Goodbye 2010

Thank you to all my good parishioners who sustain me with prayers and gifts and challenges.
2010 is over. St. Patrick parish is 125 years old. We moved into our new building in January and finished all construction in May. God has been good to us.
Our school won the governor's award for excellence and we will Banner School of the Year from the Diocese. Congratulations to our teachers, staff and students.

“The Catholic Church… comes not to destroy the natural, but to fulfill—to purify, elevate, direct, and invigorate it. That is, she comes to give us precisely the help we need, and as our country is the future hope of the world, so is Catholicity the future hope of our country; and it is through Catholicity that bringing the supernatural to the aid of the natural, that the present evils which afflict us, are to be removed, and the country is to be enabled to perform its civilizing mission for the world.”
Orestes A. Brownson (1803-1876)

St. John the Evangelist

THE HOLY FAMILY

That we may not be deceived by self-love, in considering matters that concern us, we ought to look at them as if they belonged to others, and our only business with them was to give our judgement - not from interest, but in the cause of truth; and in the same way we should look on others' affairs as our own...

-St. Ignatius Loyola

When markets become contrived, you can get by with bad products. For example, yesterday I went to my daughter’s Christmas concert at her school. Much of the music was poorly performed, but the audience, filled with parents and relatives, didn’t care – which is as it should be. An audience at a school play or concert is a contrived audience. People off the street, regular people not related to the performers, would never pay to see these kids play or sing.

Likewise, much of what passes for Catholic art or drama or children’s television programming would never be tolerated if there were a real market for such material, and not the contrived market of the true believers who are desperate for crumbs that fall from the table in a culture-at-large that is starving them.

Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that Catholic artists must begin to recognize that the market of regular people will indeed pay for good content, but that such content must be developed and marketed to them, keeping in mind that it may be art, but it’s also a business (without keeping this in mind, Catholic artists are bound to get taken advantage of, as all talent tends to be taken advantage of). To fall back either on empty formulas with bad content (as some producers do) or to get lazy and rely on the contrived market that will accept bad content without complaint (as many who produce for the Catholic Ghetto do) is wrong.

My Classmate

Bishop Named for Dodge City, Kansas

Benedict XVI named Father John Brungardt, 52, of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, as bishop of Dodge City.

The Vatican announced today the appointment, and that the Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Ronald Gilmore, 68, who formerly headed the Dodge City Diocese.

John Brungardt was born in Salina, Kansas, and was ordained a priest in 1998 for the Wichita Diocese.

He has been serving as chancellor of the diocese, coordinator of Hispanic ministry for that area, and pastor of St. Mark Church.

The Dodge City Diocese has some 44,182 Catholics served by 44 priests, 9 permanent deacons and 81 religious.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Confession?

5. "You don't need to confess your sins to a priest.
You can go straight to God."
It's perfectly understandable that Protestants would have an objection here -- they have a different understanding of priesthood. But for a Catholic to say something like this . . . it's disappointing. Human nature being what it is, people just don't like telling other people their sins, and so they come up with justifications for not doing so.
The Sacrament of Confession has been with us from the beginning, coming from the words of Christ Himself:
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20:21-23).
Notice that Jesus gives His apostles the power to forgive sins. Of course, they wouldn't know which sins to forgive if they weren't told what sins were involved.
The practice of confession is also evident in the Letter of James:
Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed (Jas 5:14-16).
It's interesting that nowhere does James (or Jesus) tell us to confess our sins to God alone. Rather, they seem to think that forgiveness comes through some means of public confession.
And it's not difficult to understand why. When we sin, we rupture our relationship not just with God, but with His Body, the Church (since all Catholics are interconnected as children of a common Father). So when we apologize, we need to do so to all parties involved -- God and the Church.
Imagine you walk into a store and steal some of their merchandise. Later, you feel remorse and regret the sinful act. Now, you can pray to God to forgive you for breaking His commandment. But there's still another party involved; you'll need to return the merchandise and make restitution for your action.
It's the same way with the Church. In the confessional, the priest represents God and the Church, since we've sinned against both. And when he pronounces the words of absolution, our forgiveness is complete.

From T,S. Eliot

They constantly try to escape
From the darkness outside and within
By dreaming of systems so perfect
that no one will need to be good.

St. Nicholas

Papal Homily at Mass for Manuela Camagni

"She Entered the Lord's Celebration as a Prudent and Wise Virgin"

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 2, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI delivered today in the Vatican's Pauline Chapel during a Mass for the repose of the soul of Manuela Camagni, 56, a member of the association of Memores Domini who formed part of a team of women who look after the papal apartments. She was killed last week in Rome when she was struck by a car.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the last days of her life, our dear Manuela spoke of the fact that on Nov. 29 she would have belonged to the Memores Domini community for 30 years. And she said it with great joy, preparing herself -- that was the impression -- for an interior celebration of this 30-year journey toward the Lord, in communion with the friends of the Lord. The celebration, however, was other than the one foreseen: In fact, on Nov. 29 we took her to the cemetery, we sang that the angels might accompany her to paradise, we guided her to the definitive celebration, to the great celebration of God, to the marriage of the Lamb.

Thirty years journeying toward the Lord, entering the celebration of the Lord. Manuela was a "wise, prudent virgin," she carried oil in her lamp, the oil of faith, a lived faith, a faith nourished by prayer, by conversation with the Lord, by meditation on the Word of God, by communion in friendship with Christ. And this faith was hope, wisdom, and the certainty that faith opens the true future. And her faith was charity, giving herself to others, living in the service of the Lord for others. I personally must be grateful for her willingness to put forth her effort to work in my house, with this spirit of charity, of hope that comes from faith.

She entered the Lord's celebration as prudent and wise virgin, because she lived not in the superficiality of those who forget the grandeur of our vocation, but in the great vision of eternal life, and thus she was prepared for the Lord's arrival.

Thirty years Memores Domini. St. Bonaventure says the memory of the Creator is inscribed in the depths of our being. And precisely because this memory is inscribed in our being, we can recognize the Creator in his creation, we can remember him, see his traces in this cosmos created by him. St. Bonaventure says, moreover, that this memory of the Creator is not only a memory of the past because the source is present, it is also a memory of the presence of the Lord; it's also a memory of the future, because it is certain that we come from the goodness of God and are called to strive for the goodness of God. So an element of joy is present in this memory, the joy that our origin is in God and our call to strive for the great joy. And we know that Manuel was a person deeply penetrated with joy, that joy that comes from the memory of God.

But St. Bonaventure adds also that our memory, as all our existence, is wounded by sin: hence our memory is obscured, covered by other superficial memories, and we can no longer go beyond these other superficial memories, to get to the bottom, to the true memory that sustains our being. Hence, because of this forgetfulness of God, this forgetfulness of the essential memory, our joy is also covered, darkened. Yes, we know that we are created for joy, but we no longer know where joy is, and we seek it in different places. Today we see this desperate search for joy that increasingly moves away from its true source, the true joy. Forgetfulness of God, forgetfulness of our true memory: Manuela was not one who lost her memory, she lived in the living memory of the Creator. In the joy of his relationship, seeing the transparency of God in all creation, even in the daily events of our lives, she understood that joy comes from this memory.

