"Only in my Immaculate Heart is the source of your security."
"Here you are prepared by me for the great struggle which awaits you. Here you are trained by me in prayer, because this is the weapon with which you must fight. Pray always. Every action of yours must truly be a prayer. Live your Mass, which immolates you each day with Jesus. Pray well the Liturgy of the Hours, which consecrates to God the rhythm of your day."
"Recite the Holy Rosary with love and joy. Meditate on my words, which I have communicated to you these past years. They will bring you to understand the Gospel, which must today be lived by you and announced to all."
"This is the hour of the final battle; it is therefore also the hour of my victory."--Our Lady Speaks to Her Beloved Priests;interior locutions to Fr.Stefano Gobbi, #227; July 1, 1981, pp. 322-24, (1987).
Reflection: Although Our Lady specifically addresses priests and the priesthood in these messages, she also calls the lay faithful to increase prayer--particularly the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary, devotion to Jesus in the most Holy Eucharist, and active penance and fasting for the sins of the world.
We are living in a time that daily challenges the Faith in ways never so blatant and manifest. We are at the crucible. The Holy Rosary is our most powerful weapon against moral relativism, atheism, and secular humanism. We are strengthened for this battle by receiving Christ in the most Holy Eucharist as often as we can in the state of sanctifying grace. The 'Culture of Death' is permeating the world. Let our response be fervent prayer, witness, and a call for radical holiness.
Prayer: Holy Mother of God, strengthen our faith, and protect us beneath the mantle of your Immaculate Heart. Amen.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
From the Pastor...
"Among the many causes of contemporary unbelief, which has become a cultural phenomenon, is the absolutization of man as the center of the universe. The attempt to create a society without God is a manifestation of this unfortunate trend. Although we do not live under an officially atheistic regime, we are all adversely affected by the cultural assumptions that God has been displaced as the absolute center of reality. Instead, according to this thinking, it is man or the individual that takes His place. Without God, society becomes a collection of individuals who are adrift and disoriented. Without God, there is no objective basis for truth. Opinion, personal preferences, and feelings become the criteria. This opens the door to relativism in moral matters: "what's true for you is not true for me" and its many concomitant aberrations (e.g., abortion on demand). A culture without God is a culture that is debased. As Catholics we are supposed to be the spiritual leaders of our society and resist the implicit atheism of these cultural trends. We should see why it is so important to observe Sunday as the day of rest and worship owed to God, lest we forget who God is and who we are in relation to him."
--Fr. Sean Donnelly, MA, D. Min, Pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, Madison, OH., August 15, 2010.
"Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen." Revelation, 1:8 (John).
--Fr. Sean Donnelly, MA, D. Min, Pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, Madison, OH., August 15, 2010.
"Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen." Revelation, 1:8 (John).
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Feast of the Assumption...August 15.
Prayer: Blessed Virgin Mary, God bestowed special graces upon you that you might be the mother of his Son. The privilege of your Assumption gives hope to us who daily strive to live the gospel. Pray with us that we may reflect your example of holiness. May we one day come to share in the Resurrection of Jesus, the Lord. Amen
"Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death" (Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950).
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.
--Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Dormition, August 15.
[Cathechism of the Catholic Church, #966, p.252;1994]
"Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death" (Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950).
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.
--Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Dormition, August 15.
[Cathechism of the Catholic Church, #966, p.252;1994]
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Legend and myth....
Although this piece was written nearly eighty years ago, I think it even more appropriate for this age in which we live. Distortion of the truth and outright lies have become the order of the day relative to the politics of this nation and the world. We have a president, legislators and judges who seek to destroy the foundational principles on which this nation was built, disregard for the sanctity of human life, the promotion of disordered lifestyles as 'normal' and acceptable, and within that ideology a great hostility toward Christianity--in particular the Church. Where many Protestant denominations continue to line up behind these new 'norms,' accepting the disordered on false premises, the Catholic Church continues to stand--increasingly alone and under pressure--against these abominable and heretical distortions of truth.
Silence is no longer an option. Prayer is our most formidable weapon against evil--but we cannot be silent any longer...we must stand with truth.
"There is Legend and there is Myth. Legend is a story told for beauty and edification; it does not pretend to be a true story, it only says that its morals are true. But all Legends, or very nearly all, have in them a valuable core of historical truth. A man is a thoroughly bad historian who despises legend and will not accept it as one of the sources of history. Myth is a false story which is put forward as true. Being a lie, it does harm always and should be eradicated. To create and accept myths is a universal failing of the human mind. Of this evil, as of all evils, the Faith is the best solvent. There was never a time or place when more numerous or more monstrous myths were swallowed whole than the time and place in which we live; and that is because they have not the Faith.--Hilaire Belloc, Essays of a Catholic (1931);Tan Books/Publishers, Rockford, Illinois.
