Our Blessed Mother

Picture shared by Sue and prayer by Barb

Thou art all fair, O Mary,
The Original Stain is not in thee.
Thou art the glory of Jerusalem,
Thou, the joy of Israel,
Thou, the great honor of our people
Thou, the advocate of sinners.
O Mary,
O Mary,
Virgin most prudent,
Mother most merciful,
Pray for us,
Intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Advent Pledge

Shared by Barb.

During the holy season of Advent, I will prepare "My Christmas Gift to Jesus" by :

1. Remembering the real meaning of Christmas - it is the Birthday of Jesus.

2. Thinking more often of Jesus - than Christmas presents and other distractions.

3. Attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion, as often as possible.

4. Making Him a manger in my heart, through my little daily sacrifices.

5. Helping by our good example to lead others to Jesus, as the Christmas star did.

6. Asking our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph to bring me closer to Jesus.

7. Praying during Advent for "Peace on earth".

8. Placing Jesus at the center of Christmas in our homes with a Christmas Crib.

9. Sending Catholic Christmas cards to help "Keep Christ in Christmas".

10. Preparing our hearts to receive Jesus in Holy communion on Christmas Morning.

GIFTS TO GIVE

- To a personal enemy, forgiveness;
- To a friend, your heart;
- To your child, a good example;
- To your parents, respect and conduct that will make them proud of you;
- To your neighbours, love;
- To yourself, respect;
- To all men, charity.

Author unknown to me. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can give proper credit.

Spiritual Direction

From Regnum Christi

Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me not to worry, not to close myself off from you and your presence in my life. If I were convinced that you were with me, how could I worry? How could anxieties of daily life oppress me so much? Increase my faith in you. Help me to detach myself from the fleeting pleasures of this passing world. You endure for ever; your love is the strength of my heart.

Resolution: I will make a small sacrifice at each of my meals today for the souls in purgatory

Nurturing a Priestly Vocation

I have posted about this topic on a few occasions in the time I've been blogging. As the mother of a devout Catholic son, I want to encourage my son to be open to God's calling to the priesthood, should he received it. I have to be careful though not to make him feel I am forcing him into a vocation other than what God wants for him. I don't want him to do it for me because I want a son who's a priest.

What do I do? I pray every single day for this intention. I pray especially during the Consecration at daily Mass. More vocations to the priesthood is my main intention when we are at Adoration and I pray especially for my son. I also ask every priest I meet to pray for my son's vocation.

But I want to share with you what the father of a priest advises us to do. It is an email he shared with my friend Easter and posted on her new blog:

Advice of a Father Whose Son is a Priest

The following is the Diocesan Prayer for Vocations

Heavenly Father,
Your divine Son taught us
to pray to the Lord of the harvest
to send laborers into His vineyard.

We earnestly beg you
to bless our Diocese and our world
with many priests, deacons, and religious
who will love You fervently and gladly
and courageously spend their lives
in service to Your Son's Church,
especially the poor and the needy.

Bless our families and our children,
and choose from our homes
those whom you desire for this holy work.
Teach them to respond generously
and keep them every faithful
in following Your Son Jesus Christ,
that under the guidance of the Holy Spirit
and with the inspiration of
Blessed Damien and Blessed Marianne
the God News of redemption
may be brought to all.

We ask this through Christ our Lord,
Amen.

Vocations Office, Diocese of Honolulu
1184 Bishop Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
808-585-3343
manao@rcchawaii.org
vocations.catholichawaii.org

There's Always Someone To See Bad in Something so Good

Thanks to Jean of Catholic Fire for sharing this.

For a few years now, Fr. Antoine of Children of Hope has been bringing more and more children to Eucharistic Adoration. Very young children are learning to love and adore our Lord, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

One would think Father Antoine's ministry was noble, holy and beyond reproach.

However, a writer for traditional Catholics finds fault in these Children's Holy Hours.

I direct you to Margaret C. Galitzin's article Muslim Style Adoration for Catholic Children

I am of the opinion that children, like all of us, want to see something larger and grander than themselves in the God they worship. They long for the glory and majesty of God. Parents be warned: This is missing in the Children of Hope Eucharistic devotion, which ultimately offers an egalitarian vision of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, turns devotion into a casual chat session with Jesus, and encourages a Muslim-style way to pray for youth and adults.

If what Fr. Antoine is doing is so wrong, why is he a prominent figure for both The World Apostolate of Fatima (Blue Army) and EWTN?

I wonder what Ms. Galitzen's opinion would be of moms in Hawaii who permit their children to do their religion school work in front of Jesus, who read saint stories in front of Jesus, who actually sit in the chairs provided in the Adoration Chapel!!

The purpose of Adoration is to love and adore God in our presence. Children will grow in a deeper more intimate way with our Lord, if they are permitted to see our God as someone who they can actually "talk" to.

I'm not sure why these children are kneeling the way they are in the picture in the article. My guess is that they seem to be able to meditate better with their eyes closed and that it may be a more comfortable position.

I've never been to a Children's Holy Hour by Fr. Antoine so I cannot make a judgment either way on why they are on mats.

Hope Springs Eternal...

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-Alexander Pope,
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

Just another Catholic blog posting about the Holy Father's new encyclical:

Spe Salvi

SPE SALVI facti sumus”—in hope we were saved

New Addition to the Side Bar - Pray for Our Priests

I received an email letting me know about this website
PRAY FOR OUR PRIESTS:

I thought you might be interested in my web site. Pray for Our Priests It was inspired by the responses from 43 Bishops & Archbishops to a letter of support sent to them in 2006. Your own Bishop Clarence (Larry) Silva was one of the 43 bishops who responded. I just sent a second mailing inviting your Bishop to join the Pray for Our Priests movement. The only Diocese currently integrated into the site is my home diocese,
Covington, KY. I hope you can check the site out and consider linking it to your site if/when your Diocese decides to join the movement.

Mahalo Damien!

Novena Starts Today - Immaculate Conception

From EWTN Novena

PRAYER TO THE
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son,
we beseech You that, as by the foreseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain,
so too You would permit us, purified through Her intercession, to come unto You.
Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, world without end.

Amen.

Saintly Quote - Fr. Solanus

Shared by Sue Cifelli. Fr. Solanus is one of my favorite modern "saints".

Worry is a weakness from which very few of us are entirely free. We must be on guard against this most insidious enemy of our peace of soul. Instead, let us foster confidence in God, and thank Him ahead of time for whatever He chooses to send us.

Venerable Solanus Casey (1870-1957)

A Pre-Christmas Day Poem

Thanks to Irena for sharing.

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a " Holiday ".
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "Winter Break" under your "Dream Tree"
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday !