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To all you families who were blessed to be able to adopt a child, this day is for you...and for us!
I know that St. Joseph is considered Jesus foster father and I never understood that. I like to think of him as Jesus' adoptive father.
"She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me).
The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear."
A famous commercial asks, "Do you know where your children are tonight?" "Sure," you may say, "they're right in the other room watching television." With that assurance, you settle down to a good night's sleep. But, should it be left at that? Are Christian parents falling into Satan's trap of the false assurance that as long as their kids are at home they're okay, when this may sometimes be far from the truth?
The Word says, "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire..." (Deuteronomy 18:10). One could extrapolate from that: don't sacrifice your children to demons ... wherever they are. You wouldn't leave your kids in your living room drinking a quart of vodka, but what are they drinking into their souls through your TV...with what spirits are they "communing"?
What is behind all the brutal violence, sexuality and greed so prevalent in the most popular programming? The Apostle Paul warned: "...the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons..." (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).
Of course, there are worthwhile Christ-centered programs on television and also on DVD. But, if viewing isn't monitored and selective, what are your children watching? Someday your children's lives will bear the fruit of what they are absorbing now. Consider whose cup they are drinking from daily. Re-evaluate tonight your responsibilities as parents when it comes to your children's television habits, so you can all have sweet dreams.
Let's Pray Together…
Heavenly Father, thank you for the children you have entrusted to me. Keep me from allowing them to be sacrificed to demon spirits through television or other worldly sources. Grant me wisdom and courage to monitor their viewing so they might grow up strong, committed and bringing glory to You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Author Unknown
The immediate focus of the Eighth Commandment is falsehood that does injury to one's neighbor. Harm to another person's reputation, therefore, is the special prohibition of this divine mandate.To read Fr. Hardon's writings regarding detraction in its entirety, please go to:
A person's reputation may be injured in various ways, notably by detraction and calumny or slander. Detraction is the unjust violation of the good reputation of another by revealing something true about him. Calumny or slander differs from detraction in that what is said or imputed about a person is not true.
"It is a common practice to limit our prayers to petition. This is a mistake. We owe God, first of all, adoration; secondly, gratitude.-from Association of Marian Helpers.
We can never thank Him sufficiently, though we were to employ eternity n so doing, for the innumerable gifts, material and spiritual, temporal and eternal, which He bestowed upon us. Life, redemption, our Catholic faith, preservation from grave sin, the grace of conversion, health, relatives and friends- theres are but a few of God's gifts.
Let us rejoice, therefore, to thank God by means of the Holy Mass.
After adoration and thanksgiving comes atonement.
Prostrate at the foot of Calvary's cross, down which the most precious blood of Jesus Christ flowers from His gaping wounds, we should beg pardon for our sins which have thus nailed Christ to the cross. Let us ask Him to pure His precious blood over our souls that they may be cleansed from their polluting stains.
Prayer of petition should not be forgotten It it we beg of God for the favors of which we stand in need."
A Spiritual Communion is an ardent desire to receive Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament and to embrace Him lovingly, as if you had actually received Him when it is not in your power to receive Him sacamentally.-The Catechism in Examples by Rev. D. Chisholm
Spiritual Communion is the reserve of Eucharistic Life and Love always available for lovers of the Eucharistic Jesus. By means of spiritual Communion, the loving desires of the soul that wants to be united with Jesus, its dear Bridegroom, are satisfied. Spiritual Communion is a union of love between the soul and Jesus in the Host. This union is spiritual but nonetheless real, more real than the union between the soul and the body., 'because the soul lives more where it loves than where it lives,"says St. John of the Cross - Jesus Our Eucharistic Love by Fr. Stefan M. Manelli.
"Regardless of how difficult a project is, I place it in the adorable Heart of Jesus. The I can securely rest in peace, even when far away, knowing well that He knows what to do and brings to completion every work that I desire for His glory...Mother Frances X. Cabrini