lux1982:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

I am taking my first step to becoming a Secular or Third Order Discalced Carmelite this Saturday, Sept. 8th. Sept. 8th, coincidentally, is The Feast of The Nativity of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Please pray for me and all who are discerning vocations of all types in service of God. Thanks!

I was at Adoration last night and found in the book holder on the back of the pew in front of me this wonderful book. It’s in the format of a Holy Hour but you can pray the 20 Mysteries of The Rosary or The Stations of The Cross if that’s what you like. The focus of each prayer is for our priests who have given their lives in service of Christ and us. Taken as a whole, I have never seen such a powerful, simple, and deep Devotional-type prayer book whose sole aim is praying for our priests, whose work is harder than ever in these times. Please consider obtaining the book, audiocast, CDs, etc. Go to prayingforourpriests.org for more details. Thank you and may God Bless you in your endeavors to help build the Kingdom of God in the Presence of this moment! (Please consider forwarding this to all you know who will join us in praying for our priests, who suffer greatly due to guilt by association, false accusations, dwindling numbers to take their place, lack of respect, and maybe hardest of all, loneliness.)

Through countless hours of his shows on Relevant Radio, Archbishop Sheen has taught me about the world we live in today, even though his shows were recorded almost 50 years ago. When he got done disproving the lies and falseness of politicians, rulers, philosophers, you were left with The Truth.

Candidate Obama said that he believed, as a Christian, that marriage was a union between one man and one woman. A little over half the country voted for him.

Here’s a marriage we desperately need in the U.S. - the marriage of wisdom and courage in the hearts and minds of the faithful. Alas, this is one that must occur through prayer unceasing and let it begin with us.

acatholicvibe:

From The Catholic Association web site:

You can help by committing yourself to the following daily action items over the 14 days of the Fortnight— each taking only two minutes or less.

1. Share The Catholic Association’s one-minute video with 14 of your friends through email, Twitter, or Facebook.
2. Call your Member of Congress to ask them to support efforts to protect religious liberty and to oppose the HHS mandate.   Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and give the operator your zip code to be connected to your Representative’s office.   Tell the staff person you speak with that you would like a response from your Representative and make sure they take down your address.
3. “Like” The Catholic Association on Facebook and ask 14 friends to do the same. 
4. The HHS mandate affects not just Catholics, but people of all faiths.  Many Christian colleges and non-religious employers have also sued the Obama Administration because of this affront to the First Amendment.  Watch this short video and forward it to 14 of your non-Catholic friends.
5. Say the following prayer for religious liberty that the bishops have asked us to pray — and share the prayer with 14 friends:
   
   

           Almighty God, Father of all nations,
   For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).
   We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
   the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.
   Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;
   By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.
   We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
   and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
   with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
    

6. Follow The Catholic Association on Twitter at @CatholicAssoc.
7. Donate $14 to your favorite Catholic institution (whether a charity, school, hospital) threatened by the HHS mandate “fine on faith.”  See here for a list of just some of the institutions suing the Obama Administration. Catholic institutions such as these are facing fines of $100 per employee per day.
8. Let 14 friends know how your favorite Catholic institution is threatened by the mandate.  The HHS mandate’s “fine on faith” is $100 per employee per day.  Employers like the Archdiocese of Washington, DC or the University of Notre Dame will face fines of millions of dollars per year for noncompliance. Watch this video from the Archdiocese of Washington to learn more. 
9. Make plans to go see the movie “For Greater Glory,” a movie about the loss of religious freedom in the 1920s in Mexico.  Invite 14 friends to come along.
10. Sign a petition protesting the HHS Mandate: “Women Speak for Themselves,” the Becket Fund’s “I Still Believe,” and “Conscience Cause“ all have great petitions. 
11. Pray a decade of the rosary for religious freedom.
12. Let 14 friends know about these other threats to religious freedom that our bishops have outlined in their recent document, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty.”
13. Offer up one sacrifice today for the intention of religious freedom.  The bishops have called for both prayer and fasting.
14. Send out a tweet or a Facebook post at noon EST on the 4th of July with the words, “I Stand for Religious Freedom #Fortnight4Freedom” in synch with the nationwide coordinated ringing of church bells on the 4th of July.

Now is the time for prayer, now is the time to stand up, now is the time to take up your cross and follow Him in order that we shall overcome these grave threats to our freedom and liberty and the freedom and liberty for future generations.

Yes, there have been some horrible things done by some priests and religious. Fact is, this has always been true with almost everything man is capable of doing. The same is true of all religions, denominations, institutions and governments.

This does not make it any better, though. Sins have been committed by men and in some cases, covered up by others. However, the sins of a few do not make the whole bad.

Even though Jesus established The Church, the work is done by humans, the same as you and me with all the faults and sins we carry. Hence, the need for frequent Confession.

The Church will last until The Lord comes again. The Sacraments will also remain to be available. We need these Sacraments on our way through life, especially the Body and Blood of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

In short, the answer is not to complain, detract, and leave for something else. The answer lies in what we do when we as Catholics are faced with our own problems: prayer.

Pray that God, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit, strengthen Pope Benedict, the cardinals, and the bishops and guide them all through the challenges within The Church and throughout the world.

We must also pray for those who feel betrayed directly and indirectly by individuals or The Church as a whole. If you are one of those, be assured we are praying that your hurt be healed and that God, through ways we can not comprehend, will lead you back to The Church as happens every day, even now at this moment.