointing to the day’s reading from Isaiah 41, in which the Lord reassures Jacob, affectionately calling him a little worm.

“When we watch a dad or mom talking to a child, we see how they become small, using the voice of a child and the gestures of a child,” he said. “From the outside one can think, ‘Oh, how ridiculous.’ They make themselves smaller, don’t they? That’s because a father’s or mother’s love needs to be close. I’d say this: They need to crouch down to enter the world of the child.”

Link

Monday, December 16, 2013

Mystics

The primary mission of the mystics is to be victim souls—that is, they are especially called by God to suffer in union with Jesus for the conversion of souls. It is a spiritual battle for souls between God and the demons, where the victim soul is essentially the “battle ground”, and the stakes is the conversion of many persons who are at that moment in the hands of the devil. 

Link

Friday, December 13, 2013

Tryanny of Intellect

To endure personal suffering we need a change of mind and heart, to think the way the Church thinks.  St. Paul refers to it as putting on the "mind of Christ".

Flannery O’Connor in her conversion to Catholicism spoke of the glorious freedom she experienced in being delivered from the “tyranny of her intellect.” Fides ut intelligam! That has become my experience. It is the paradox of true intellectual freedom by submission to “the church’s teaching.” It is a glorious freedom, not only in the mind’s love for God, but in the vocation of the priest in theological and spiritual formation of disciples of Jesus.

This theological conversion thus is not first of all a conversion to the peculiar Catholic beliefs that my inquirers challenge me about: What about Mary? What about purgatory? What about contraception? Rather it is a conversion to the faithfulness of Christ’s gift to the Church of an authentic authority to bind and to loose. At its deepest it is a question of pneumatology even more than ecclesiology—how does the Spirit of Truth actually function in the Church? Whatever complexities and seeming incongruities may be discerned, the Magisterium is (at minimum) a reasonable and practicable answer to the question of Truth that is trustworthy; at best, it is what the Church proclaims it to be: the provision by Christ of the gift of unerring guidance to his people.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Celibacy

Priests are called to be celibate (like Christ) to help carry burdens for those who suffer.

To our sex-obsessed culture, priestly celibacy seems a hard teaching of the Church, a heavy burden that must be borne with ascetic grit and iron resolve.

Priests as Christ figures. Above all else, the Catholic priest is an alter Christus—“another Christ.” This is clearest in the sacrifice of the Mass, when the priest acts in the person of the Christ in offering the Eucharist. Celibacy configures priests more completely to Christ, who lived a perfectly chaste life. Thus they not only “participate in His priestly office” but also share “His very condition of living,” Pope Paul VI writes in the encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus.

Link

Friday, December 6, 2013

Why does God let us suffer?

Jesus didn't suffer so we wouldn't have to. Jesus suffered so we'd know how to. So even when you're in the darkest moments of life, when you just want to cry out to God, do you know where He is? He's on the Cross right next to you, saying...

Link

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Catechism

Bible Stories are essential if we want to communicate the culture and world of the Bible to our children and help them make sense of our glorious faith.

The back to basics approach is broken into three main sections, based on the words of an old hymn:
I once was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in, and then a little light from heaven filled my soul!
 
Part 1 (Sept to January) – SIN - I once was lost in sin – Here we start with the story of Original Sin and read the early chapter that show how God made all things to be very good, But in Original Sin and all the other sins committed and described in the early chapters of Genesis, both creation and man were devastated. Sin and our conniving with the devil is responsible most of the suffering in the world. Through Bible stories and about forty pages of the “My Catholic Faith” catechism we learn of sin’s devastating effects We distinguish Original Sin, Actual sin, mortal and venial sin, the seven deadly sins and so forth. In so doing we paint of picture of how we were lost in Sin.
Part 2 (From Pre-Lent through early Easter) – Redemption - but Jesus took me in. Having welcomed Jesus as savior of the world at Christmas we now look to the paschal mystery wherein Jesus undertakes to save us from our wretched condition. Here too we read Bible stories and connect to the elements of Jesus ministry to heal us, drive out demons and ultimately to take the hill of Calvary engage Satan in battle, suffer die, rise and ascend for us. The goal here is gratitude more than information. We strive to “remember,” that is, to have so present in our mind and heart what Jesus has done for us so that we are grateful and different.
Part 3  – (Early Easter through Pentecost). – Grace- And then a little light from heaven filled my soul! In saving us, Jesus gives us a new mind and heart, a whole new life. The graces of the Christian life are explored: Faith, Hope, Charity, patience, joy, chastity, forgiveness, mercy, and so many other virtues and gifts. We reflect on the whole new Life Jesus has given us and encourage testimony about the transformation brought about by God’s grace working through Scripture, Sacraments, fellowship and prayer. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.

Link

Monday, December 2, 2013

Stages of Sin

One cannot commit a mortal sin by accident.  You have to work at it.  We often fall under the deception of the devil subconsciously.  It is important to be aware and stay focused. 

There are just times when a saint speaks and one is stunned by the insight, the piercing analysis, like a surgeon’s scalpel dividing diseased from healthy tissue. Such is the case with a quote I read recently from St. Bernard that Ralph Martin references in his Book “The Fulfillment of all desires.”

In this quote Bernard analyzes the descent into the increasing darkness of sin experienced by those who do not turn back, who refuse to hear the call to repent. And not individuals only, but, I would argue, cultures too.
 