Memores Domini. The Memores Domini know that Christ, on the eve of his Passion, renewed, and more than that, he elevated our memory. "Do this in memory of me," he said, and he thus gave us the memory of his presence, the memory of the gift of himself, of the gift of his Body and his Blood, and in this gift of his Body and Blood, in this gift of his infinite love, we come into contact once again with our memory of the stronger presence of God, his gift of himself. As a Memor Domini, Manuela experienced this living memory, which the Lord gives with his body, and thus renews our knowledge of God.

In the controversy with the Sadducees about the resurrection, the Lord says to those, who do not believe in it: but God calls himself "God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob." The three are part of God's name, they are inscribed in God's name, they are in God's name, in God's memory, and so the Lord says: God is not a God of the dead, He is a God of the living and those who are part of the name of God, who live in memory of God are alive, unfortunately, we humans can retain only a shadow of people we loved in our memory. But the memory of God not only preserves the shadows, it is the origin of life: here the dead live, in His life and with His life they have entered the memory of God who is life. This is what the Lord says to us today: You are inscribed in God's name, you live in God with the true life, you live from the true source of life.

So, in this moment of sadness, we are consoled. And the liturgy renewed after the Council dares to teach us to sing "Alleluia" even in the Mass for the Dead. This is audacious! We feel above all the pain of the loss, we feel above all the absence, the past, but the liturgy knows that we are in the Body itself of Christ and that we live from the memory of God, which is our memory. In this intertwining of his memory and of our memory we are together, we are living. We pray to the Lord that we may feel increasingly this communion of memory, that our memory of God in Christ may become ever more alive, and thus be able to feel that our true life is in him and in him we all rest united. In this sense, we sing "Alleluia," certain that the Lord is life and his love is never ending. Amen.

St. Francis Xavier

Collect for the prayer over the gifts
Lord, receive the gifts we bring on the feast of Francis Xavier.
As his zeal for the salvation of mankind led him to the ends of the earth, may we be effective witnesses to the Gospel and come with our brothers and sisters to be with you in the joy of your kingdom.

“For us, God is not some abstract hypothesis; He is not some stranger who left the scene after the Big Bang. God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ we see the face of God. In His words we hear God Himself speaking to us” (Benedict XVI).

“John and Andrew had faith, because they had certainty in a perceptible Presence. When they were there ... seated at His house, toward evening, looking at Him speak, there was a certainty in a perceptible Presence of something exceptional, of the divine in a perceptible Presence...

“Instead of Him with His hair in the wind, instead of watching Him speak with His mouth opening and shutting, He arrives through our presence, which is like ... fragile skin, the fragile masks of something powerful, which is He who lies within” (Luigi Giussani.)

by Mark Shea

G.K. Chesterton once remarked that in America, they have a feast to celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and that, in England, they should have a feast to celebrate their departure.

All kidding aside, Chesterton probably was one of the most grateful people who ever lived, because he believed in the grace of God and took nothing for granted. He writes, concerning a shipwreck that had occurred a little earlier:

The news that some Europeans have been wrecked on a desert island is gratifying, in so far as it shows that there are still some desert islands for us to be wrecked on. Moreover, it is also interesting because these, the latest facts, actually support the oldest stories. For instance, superior critics have often sniffed at the labours of Robinson Crusoe, specifically upon the ground that he depended so much upon stores from the sunken wreck. But these actual people shipwrecked a few weeks ago depended entirely upon them; and yet the critics might not have cared for the billet. A few years ago, when physical science was still taken seriously, a very clever boys’ book was written, called “Perseverance Island.” It was written in order to show how “Robinson Crusoe” ought to have been written. In this story, the wrecked man gained practically nothing from the wreck. He made everything out of the brute materials of the island. He was, I think, allowed the advantage of some broken barrels washed up from the wreck with a few metal hoops round them. It would have been rather hard on the poor man to force him to make a copper-mine or a tin-mine. After all, the process of making everything that one wants cannot be carried too far in this world. We have all saved something from the ship. At the very least, there was something that Crusoe could not make on the island; there was something Crusoe was forced to steal from the wreck; I mean Crusoe. That precious bale, in any case, he brought ashore; that special cargo called “R. C.,” at least, did not originate in the island. It was a free import, and not a native manufacture. Crusoe might be driven to make his own trousers on the island. But he was not driven to make his own legs on the island; if that had been his first technical job he might have approached it with a hesitation not unconnected with despair. Even the pessimist when he thinks, if he ever does, must realise that he has something to be thankful for: he owes something to the world, as Crusoe did to the ship. You may regard the universe as a wreck: but at least you have saved something from the wreck.

Chesterton realizes something that we Americans with our myth of the rugged individual often forget: namely, that everything you have, including the hands that hold it, is a gift. Our language, culture, moral values, blood, breath, and bone were deeded to us as sheer gift. You and I did not and could not earn an iota of it. We exist in the midst of a great web of Gift that stretches back through countless generations and across the world because God has made it so. I owe people I have never heard of a debt because there is water in my tap, and electricity in my computer, and food on my table and clothes on my back and words in my mouth, for some great massive labor of ages was necessary to bring me these things that I could not, if my life depended on it, make from scratch with just my native wits.

Small wonder then that our greatest sacrament presents us with the fact of our radical dependence on grace in the word which, being translated, means “Thanksgiving”.

An excerpt taken from Archbishop Chaput

Benedict offers a withering critique of modern notions of “progress” and the practical atheism that infects nearly every developed society, beginning with Europe. For the Pope, the real battle lines in the modern world do not divide Christianity from other religious traditions.

Rather, “In [today's] world, radical secularism stands on one side, and the question of God, in its various forms, stands on the other.” When secular society seeks to reduce progress to material development, to exile God from public life and to ignore humanity's profoundly religious needs, then it starves the human spirit and attacks real human progress, which always has a moral dimension.

Antonio Vivaldi

Here is another great post. Such interesting articles make respect journalism as a discipline.

Catholic thanksgiving

Go here for a good article about thanksgiving.

7 reasons to go to Confession

1. Priestly absolution is an awesome gift that Jesus gave us.
Jesus gave us this Sacrament and wants us to enjoy His grace through it. He told His first priests, the Apostles:

Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins are forgiven (John 20:22).

Christ gave us this rite of grace and forgiveness because He loves us. It is a divine gift of mercy and love.

2. You are a sinner.
You are a sinner and you need to examine the sinful patterns of your heart and have a priest give you absolution, counsel, and penance. We are often not honest with our hearts and it takes an objective "physician of souls," to help diagnose you spiritually.

3. Confession is a means of grace.
It is not scary, it is peaceful. We get excited over baptisms, weddings, and ordinations. Why not the remedy for our greatest Christian struggle? Why not be excited about Christ's forgiveness being declared by His appointed deputies - the priests of His Church.

4. You may have committed mortal sin.
There is a such thing as mortal sin:

If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal. (1 John 5:16)

Mortal sin is deadly and it separates our souls from the pure eternal life that exists within the Blessed Trinity. Contrition and priestly absolution restores our hearts to a position of love toward God and our neighbors.

5. Guilt is unpleasant.
Often Satan weighs us down with guilt. Guilt can be a good thing if we transform it into repentance. Of course, Satan hates this and God and the angels love it. So free yourself from guilt and hear a tangible person with spiritual authority say, "I absolve thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

6. Confession unites you more fully to the Church.
When you make your confession to a priest, you acknowledge that you have sinned not only against God, but against every single other Christian because by your sin, you have lessened the universal witness of every single Christian. You have given the non-believer the excuse that "All Christians are hypocrites." When you go to Confession you acknowledge that you have caused every Christian to suffer by your sins.

