During the holy season of Advent, I will prepare "My Christmas Gift to Jesus" by :Author unknown to me. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can give proper credit.
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.
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
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 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,Mahalo Damien!
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.
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)
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 !
Spirit of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of heaven, descend upon me.
Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with yourself, use me.
Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanquish them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds.
Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealousy, perfidy, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, diabolical ailments.
Burn all these evils in hell, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world.
I command and bid all the powers who molest me - by the power of God all powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary - to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell, where they will be bound by Saint Michael the archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Amen
Behind my computer desk I have two large wooden book cases. They are specifically there to keep our Catholic books handy. However, whenever I need a book, I can't seem to locate it.
Looks like we have a published writer here folks!Aloha!I did response briefly to their little comment about the Church being the wealthiest church...and that they probably wanted to relegate EWTN to some obscure time. More importantly, I emailed a copy to EWTN asking them to respond directly to Oceanic Cable.
Thank you for your recent inquiry. We have attempted to carry the EWTN
channel and have honestly tried to negotiate a deal with them. But EWTN
is unwilling to pay for the necessary equipment to process their signal
and transmit it to us. Nor did they want to air on the airtime we have
available.
I too am stymied as to why a Catholic channel would be unwilling to make
this investment to reach their congregation, especially considering the
Catholic Church is the wealthiest and largest church in the world.
The new channels that we do add, including the gay and lesbian Logo
network and other protestant religious channels have all made the
necessary investment in equipment necessary to create and broadcast
their channels to us. As to why EWTN refuses to do the things every
other channel has to do is beyond me. Only EWTN can answer these
questions.
Thank You for being an Oceanic Time Warner Cable Customer!
If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail us again
or contact our Customer Care Department at 643-2100. When replying to
this e-mail, please include this message as well as all previous
correspondence regarding this issue.
Thank you,
Nick S.
Oceanic Time Warner Cable
643-2100
Original Message Follows:
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Contact Us
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Comment: We are long time customers of both the cable and internet. For
many years we have been requesting the EWTN Channel Eternal Word
Television Network. For many years, Oceanic Cable has given us
different excuses why they cannot carry it. Today I find out that OC
will be carrying a new Gay and Lesbian Channel and frankly I am very
unhappy. The reason is not because I do not believe Gays shouldn't have
their own channel but because every other type of channel, including
Protestant channels, take preference over a leading and very popular
Catholic Channel.
Although, it would hurt my family somewhat, I am really considering
unsubscribing to both the cable and internet through OC.
I would appreciate a response.
Thank you,
Esther Gefroh
AdventWell, my favorite liturgical season will soon be here. Yes, Advent! The other day on the phone my mom asked me if I had decorated our home for Christmas. She reminded me that it was my habit of decorating the day after Thanksgiving. I cringed when my mom reminded me of how ignorant I was about our Faith. For years, I completely overlooked the season of Advent.
The word Advent derives from the Latin word meaning coming. The Lord is coming. We may reflect that every year at this time we celebrate his coming , so that in a sense we can lose the feeling of expectancy and joyful anticipation, because at the end of the season, everything seems to return to pretty much the same routine. If that is the case, then our preparation may have been lacking and we have therefore been robbed of much of the true meaning of this season.
During Advent we recall the history of God's people and reflect on how the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament were fulfilled. This gives us a background for the present. Today we can reflect on the past track record of God and so begin to understand what it means to us now for the sake of what is to come, in our own future and that of our world.
© Liguori Publications Excerpt from Advent - A Quality Storecupboard The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Catholic Online
A Family Retreat: One of his best retreats, preached before a live audience in a church toward the end of Archbishop Sheen's active life. The church was filled with people of all ages; young children, teenagers, and their parents. In this moving presentation, the Archbishop speaks about topics that apply to everyone: Mass, Confession, Youth & Sex, the Devil, Making the Right Choice, Suffering, True Love, and many more..." We saw this at Pauline Books and Media on Saturday and we all agreed it would add to our Advent exercises.5. Empty Manger - Usually we remove the babe from our Nativity set. This year will remove the new babe we also purchases at the Daughters of St. Paul's Book store. It has the most angelic face I have seen on a baby Jesus in a long time!
