Turning Students Into Saints With St. John Bosco

We cannot make kids love Jesus in the Eucharist. Only God can do that. Pope Paul VI said that people are going to listen to a witness more than they are going to listen to a teacher. The only reason they will listen to their teacher is if their teacher is a witness.

If someone were to sit in a class and say "we believe that this is really, truly, and substantially the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ - under the form and the matter of bread and wine..." that's good - we need to teach them that - but that is not going to change their hearts and it is not going to change their lives.

A witness is somebody who challenges those individuals to go and see and test it out for themselves. Our Lord is not going to say "Oh, the kids came to see Me and they're really open right now, I'm not going to speak to their heart, I'm going to let them walk away saying 'He's not really here.'"  That's not going to happen. People shouldn't believe what we say. People who believed in Jesus had some type of experience with Him. What we need to be witnesses first and foremost of, is daring them to [seek that] encounter. Constantly asking them:

• "Well, why don't you try it?"
• "You try everything else, why not try this?"
• " Wouldn't it make a huge difference if God was really there?"
• "I mean...if God was really there...wow. That would really change a lot of things."

And then allowing them to see that what we are teaching, we believe, by the way we act.

There are going to be consequences to this. There are going to be consequences for living our Faith. And the consequences are going to be very positive. 

If we look at our children, especially in the middle school age: they are coming from broken families, they're coming from schools where it is very rough and very tough...there's fighting and there is bad language all around them. They are not going to read the [religious] text books for the most part. 

They are coming from situations where God isn't even important and [we] don't even know why their parents decided to put them in CCD. Maybe they wanted the evening off or something. 

So, what they are going to have to see is light. And it is going to be easy for them to see light because they are in darkness...

Our witnessing is not so much, "yeah...this is what we believe and it's worth living" but it is also "It is worth giving everything to. It is worth throwing down your life."

There are four main things that we should be witnesses of:

1. Christ is really present in the Eucharist. That He is really God and that He is really a person and we need to make regular visits to Him. (Our goal is to make our students saints. We only have an hour [or so] to do that...how are we going to do that? That is God's responsibility. We just do the best we can and God will work with that. He will.)
2. The Sacrament of Confession...Satan has managed to desecrate all of the Sacraments with false teachings and half truths, so that most people - especially young people - go to the Sacrament of Confession and commit sacrilegious Confessions. So, their Confession doesn't help sanctify them - it further damns them. Because in order for your Confession to be valid, you have to list the kind and the number. So, what exactly did you commit? "I looked at pornography four times and committed masturbation four times." They have to be specific. A lot of times, young people will say things like "uhhh...I did some bad stuff....with my girlfriend...and uhhh...you know...I lied to my mom..." and they will leave one or two things out. Like "Oh, I told him the majority, I told him the gist." But that is not a valid Confession. That is a sacrilegious Confession. Instead of getting any of your sins forgiven, now you've piled on more sins for mistreating the Holy Sacrament that can have everything erased. It's like you're not really sorry. When you are really sorry you say what it is you are sorry for "I'm sorry I backed into your car," "I am sorry I called you a name..." You are specific when you are sorry about something. And then you promise not to do it again.  A lot of our Confessions are sacrilegious. 
3. Authentic Marian devotion. DAILY ROSARY. The Rosary is a mini-Bible. If they do it correctly and are meditating on the life of Jesus...wow. 15 minutes a day thinking about Jesus's life. That would be a dream come true if a kid did that every single day. It would change his life. We have to be praying it ourselves. Mary will help convert their hearts.
4. Follow the Pope. 

 -- transcribed from this video by Gabriel Castillo:

Desecration Of The Eucharist & Sacrilegious Communions

It is a bedrock Catholic truth, taught by the Church since the time of the Apostles, that Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

The Council of Trent defined dogmatically that Our Lord Jesus Christ is present in every part of the Blessed Sacrament. The Council taught infallibly: 

“If anyone denieth that, in the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole Christ is contained under each species, and under every part of each species, when separated; let him be anathema.” 

This means that Our Lord is present even in the smallest particle of the Host, and in the smallest particle that may fall to the ground. Thus the reverence that we owe to the Blessed Sacrament demands that we take every precaution that no particle of the Host — not even the smallest — is left open for desecration in any way...

This reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, and even for the smallest particles, was incorporated into the traditional Mass — the Old Latin Mass — which contained strict rubrics on this point: 

1. From the moment the priest pronounces the words of the Consecration over the Sacred Host, the priest keeps his forefinger and thumb together on each hand. Whether he elevates the chalice, or turns the pages of the missal, or opens the tabernacle, his thumb and his forefinger on each hand are closed. The thumb and forefinger touch nothing but the Sacred Host 
2. During Holy Communion, the altar boy holds the paten under the chin of those receiving Communion, so that the slightest particle does not fall to the ground. This paten is cleaned into the chalice afterwards 
3. After Holy Communion is distributed, the priest scrapes the corporal (the small linen cloth on the altar) with the paten, and cleans it into the chalice so that if the slightest particle is left, it is collected and consumed by the priest 
4. Then, the priest washes his thumb and forefinger over the chalice with water and wine, and this water and wine is reverently consumed to insure that the smallest particle of the Sacred Host is not susceptible to desecration.

...what happens with Communion in the hand? 

The Host is placed in the hand, which is not consecrated. The communicant picks It up with his own fingers, which are not consecrated. The sacred particles fall to the ground, are stepped upon and desecrated. -- J. Vennari

We can see with our human reason that when receiving Holy Communion in the hand, particles are left stuck to the hand and after the communicant makes the sign of the cross are then brushed onto the floor. The communicants behind them do the same and then step on the particles that are brushed onto the floor in front of them. 

If a communicant chooses to receive on the tongue out of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, they are still walking behind those who are receiving on the hand, and therefore stepping on the particles which contain Jesus Christ whole and entire. This is widespread, weekly - often daily desecration by the parish community. Even though most of them have good intentions and have no idea they are desecrating the Eucharist, this is what is happening.

St. Teresa of Avila tells us that desecration of the Eucharist and/or receiving a sacrilegious Communion can result in a complete loss of the theological virtue of faith. Also, it can result in diabolical possession. This is not only happening with lay people but with the clergy.  

When people hear what St. Teresa of Avila said about diabolical possession, desecration of the Eucharist, and receiving sacrilegious Communions, they think "well that's not going to happen, that's not possible." 

It's not like when you receive Communion unworthily the devil is going to come out drooling all over the place. That's not the case. Signs of spiritual infestation are not [drooling and convulsing] - those are rare circumstances. 

The real signs are: 

1. hardening of heart
2. denial of the truth 
3. resistance to the truths of our faith

Where do we see these? Everywhere! -- Gabriel Castillo

We have an obligation to encourage our parish community to carefully examine their hands for particles if they insist on receiving Communion in the hand. We cannot say they cannot receive in the hand, because the bishops have allowed this, but we must point out that desecration is occurring and therefore the faith of the parish community is at stake.

The hardening of heart, denial of truth, and resistance to the truths of the faith can already be seen in the phenomenon of cafeteria Catholicism and rejection of Divine teaching revealed to us by God.

Undeniably, there is a prevalent spirit of "picking and choosing" infallible teaching and dogma. I believe that this is a direct result of desecration of the Eucharist.

Your Light Found My Bottle In The Night; Gave Me Second Life. You Found Me Once And For All; I Laid It Down In The Sinking Ground

You woke the morning up
Running off my darkest night
The longest fight I've seen
Here goes a chance I know
Cashing in on all my chips
Let all my ships come fly

These days, a little bit longer than the last
And all of His ways, a little bit stronger than the past
And Your light, found my bottle in the night
Gave me second life, kept me in this fight

And I won't back down
I won't turn around and around
And I won't back down
Doesn't matter what comes crashing down
I'm still gonna stand on solid ground

You found me once and for all
I laid it down in the sinking ground
The hopeless undertow
Singing out the gentle sound
Rattling through my smoking screens
My broken dreams last night

These days, a little bit longer than the last
And all of Your ways, a little bit stronger than the past
And all of Your light, found my bottle in the night
Kept me in this fight and gave me second life

And I won't back down
And I won't turn around and around
And I won't back down
Doesn't matter what comes crashing down
I'm still gonna stand my solid ground 

Hallelujah ripped through my veins
I heard the hammer drop
My blood in the rain
Hallelujah came like a train
When all is lost
All is left to gain

I won't back down

And I won't turn around and around 

And I won't back down

Doesn't matter what comes crashing down

I'm still going to stand my solid

Hallelujah, Hallelujah...

Questions To Ask An Obama Supporter

Here are some questions to ask an Obama supporter.


Are you for the largest tax increase in world history?
Do you want gas prices to be akin to the ones you see in Europe?
Do you believe that America should be more like Europe, instead of America?
Do you think an Ivy League Professor or a proven CEO can create more jobs?
Do you believe that we have classes in America, like the rich and poor, or that we are all just Americans?
We both know the government spends money like a kid in a candy store and that is it is irresponsible. That being said, How do you feel that Obama is biggest government spender in Us history?
Do you like more money taken out of your paycheck and given to the government?
Do you think the bowing to a Saudi dictator who slaughters his people in the streets shows leadership?
Do you think that sending a US ambassador to the Hirmoshima bombing commemoration, to apologize for the US bombing Japan with nukes, which was to prevent a land invasion of Japan which would of cost many American and Japanese lives, do you think that shows leadership?
Do you think that allowing the Muslim Brotherhood who have links to Al Qadea, to take power in Egypt and then congratulating their government on winning the elections, does that show leadership?
And then the one that always stumps them. Name three things Obama did to help the economy, that actually helped the economy.