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Cor 12:26)

The priest, who represents both God and the Church by his ordination and office receives your repentance and you have the assurance of not only God's forgiveness, but the implicit forgiveness of the entire Church.

7. Receiving the Eucharist becomes even more powerful.
Holy Communion is also one of the Seven Sacraments. When you receive communion you receive the true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ our Redeemer. When you confess your sins in a sacramental way, you also have a stronger sacramental union with Christ in the Eucharist. Also, if you are living in mortal sin, you should NEVER receive the Eucharist because you blaspheme Christ and set yourself up for greater judgment and eternal damnation!

Brothers and sisters:
You know how one must imitate us.
For we did not act in a disorderly way among you,
nor did we eat food received free from anyone.
On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day
we worked, so as not to burden any of you.
Not that we do not have the right.
Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you,
so that you might imitate us.
In fact, when we were with you,
we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work,
neither should that one eat.
We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a
disorderly way,
by not keeping busy but minding the business of others.
Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly
and to eat their own food.

St. John Lateran

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
The anniversary of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which was erected by the Emperor Constantine in 333, has been observed on this day since the twelfth century. This is the oldest, and ranks first among the four great “patriarchal” basilicas of Rome. The basilica was then, and remains today, the official cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.
Saint Leo the Great restored it around the year 460. This second church lasted for four hundred years and was then burnt down. It was rebuilt by Clement V and John XXII, only to be burnt down once more in 1360, but again rebuilt by Urban V.
In 1376, when the Gregory XI and the papal court returned to Rome after residing for 74 years in Avignon, France, they found the city deserted and the churches almost in ruins. Great works were begun at the Lateran by Martin V and his successors. The palace, however, was never again used by them as a residence. The Vatican, which stands in a drier and much higher location, was chosen in its place. It was not until the latter part of the seventeenth century that the church took its present appearance. It’s altar stands alone among all the altars of the Catholic world in being built of wood and not of stone, and enclosing no relics of any kind. The reason for this peculiarity is that it is itself a relic of a most interesting kind, being the actual wooden altar upon which St. Peter is believed to have celebrated Mass during his residence in Rome.
This feast was at first observed only in Rome but later in honor of the basilica, which is called the mother church of Christendom, the celebration was extended to the whole Latin Church. This action was taken as a sign of devotion to and of unity with the Chair of Peter which, as Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “presides over the whole assembly of Christians.” Saint John Lateran remains the official basilica of which all popes are identified with in their title “Bishop of Rome.”

St. Martin of Tours

Preface of the Dedication of a Church

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks.

Your house is a house of prayer,
and Your presence makes it a place of blessing.
You give us grace upon grace to build the temple of Your Spirit,
creating its beauty from the holiness of our lives.

your house of prayer is also the promise of the Church in heaven.
Here Your love is always at work,
preparing the Church on earth for its heavenly glory
as the sinless bride of Christ,
the joyful mother of a great company of saints.

Now, with the saints and all the angels
we praise You for ever:

Millstones do not make good swimwear

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Be on your guard!
If your brother sins, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day
and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’
you should forgive him.”

And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

from the Catechism

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Saviour. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

All Saints Day

All Souls Day

Help Release Souls from Purgatory

A plenary(full or complete) indulgence can be gained for a soul in purgatory each day from November 1st-8th by visiting a cemetery and praying for the deceased.

As with all plenary indulgences the following things are necessary:
1. You must go to confession once within 8 days (either before or after).
2. You need to receive Holy Communion each day that you wish to gain a plenary indulgence.
3. You must pray for the intentions of the Holy Father (Pope Benedict XVI) each day that you wish to gain a plenary indulgence.
4. You must be detached from all sin including venial sin.
5. You must do the particular action described by the Church (in this case, go to a cemetery and pray for the deceased).
If any of the above conditions are not fulfilled the indulgence is only partial.

Here is an example of what you can do during the days of Nov. 1st through Nov. 8th.
Go to Mass where you will receive communion worthily (in a state of grace), then go to a cemetery and pray for the dead (the deceased person you are offering the indulgence for need not be buried in the cemetery you are visiting). When you arrive simply say “I offer the indulgence gained today for _____________.” (if you don't have a specific soul to pray for you can say “for an unnamed soul in purgatory who is in great need of my prayers”).

Then say a pray for all the souls in purgatory. For instance, the prayer of St. Gertrude:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son,
Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all
the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the
universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

Then pray for the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI (one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be will suffice). You are finished.
This can be repeated each day; however, Communion must be received each time for the plenary indulgence to be applied. Confession needs to be received once within 8 days.

Ephesians 4:32–5:8

Brothers and sisters:
Be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you,
as is fitting among holy ones,
no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place,
but instead, thanksgiving.
Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person,
that is, an idolater,
has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty arguments,
for because of these things
the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
So do not be associated with them.
For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light.

A very good article

Go here for a good article.

Ayer

Beloved:
I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.

St. Luke the Evangelist

St. Teresa of Avila: Favorite Quotes and Prayers

St. Teresa of Avila: Favorite Quotes and Prayers

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things."

“To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.”

“What a great favor God does to those He places in the company of good people!”

“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”

"God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person."

"To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience."

"We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble."

"There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers."

"The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit."

"Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds. "

"The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects [are] those that are followed up by actions-----when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it. "

"I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me."

"Vocal prayer . . . must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don't call prayer-----however much the lips may move."

"Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us."

"You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him."

'One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer. "

"Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal."

"Pain is never permanent."

"Truth suffers, but never dies."

"I am afraid that if we begin to put our trust in human help, some of our Divine help will fail us."

"Our greatest gain is to lose the wealth that is of such brief duration and, by comparison with eternal things, of such little worth; yet we get upset about it and our gain turns to loss."

"We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us."

"Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one Glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing. "

"Christ has no body now, but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ looks compassion into the world.
Yours are the feet
with which Christ walks to do good.
Yours are the hands
with which Christ blesses the world."

Let nothing trouble you,
let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing;
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who possesses God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.

Magnanimity

The magnanimous person stretches forth his mind to great things.
This virtue is opposed by four vices.
1. Presumption is to attempt what is beyond ones power.
2. Ambition is to want honor for itself and not for truly being good.
To want to be known as holy or heroic without actually being holy or heroic.
3. Vainglory is wanting praise from the wicked or for something that is not good,

The daughters of vainglory are:
disobedience
boastfulness
hypocrisy
contention
obstinacy
discord
eccentricity

4. Pusillanimity is to fall short of magnanimity, to bury one's talents in the ground.

Read the whole chapter

Here is another example of how reading the whole chapter will help you to understand the meaning of the passage. 1 Tm 6:11-16 was the reading for the 26th Sunday. It stands on its own, but the whole chapter helps a lot.

Read the whole chapter

Frequently the Sunday readings are shortened. If you read the whole chapter you will get a better understanding of the text.

For example, last Sunday we heard about the curing of Namaan from leprosy. It would be very easy to give a sermon about the need to give thanks and then relate that to money. But if you read the whole chapter you will see that Elisha the prophet would not like that at all.