St. Bernard’s quote is long enough that I can only make brief comments. But consider it first in toto, and then in stages. Here is the full quote:
 
If this cold once penetrates the soul when (as so often happens) the soul is neglectful and the spirit asleep and if no one (God forbid) is there to curb it, then it reaches into the soul’s interior, descends to the depths of the heart and the recesses of the mind, paralyzes the affections, obstructs the paths of counsel, unsteadies the light of judgment, fetters the liberty of the spirit, and soon – as appears to bodies sick with fever – a rigor of the mind takes over: vigor slackens, energies grow languid, repugnance for austerity increases, fear of poverty disquiets, the soul shrivels, grace is withdrawn, time means boredom, reason is lulled to sleep, the spirit is quenched, the fresh fervor wanes away, a fastidious lukewarmness weighs down, brotherly love grows cold, pleasure attracts, security is a trap, old habits return. Can I say more? The law is cheated, justice is rejected, what is right is outlawed, the fear of the Lord is abandoned. Shamelessness finally gets free rein. There comes that rash leap, so dishonorable, so disgraceful, so full of ignominy and confusion; a leap from the heights into the abyss, from the court-yard to the dung-heap, from the throne to the sewer, from heaven to the mud, from the cloister to the world, from paradise to hell. (sermon 63.6b on the Song of Songs, The Fox in the Vineyard).

Link

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Don't Fear Death

Pope Francis seemed unfazed by the frosty wind battering St. Peter's Square, donning his papal coat and white scarf during his General Audience. This Wednesday, he continued his series on the Creed, and spoke with intensity about making a sense out of death and suffering.  

POPE FRANCIS 

“Among us, commonly, there is a wrong way to look at death. Death affects us all, and questions us deeply. Especially when it hits close to home, or happens to children, the most defenseless, in a way that seems to us 'scandalous.'” 

The Pope explained that when people think of death as the end of everything, it becomes a threat that makes people react with fear. 

POPE FRANCIS
“If we take up this wrong vision of death, we have no choice but to hide it, deny it, or to trivialize it, so that it doesn't scare us.” 

That's why the Pope said that those who live their lives thinking of others, are not afraid of death. Their good deeds and actions have not been useless. To emphasize his point, he asked the pilgrims to repeat it. 

POPE FRANCIS 
“Those who live out mercy are not afraid of death. Do you agree? Let's say it together, so we don't forget. Those who live out mercy are not afraid of death!” 

Despite the cold temperatures, the General Audience took place at St. Peter's Square, instead of Paul VI Hall, the usual location for the event during this time of the year. 

“I love you.” 
Link

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

True Worship

During times of suffering it is important to worship God.  Jesus (as a Jew) worshiped God in the Temple.  We Christians are now living temples.  We worship God by how we conduct our lives.

The Holy Father recently gave instruction on how we should worship in our bodies.

“Following God presupposes a continuous purification,” Francis highlighted, "because we are sinners": "we purify ourselves by prayer, penance, the sacrament of reconciliation and the Eucharist." 

Link

Friday, November 22, 2013

Discernment

Discerning the Lord's will in life then acting on it will bring peace.

If we are truly going to discern by focusing on the Lord, whether it be what our vocation is in life or whether or not we should go on that weekend trip, there are some practical measures we can take so that His will in our lives remains clear. Our friend the great Italian 18th century saint and moral theologian St. Alphonsus Liguori has a few pointers to help us. Comments by me, mostly from my own reflections, as my practical experience probably only accounts for a poor percentage of all this.
  • Remain pure of heart. 
Go to confession regularly and exam your conscience daily. Essentially St. Alphonsus is reminding us that it is the “pure of heart that see God”. This quite fitting because, naturally, only the pure of heart seek God. Confession and examination of conscience are essential for allowing God’s grace to make us “pure of heart”. The more you know His ways, the more you understand what He wants from you.
  • Grow in virtue.
Do spiritual reading, ask for spiritual direction, discuss God with others regularly, establish a regular prayer schedule and try to be as faithful to it as you can. If you can, find a community where you can strengthen each other and pray for each other. Ideally, this community should be like your second family, a place where you can feel belong. It’s easier to grow in virtue that way.
  • Ask the Lord to call you to a particular state in life.
Just as Peter asked the Lord to command him to come out on the water, humbly ask God to call you to approach Him. As you fall in love with Love itself let Him fill your intellect, will and heart with the desire for a particular state in life. Do not expect your journey of vocation to be the same as your neighbour’s. In all likelihood, it’ll be unique and surprising. God knows you better than you do, and He will call you the way only you and He can comprehend (isn’t He just the romantic!). So stop concentrating on the heights of the mountains or on the depth of the ocean. Who knows, you might hear Him speaking through a random burning bush.
  • Do not put any obstacles in the way of grace.
Be open and ready to do the Lord’s will in all things—we ask the Lord daily to help us with our selfishness and concupiscence. Sins, especially ones that have become habits, are obstacles to grace. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Eph 4:31), “of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (1 Pet 2:1). Be humble. A full vessel cannot be filled without first be emptied. So be that empty vessel into which God can pour out His generous grace.
  • Carefully avoid overindulgence.
In our present culture especially, be aware of overindulgence. It’s everywhere. Keep everything in moderation. Know your limits. Overindulgence can make things seem better than they really are, and it makes unnecessary things become deceptively necessary. It will deprive you of the freedom you need in order to follow the Lord. Remember, in medio stat virtus—virtue stands in the middle. With self-control, comes self-knowledge, and with good self-knowledge, comes proper discernment, and hopefully, the clarity of your vocation follows not far behind.
  • Go on retreat.
This not only benefits religious and priests (they are required by canon law to do so) but for any lay person as well. And, if your schedule does not permit it at least find some time to think reflectively. Meditate and contemplate. Go about your life a little more slowly, a little more considerately. Learn to see God in all things and to see all things in God. Establish your own cloister in your heart, a place of solitude into where you can retire every now and then.

