July 2011
59 posts
What is a great day?
A great day is
- a humble Morning Offering
- having a job
- taking a train to the city
- Chicago on a clear, sunny day
- taking cab to work
- having a retired Bishop offer Mass for your family
- walking 5 blocks on lunch to pray in a tiny Eucharistic Adoration chapel
- a productive workday
- having train be late a half hour and not caring because you are reading a biography of St. Teresa...
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Acts of Evil, Hatred best countered with...
As we see again yesterday, people continue to commit acts of evil and hatred against innocent people. The knee-jerk response many of us feel is to be angry and wanting revenge against people who are the same skin color, race, nationality, religion, etc. Often we do this not even knowing who or what group is responsible. We know that evil should not be repaid with evil. Then what to do with the...
Where are you going?
Right now, mine and your time of departure from this world, is approaching. We do not have a good sense of this because we live in the world like in a movie, from one scene to the next. The reality remains, though, and we must take a minute here and there to contemplate. Am I living for God or living for me? The world doesn’t want us to do this and it achieves this quite well. Ask where...
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Love of God, Love of your cross.
I prayed and prayed and others prayed and The Good Lord gave me a job. I get up early, drive thru rush hour, wait for train into city, and have been walking through dry, desert canyons in the mid to upper 90s. And what do I do? Smile and silently thank Him. If they only knew how happy I really was!! Sometimes people look, like what is he smiling about? WHY is that guy smiling? Because I love...
“I often thought my constitution would never endure the work I had to do, (but)...”
– St Teresa of Ávila (via catholicinspiration)
“Pride is the source of all our faults and also of all our misfortunes.”
— ...”
– http://catholiclifeguard.tumblr.com/
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The Saints and Their Devotion to The Passion →
So many of the Saints spent many hours in prayer, specifically related to The Passion of Our Lord, that it would take days to list them all. I think it is easy to miss the central point of our faith in the hectic days of our lives. I have included a link to The Stations of The Cross, composed by St. Alphonsus Ligouri. I have enjoyed this version since I was a child and we prayed them as a...
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Urgent Prayer Request! →
The link will take you to a story of the Hmong Christians, who suffer greatly at the hands of Vietnamese Communists. Many people lost their lives when they came out of hiding on the day that Mr. Camping said the world would end. True, they are martyrs for the faith. However, they leave behind families who now have no income. Please pray that God will assist them in this challenging time. Thank...
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Today is a very important day for the Carmelites, an order to which I feel a strong pull. The Saints and Doctors of The Church that are Carmelites give us many insights to the interior life, especially prayer and contemplation. The images most closely associated with this Feast show The Blessed Virgin Mary in brown habit, wearing a crown, Jesus in her lap as a child, and one or both are...
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Job Seekers - Please read!
Glory to God in the highest!! Yes, I finally have found employment, with another offer coming! Will the Lord not answer your prayer, according to His will, in His time, in His way? Would you not answer the plea of your child, even though it not be what your child is asking for, but it certainly be what he needs, what is good? Yes, you would. But the ways of the Lord are mysterious. I can tell...
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Prayer and Persistence in All Things!
I can’t stress enough to my friends and family that in all things, pray unceasingly and be persistent in prayer and action. Pray to God, pray to Jesus, pray to The Holy Spirit, pray to Mary, pray the Rosary, pray to the saints. Develop your prayer life and interior life. You will be amazed with all the change that will come with faith and grace from above along with your abandonment to His...
Adoration tonight!! (updated)
Ok, my mistake. I don’t have an “ask” button up. Need to do some editting soon. I will pray for all of you and for your special intentions. God Bless!!
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Adoration Tonight!!
Please, if you need me to pray and place your intentions before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament this evening, you may send them to me. They won’t be posted here, of course. You can even designate them “personal intentions”. I pray for many people and many things so feel free! God bless!!
On the Other Hand...!
We live in great times, as Catholics in America, when compared to other periods of The Church. We have freedom to worship, live our faith, attend and participate in mass, and in many locales, visit Our Lord in The Blessed Sacrament at any time, any day of the week.
Think of the millions of Catholics over the centuries who did these things in secret, under penalty of imprisonment, torture, and...
Progress?
So many call these things progress - same-sex unions, new drugs that induce abortion, decriminalization of some things, criminalization of others, recognition, non-recognition, etc. This is not progression, it’s regression. We are regressing from long-established morals, virtues, rights, and common good. You can call it progress if you like in this context - we are progressing away from...
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Prayer Request!
Please pray for the all foster children Catholic Charities in Illinois can no longer serve because the State of Illinois requires them to consider placing them with same-sex couples. Rather than face a lawsuit that inevitably would be filed for discrimination, they have to leave this important service to others. Catholic Charities will continue to oversee existing cases, but will not take in new...
imstillalittlegirl:
To lay with is derived from the Hebrew word Yada, meaning To know.