2 Kings 5

A good link

Go here to read a good article.

More Leo XIII

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry" and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world ; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross. O sorrowful Mother! intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE ROSARY

ADIUTRICEM

SEPTEMBER 5, 1895

To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.

1. The mightiest helper of the Christian people, and the most merciful, is the Virgin Mother of God. How fitting it is to accord her honors ever increasing in splendor, and call upon her aid with a confidence daily growing more ardent. The abundant blessings, infinitely varied and constantly multiplying, which flow from her all over the whole world for the common benefit of mankind, add fresh motives for invoking and honoring her.

From "The Little Flower's of St. Francis"

CHAPTER VIII

HOW ST FRANCIS, WALKING ONE DAY WITH BROTHER LEO, EXPLAINED TO HIM WHAT THINGS ARE PERFECT JOY

One day in winter, as St Francis was going with Brother Leo from Perugia to St Mary of the Angels, and was suffering greatly from the cold, he called to Brother Leo, who was walking on before him, and said to him: "Brother Leo, if it were to please God that the Friars Minor should give, in all lands, a great example of holiness and edification, write down, and note carefully, that this would not be perfect joy." A little further on, St Francis called to him a second time: "O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor were to make the lame to walk, if they should make straight the crooked, chase away demons, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, and, what is even a far greater work, if they should raise the dead after four days, write that this would not be perfect joy." Shortly after, he cried out again: "O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor knew all languages; if they were versed in all science; if they could explain all Scripture; if they had the gift of prophecy, and could reveal, not only all future things, but likewise the secrets of all consciences and all souls, write that this would not be perfect joy." After proceeding a few steps farther, he cried out again with a loud voice: "O Brother Leo, thou little lamb of God! if the Friars Minor could speak with the tongues of angels; if they could explain the course of the stars; if they knew the virtues of all plants; if all the treasures of the earth were revealed to them; if they were acquainted with the various qualities of all birds, of all fish, of all animals, of men, of trees, of stones, of roots, and of waters - write that this would not be perfect joy." Shortly after, he cried out again: "O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor had the gift of preaching so as to convert all infidels to the faith of Christ, write that this would not be perfect joy." Now when this manner of discourse had lasted for the space of two miles, Brother Leo wondered much within himself; and, questioning the saint, he said: "Father, I pray thee teach me wherein is perfect joy." St Francis answered: "If, when we shall arrive at St Mary of the Angels, all drenched with rain and trembling with cold, all covered with mud and exhausted from hunger; if, when we knock at the convent-gate, the porter should come angrily and ask us who we are; if, after we have told him, `We are two of the brethren', he should answer angrily, `What ye say is not the truth; ye are but two impostors going about to deceive the world, and take away the alms of the poor; begone I say'; if then he refuse to open to us, and leave us outside, exposed to the snow and rain, suffering from cold and hunger till nightfall - then, if we accept such injustice, such cruelty and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring, believing with humility and charity that the porter really knows us, and that it is God who maketh him to speak thus against us, write down, O Brother Leo, that this is perfect joy. And if we knock again, and the porter come out in anger to drive us away with oaths and blows, as if we were vile impostors, saying, `Begone, miserable robbers! to to the hospital, for here you shall neither eat nor sleep!' - and if we accept all this with patience, with joy, and with charity, O Brother Leo, write that this indeed is perfect joy. And if, urged by cold and hunger, we knock again, calling to the porter and entreating him with many tears to open to us and give us shelter, for the love of God, and if he come out more angry than before, exclaiming, `These are but importunate rascals, I will deal with them as they deserve'; and taking a knotted stick, he seize us by the hood, throwing us on the ground, rolling us in the snow, and shall beat and wound us with the knots in the stick - if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy. And now, brother, listen to the conclusion. Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt; for in all other gifts of God we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God, according to the words of the Apostle, `What hast thou that thou hast not received from God? and if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?' But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we may glory, because, as the Apostle says again, `I will not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Amen."

St. Francis of Assisi

Guardian Angels

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for October is: "That Catholic Universities may more and more be places where, in the light of the Gospel, it is possible to experience the harmonious unity existing between faith and reason."

His mission intention is: "That the World Mission Day may afford an occasion for understanding that the task of proclaiming Christ is an absolutely necessary service to which the Church is called for the benefit of humanity."

St. Jerome

St. Michael the Arcangel

The Pope speaks about school

“Dear children”, said the Pope in his remarks, “you go to school and you learn naturally, and I am recalling that seventy-seven years have now passed since I began school. I lived in a small village of three hundred inhabitants, … yet we learned the essential things. Most importantly, we learned to read and write. I think it is a great thing to be able to read and write, because in this way we can know other people’s ideas, read newspapers and books. We can also know what was written two thousand or more years ago; we can know the spiritual continents of the world and communicate with one another. Above all there is one extraordinary thing: God wrote a book, He spoke to us human beings, finding people to write the book containing the Word of God. Reading that book, we can read what God says to us”.

The Holy Father went on: “At school you learn everything you need for life. You also learn to know God, to know Jesus and thus you learn how to live well. At school you make a lot of friends and this is a beautiful thing because in this way you form one big family, but among our best friends, the first we meet and know should be Jesus Who is a friend to everyone and truly shows us the path of life.”

Padre Pio Miracle Story

Go here for an inspiring story on the power of God.

Mother talking to a son

As we walked back to the car, my son visibly happy that church was over, I said a prayer that he might eventually be drawn into the holy sacrifice of the Mass. And, as soon as I said it, something clicked. I thought of a new way to explain the Mass to him that I’d never tried before.

“What would you do if someone bought you a present?” I asked.

“Say thank you?” he offered, not sure where I was going with this.

“OK, now, what if it were someone you’d hurt very badly, and he still bought you a present? Do you think you might give him an even bigger thank-you?”

“Yeah!”

“Now, what if you’d done something that hurt him really super extra badly, and he bought you the most awesome present in the world — like your own jumbo bouncy castle?”

“Whoa!”

“You’d spend even more time thanking him, right?”

“A ton!”

“But wait…what if you didn’t feel like it? What if it made you feel bored to spend all that time saying thanks?”

“It wouldn’t matter.”

Finally, I had a way to explain it: “Well, that’s how it is with church,” I said. As my husband helped all the other kids into the car, I talked to my son about what Jesus has done for us, and pointed out that one of the many reasons we go to Mass is simply to say “thank you.” And when you’re giving thanks for something enormous and undeserved, it takes a while — and how you feel about it is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if it’s not fun.

St. Matthew

From the Pope's Homily

Cardinal Newman’s motto, Cor ad cor loquitur, or “Heart speaks unto heart”, gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God. He reminds us that faithfulness to prayer gradually transforms us into the divine likeness. As he wrote in one of his many fine sermons, “a habit of prayer, the practice of turning to God and the unseen world in every season, in every place, in every emergency – prayer, I say, has what may be called a natural effect in spiritualizing and elevating the soul. A man is no longer what he was before; gradually … he has imbibed a new set of ideas, and become imbued with fresh principles” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, iv, 230-231). Today’s Gospel tells us that no one can be the servant of two masters (cf. Lk 16:13), and Blessed John Henry’s teaching on prayer explains how the faithful Christian is definitively taken into the service of the one true Master, who alone has a claim to our unconditional devotion (cf. Mt 23:10). Newman helps us to understand what this means for our daily lives: he tells us that our divine Master has assigned a specific task to each one of us, a “definite service”, committed uniquely to every single person: “I have my mission”, he wrote, “I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place … if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling” (Meditations and Devotions, 301-2).