If We ordain that the whole Catholic world shall revere Christ as King, We shall minister to the need of the present day, and at the same time provide an excellent remedy for the plague which now infects society. We refer to the plague of anti-clericalism, its errors and impious activities. This evil spirit, as you are well aware, Venerable Brethren, has not come into being in one day; it has long lurked beneath the surface... We firmly hope, however, that the feast of the Kingship of Christ, which in future will be yearly observed, may hasten the return of society to our loving Savior.QUAS PRIMAS (On the Feast of Christ the King)
PRIVATE FORMULA POPE PIUS IX
"...aristocratic, Old World cologne with suprising freshness..."
Does our life become from day to day more painful, more oppressive, more replete with sufferings? Blessed be He a thousand times who desires it so. If life be harder, love makes it also stronger, and only this love, grounded on suffering, can carry the Cross of my Lord, Jesus Christ.- Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro (1891-1927) - Martyred in Mexico
Llega su vida a ser de dÃa a dÃa más dolorosa, más opresiva, más repleta de sufrimientos? Bendito es él mil veces quien desea eso. Si la vida es más dura, el amor la hace más fuerte también, y sólo este amor, basado en sufrimientos, puede cargar la Cruz de mi Señor Jesucristo.
Anne Marie was one of those people who truly lived the commitment and calling of being Christ's follower. She had raised her family and kept a home by dint of sacrifice. As she edged into her retirement years, they fully reflected a life of faith. Even with health challenges of her own, including cancer, she attended to the forgotten among us, with regular visits to those in need - the hungry, those in hospitals as well as nursing homes.Author Unknown
Her get-well cards for those she knew well and loved with a Christian heart were starling. They were homemade spiritual bouquets.
"I have remembered you:
in 9 Masses
in the reception of Eucharist 9 times
in 9 rosaries
in the Way of the Cross 9 times
in Eucharistic Adoration 9 times
and offered them for your intentions"
and so on. Each unique. And each, life-giving.
"I was a girl in Catholic school the last time I experienced anything like this" one elderly woman exclaimed. She had experienced wave after wave of disabling illnesses. And that little card and greeting said so much to her. She was not alone but part of a larger body - the Body of Christ. Held before the Lord in prayer (reminding her that she was, of course, held gently and lovingly by her heavenly Father at all times.)
A wonderful gift. Thoughtful and steeping in reality as much as any gift could be.
Advent is a wonderful time to revive your own experience of the spiritual bouquet. You learn the needs of others in a myriad of ways; arrange the "bouquet" in the way best suited to the gift recipient.
Fill it with spiritual gifts offered throughout the Advent season. Embellish it with real or silk flowers, perhaps presented in a small basket, gathered in the festive cellophane wrapping used for artsy gifts and baskets.
Give a Spiritual Bouquet to your parents, if you are privileged to have them with you still. Remember a sick or shut-in friend with a Bouquet. And give them liberally to the young. Their questions, their sense of wonder will grow as a learning experience in faith, as they unwrap your spiritual gift.
And invite the children in your family to create their own Spiritual Bouquets at Christmas - wonderful gifts for parents and grandparents. They will delight in your instruction, in sharing a project with you.
The Spiritual Bouquet will make this a memorable Advent and Christmas for you and your family.
"You need to be united to your parish priest, and I don't care who he is, what he is, what he does, or what he doesn't do. I've had people say, 'Oh, but if you lived under my pastor, you wouldn't say that.' Do you ever think what a sick heart he has? How lonely he is? What suffering he might have had in his life that made him what he is?From Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality edited by Raymond Arroyo and published by Doubleday.
Then you gripe about the bishops. Do you ever realize the terrible responsibility of being a bishop? And no matter what you do, somebody is unhappy with you. You can't stand criticism on a little level; can you imagine what they endure? You need to develop a spirit of compassion so deep that it embraces the whole world. Laity and clergy must be united in spirit for the greater glory of God."