But why do these sound like general instructions on how to become holy? Well yes, holiness is the ultimate calling for everyone, that’s for sure. But the practical, day-to-day “how”, this is the one that needs discernment, in order to effectively reach that final goal of holiness. Each facet of a diamond is different, and will reflect light differently. Holiness unites us to God without losing ourselves. Unlike the Buddhist idea of union in nirvana, we don’t “disappear” in God, but rather, we learn to be one of the thousand facets of a sparkling diamond.

Link

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Evil and Suffering

Evil and the occult can cause undo suffering.  Christians should avoid it.  True worship facilitates a more peaceful existence.

 By the "occult," we are speaking of some supra-human or supernatural influence that is not from God. We commonly associate the occult with that which has demonic influence. In the United States today the occult has become much more popular than it was twenty years ago. Today, there is popular Satanic music, Satanic street gangs, an increase in Satanic worship, a more widespread use of the horoscope and study of the signs of the zodiac, and Satanic games that can be purchased. In spite of this, many people do not take the occult seriously. They laugh off the notion of the Power of Evil as actually being a part of the "real" world in which we live.

I do believe that demonic influence is very real and that it constitutes a dangerous threat to our spiritual well-being. What is written here is, at best, a brief summary of a reality that I have no desire to spend much time exploring. My purpose is simply to give you enough knowledge to be able to at least suspect the presence of the occult so that you can avoid it completely. In the letter to the Ephesians (1:3-10), St. Paul tells us that God chose us in Jesus Christ before the world began. We are called to be holy and without sin in his sight. God called us to be his children through Jesus Christ. In Jesus and through his Blood we have been saved and our sins forgiven. This is how generous God our Father has been with us. And He has given us the wisdom to understand this mystery, this plan He revealed to us in Christ. We are Baptized and Confirmed Christians. In both of these sacraments we have renounced Satan, all his works, and the empty promises of the kingdom of darkness. In these Baptismal promises we profess our faith in Jesus Christ and in the Church. Now the kingdom of God is absolutely opposed to Satan's kingdom. Salvation in Jesus Christ presupposes our rejection of the kingdom of darkness. Our life, though, is a spiritual warfare. In the first letter of St. John (1 Jn. 5:18-20) he tells us two things. First of all, we who are born of God (by Baptism and the Holy Spirit) are protected by God so that the Evil One cannot touch us. But he also tells us that the whole world is under the Evil One.The Evil One can tempt us, but he cannot touch us directly unless we open the door for him. We should not fear Satan nor should we be constantly looking for him in the ordinary happenings of our life.

Read entire article here

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Hound of Heaven

THE HOUND OF HEAVEN

The name is strange. It startles one at first. It is so bold, so new, so fearless. It does not attract at once, rather the reverse. But when one reads the poem this strangeness disappears. The meaning is understood. As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.

It would be difficult to find another poem in the language that gives such food for thought, so satisfying, so new, that can be read and reread, and always with a relish and a discovery of a new application, or the glimmer of an unseen light. In many poems, one reading suffices, and the mind is sated, for the whole depth is plummeted and all is revealed in a single view. It is not so in this poem. There is a depth that can be sounded, and deeper depths are still there. The vision takes in the view, but other details arise that charm, or surprise, or startle, or evoke admiration at the spiritual insight into the workings of the soul. It gives great and wide range of thought within a small compass, and a deep knowledge of the human soul, of the meanings of life, of the soul's relation to God and of other beings not God, and of the hold of God's love upon the soul in spite of its fleeing from Him to the creatures of His hand.

It is happiness the human soul is ever yearning for. It never ceases its quest for happiness. Night and day, year after year, it is grasping after happiness. The weary days of labor are borne to gain the wealth with which it thinks it may buy happiness. The days of suffering and pain are spent in watching and waiting for the agony to pass, that happiness may come. It looks for it in every
creature, in the earth, in the sea, in the air. The soul asks all these things — wherein is your happiness — and the answer of earth, air, sea is "He made us." 'We are for Him, for His glory." So the soul is looking for happiness, and in all these things it will not find happiness. It will find happiness only in God. And yet instead of seeking it in God, it turns away from Him and seeks it in the creature, something that is not God. And God is ever seeking that soul which is running away from Him. Wherever it runs, the sound of those feet, following ever after, is heard, and a voice, stronger than the beat —

Link

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Holiness

Living a life of holiness is essential for salvation. 

How do we grow in holiness? How? That, of course, is our spiritual program, isn't it, the stewardship of the spirit, "the regimen of the soul bringing about the reign of God," to quote servant of the poor Charles de Foucauld. I propose to you a spiritual regimen, a stewardship of the spirit coming not from me, but from centuries of practice and learning.

10 Steps to Holiness

Monday, November 11, 2013

Sign of Cross

Catholics cross themselves for many reasons.  One is to remember the suffering of Christ for us. 

The Sign of the Cross is also a simple gesture yet a profound expression of faith for both Catholic and Orthodox Christians. As Catholics, it’s something we do when we enter a church, after we receive Communion, before meals, and every time we pray. But what exactly are we doing when we make the Sign of the Cross?

Here are 21 things:
Link

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Death

Contemplating death in the proper way can help us live our lives better.  It focuses us on what is truly important, eternal life, where there is no more pain and suffering.