Conversion Story

Go here to read an inspiring story.

GK Wisdom

Unless this broad truth be grasped, the whole story is seen askew. Pessimism is not in being tired of evil but in being tired of good. Despair does not lie in being weary of suffering, but in being weary of joy. It is when for some reason or other the good things in a society no longer work that the society begins to decline; when its food does not feed, when its cures do not cure, when its blessings refuse to bless. We might almost say that in a society without such good things we should hardly have any test by which to register a decline; that is why some of the static commercial oligarchies like Carthage have rather an air in history of standing and staring like mummies, so dried up and swathed and embalmed that no man knows when they are new or old. But Carthage at any rate was dead, and the worst assault ever made by the demons on mortal society had been defeated. But how much would it matter that the worst was dead if the best was dying?

Our Lady of Sorrows

Exaltation of the Cross

POPE BENEDICT XVI

CHRIST IS CALLING EACH OF YOU
TO WORK WITH HIM
AND TO TAKE UP YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
IN ORDER TO BUILD UP
THE CIVILIZATION OF LOVE

"the only possibility for happiness is living for something outside of the self"
-- Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete

With my mind divided and torn to pieces by so many problems, how can I meditate or preach wholeheartedly without neglecting the ministry of proclaiming the Gospel? Moreover, in my position I must often communicate with worldly men. At times I let my tongue run, for if I am always severe in my judgments, the worldly will avoid me, and I can never attach them as I would. As a result I often listen patiently to chatter. And because I too am weak, I find myself drawn little by little into idle conversation, and I begin to talk freely about matters which once I would have avoided. What once I found tedious I now enjoy.

a good link

Go here to learn more

From the Valedictorian of Harvard on her decision to enter the religious life

LOPEZ: When did you start talking to people casually, publicly, about your vocational call?

MARKS: In eighth grade, after I had committed myself entirely to God during a trip to Lourdes the previous summer. Until then, I had lived a double life, drawn on the one hand to immerse myself in the beauty of my faith, on the other to imitate the less than edifying dress, speech, and behavior of my classmates. Kneeling before the tabernacle in the lower church at Lourdes, I was filled with an understanding of God as Love and a yearning to love Him at all times in everything I did, no matter what anyone else thought. Freed from the need to conform to others’ standards and willing to make Love the ruling principle of my life, I could speak unashamedly and sincerely of my desire to become a sister.

Mother T

"And do you think if I didn't pray I would be able to love the poor? It's Jesus that puts love in my heart when I pray."

What is presumption?

Presumption is twofold; one whereby a man relies on his own power, when he attempts something beyond his power, as though it were possible to him. Such like presumption clearly arises from vainglory; for it is owing to a great desire for glory, that a man attempts things beyond his power, and especially novelties which call for greater admiration. Hence Gregory states explicitly that presumption of novelties is a daughter of vainglory.

The other presumption is an inordinate trust in the Divine mercy or power, consisting in the hope of obtaining glory without merits, or pardon without repentance. Such like presumption seems to arise directly from pride, as though man thought so much of himself as to esteem that God would not punish him or exclude him from glory, however much he might be a sinner.

Its official

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2010/08/here-comes-book-us-missal.html

There are 35 craters on the moon named for Jesuit scientists. And Athanasius Kircher, a 17th-century Jesuit scientist, called “master of a hundred arts” and “the last man to know everything”, was a geologist, biologist, linguist, decipherer of hieroglyphics, and inventor of the megaphone.

JP II Letter to Priests 1980

In practical terms, the only priest who will always prove necessary to people is the priest who is conscious of the full meaning of his priesthood:
the priest who believes profoundly, who prays fervently, who teaches with deep conviction, who serves, who puts into practice in his own life the program of the beatitudes, who knows how to love disinterestedly, who is close to everyone, especially those who are most in need.

St. John Cassian

Of the dry stick which, at the bidding of his senior, Abbot John kept on watering as if it would grow.

AND so this blessed John from his youth up even to a full and ripe age of manhood was subject to his senior as long as he continued living in this world, and carried out his commands with such humility that his senior himself was utterly astounded at his obedience; and as he wanted to make sure whether this virtue came from genuine faith and profound simplicity of heart, or whether it was put on and as it were constrained and only shown in the presence of the bidder, he often laid upon him many superfluous and almost unnecessary or even impossible commands. From which I will select three to show to those who wish to know how perfect was his disposition and subjection. For the old man took from his woodstack a stick which had previously been cut and got ready to make the fire with, and which, as no opportunity for cooking had come, was lying not merely dry but even mouldy from the lapse of time. And when he had stuck it into the ground before his very eyes, he ordered him to fetch water and to water it twice a day that by this daily watering it might strike roots and be restored to life as a tree, as it was before, and spread out its branches and afford a pleasant sight to the eyes as well as a shade for those who sat under it in the heat of summer. And this order the lad received with his customary veneration, never considering its impossibility, and day by day carried it out so that he constantly carried water for nearly two miles and never ceased to water the stick; and for a whole year no bodily infirmity, no festival services, no necessary business (which might fairly have excused him from carrying out the command), and lastly no severity of winter could interfere and hinder him from obeying this order. And when the old man had watched this zeal of his on the sly without saying anything for several days and had seen that he kept this command of his with simple willingness of heart, as if it had come from heaven, without any change of countenance or consideration of its reasonableness--approving the unfeigned obedience of his humility and at the same time commiserating his tedious labour which in the zeal of his devotion he had continued for a whole year--he came to the dry stick, and "John," said he, "has this tree put forth roots or no?" And when the other said that he did not know, then the old man as if seeking the truth of the matter and trying whether it was yet depending on its roots, pulled up the stick before him with a slight disturbance of the earth, and throwing it away told him that for the future he might stop watering it.

The name of a Christian

By Athenagoras the Athenian: Philosopher and Christian

To the Emperors Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, conquerors of Armenia and Sarmatia, and more than all, philosophers.

For it does not comport with your justice, that others when charged with crimes should not be punished till they are convicted, but that in our case the name we bear should have more force than the evidence adduced on the trial, when the judges, instead of inquiring whether the person arraigned have committed any crime, vent their insults on the name, as if that were itself a crime.

St. Maximillian Kolbe

St. Clare

St. Lawrence

St. Edith Stein

"O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will prospect will open before me, and I shall meet it with peace."

Holy Sepulchre

a virtue?

ret·i·cent (rt-snt)
adj.
1. Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself. See Synonyms at silent.
2. Restrained or reserved in style.
3. Reluctant; unwilling.

Back in Kansas

Going to the mountains

RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults)

Are you interested in becoming Catholic?

Do you know someone who would like to become a Catholic?

Would you like to learn more about your Catholic Faith?

Classes begin September 13 at 7:00 in the school cafeteria.

If you have any questions call the parish office: 532-5440.

All are welcome!

Our children and grandchildren are abandoning the faith because they perceive -- rightly -- that its demands are at fundamental variance with the lives we have prepared them to lead. We have raised them to seek lives characterized by material comfort, sexual fulfillment, and freedom from any obligations that they have not personally chosen. Should it surprise us that they fail to take seriously our claims to follow one who embraced poverty, chastity, and obedience to the will of God?

