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BEFORE the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord communicated a word so powerful, so
pregnant with Mercy, that I left the church exhausted:
To those lost souls bound in mortal sin:
THIS IS YOUR HOUR OF MERCY!
Click HERE to read Mark's complete message.
BEFORE the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord communicated a word so powerful, so
pregnant with Mercy, that I left the church exhausted:
To those lost souls bound in mortal sin:
THIS IS YOUR HOUR OF MERCY!
Click HERE to read Mark's complete message.
"...Think of spiritual starvation! Self-imposed, too. One who does not receive the Bread of Life for a long period of time begins to weaken spiritually. He lacks the strength to fight off the temptations that attack him day by day. Didn't Christ warn us? 'Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you.' To remain physically healthy we eat several times a day. Wouldn't we be stronger spiritually if we received Our Lord in Holy Communion more frequently? 'He who eats this Bread shall live forever, ' is our Savior's promise."
People tend to see themselves as the prodigal son in this passage. But today, ask yourself, “How am I called to be like the generous and forgiving father in the story?” Who do you need to welcome back into the fold?
"Either here on earth or hereafter in Purgatory I must make up for each fault I commit. Nothing tainted will be allowed to enter Heaven. I can purify my soul now by following the example and words of Christ, my Redeemer. He gained for me the grace to conquer sin and error. Now I must do my part by living a holy life. If I refuse, and die in venial sin, I'll have to make it up in Purgatory. If I die in mortal sin, I shall condemn myself to hell forever."
..."If you say you cannot bear much suffering now, how will you be able to endure the purifying pains of Purgatory hereafter?
The patient man finds a cleansing purgatory in this earthly life. When others wrong him, he is more sorry that evil done than that he has been wronged. He forgives the evil-doer from the bottom of his heart. He is not slow to ask pardon when he himself has hurt others. He is more easily moved to pity than to anger. He frequently disregards his feelings and tries to live above them, according to his intelligence and My grace."
"My child, follow My Will in your daily life and you need never fear hell. In fact you have every reason to be joyful and merry if you are following My commandments and using My sacraments. Do not condemn yourself to hell by refusing to obey My directions. I love you dearly. Do not prevent Me from taking to Heaven."
..."Hell was made for the devil and his rebel angels. Man was made for Heaven. In refusing to live for Heaven, a man chooses to exist without Me. He shall have his wish-he shall join the rebel angels in hell. In refusing to follow My law, a man actually turns his back on me as the fallen angels did. If he dies in this condition, he condemns himself to hell. The jury which convicts him is his own sinful life. I merely pronounce sentence on what he himself has chosen.
There is nothing on earth which can compare with hell. It is beyond all description...
"All the sufferings known to man are as nothing in comparison with the sufferings of hell. The wise man would rather bear any trial on earth than place himself in danger of hell. One single hour of hell will be harder than a hundred years of suffering on earth...In hell...there is no rest, no consolation, and no friends.
The fires of hell will never die. There will be no end to suffering... He can never hope for an end of his tortures... Despair is hell's bitterest pain.
In hell a man will be punished through the same faults by which he sinned on earth. Each sin will have its own particular torment. The lazy will be forced to work continuously. The gluttonous will be tormented with extreme hunger and thirst. The proud will be filled confusion and the greedy will feel the pinch of miserable want.
...The worst pain of hell is none of these...their keenest torment is that they have forever lost Me, the Source of all true joy and perfect happiness. This suffering makes hell the home of despair and undying hatred..."
"If you like to see other people happy, you are one in a million according to
one journalist. Everybody is seeking happiness, but rarely is anyone
enthusiastic about another being happy. It is so very easy to let envy chisel
the edge off the happiness of others...
Another mother's son has higher grades on his final report than your son. Your only comment is 'The teacher is playing favorites.' You are not glad that the boy and mother are happy.
Mrs. Chasey is elected president of the Christian Mothers, a very great
privilege and responsibility. On the way home from Church one mother is
overheard saying: 'That's the only way Father could get her to come to all the
meetings.'
Husband and wife pass the beautiful soft lawn of their neighbor. The wife turns to her husband and says: 'Their grass wouldn't be that way if he had to cut it himself...'
Walt and Mary become Mr. and Mrs. and make a very lovely couple. The lady next door finds a loophole. It began as a whisper from the lips of a mother whose daughter is still a Miss. 'Mary was not after Walt near as much as she was after Walt's wallet.'
She is the cheerful witty type, easy to get along with a pleasant smile for everybody. But someone has another angle. 'That's just a front. I heard that she and her
husband ought to soundproof their home because their arguments disturb the
neighbors.'
A young mother walks down the street with her twin daughters fitted out in new summer dresses. A curtain sways in the late afternoon breeze and deadens the words. ' I wonder what she would do if she had my five instead of just those two?'