Recently Pope Francis had this to say:

 
POPE FRANCIS 
“As the sun starts to set today, each one of us can think of the sunset of our own lives... how will my sunset be? Mine, yours, yours, and yours, and even yours; All of us will pass away one day! Do I look at this with hope, with the joy of being received by the Lord? This is a Christian thought, that brings peace to us.” 

Before the end of the ceremony, the Pope said a prayer for the dead and in a special gesture, he also included all of the immigrants who pass away tragically in their search for a better life. 

Link

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

The Devil is Powerless

The devil can play a role in our miseries and sufferings, but ultimately he is powerless.  The pope recently stated, "Nothing will ever separate us from the love that Christ himself gained for us, giving of himself completely. Even evil powers that are hostile to man are powerless in the face to the intimate union of love between Jesus and those who welcome him with faith".

"Only the sin of man can break this bond, but even in this case God will always go in search for him to restore that union that lasts even after death, it is indeed a union that in the final encounter with the Father reaches its climax. This certainty gives a new and full meaning to earthly life and opens us to hope for life beyond death".

Link

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Communion of Saints

The saints in heaven can help us with their prayers.  We should turn to them in our struggles.

Pope Francis:

"In these difficult times it is necessary to trust in God , through prayer, and at the same time, it is important to find the courage and the humility to be open to others and ask for help, to ask for a hand : 'Give me a hand , I have this problem.' How many times have we done this? And then, we overcame the problem and found God again. In this communion - communion which means ' common union ', all united , common union - in this communion we are a big family, all of us, where all the components help and support each other . "

The communion of the saints, then, "goes beyond the earthly life, goes beyond death and lasts forever. This union between us goes beyond and continues in the afterlife. It is a spiritual union that comes from Baptism, that is not broken by death, but, thanks to that Christ who is risen, is destined to find its fulfillment in eternal life. There is a deep and indissoluble bond between those who are still pilgrims in this world, among us, and those who have crossed the threshold of death into eternity. All the baptized here on earth, the souls in Purgatory and all the saints who are already in heaven form one big family . This communion between earth and heaven is realized especially in the prayer of intercession".

"This beauty, the memory of the faith: it is our reality, that makes us brothers, that accompanies us on the journey of life , and we will meet again up there in Heaven . Let's make this journey with confidence, joy. A Christian must be joyful, with the joy of having so many baptized brothers and sisters who walk with us, and even with the help of our brothers and sisters on this journey towards Heaven, and also with the help of brothers and sisters who are in Heaven and Jesus who pray for us. Move forward on this road , and with joy ."

Link

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Kindness and Love

Personal suffering isn't often associated with being "kind", but it can be a sign that God loves us.

Kindness is a very great thing and has an important place in our relationships. Kindness is evidenced by goodness and charitable behavior, a pleasantness, tenderness and concern for others. According to Aristotle, kindness is an emotion manifesting itself by the desire to help somebody in need, without expecting anything in return.

Kindness is an aspect of love, but it is necessarily distinct from love. For is sometimes happens that love, which wills what is best for the other, may deem it best not to remove all suffering. A father, in fact may impose punishment on a child out of love.

Link

Monday, October 21, 2013

Spiritual Truths

Monsignor Pope blogs about spiritual truths that will set us free (ultimately from suffering):
 
1. That life is short (Job 14:5).
2. The path leading to eternal life constricted (Mt. 7:14) 
3. That the just one scarcely saved (1 Pet. 4:18) 
4. The things of the world vain and deceitful (Eccles. 1:2)
5. That all comes to an end and fails like falling water (2 Sam. 14:14)
6. And that the time is uncertain. 
7. The accounting strict.
8. Perdition very easy.
9. And salvation very difficult.

Read the rest

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Interior Life

God calls us to develop an interior, spiritual relationship with Him. 

The saints have traditionally labeled spiritual growth as the Purgative, Illuminative and Unitive Ways.

The principle characteristic of the Unitive Way is a simple and constant awareness of God’s presence, a near constant state of communion with Him, and obvious and habitual conformity to His will.

Here we find deep and abiding joy, a unassailable love for God and others, profound humility, freedom from the fear of suffering often accompanied by a strong desire to suffer for God and his people, and apostolic fruitfulness. 

Link

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Confession - Well Worth It!

Confession of sin removes our suffering and brings us peace.

Recently a non-Catholic Christian was praising the benefits of the Catholic Sacrament of Confession. 
This prelate understands the difficulty, yet necessity if unburdening oneself from sin.

“It is enormously powerful and hideously painful when it’s done properly … it’s really horrible when you go to see your confessor – I doubt you wake up in the morning and think, this is going to be a bunch of laughs.

“It’s really uncomfortable. But through it God releases forgiveness and absolution and a sense of cleansing.”

Link

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Humility and Prayer

During suffering it is important to humbly pray as Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

There is an old teaching that basically goes: Many think of prayer as trying to get God to do your will. But true prayer is trying to understand what God’s will is and do it. I heard and African American preacher put it this way:
 
You got a lot of people that talk about naming and claiming, and calling and hauling…But there’s just something about saying, “THY will be done!” that we’ve forgot.
 

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Monday, October 7, 2013

God Has a Plan For You

God has a plan for your life.  While it may involve suffering, God ultimately wants you to live in peace and joy

There is an everyday temptation to "to flee from God," and sometimes a sinner, someone who is "distant" may be able to hear "the voice of God," to let "God write his lifestory", while a Christian may want to "flee" to "write " for their own lifestory themselves.