Anniversary of Humanae Vitae

Go here for an excellent article by Janet Smith.
Below is an excerpt from her work.

The Church does not condemn the use of contraception because it is an act that has bad consequences. Rather, it teaches that since contraception is an intrinsically evil action, it is predictable that it will have bad consequences. The Church teaches that contraception is evil because it violates the very purpose and nature of the human sexual act, and therefore violates the dignity of the human person. The experience of the last several decades has simply served to reinforce the wisdom of the Church's teaching. But it is not only on a practical level that we have a better understanding of the Church's teaching; our theoretical understanding has also been much advanced. Often if happens that the Church does not know very fully the reasons for what it teaches until it is challenged. The Church's condemnation of contraception went unchallenged for centuries. In attempting to explain its condemnation, the Church has deepened its understanding of marriage and the meaning of the sexual act. Again, John Paul II, with his claim that the sexual act signifies total self-giving and his insight that contraception diminishes that self-giving, has made an enormous contribution to our understanding of the evil of contraception.

Something borrowed

Go here for a good reflection on reality.

St. Augustine

The Father of Catechetics describes catechizing the ignorant in this way:

“The best method for instructing ignorant men in Christian doctrine, one that will bear much fruit is to ask questions in a friendly fashion after the explanation; from this questioning one can learn whether each one understood what he heard or whether the explanation needs repeating. In order that the learner grasp the matter, we must ascertain by questioning whether the one being catechized has understood, and in accordance with his response, we must either explain more clearly and fully or not dwell further on what is known to them etc. But if a man is very slow, he must be mercifully helped and the most necessary doctrines especially should be briefly imparted to him.”

Adult Education

I am frustrated by the poor attendance at adult education.
What can I do to get more people there?
We even had free beer last night.

Theology on Tap

Thursday Evening 7:30 PM

Thinking about vocations: How do we help our young people to make decisions about life?

Fr. Mike Simone was scheduled to come, but he has an unavoidable conflict. So Fr. Jim Weldon will fill in the gap.

America is sometimes offered to us, even by Americans (who ought to know better), as a moral example. There are indeed very real American virtues; but this virtuous attitude is hardly one of them. And if anyone wants to know what a welter of weakness and inconsequence the moral mind of America can sometimes be, he may be advised to look, not so much to the Crime Wave or the Charleston, as to the serious idealistic essays by highbrows and cultural critics, such as one by Miss Avis D. Carlson on "Wanted: A Substitute for Righteousness." By righteousness she means, of course, the narrow New England taboos; but she does not know it. For the inference she draws is that we should recognize frankly that "the standard abstract right and wrong is moribund." This statement will seem less insane if we consider, somewhat curiously, what the standard abstract right and wrong seems to mean--at least in her section of the States. It is a glimpse of an incredible world.

She takes the case of a young man brought up "in a home where there was an attempt to make dogmatic cleavage of right and wrong." And what was the dogmatic cleavage? Ah, what indeed! His elders told him that some things were right and some wrong; and for some time he accepted this strange assertion. But when he leaves home he finds that, "apparently perfectly nice people do the things he has been taught to think evil." Then follows a revelation. "The flowerlike girl he envelops in a mist of romantic idealization smokes like an imp from the lower regions and pets like a movie vamp. The chum his heart yearns towards cultivates a hip-flask, etc." And this is what the writer calls a dogmatic cleavage between right and wrong!

"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."

Annulments

Some say that the Church grants these too easily, that the Church is failing to uphold the sanctity of marriage.

Others say that the Church is too strict, requiring people to go through the heart wrenching process of annulment. It is too emotionally demanding, it is too expensive. Shouldn't people be shown a more easy mercy for entering a marriage without thinking when they were young.

Others question the authority of the Church to say anything about marriage. Why does the Church stick its nose into the lives of people?

Are there other things to say about marriage falling apart?

Psalm 19

R. (9a) Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
the decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

Recently I ran across this profound and insightful statement by Joseph Ratzinger, written in 1977:

[In] the very structure of modern society the corporate life of the family is increasingly displaced by the logic of production and the specializations which it has developed. As a result, the family home frequently seems no more than a sleeping-bag. In the daytime it effectively dematerializes. No more can it be that sheltering space which brings human beings together in birth and living, in sickness and dying. (Eschatology, pp. 69-70, emphasis added)

10 things every Catholic should know

Every time I hear someone claim to be an “ex-Catholic”, a sense of sadness comes over me. In just about every case, people leave the Catholic Faith due to a lack of understanding. After all, if Catholics truly believed that they were members of the one, true Church founded by Christ (and necessary for their salvation), nobody would ever leave! In an effort to help clarify what the Catholic Church teaches, I have compiled a list of 10 important facts that every Catholic should know. More than simply Catholic trivia, these are important concepts that can help us to better understand and defend our beliefs. In no particular order, these items have been compiled based upon my work at Following The Truth and my own study of the Catholic Faith.

1. Women Will Never Be Priests – Often incorrectly lumped in with the subject of married priests, this is a doctrine that has been infallibly decided and will not change. In 1994, Pope John Paul II issued an Apostolic Letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, in which he declared once and for all that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.” Unlike the issue of married priests (which could possibly change), women’s ordination is an impossibility that will not happen. It is not a “glass ceiling” or the Church’s attempt to hold back women. Instead, it is an infallible recognition that men and women have different roles and that Christ instituted a male priesthood.

2. Fridays Are Still Days Of Penance – Ask almost anyone and they will tell you that Catholics are no longer required to abstain from meat on Fridays throughout the year. However, the current Code of Canon Law (CIC) states that, with the exception of solemnities, “All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.” (CIC 1250) Furthermore, “Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities.” (CIC 1251) In the United States, the bishops have declared that it is permissible to substitute some other form of penance, but we are still urged to fast from “something” in remembrance of the Lord’s death on the cross.

3. The Bible Is A Catholic Book – Did you ever wonder how the Bible came into being? A little known, but easily documented fact is that the books of the Bible were compiled by the Catholic Church. For many years after Christ ascended into Heaven, there was debate about which scriptural writings were inspired by God. The canon of Scripture (the books of the Bible) was first formally decided at the Synod of Rome in 382. This decision was upheld at the Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397). At these Catholic Church councils, the same 46 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books that appear in today’s Catholic Bibles were declared to be inspired by God. As a side note, approximately 1200 years after this decision was made, Martin Luther and the Protestant reformers removed 7 books from the Old Testament. As a result, most Protestant Bibles are still missing these 7 books.

4. The Mass Is The Same Sacrifice As Calvary – The biggest mistake that many Catholics make is treating the Holy Mass as “just another church service”, similar to those held by other religions. In the Mass, Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross is made present, its memory is celebrated and its saving power is applied. The Council of Trent teaches that Christ left a visible sacrifice to His Church “in which that bloody sacrifice which was once offered on the Cross should be made present, its memory preserved to the end of the world, and its salvation-bringing power applied to the forgiveness of the sins which are daily committed by us.” When we attend Mass, we are mystically transported to Calvary, where we can unite ourselves with the Lord’s Sacrifice to the Father!

5. Annulments Are Not Catholic Divorces – Unlike the legal process known as “divorce” (in which a marriage is terminated), a declaration of nullity (annulment) states that a valid marriage never existed. This decision is based upon the finding that on the day that marriage vows were exchanged, some essential elements were lacking. This process is completely in conformity with the Catholic teaching regarding the indissolubility of marriage. Incidentally, the granting of an annulment does not render children illegitimate.

6. In Vitro Fertilization Is Morally Unacceptable – Many Catholics suffering from infertility utilize this process in the hopes of conceiving children, while remaining unaware that the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) declares it “morally unacceptable”(CCC 2377). In the Vatican Instruction, Donum Vitae, the Church states “…in conformity with the traditional doctrine relating to the goods of marriage and the dignity of the person, the Church remains opposed from the moral point of view to homologous ‘in vitro’ fertilization. Such fertilization is in itself illicit and in opposition to the dignity of procreation and of the conjugal union, even when everything is done to avoid the death of the human embryo.”

7. There Is No Salvation Outside Of The Catholic Church – Originally stated by St. Cyprian, the Latin axiom “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” reminds us that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. This dogma was declared at the Fourth Lateran Council and is a source of confusion for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. According to the Catechism, all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is His Body. It does not mean that non-Catholics cannot achieve salvation. Individuals who are unaware that the Catholic Church is the one, true Church may still achieve salvation through the merits of the Church, despite their lack of knowledge.

8. In An Emergency, Anyone Can Baptize – Although the ordinary ministers of Baptism are bishops, priests and deacons, anyone can baptize in an emergency, even a non-baptized person. This extraordinary decision can be attributed to the necessity of Baptism for salvation and the Church’s desire to make it readily available to all.

9. Hell And Purgatory Still Exist – Contrary to the belief of many Catholics, the Church still teaches that “the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin, descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, eternal fire” (CCC 1035) Furthermore, “all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death they undergo purification, so to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (CCC 1030) This purification process, formally declared by the Church at the Councils of Florence and Trent, is known as Purgatory.

10. Catholics Don’t Worship Mary And The Saints – Many Catholics are confused about the role of the Blessed Mother and the Saints. Should we pray to Mary and the Saints or should we go “right to the top” and pray to God? In a nutshell, the Catholic Faith teaches that we must worship God alone. Mary and the Saints are to be honored, not worshipped. However, their intercession can be extremely powerful and emulating their virtues can put us on the road to Heaven.

While the above list only scratches the surface of the robust Catholic Faith, it provides a glimpse into the depth of Catholic teaching. Further explanation on these and other topics can be found by examining the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, both of which can be found online at the Vatican website (www.vatican.va). Not only will studying the teachings of the Catholic Church enable us to better defend her when challenged, it will help us to become closer to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who founded our Church 2,000 years ago.

How to train Your Soul

Five days of fun, friendship and faith!

St. Patrick Parish is hosting its Summer program for children.

July 5 - 9

All this week from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM for grades K-6.

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM for grades 7-12

prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for July 2010

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Pope Benedict XVI for July 2010.

The Holy Father’s general intention is: "That in every nation of the world the election of officials may be carried out with justice, transparency and honesty, respecting the free decisions of citizens.” His missionary intention is: "That Christians may strive to offer everywhere, but especially in great urban centres, an effective contribution to the promotion of education, justice, solidarity and peace.”

History

We are only 4 years away from the centennial of the beginning of Word War I. I have started reading some history of that war. It really is the beginning of a new world. Large scale war combined with advancements in technology. All this led to the development of international politics. Bad things always come from war, not just the terror and destruction, but the political mechanisms that are created as a result of war.

Brothers and sisters:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.
For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision,
but only a new creation.
Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule
and to the Israel of God.

From now on, let no one make troubles for me;
for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit,
brothers and sisters. Amen.

"Speaking of the sacraments [in the third part of the Summa], St. Thomas pauses particularly on the mystery of the Eucharist, for which he had a very great devotion, to the point that, according to the ancient biographers, he used to lean his head on the tabernacle, almost as if to hear the beating of the divine and human Heart of Jesus," the Pope recalled.

He cited one of the saint's explanations of the Eucharist: "The Eucharist being the sacrament of the passion of our Lord, is also an effect of this sacrament, it not being other than the application in us of the passion of the Lord."

And in this light, the Pope reflected, "Let us understand well why St. Thomas and other saints celebrated the Holy Mass shedding tears of compassion for the Lord, who offers himself in sacrifice for us, tears of joy and of gratitude."

He continued: "Dear brothers and sisters, in the school of the saints, let us be enamored of this sacrament! Let us participate in the Holy Mass with recollection to obtain its spiritual fruits, let us nourish ourselves on the Body and Blood of the Lord, to be incessantly nourished by divine grace!

St. Germiane Cousin

Go here for an inspiring story of a little known saint.

Paul calls Christ by many other titles too numerous to recall here. Their cumulative force will give some conception of the marvelous content of the name "Christ," revealing to us his inexpressible majesty, insofar as our minds and thoughts can comprehend it. Since, by the goodness of God, we who are called "Christians" have been granted the honor of sharing this name, the greatest, the highest, the most sublime of all names, it follows that each of the titles that express its meaning should be clearly reflected in us. If we are not to lie when we call ourselves "Christians," we must bear witness to it by our way of living.

THEOLOGY ON TAP
Friday, June 18 – 7:00 p.m.
School Cafeteria.
Presenter: Fr. John Lanzrath.
Topic: Deciding to follow Christ in your daily life.
Refreshments provided.

Fr. John is a great and inspiring speaker. Take advantage of this great opportunity to grow in your faith.

St. Thomas says

The lowest degree of loving God consists in:
1. not loving anything more than God
2. not loving anything contrary to God
3. not loving anything as much as God

Top 15 Ways To Mess Up A Marriage

1. Have Premarital Sex - This can be with your future spouse or not. Regardless, the statistics show that it means a much higher chance of a failed marriage.
2. Cohabitate - This doubles your chance of divorcing your spouse well over 60%! Go with this one if you almost certainly want to mess up a marriage.
3. Cheat on your spouse - This can be with a real person or with porn. Either messes up a marriage.
4. Drink too much or use drugs - This one is a great way to love a thing more than your spouse.
5. Marry a non-Christian - Now, there are certainly marriages that succeed between believers and non-believers, but at the least you are putting a big strain on a relationship.
6. Marry for the wrong reasons - Marrying someone because you have strong emotions about them (which will eventually go away) or because they are good looking (which won't last) is a great way to eventually ruin a marriage.
7. Never Work on Communication - talking is over-rated. You should just learn to tolerate one another, not really communicate.
8. Be a Workaholic - being rich and successful is the most important thing on earth. Right?
9. Be selfish - expect your spouse to serve your every need and never expect to return the favor.
10. Have Different expectations about money or debt - Spend too much, live beyond your means, and then pay the price. Money is the #1 reason that couples argue.
11. Don't tithe - The money is your own, do what you want with it.
12. Use contraception - kids are a burden that make life miserable. Why take the risk? Of course couples that use NFP are happier, have better sex-lives, and stay married more than 95% of the time.
13. Talk negatively about your spouse - who needs to be built up anyway?
14. Make big purchases without talking about it first - want that new car? Go get it!
15. Spend more time with your friends than your spouse - they are probably more fun anyway.