Envy makes people small. Envy undermines happiness. To crowd out envy the human heart must be filled with love. 'Charity does not
envy.'
May no one in the world be less happy or less good because of
anything said or done by a Christian Mother."
Every family has baggage from the past. Have you done all that you could to reconcile with your estranged family? Reach out to a difficult family member today.
"Teaching our children to prepare for Lent spiritually. Points to consider: charity, purity of intentions, Biblical devotions, private prayers, scrapbooks, Sacrament of Penance, almsgiving and fasting".
"Our abilities and accompanlishments do not belong to us but to our Master Chrsit. He gave them to us and He can quickly take them away from us. Many a rich man has overnight become a pauper; many a brilliant mind has quickly gone insane; many a holy person has suddenly fallen into serious sin; and many a beautiful face has been disfigured by one disease. The Scriptures are accurate. 'The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.' 'Let not the wise man glory in his widom, and let not the strong man glor in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches.' Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Your heart!"
If wealth is your God, then the Lord isn’t. Are you free from the bondage of wealth or do you suffer from “affluenza” (the “disease” of affluence)? Write a check to a charitable organization today. Trust that God will return it a hundredfold.
MOTHER ANGELICA'S LITTLE BOOK
of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality. Raymond Arroyo presents an inspiring collection of Mother's powerful spiritual insights and no-nonsense advice. The book includes a wide-range of Mother's thoughts and practical teachings on subjects such as: the purpose of life, pain and suffering, seeking God's Will in everyday life and much more. This devotional treasure was created in cooperation with Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. Hardcover edition. 220 pages.
ROME, FEB. 22, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Works of charity, prayer and fastingZE07022220
are spiritual weapons to combat evil, Benedict XVI said during Mass on
Ash Wednesday.
In his homily, delivered in the Basilica of St. Sabina on Rome's Aventine Hill, the Holy Father presented these "useful instruments" as the condition "to live authentic community renewal."
"They are the three fundamental practices, also appreciated by the Jewish tradition, because they contribute to purify man before God," the Pope said. "These external gestures, which should be done to please God and not to win the approval and praise of people, are pleasing to him if they express the heartfelt determination to serve him alone, with simplicity and generosity.
"Fasting, to which the Church invites us during this time, is not born from motivations of a physical or aesthetic order, but springs from the need the person feels for interior purification, to be detoxified from the contamination
of sin and evil."
Benedict XVI said that fasting educates in "those healthy self-denials that free the believer from his 'I,' and make him more attentive and ready to listen to God and to serve his brothers."
"For this reason, fasting and the Lenten practices" of prayer and works of charity, in particular almsgiving, "are considered by the Christian
tradition spiritual 'weapons' to combat evil, evil passions and vices," the Pope
said...
"Late scholastic voluntarism and post-scholastic legalism took moral theology down just such a blind alley. Magisterium became the satellite navigator and the role of conscience was to hear, interpret and obey. Many contemporary theologians and pastors are heirs to this. For some the solution to the crisis of moral authority is to keep calling for submission to the navigator."
"... By the 1960s it meant something like strong feeling, intuition or sincere opinion. To appeal to conscience was to foreclose all further discussion and to claim immunity to reasoned argument or the moral law. 'Follow your conscience' came to be code for pursuing personal preferences over and against Church teaching, especially in sexuality, bioethics, remarriage and communion. Conscience was now the highest court of appeal: it had 'primacy' or infallibility... Conscience became, as the then-Cardinal Ratzinger put it, 'a cloak thrown over human subjectivity, allowing man to … hide from reality.'"
"The teaching authority of the Church, restating or unfolding the implications of Christ's teaching is called "magisterium." ... Interestingly Jesus' departing promise to be with his Church to the end of time was attached to a charge not to teach the nations Christology or Soteriology or even Fundamental Moral Theology, but to teach them his commandments! By the time of Vatican II the Church could assert that Christ's faithful ought to give the unconditional obedience of faith (obsequium fidei) to all that it proposes as certainly true and could express several ways in which this magisterium is operationalized infallibly."
"Sometime draw a line down through a piece of paper and on the left side write the caption: 'I gave these things to myself.' One the right side: 'God gave these things to me.' Then thoughtfully examine yourself and fill in the two columns. If you are truthful, if you are humble, you will discover that your faults and failings and sins are all that you can boast of as being truly your own. All your gifts are from God. Saint Paul was so right when he said, 'What have you that you have not received? And, if you have received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?' Briefly, humility consists in figuring out what is yours and what belongs to God."
The Christian life includes self-sacrifice. Without him or her knowing it, do someone’s house chore or similar kind of task today.
"Humility prompts us to admit our gifts but not to forget the source of them,
God Himself. So, if one is more talented, if one is wealthier, if one is a better cook, singer or typist, it is virtuous to admit such abilities provided their source, God, is recognized. God requires that we acknowledge this dependence on His goodness. It certainly would not be humility for a beautiful girl to deny that she is good-looking, but must quietly admit to herself that her beauty is a gift from God."