Read here

Saturday, October 5, 2013

God Heals

The Pope said what he said. There's no reason to spin it. Clearly, he was stating, as did Jesus, to the Pharisees, that "he without sin should cast the first stone," and in his remarks on abortion, homosexuality, and contraception, was warning that too often we focus on the letter of the law while violating its spirit (which is love). We become harsh. We become, he said, obsessive. It is easy to see why: these are sins that are upsetting. The behaviors of homosexuality have not and can not be accepted by the Church; to review the actual practices in this realm is chilling. But we all transgress in different ways and homosexuals as well as those who have fallen into the horrid trap of abortion should be welcomed and won over, instructed on the Gospel. The Church was founded, the Pope reminded us, as a place to heal transgressors. “It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars," Francis said. "You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.” To constantly declare a sin without extending a healing hand has proven ineffective. Christ stated that sinners were the reason He came into the world and He mingled with them (Matthew 9: 10-13), which many did not like. Francis said we must find a "new balance." Let us wait and see what else this startling Pope says. No one can deny the tremendous gravity of killing a baby, nor what the Bible itself says about the sin of sodomy. Some go so far as to fret about an "anti-pope," or prophecies of two popes in last times. Is it that, or simply opening the arms of the Church to a poor world? We will watch and listen. It is interesting to note that while the Blessed Mother indicates the seriousness of abortion, this sin has never been specifically mentioned in formal messages at sanctioned sites such as Fatima, Kibeho, and Betania, where sinners find comfort and are converted and so often repent en route to deliverance. At the remarkable Church-approved site of Laus in France, the Blessed Mother came to create a place -- specifically for sinners -- of reconciliation and refuge, and reportedly indicated the sins of immorality, abortion, "unjust wealth" (another theme of Francis's) and the "perverse." She is firm, but welcoming. It is how Mary seems to work, too, at Medjugorje, where none of the official monthly messages since 1984 specifically mentions abortion and yet where seers have spoken loudly about both that and homosexual marriage and where we recall the account of a lawyer whose girlfriend or wife had an abortion and who confessed it at the apparition site and then if we recall correctly went to a back pew of the church to say his penance when a mysterious woman suddenly stood next to him holding a newborn, which she allegedly handed to him; he stroked the infant; he could feel the child's flesh and hair and warmth. He was told to name the baby, which he did, before the Woman took the baby back into her arms and disappeared, when he looked away, leaving him no doubt about the nature of his sin and also no doubt about how God forgives.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Purgatory

Purgatory is often associated with suffering.  But it is more profound than that. 
 
In the “Divine Comedy,” as Dante makes his way through purgatory, the souls he encounters suffer, but unlike the souls he met in hell, they suffer willingly and gladly, with no self-pity and always eager to return to their sufferings when Dante’s questions cease.
In their eagerness, those fictional souls testify to the enduring Catholic teaching that purgatory isn’t the outermost room of hell, but rather the anteroom of heaven. Every soul in purgatory is bound for glory.
 
Their fate has been sealed, and ultimately it’s a blessed fate. Therefore, the time they spend in purgatory, whether short or long, is a time marked not only by suffering, but also by joy.
 

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Paganism

Paganism causes undue suffering.  In other words man is left to his own design, while leaving God out of the picture.  We need God's help to overcome.

The new paganism is the virtual divinization of man, the religion of man as the new God. One of its popular slogans, repeated often by Christians, is “the infinite value of the human person.” Its aim is building a heaven on earth, a secular salvation. Another word for the new paganism is humanism, the religion that will not lift up its head to the heavens but stuffs the heavens into its head.

Our true home is heaven and we need God to get us there.

Link

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Spiritual Maturity

It takes a lot of spiritual maturity to endure suffering.  On the other hand, suffering helps us to mature.  Arrested spiritual development is by far the most serious of all developmental issues. A parent may give their child every good thing, but if they do not ensure the gift of strong and mature faith, they have given their children nothing but sand slipping thorough their fingers.

Read rest here

Friday, September 27, 2013

Humiliation

Pope Francis explained during his morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta that Christians are prone to falling into a state of 'spiritual well being' because the Church has many ways of helping people achieve salvation. He also praised those who really try to imitate Jesus, even during challenging times.  

POPE FRANCIS

“And that is the temptation of falling into a state of 'spiritual well being'. We've got everything: the Church, Jesus Christ, the Sacraments, the Virgin Mary: everything. A good job from the Kingdom of Heaven. We are good, all of us. At least we must believe this, otherwise it would be a sin! But 'spiritual well being' isn't enough. Like the parable of the young rich man: he wanted to follow Jesus, but only up to a certain point. To be a real Christian you must receive the last anointment: the cross anointment, the anointment of true humiliation. He humiliated himself to the point of death. Even death on a cross. That is the cornerstone, the proof of our Christian reality: Am I a 'well being' Christian or am I a Christian that walks with Jesus towards the cross? It consists on being able to endure every single humiliation.” 

The Pope said that the sign of a true Christian is the ability to endure every humiliationand to carry one's daily Cross with joy and patience.

EXCERPTS FROM POPE'S HOMILY: 

“It was the Holy Spirit that touched Peter's heart and inspired him to say who Jesus was. 'You are Christ, the son of God... it's a mystery. Who can explain this?... But he said it himself. And if each and everyone of us, when we pray, look towards the tabernacle, and say to the Lord: 'You are Christ, the son of God on earth'...first we cannot say that by our own inspiration, it must be the Holy Spirit who inspire us, and second, be ready, because He will answer: 'It's true.' 