This list is not exhaustive. You could be inventive and come up with another way to mess up a marriage. If you have one, let me know. We did this previously and got some additional ideas I posted here.

a few norms

I suggest a few norms and I hope you’ll supply your own as well:

1. Men should wear formal shoes to Church. We used to call these hard shoes (because they were) but today many formal shoes are actually quite comfortable.
2. Men should wear trousers (not jeans).
3. Men should never wear shorts to Church.
4. Men should wear a decent shirt, preferably a button down shirt. If it is a pullover shirt it should include a collar. Wearing a plain t-shirt without a collar is too informal.
5. Men should consider wearing a tie to Church and in cooler weather, a suit coat. Some may consider this a bit too stuffy and formal but who knows, you might be a trend setter!
6. Now as I talk about women I know I’ll get in some trouble!
7. Women should wear decent shoes to Church. Flip flops, beach sandals etc. seem inappropriate.
8. Women should not wear shorts to Church.
9. Women, if they wear pants, should never wear jeans to Church. Some nice slacks that are not too tight can be fine.
10. Women should consider wearing a dress or at least a skirt in preference to pants. It just looks a bit more formal than pants.
11. Women should wear a nice blouse (if they are not wearing a full dress). The blouse or shirt they wear should not be too tight.
12. Sleeveless garments are pushing it a bit but can be acceptable.
13. Women should never wear tank tops, tube tops, spaghetti straps, or bare midriffs to Church.
14. Well, you may have at this list. Add or subtract as you will.

On May 31, 2010, the Holy See announced Pope Benedict’s prayer intentions for June, which include the following prayer for life:

English: “That every national and trans-national institution may strive to guarantee respect for human life from conception to natural death.”

Memorial Day

John Henry Newman says

when man fell and lost this holy grace, he had various gifts still adhering to him; he might be, in a certain measure, true, merciful, loving, and just; but these virtues did not unite him to God. What he needed was holiness; and therefore the first act of God's goodness to us in the Gospel is to take us out of our unholy state by means of the sacrament of Baptism, and by the grace then given us to re-open the communications, so long closed, between the soul and heaven.

Conference on the Spiritual Life

Tuesday June 2
7:00 PM
Cafeteria

I invite you because I want to give you some tips, pointers and suggestions that might improve your time of conversation with God.
These are things that cannot be covered adequately in a Sunday homily.
Come and learn how to get more out of your prayer life!
Fr. Weldon

“We are often focused on personalities and frequently we loose track about what is most important. And, frankly the personality we are most focused on is very often ourselves. Acts never really was about Paul. And your life is not about you. It is about what the Lord is doing for you and through you. We often want things to revolve around us, around what we think, and what we want. But, truth be told, you are not that important, neither am I. We must decrease and the Lord must increase (Jn 3:30).”

Anniversary

Fr. Emil Kapaun died on this day in 1951.
I was ordained a priest in 1998.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

"Absolutely every person, no matter how enmeshed in vice, ensnared by the allurements of pleasure, a captive in exile… fixed in mire… distracted by business, afflicted with sorrow… and counted with those who go down into hell—every soul, I say, standing thus under condemnation and without hope, has the power to turn and find it can not only breath the fresh air of the hope of pardon and mercy, but also dare to aspire to the nuptials of the Word”."

Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until death."
Catechism of the Catholic Church (2360-61)

Top 50 Saints' Quotes

The top 50 Saints' quotes, in an arbitrary ranking. There are many others that I didn't put on the list that are great. Feel free to leave them in the comments.

1. "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."
-St. Jerome

2. "Since Christ Himself has said, "This is My Body" who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?"
-St. Cyril of Jerusalem

3. "Teach us to give and not count the cost."
-St. Ignatius de Loyola

4. "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."
-St. Augustine

5. "Don't you long to shout to those youths who are bustling around you: Fools! Leave those worldly things that shackle the heart - and very often degrade it - leave all that and come with us in search of Love!"
-St. Josemaria Escriva

6. "For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."
-St. Therese of Lisieux

7. "To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them."
-St. Thomas Aquinas

8. "On the question of relating to our fellowman – our neighbor’s spiritual need transcends every commandment. Everything else we do is a means to an end. But love is an end already, since God is love."
-St. Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein)

9. "If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!"
-St. Catherine of Sienna

10. "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy."
-St. Francis

11. "Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you."
-St. Augustine of Hippo

12. "Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity."
-St. Vincent de Paul

13. "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!"
-St. Augustine

14. "O Master, make me chaste, but not yet!"
-St. Augustine

15. "’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children"
-St. Clement of Alexandria

16. "Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven?...What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven"
-St. John Chrysostom

17. "The nation doesn’t simply need what we have. It needs what we are."
-St. Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein)

18. "We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable."
-St. Bernard of Clairvaux

19. "We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials."
-St. Teresa of Avila

20. "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
-St. Ignatius of Antioch

21. "If this is the way You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few!"
-St. Teresa of Avila

22. "Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could."
-St. Gregory Nazianzen

23. "Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."
-St. Patrick

24. "Christ said, “I am the Truth”; he did not say “I am the custom."
-St. Toribio

25. "All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly."
-St. Thomas Aquinas

26. "There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers."
-St. Teresa of Avila

27. "I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible"
-St. Ignatius of Antioch

28. "You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all."
-St. Therese of Lisieux

29. "You must ask God to give you power to fight against the sin of pride which is your greatest enemy – the root of all that is evil, and the failure of all that is good. For God resists the proud."
-St. Vincent de Paul

30. "Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of our labors."
-St. Therese of Lisieux

31. "When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries."
- St. Josemaria Escriva

32. "From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!"
-St. Teresa of Avila

33. "Love God, serve God; everything is in that."
-St. Clare of Assisi

34. "Pray with great confidence, with confidence based upon the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray."
-St. Louis de Montfort

35. "Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven."
-St. Rose of Lima

36. "The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant."
-St. Anthony of Padua

37. "Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved."
-St. Robert Bellarmine

38. "Whether, therefore, we receive what we ask for, or do not receive it, let us still continue steadfast in prayer. For to fail in obtaining the desires of our heart, when God so wills it, is not worse than to receive it; for we know not as He does, what is profitable to us."
-St. John Chrysostom

39. "What does the poor man do at the rich man’s door, the sick man in the presence of his physician, the thirsty man at a limpid stream? What they do, I do before the Eucharistic God. I pray. I adore. I love." -St. Francis

40. "Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven."
-Pope St. Pius X

41. "We will either accuse ourselves or excuse ourselves."
-St. John Vianney

42. "If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark."
-St. John of the Cross

43. "He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant."
-St. Julian Peter Eymard

44. "Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill. It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is filled with the fire of charity- the fire of love of God and neighbor- it will work wonders."
-St. Anthony Mary Claret

45. "Our Lord loves you and loves you tenderly; and if He does not let you feel the sweetness of His love, it is to make you more humble and abject in your own eyes."
-St. Pio of Pietrelcino

46. "You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves."
-St. Francis de Sales

47. "Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry"
-St. Pio of Pietrelcino

48. "All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle."
-St. Francis

49. "Tribulation is a gift from God - one that he especially gives His special friends."
-St. Thomas More

50. "If I speak to thee in friendship's name, thou think'st I speak too coldly, if I mention love's devoted flame, thou say'st I speak too boldly"
- St. Thomas More