It is not enough that you simply cease doing sin. You must replace sin with virtue. You must “redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.” Today, find out the particulars of how to volunteer for some organization that serves the poor.
"Humility gives us a sense of values. It keeps a man in his rightful place as a creature, not a creator. Pride shouts, "Show off. Act big!' Humility whispers, 'Be hones with yourself! Know your place.' Humility jolts the proud daydreamer, the castle-builder, the bubble blower-jolts him back into the land of facts and of reality."
"Perhaps more than any other sin, Jesus abhors the sin of being judgmental of others. Do you judge a person by race, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ideology or religion? Today, or sometime this week, on the Internet or in the
library, research and try better to understand the group you’re most easily tempted to judge. "
Says Its Philosophies Are Incompatible With Church
ROME, MARCH 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Church has not changed its ruling on Catholic membership in the Masons, said the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary.
Bishop Gianfranco Girotti made this statement Thursday at a conference on the topic of Freemasonry held at the St. Bonaventure Pontifical Theological Faculty.
The bishop presided over the congress held in cooperation with the Socio-Religious Research and Information Group of Italy. Officials of Masonic associations and grand masters also took part in the meeting.
Bishop Girotti reminded his listeners that the Church has always criticized the concepts and philosophy of Freemasonry, considering them incompatible with the Catholic faith.
He mentioned the last official reference document, "Declaration on Masonic Associations," which was signed by the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, on Nov. 26, 1983.
The text states that since the principles of Masonic associations "have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church," membership in them, therefore, "remains forbidden."
"The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive holy Communion," adds the declaration signed by Cardinal Ratzinger, who is now Benedict XVI.
Father Zbigniew Suchecki, an expert in the subject, quoted number 1374 of the Code of Canon Law, which reads: "Whoever is inscribed in an association that plots against the Church must be punished with a just penalty; whoever promotes or directs that association, must be banned."
"Masonry's attempts to express divine truths are based on relativism and do not agree with the principles of the Christian faith," said the Conventual Franciscan.
Bishop Girotti made reference to the statements of some priests who have declared publicly their membership in Masonry and called for the intervention of "their direct superiors," not excluding the possibility that "measures of a canonical character might come from the Holy See."
ZE07030204
Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed James Cameron’s documentary on Jesus’ tomb that will be shown on the Discovery Channel this Sunday:
“Before watching ‘The Lost Tomb of Jesus,’ we urge viewers to learn how
Christianity has been treated by members of the cultural elite during the Lenten
season in recent times. By clicking here, it is possible to access a short
review of books, articles and television programs that have appeared since 1990
on this subject. Keep in mind that no other religion is subjected to such
intense scrutiny as Christianity. Moreover, it is not a matter of coincidence
that the chosen time for such questioning is almost always during Lent, right in
time for Easter.
“Prior to 1990, there is no evidence that Christianity was microexamined the way it is today. To be sure, the Jesus Seminar was founded in 1985, and its contributors are partly responsible for the current practice of sowing seeds of doubt about Christianity during Lent. Three years later, Martin Scorcese gave us ‘The Last Temptation of Christ,’ but it wasn’t until the 90s that Christianity was routinely put on the firing line.
“Just as every Christmas season Christians have to fight attempts to neuter the meaning of Christmas, every Lenten season Christians have to endure another round of wild-eyed speculation about their religion. None of this is by accident—it’s all by design. The time has come for Catholics and Protestants to respond to the assaults that take place during Lent with the same vigor they have shown in recent years fighting the cultural fascists at Christmastime. They should keep in mind, however, that the ones responsible for this onslaught tend to come from inside their own ranks. There aren’t enough non-Christians to pull this off by themselves.
“If the professional religious skeptics don’t have an animus against Christianity, they can prove me wrong by subjecting Islam to the same kind of relentless and
intrusive questioning during Ramadan. One piece of advice: know how to dial
911.”
"Keep Me company in the Blessed Sacrament. I remain in the tabernacle night and day, waiting to give My love and grace to all who would visit Me. But so few come. I am so abandoned, so lonely, so offended...Pray for the unhappy sinners who, slaves of their passions, do not remember that they have a soul to save and that an eternity awaits them in a short while...Many men do not believe in My existence; they do not believe that I live in the tabernacle. They curse Me. Others believe, but do not love Me and do not visit Me; they live as if I were not there. I have chosen you to keep me company in those little refuges. Many of them are so wretched, but what riches inside!...Like Mary Magdalene, you have chosen the better part. You have chosen to love Me in the tabernacles where you can contemplate Me, not with the eyes of the body, but with those of the soul. I am truly present there as in Heaven - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. You have chosen that which is most sublime."