"And that is the temptation of falling into a state of 'spiritual well being'. We've got everything: the Church, Jesus Christ, the Sacraments, the Virgin Mary: everything. A good job from the Kingdom of Heaven. We are good, all of us. At least we must believe this, otherwise it would be a sin! But 'spiritual well being' isn't enough. Like the parable of the young rich man: he wanted to follow Jesus, but only up to a certain point. To be a real Christian you must receive the last anointment: the cross anointment, the anointment of true humiliation. He humiliated himself to the point of death. Even death on a cross. That is the cornerstone, the proof of our Christian reality: Am I a 'well being' Christian or am I a Christian that walks with Jesus towards the cross? It consists on being able to endure every single humiliation. 

The sign of a true Christian is his ability to withstand humiliations with joy and patience; and this is something we don't like... But there are many Christians that looking towards the Lord, they ask for more humiliations to be more like Him. This is the choice. Whether to be a Christian of well being -and you'll go to heaven, I'm sure you'll be saved- or a Christian close to Jesus, through His way.” 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Evangelization

Relation ship heals wounds.

Many Catholics are stuck in a model of catechetical formation. This means they see the work of the Catholic Church is to hand over doctrines and teachings. While this is one important role, this isn't the mission of the Church. The mission of the Church is to make followers of Jesus. This is done by evangelization. Evangelization must be centered on relationships. Our relationship with another (through word and witness) helps someone form a relationship with Jesus. If some get the mission of the Church wrong, then they won't understand the focus Francis has on making disciples as one that is in the heart of the Church. Doctrinal formation necessarily must follow the proclamation of the Gospel.  NOT the other way around.

Link

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Mass

Understanding what the mass truly is helps align one's suffering to Christ.

Mass Attendance
Q. Polls consistently report that only 20- 25 percent of those who identify themselves as Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass. Consequently, many seem to be unaware of how HHS mandate provisions will impact religious liberty despite the USCCB and bishops being outspoken in their warnings. So even though bishops are trying to get the message out about impending dangers to the family, religious liberty, and so forth, how can they do so in such an environment? How can the lay faithful best assist? [Editor’s Note: The “ HHS mandate” is the mandate by the Health and Human Services department of the federal government that requires all health plans to provide coverage at no cost for contraceptives, abortion- inducing drugs, and sterilization as part of so- called “ preventative health services”for women.]

A. Sadly, in the time after the Second Vatican Council, there was a reform of the sacred liturgy which made it man- centered and banal. In some cases it actually became hard for people to bear because of illicit insertions, foreign agendas, and imposition of the personalities of priests and congregations into the liturgy to the point that people began to think that the Mass was some sort of social activity. If they did not find it acceptable, they did not go anymore.
If one understands what the Mass truly is — Christ Himself coming down from Heaven to renew the sacrifice of Calvary — how could you possibly not be there on Sunday? In the past people understood this and Mass attendance was in the 80- 90 percent range. We have to restore the sanctity of the celebration of Holy Eucharist so that those who have fallen away will return to the practice.
Secondly, when people are not coming to Mass in great numbers, as is the case, they do not hear the Sunday homily which is the principal means for instruction of faithful adults in the Church. In some places, even where people do attend Mass, they are not being instructed as they should be. The bishops first, and then the priests with them, must be clear and consistent in presenting the truth about the freedom of conscience and the evils of the health-care mandate.
Thirdly, in the situation as it is, which we simply must recognize, lay people giving witness to fellow lay people is the only solution. More and more sincere and informed Catholics must be ready to give an account of their Faith to others even if they are not the most eloquent and articulate. The very fact that they approach and speak with a fellow Catholic about a question like freedom of conscience will not go without a positive effect on that individual.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Follow Your Heart

Go where your heart takes you. Follow your heart. It's the true course because your heart is the real you, where your soul resides. Be true to it. Let it guide you. Too often we do the opposite; we replace the heart with the mundane, which can fashion pretense. This causes you tension. The greatest distance can be between your heart and your brain. You should go nowhere nor move anywhere nor strike up a close relationship with anyone unless your heart is in it; it knows secretly what is not in your "rational" consciousness. While there are certain obligations we must fulfill, in most cases we should not do anything unless our hearts are behind it. Don't define yourself to please others. Have a pure heart, a humble heart, and it will guide you. Try to escape problems and they will only repeat (until we repent, which means to change). Change only your facade and surroundings (try to run away) and God in His wisdom will continue to send you the same challenges no matter where you go until you work them out. Let your heart be the guide in finding the root of a problem, for it is often different than the problem it presents on the surface; a root cause might be called a plank in your eyes. "Beware of seeing yourself through other people's eyes," a woman seeking the Lord's words felt she heard. "There are several dangers to this practice. First of all, it is nearly impossible to discern what others think of you. Moreover, their views of you are variable: subject to each viewer's spiritual, emotional, and physical condition. The major problem with letting others define you is that it borders on idolatry. Your concern to please others dampens your desire to please Me, your Creator. It is more real to see yourself through My eyes. My gaze upon you is steady and sure, untainted by sin. Through My eyes you can see yourself as one who is deeply, eternally loved. Rest in My loving gaze, and you will receive deep Peace. Respond to My loving Presence by worshipping Me in spirit and in truth.""Learn to love from your true center in Me. I reside in the deepest depths of your being, in eternal union with your spirit. It is at this deep level that My Peace reigns continually. You will not find lasting peace in the world around you, in circumstances, or in human relationships. The external world is always in flux -- under the curse of death and decay. But there is a gold mine of Peace deep within you, waiting to be tapped. Take time to delve into the riches of My residing Presence. I want you to live increasingly from your real center, where My Love has an eternal grip on you."One thing at a time. To thine own self be true. Look for progress with the eyes of the heart over time. Do not make haste to please the perceptions of others. Every day God will send you special little challenges that relate to your weaknesses and you must tackle each one with that frame of heart: everything He sends has the potential for advancement. Don't force things. Don't reach beyond your strength. Don't try to change who you really are; it is not possible; change who you are not. God works over time. He dissolves what is false and rebuilds us when we cooperate through free will oriented in prayer from the heart. What God looks for is persistence -- not an attempt to do everything at once, or be somebody else, but at making constant progress in union with our deep inner being.  A conversion that is total is gradual in a natural flow over time with ease of the spirit like all things that God so profoundly does. Accept His Way, His design. In humility, use the normal course of daily events (problems and crises) as steppingstones to perfection.  Chip away at each challenge, which will always come. Look at everything that happens as an opportunity. Great monuments were fashioned in this manner. So was the Grand Canyon. Be natural and gradual.As Jesus taught, the evil of the day is sufficient.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Mercy Saves

