On the Brown Scapular - Protection Against the Devil

Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Blessed Sacrament Church, Paterson, NJ

Photo by Esther G.

You will understand why the Devil works against those who promote the Scapular when you hear the story of Ven. Francis Ypes. One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, “Take off the habit which snatches so many souls from us!” Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things which the demons are most afraid of:

the Holy Name of Jesus,
the Holy Name of Mary, and
the Holy Scapular of Carmel.

To that list we could add the Holy Rosary.

From Brown Scapular Miracles

Thanks Sue C.

What To Do When Your Marriage is in Trouble

One of the finest discussions of this question is given by Germain Grisez in his book, Living a Christian Life, Vol. 2 of his The Way of the Lord Jesus, pp. 721-737. In Love and Responsibility (1960) Karol Wojtyla has some helpful things to say, particularly in the final chapter on sexology. I will first summarize material from Grisez, then from Wojtyla, and finally offer some practical suggestions.

Read it all here

Thanks to Sue Cifelli for sharing.

Saint Padre Pio - On Sin

Someone complained to Padre Pio of being excessively distressed by the sins he had committed. Padre Pio replied to him:

“That which you feel is pride; it is the demon which inspires you with this sentiment, it is not true sorrow.”

The penitent replied: “Father, how can you then distinguish what comes from the heart and is inspired by Our Lord, and that which instead is inspired by the devil?” “You will distinguish it,” replied the holy priest, “always by this: The spirit of God is a spirit of peace, and also in the case of grave sin, it makes us feel a tranquil sorrow, humble, confident, and this is due precisely to His mercy.

The spirit of the demon, on the contrary, excites, exasperates, and makes us in our sorrow feel something like anger against ourselves, whereas our first charity must be to ourselves, and so if certain thoughts agitate you, this agitation never comes from God, who gives you tranquility, being the Spirit of Peace. Such agitation comes from the devil.”

You can read more about a day in the life of Padre Pio at A Christian Pilgrimage

Thanks to Sue Cifelli for sharing.

Confessions by appointment

Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, stated recently that 'one of the most tragic failings that the Church suffered in the second half of the 20th century was to have neglected the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Penance … amongst priests this has caused tremendous loss of spiritual profile'. He goes on to say that when the priest is no longer a confessor he becomes a social worker of a religious kind. From this remark, I was left wondering about parish noticeboards and Parish Bulletin which advertise: 'Confessions – by appointment'. It is becoming rare to see the traditional notice: 'Confessions 4.00pm – 6.00pm Saturday afternoon before the Vigil Mass.' Fifteen and twenty minute slots appear to suffice...

Read the rest here.

Thanks to Sue Cifelli for sharing.

Catholic Education and Our Children

Satan Exists, and Christ Defeated Him

Demons, Satanism and other related phenomena are quite topical today, and they disturb a great part of our society.

Our technological and industrialized world is filled with magicians, wizards, occultism, spiritualism, fortune tellers, spell trafficking, amulets, as well as very real Satanic sects. Chased away from the door, the devil has come in through the window. Chased away by the faith, he has returned by way of superstition.

The episode of Jesus' temptations in the desert that is read on the First Sunday of Lent helps us to have some clarity on this subject. First of all, do demons exist? That is, does the word "demon" truly indicate some personal being with intelligence and will, or is it simply a symbol, a manner of speaking that refers to the sum of the world's moral evil, the collective unconscious, collective alienation, etc.?

Many intellectuals do not believe in demons in the first sense. But it must be noted that many great writers, such as Goethe and Dostoyevsky, took Satan's existence very seriously. Baudelaire, who was certainly no angel, said that "the demon's greatest trick is to make people believe that he does not exist."

Read the rest of the article by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap. here.

H/T today's meditation of the day, The Magnificat, October 2010.

Life on the Rock - American Papist - Fr. Mark and Doug with Thomas Peter...

Catholic bloggers will find this show VERY interesting :-)

EWTN Family Prayer - For Terrorists

EWTN Family Prayer - For Those Who Govern Us

EWTN Live - Pope Pius XII - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. with Sr. Margherita Marchione

Sister Margherita is a Filippini Sister and is from New Jersey. I hope I am able to meet her in person one day. I did not know how funny and feisty she was! My mom who's parish has one of the Filippini Sister's convent, first introduced me to her cause. She has been one of my heroes for a long time because of her defense of Pope Pius XII.

This was a great program!

If you are ever in North Jersey, be sure to visit the Filippini Sister's Mother House in Morristown...the beautiful Villa Walsh.