Pope's prayer intentions for November 2009

The Pope's general intention is: "That all the men and women in the world, especially those who have responsibilities in the field of politics and economics, may never fail in their commitment to safeguard creation."

His missionary intention is: "That believers in the different religions, through the testimony of their lives and fraternal dialogue, may clearly demonstrate that the name of God is a bearer of peace."

a good article

Go here for a good article.

boiling

Here is a terrible article to get your blood boiling this morning.

A Question

"Have you ever thought about being a Catholic?”

Have you ever said these words to anyone? Try it, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Mercy

Stop by any Catholic parish to experience God's mercy and forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). If you haven't been in a while, this handy guide will help you prepare.

Before entering the Confessional or Reconciliation Room:

Begin with prayer, placing yourself in the presence of God, our loving Father. Seek healing and forgiveness through repentance and a resolve to sin no more.

Review your life since your last confession, searching your thoughts, words and actions that did not conform to God's love, to his law or to the laws of the Church. This is called an examination of conscience. Here are some questions to help you. They are based on the 10 Commandments.

* Do I pray to God every day? Have I thanked God for His gifts to me?
* Did I put my faith in danger through readings hostile to Catholic teachings or involvement in non-Catholic sects? Did I engage in superstitious practices: palm-reading or fortune-telling?
* Did I take the name of God in vain? Did I curse or take a false oath?
* Did I miss Mass on Sundays or holy days of obligation through my own fault? Am I attentive at Mass? Did I keep fast and abstinence on the prescribed days?
* Did I disobey my parents and lawful superiors in important matters?
* Did I hate or quarrel with anyone, or desire revenge? Did I refuse to forgive? Was I disrespectful?
* Did I get drunk? Did I take illicit drugs?
* Did I consent to, recommend, advise or actively take part in an abortion?
* Did I willfully look at pornography, entertain impure thoughts or engage in impure conversations? Did I use artificial means to prevent conception?
* Was I unfaithful to my spouse? Did I engage in sexual activity outside of marriage?
Did I steal or damage another's property? Have I been honest and just in my business relations?
* Have I been responsive to the needs of the poor and respected the dignity of others?
* Did I tell lies? Did I sin by calumny, or detraction, of others? Did I judge others rashly in serious matters?
* Have I envied other people?

During the Sacrament:

* The priest gives you a blessing or greeting. He may share a brief Scripture passage.
* Make the Sign of the Cross and say: “Bless me father, for I have sinned. My last confession was…” (give the number of weeks, months, or years).
* Confess all of your sins to the priest. The priest will help you to make a good confession. If you are unsure about how to confess or you feel uneasy, just ask him to help you. Answer his questions without hiding anything out of fear or shame. Nothing that you say to the priest will ever be revealed. Place your trust in God, a merciful Father who wants to forgive you.
* Following your confession of sins, say: “I am sorry for these and all of my sins.”
* The priest assigns you a penance and offers advice to help you be a better Catholic.
* Say an Act of Contrition,* expressing your sorrow for your sins. The priest, acting in the person of Christ, then absolves you from your sins.

After you've left the Confessional or Reconciliation Room:

* Complete the penance you received.

*Act of Contrition (please note this is one option):

God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your grace to confess my sins, do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Despair is a sin against the virtue of hope. Sloth is more an opposition to fortitude. I see the good, but it is difficult, so in my sloth I fail to act for the good I see. It could be something small like getting out of bed to go to mass, or it could be something great like becoming a missionary. Fortitude is necessary no matter how advanced in the spiritual life we are. It moves us to the next level, whereas sloth keeps us stagnant or can even move us backward.

Budget Deficit

How do we reduce our nation's budget deficit?
1. Pull all of our troops out of Iraq and quit funding all independent contractors in Iraq.

Fallen away Catholic

I have been trying to understand those who leave the Church. What is there thinking? Is it something like this?

I know better, there's something about the Church that is wrong, I don't need that anymore.

St. Teresa Of Avila

Go here for a great post about today's saint.

Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you.
All things are passing.
God never changes.
Patient endurance attains all things.
Whoever possesses God lacks nothing,
God alone is sufficient.

NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE

"Your face, O Lord, I seek" (Ps 27:8). The ancient longing of the Psalmist could receive no fulfilment greater and more surprising than the contemplation of the face of Christ. God has truly blessed us in him and has made "his face to shine upon us" (Ps 67:1). At the same time, God and man that he is, he reveals to us also the true face of man, "fully revealing man to man himself".

Jesus is "the new man" (cf. Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) who calls redeemed humanity to share in his divine life. The mystery of the Incarnation lays the foundations for an anthropology which, reaching beyond its own limitations and contradictions, moves towards God himself, indeed towards the goal of "divinization". This occurs through the grafting of the redeemed on to Christ and their admission into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. The Fathers have laid great stress on this soteriological dimension of the mystery of the Incarnation: it is only because the Son of God truly became man that man, in him and through him, can truly become a child of God.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize!? I really can't believe it. Did you know that Mahatma Ghandi never won it. Pope John Paul II never won it.
How did a bunch of Scandinavians develop such a famous award. They must have had a very good agent and pr department.

More Chesterton

“It is very hard for a man to defend anything of which he is entirely convinced. It is comparatively easy when he is only partially convinced. He is partially convinced because he has found this or that proof of the thing, and he can expound it. But a man is not really convinced of a philosophic theory when he finds that something proves it. He is only really convinced when he finds that everything proves it. And the more converging reasons he finds pointing to this conviction, the more bewildered he is if asked suddenly to sum them up. Thus, if one asked an ordinary intelligent man, on the spur of the moment, “Why do you prefer civilisation to savagery?” he would look wildly round at object after object, and would only be able to answer vaguely, “Why, there is that bookcase . . . and the coals in the coal-scuttle . . . and pianos . . . and policemen.” The whole case for civilisation is that the case for it is complex. It has done so many things. But that very multiplicity of proof which ought to make reply overwhelming makes reply impossible. There is, therefore, about all complete conviction a kind of huge helplessness. The belief is so big that it takes a long time to get it into action. And this hesitation chiefly arises, oddly enough, from an indifference about where one should begin. All roads lead to Rome; which is one reason why many people never get there. In the case of this defence of the Christian conviction I confess that I would as soon begin the argument with one thing as another; I would begin it with a turnip or a taximeter cab.—GKC, Orthodoxy, Ch. 6

25 years

In 2010 my parish will be celebrating its 125th anniversary. This has me thinking about our history and what happened at our centennial 25 years ago. One of the most important things of 1985 was the baptism of children and adults. So I made a list of all the baptisms of 1985; there were 30 of them. Sadly few of them live in Kingman and of those few practice the faith.
My pastoral goal for 2010 is to contact all 30 of these people, and attempt help them in their faith.
You all can help me by praying for them and for me. St. Therese of the Child Jesus will be of help to us.

Pope's ptayer intention

October 2009
General: That Sunday may be lived as the day on which Christians gather to celebrate the risen Lord, participating in the Eucharist.

The Saints of October

Special emphasis: the Rosary

1 Theresa of the Child Jesus
2 Guardian Angels
4 Francis of Assisi
6 Bruno
7 Our Lady of the Rosary
9 Denis
9 John Leonardi
14 Callistus
15 Teresa of Avila
16 Hedwig
16 Margaret Mary
17 Ignatius of Antioch
18 Luke
19 Isaac Jogues and companions – North American Martyrs
19 Paul of the Cross
23 John of Capistrano
24 Anthony Claret
28 Simon and Jude