We are called to have mercy.  The mercy of God can be very healing for those who suffer in any way.  Christians should treat the sick with Christ's compassion Human compassion is of little use.  The Holy Father agrees.

"If, in our hearts, there is no mercy, no joy of forgiveness, we are not in communion with God, even if we observe all his precepts because it is love that saves, not only the practice of his precepts," said Pope Francis in his reflection, in which he focused on the "parables of mercy" taken from today's liturgy.

Mercy, in the pope's words, is "the true force that can save man and the world from the 'cancer' of sin, of moral and spiritual evil." Hence, it marks the journey of Christians through life, because "if we live according to the law of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth', we cannot come out of the spiral of evil. The Evil One is smart. He dupes us into thinking that human justice can save us and save the world. In fact, only God's justice can save us! And God's justice revealed itself on the Cross."

Link

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Healing Power of Silence

Silence can be very healing.  During times of suffering it is necessary.  Jesus suffered in silence.

We live in a wilderness, a wilderness of noise. Noise is not just about sound. It has to do with the constant barrage of stimulation to our senses, emotions and even our intellect, (read information overload.) The problem with all this noise, pure and simple, is that it is an obstacle to our own inner order and peace, and more importantly, to a living communion with God and with others. For some reason, many of us either seem afraid of silence, or, more likely, we have lost familiarity with the wonders of silence. Yet it is essential to our physical and spiritual well-being.

Authentic silence is not emptiness. Things come to us in the silence. We hear new languages. We are visited by penetrating peace, insight, God Himself, His wisdom, light, His perception and understanding. In authentic silence we hear new sounds and enter new worlds. In silence we come to know our own hearts.


Link

Monday, September 9, 2013

Pride

Pride before the fall. 

Our own pride often is our worst enemy and a cause of much suffering.

We live in times collectively marked by pride. And, while pride is a problem of the human condition that has beset us from the very beginnings of paradise lost, our modern age, with the rise of atheism, rejection of God, scorn for the metaphysical, and a hyper-emphasis of the “autonomous” self, pride has taken an even more prominent place.
 
Largely absent from the modern psyche is any deep notion that we are contingent beings, radically dependent on things, people and factors outside our “autonomous” self. Even before we bring God into the discussion, we seem less aware today that our existence and capacity to survive is deeply rooted in thousands, if not millions of factors outside us and beyond our immediate control

Link

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Gossip

Where there is God there is no hatred, envy or jealousy, and there is no gossip that can kill.

These are words from Pope Francis.  He is stating that words can be damaging and cause a great amount of suffering.

There is a story of a man who confessed his sin of gossip.  His penance was to scatter all the feathers from a pillow into the wind, then attempt to gather them.  The penitent replied that would be impossible.  The priest answered that our words do the same thing.  Once we release them we cannot gather them back. 

Link

Monday, September 2, 2013

Priestly Suffering

The indelible mark received upon a priest's soul at the moment of his ordination makes him a bearer of Christ's suffering.

Today’s priest has inherited a real problem. He is the heir to over a hundred years of priestly culture that has reified the priesthood, making it like being doctor who leaves work and the rest of the day is “his.” Further, the rest of the day is for “neutral” non-Christian activities. Living, as we do, in a Protestant culture means that clergy will be likely to unconsciously cast their own priesthood in terms of a protestant minister – hired by the community and so concerned not to upset them by teaching anything they won’t already accept.
 
Some priests do realize that they have to live the life of Christ as closely as possible. I am not speaking about them. The issue comes up when you have one priest who knows this and twenty others who are of the 9-to-5 variety. Where is the chance for collegial growth as priests in Christ?
 
There’s more. In a unisex culture, the priest is still supposed to be a male leading a parish that is spiritually receptive, that is spiritually feminine. He has to know and live out what true maleness is from Christ, the epitome of being male in this world. Then he can learn from Christ how to lead a Christian community. Of course, this depends on whether we believe in the Incarnation. Was Jesus truly a man? Or do we take the culture with its inevitable cloak of sin and the corresponding distortion of gender as the source of meaning?
 
Lastly, we live in a distraction-based culture. Every one of us is susceptible to the next shiny thing that comes along – a TV show, a new phone, a movie star’s wardrobe malfunction. You name it. Yet the priest still has to be Christ who is more attractive and more constant than any created thing.
 
This constancy, which translates into constant Christlike presence, is good for the priest and the people. Constancy in prayer and availability is Christlike. It is a great time to be a priest!
 

Friday, August 30, 2013

Pain is never Permanent

St. Paul of the Cross

When you feel the assaults of passion and anger, then is the time to be silent as Jesus was silent in the midst of His ignominies and sufferings.

St. Therese of Lisieux

Above the clouds the sky is always blue.