Brilliance, if you ask me. Learning is good.
I can’t help but ask - is Yoda a derivative and mash with Spanish, approx. = “He knows all”?
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The Poor, the simple, the least...
Only the poor, the simple, the least, the children…only these accepted and understood the teachings of Christ. Who are these people today, where are they? Do you see them, do you know who they are? Through repentance and humbling ourselves, then we will seek and find them. There you shall find Christ and His teachings.
Do you pray the Luminous Mysteries?
everything4hisglory:
apologizt:
borderlinepretty:
I personally don’t… but I’d like to know what everyone thinks and does!
I do! I love the Luminous Mysteries. To me, it is like a very basic description if Jesus’ public ministry.
Yes. Maybe my favorites… Hard to choose though
I pray them almost every Thursday night at Adoration. I love them, they flow right along in between the Joyful...
"If Cinderella can get her Prince Charming without...
pursuingchastity:
love it!
Humility
Humility is to Pride as water is to fire.
Finally, for now, on sin
I know in my case that Pride puts me knowingly in near occasions of sin. I tell myself,”I am aware of and smart enough to walk carefully around the snares of the Devil. I know he is prowling nearby but I can avoid or outrun him.” Sound familiar? How many times have you seen that one in a movie, show, or book? We even roll our eyes at it because we know what happens next! Do we do...
St. Paul on sin
St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter 7 is a great Lectio Divina text.
Many of us know this by his speaking of, in general, this - I do the things I do not want to do and do not do the things I want to do.
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Scripture support for sin avoidance
Related to the last post on near occasion of sin:
Know thyself!
I saw this elsewhere: It would appear that Jesus is talking about this same topic when He gives the following discourse (Matthew 5:29-30):
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand...
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Near Occasion of Sin, Occasion of Sin
I have been looking through my Catholic reference books and various Catholic links at the following always relevant topics:
Remote Occasion of Sin,
Near Occasion of Sin,
Occasion of Sin.
There are definitions of these and examples given in most incidences. It would take up too much space to cover all this and it is not the point of this post. The point is this: we, in all likelihood, have a...
Escapism
I read the post about escape from it all, it is all too prevalent in today’s youth, as it was in my day (and even now!). It’s true, escape seems to always be the answer, but it’s wrong and temporary and has permanent consequences. As in all things, turn to The Lord. By His measure, you will know love. Then, begin again your search for love and truth in the here and now. ...
Adoration last night...
Last night, right out of the blue. I was reminded of something I used to meditate, contemplate, and share with others:
Life is short, fast-paced, and we often make choices, speak, and do things without thinking it through before or reviewing it after. My thought: Every thought, every word, every action, and every inaction…every second, individually, has eternal consequences for our soul. ...
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In The Presence of Our Lord (click!) →
Several nice, short testimonials about Eucharistic Adoration. Note the Bishop Sheen quote. I did read somewhere that Pope John Paul II wrote ALL his encyclicals with Jesus exposed in a monstrance nearby. Makes perfect sense to me!
I have found the following to be true: when you humble yourself there before The Lord, He can and does do wonderful things for your mind, heart, soul, and your...
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Adoration tonight!!
Same place, same time…always different. “You are The Christ, The Son of The Living God.” “My Lord and My God!” “It is good for us to be here.”
“Could you not stay with me for an hour?”
“Governor Cuomo has opened a new front in the culture wars that are tearing at...”
– Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio (Brooklyn)
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A Rosary for Job-Seekers →
For all the unemployed, discouraged, job-seeking, desperately searching before funds run out, click the link for a Rosary of The Sorrowful Mysteries with meditations specific for those who seek to be employed with dignity. Lord, have mercy.
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Thank You, Almighty God and Father!
Thank You for letting me be born and raised in the USA.
Thank You for the Founding Fathers.
Thank You for two loving parents.
Thank You for my teachers.
Thank You for providing the faith and reseliency that keeps generation after generation going!
Thank You for Your guiding Hand of Providence in keeping this country free, so we all can express our views and live as we may.
Thank You for...
Today
Another beautiful day, to begin anew. This day was made by God, Who Is Love. Let us give glory to Him in all we do.
I've been praying the chaplet of the divine mercy...
everything4hisglory:
Needless to say I am very excited, having just found out that the college where I’ll be starting at next year has group chaplets every Friday.
I used to take a late lunch so I could go out to my car and say the Divine Mercy chaplet with Relevant Radio! I am happy for you. God bless!!
The world-record nun: 84 years in the cloister (so... →
Through all the highs and lows of the greater part of the 20th Century and the uncertainty of the first decade of the 21st, there was Sister, immersed in prayer and total obedience. She is like a saint suspended somewhere between Heaven and Earth! Thank you, Sister!!