Silence is no longer an option. Prayer is our most formidable weapon against evil--but we cannot be silent any longer...we must stand with truth.
"There is Legend and there is Myth. Legend is a story told for beauty and edification; it does not pretend to be a true story, it only says that its morals are true. But all Legends, or very nearly all, have in them a valuable core of historical truth. A man is a thoroughly bad historian who despises legend and will not accept it as one of the sources of history. Myth is a false story which is put forward as true. Being a lie, it does harm always and should be eradicated. To create and accept myths is a universal failing of the human mind. Of this evil, as of all evils, the Faith is the best solvent. There was never a time or place when more numerous or more monstrous myths were swallowed whole than the time and place in which we live; and that is because they have not the Faith.--Hilaire Belloc, Essays of a Catholic (1931);Tan Books/Publishers, Rockford, Illinois.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Hidden and obscure...
"I am only that which I am before God."
--St. Francis of Assisi
"A hidden and obscure life affords great security to those who sincerely desire to love God. Our Divine Master Himself deigned to teach us this by His own example, for He spent three and thirty years in the obscurity of Nazareth and the workshop of a humble carpenter. In imitation of their Divine Model, many saints withdrew into the desert and lived in remote caves to escape the esteem of men. The desire to put ourselves forward and merit the plaudits of men, to be regarded as very successful in our undertakings, is, according to St. Vincent de Paul, an evil which causes us to forget our God; it vitiates our holiest actions and more than anything else impedes our progress in the spiritual life."
--The 12-Steps to Holiness and Salvation (From the works of St.Alphonsus Liguori),[adapted from the German of Rev. Paul Leick by Rev. Cornelius J. Warren, C.SS.R., 1986].
It is difficult to leave 'the world' per se, yet daily, we must find our own desert or cave in which to contemplate our God--looking inward toward Him who Is and abides in us if we seek first Him. We cannot be temples of the Holy Spirit if we are occupied and preoccupied daily with the world in the material sense.
Engage we must this world, that we can be witnesses to the Truth--yet we must have a contemplative life to persevere in this.
--St. Francis of Assisi
"A hidden and obscure life affords great security to those who sincerely desire to love God. Our Divine Master Himself deigned to teach us this by His own example, for He spent three and thirty years in the obscurity of Nazareth and the workshop of a humble carpenter. In imitation of their Divine Model, many saints withdrew into the desert and lived in remote caves to escape the esteem of men. The desire to put ourselves forward and merit the plaudits of men, to be regarded as very successful in our undertakings, is, according to St. Vincent de Paul, an evil which causes us to forget our God; it vitiates our holiest actions and more than anything else impedes our progress in the spiritual life."
--The 12-Steps to Holiness and Salvation (From the works of St.Alphonsus Liguori),[adapted from the German of Rev. Paul Leick by Rev. Cornelius J. Warren, C.SS.R., 1986].
It is difficult to leave 'the world' per se, yet daily, we must find our own desert or cave in which to contemplate our God--looking inward toward Him who Is and abides in us if we seek first Him. We cannot be temples of the Holy Spirit if we are occupied and preoccupied daily with the world in the material sense.
Engage we must this world, that we can be witnesses to the Truth--yet we must have a contemplative life to persevere in this.
Monday, August 2, 2010
All are necessary...
Then will the words that are written be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in victory" 1 Corinthians, 15:54.
Reflection: At the scene of the first murder of Abel by Cain, the soil "opened its mouth" to swallow Abel's blood (Gen.4:10-11). At the scene of the final victory of life, it is death itself that will be "swallowed up in victory."
God is in the business of destroying death, and that is why His people work on behalf of life.
Prayer: Lord, continue to give us consolation amidst a Culture of Death, that this evil will not last forever, but will be swallowed up in victory.
--Fr. Frank Pavone, Pro-Life Reflections for Everyday (2009).
"No single person or group has a monopoly on the defense and promotion of life. These are everyone's task and responsibility."
--Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (1995).
Reflection: At the scene of the first murder of Abel by Cain, the soil "opened its mouth" to swallow Abel's blood (Gen.4:10-11). At the scene of the final victory of life, it is death itself that will be "swallowed up in victory."
God is in the business of destroying death, and that is why His people work on behalf of life.
Prayer: Lord, continue to give us consolation amidst a Culture of Death, that this evil will not last forever, but will be swallowed up in victory.
--Fr. Frank Pavone, Pro-Life Reflections for Everyday (2009).
"No single person or group has a monopoly on the defense and promotion of life. These are everyone's task and responsibility."
--Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (1995).
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