St. Teresa of Avila

Pain is never permanent.

Link 

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Narrow Gate

Following Christ means facing your suffering without fear.

In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis spoke about the words of Jesus from the day’s Gospel: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”

The Holy Father noted that Jesus was responding to the question of how many people will be saved. But, the Pope said, “it is not important to know how many are saved. Rather, it is important to know what is the path of salvation.” Jesus Himself is the gate, a gate “that allows us to enter into God's family, into the warmth of the house of God, of communion with Him. This gate is Jesus Himself.”

Pope Francis emphasised that “the gate that is Jesus is never closed . . . it is always open and open to everyone, without distinction, without exclusions, without privileges.” Jesus, he continued, does not exclude anyone. Some people might feel excluded because they are sinners – but Pope Francis definitively rejected this idea. “No,” he said, “you are not excluded! Precisely for that reason you are preferred, because Jesus prefers the sinner, always, in order to pardon him, to love him. Jesus is waiting for you, to embrace you, to pardon you.”

We are called to enter the gate that is Jesus. “Don’t be afraid to pass through the gate of faith in Jesus,” Pope Francis said. Don’t be afraid “to let Him enter more and more into our lives, to go out of our selfishness, our being closed in, our indifference toward others.”

Jesus speaks about a narrow gate not because it is a “torture chamber," but “because it asks us to open our hearts to Him, to recognize ourselves as sinners, in need of His salvation, His forgiveness, His love, needing the humility to accept His mercy and to be renewed by Him.”

Finally, the Holy Father emphasised that Christianity is not a “label” – it is a way of life. Christians must not be Christians in name only: “Not Christians, never Christians because of a label!” he said. He called us to be true Christians, Christians at heart. “To be Christian,” said Pope Francis, "is to live and witness to the faith in prayer, in works of charity, in promoting justice, in doing good. For the narrow gate which is Christ must pass into our whole life.”


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Let God Define You

If you let others define you, you won't reach true happiness because you won't reach the destiny the Lord has assigned to you. Every single person on earth is equally important in God's mysterious, incomparable Plan. And no one on earth sees even a fraction of it. Our "geniuses" have no clue when it comes to His perspective (unless they take the Christian perspective). Renounce their labels. Remain in faith. Move upward always. Don't look back at past worldliness; you'll only stumble. Forget about what once enticed you (and kept you in that box). Forget about the way others perceive you and remain steadfast in how the Lord sees you.

We're all equal, and God has a plan of greatness for every one of us. He made us to be great. Joy comes with greatness as ordained by the Lord -- the greatness of motherhood, the greatness of being a great janitor, the greatness of a life lived for others. It is labels -- and our accepting those labels -- that prevent us from achieving bigger spiritual things. Go for the greatest "you." Go for the best you can be -- no matter what others around you think. Rest in the Lord. Remain in Him. Worry about pleasing Him only. Gravitate to the interior "you" that is most familiar to you, and maintain the real you no matter how others try to perceive you and cause you to misperceive yourself.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Forgive and Forget

We will never forget, but we must forgive.  This is the beginning of healing.
      While many people believe forgetting an injury is part of forgiveness, Fr. Justin Waltz, pastor of St. Leo's Church in Minot, ND, suggested just the opposite. In fact, he stated that forgetting is not even possible. “The only type of forgetting I have heard of is stuffing,” he said during a retreat presentation and added, “The hurt is not gone, it is just buried deep within.”  
      Since forgetting is not an option given our memories, Waltz said that God has provided an even better remedy—the divine transformation of a resurrection within our souls. He pointed out that Christ himself retained the wounds of his crucifixion. “Had he wanted to, Jesus could have healed his body so completely that even the scars did not exist,” he explained. “Christ is not ashamed of these scars, rather he wears them as his testament to his victory over sin and death.”
      By keeping the scars, he said that Jesus taught us some great truths about suffering. Christ suffered a brutal and humiliating death but resurrected while retaining the scars. Since he has gone before us, Waltz explained that through faith in God, we can trust that nothing is beyond his healing, no matter how deep or how painful.  “God goes beyond forgetting. He transforms us and brings us out of the tomb into the light of the resurrection, not only healed but victorious.” 
Waltz stated that God’s healing begins with faith in him to heal all things. “Just for a moment, imagine what sort of life and power would be unleashed in your heart if you allowed God to transform your pain into victory,” he said. He laid out some of the essentials for recovering from hurts. Regarding those that struggle with the concept of a loving God, he explained that God does not desire our suffering, but it is a fallen world. “God created free will and when he did, this, he tied his hands,” Waltz explained.  Through human free will, sin and death entered the world. “But in every circumstance that evil occurs, God has created an out, even death in which he has created a place where there is no death, pain or suffering,” he said.  Forgiving God really comes down to not holding God responsible for something that he did not do.  When we do this, we allow God to do the very thing that God does best--set us free from the pain.”  Waltz said to recall that God shows us only love and mercy even to the extent of sending his only son to suffer for our sins and save us.

Read the rest

 

Friday, August 16, 2013

Prayer

Prayer is vital during times of suffering.  Jesus is depicted as sweating blood when praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.   Prayer attaches us to the will of God and strengthens us on our heavenly journey.   

How Jesus Prayed

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Encounter Christ in Sacraments

(ANSA) - Vatican City, August 7 - Pope Francis again used the papal Twitter account on Wednesday to stay in touch with his millions of followers on the social network. "With his coming among us, Jesus came close to us and encountered us," Francis posted via @Pontifex.

"Also today, through the Sacraments, he encounters us".