Have fun! - Justen Charters

All The Saints Became Saints Because of Mental Prayer

"All the saints became saints because of mental prayer." - St. Alphonsus Liguori

Preparation 

1. Act of faith in the presence of God ("My God, I believe that I am in Your presence and from the depths of my nothingness, I adore Your majesty."),

2. Act of humility ("Lord, because of my sins I should be suffering the pains of hell right now, I am sorry for having offended thee, in Your mercy please forgive me.")

3. Prayer for God's guidance ("Eternal Father, for the love of Jesus and Mary, Father, please give me Your light in this prayer so that it will be profitable to me.")

These prayers are just suggestions and can be used as a rough guide. You may use them word for word or formulate your own, as long as they include an act of faith, an act of humility, and a prayer for God's guidance.

4. Now say a Hail Mary to ask for Our Lady's assistance and a Glory be to ask St. Joseph, our Guardian Angel, and our patrons to help us.

Meditation

Use a book, a holy image, or a statue (i.e. the Gospels, the Stations of the Cross, Spanish Crucifix, an Icon, an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus...etc).

The subject of meditation does not have to be reading material. Illiterate people and children who cannot yet read are capable of mental prayer.

If we are reading, we read slowly and stop when something strikes us. Extract the thought and make an act of affection. An affection has nothing to do with feelings. Acts of affection can be acts of  thanksgiving, praise, adoration...etc.

Examples of acts affection

"My God, I esteem You above all things."

"I love You above all things."

"I wish every man on earth loved You."

"Let me know what Your will is and give me the grace to follow it."

"My God, I am happy because You are God, the highest good, lacking nothing."

"God, I love You with all my heart."

Use the book or image as a means to make affections.

Make lots of petitions

Humbly ask God for things such as:

Forgiveness of sins

Perseverance

Holiness

A holy death

The salvation of our friends

The grace to love Him more and more (once a person has the love of God he has every other grace).

Ask Him for these things in the name of and by the merits of Jesus Christ.

In dryness

If you are so dry that you cannot make any acts of affection say this prayer:

"O God, come to my aid, O Lord, make haste to help me."

Nothing is more profitable than making petitions over and over in the name of Jesus Christ.

"Ask the Father anything in my name and He will give it to you." - Jesus Christ

Make a resolution

At the end of mental prayer, make a particular resolution. Never finish mental prayer without making a resolution.

"Today Lord, I am not going to get snippy with my boss."

"Today Lord, I am going to be patient with my obnoxious coworker."

"Today Lord, Instead of walking around all day looking severe, I am going to smile."

Conclusion

1. Thank God for the lights you have received during mental prayer.

2. Resolve to keep the resolution you just made.

3. Pray to God the Father, through Jesus and Mary, for the grace to keep that resolution.

---

Mothers, you can teach your children very early to start mental prayer. It's nothing fancy. They are talking to Jesus. Everyone except babies can do this.

If we are not saints after our First Holy Communion, it is not because of Our Lord, it is because of obstacles within us. Obstacles: sin, lack of bodily mortification, lack of interior mortification, lack of spiritual reading.

All of these can be solved if we get serious about mental prayer.

Grace comes principally through the sacraments but the grace we get from sacraments comes primarily through our prayer life.

Mental prayer and sin cannot stay together.

Take 15 minutes a day to start. It is an investment in your eternity.

---

These truths have been transcribed for the benefit of your soul from this sermon: http://www.audiosancto.org/sermon/20080203-Mental-Prayer-is-Essential-for-Salvation.html

Married Love: Total, Faithful, Fruitful

From Humanae Vitae:

Married love particularly reveals its true nature and nobility when we realize that it takes its origin from God, who "is love,"the Father "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named."  

Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives. 

The marriage of those who have been baptized is, in addition, invested with the dignity of a sacramental sign of grace, for it represents the union of Christ and His Church.

This love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit. It is not, then, merely a question of natural instinct or emotional drive. It is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment. 

 It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself. 

Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death. This is how husband and wife understood it on the day on which, fully aware of what they were doing, they freely vowed themselves to one another in marriage. Though this fidelity of husband and wife sometimes presents difficulties, no one has the right to assert that it is impossible; it is, on the contrary, always honorable and meritorious. The example of countless married couples proves not only that fidelity is in accord with the nature of marriage, but also that it is the source of profound and enduring happiness. 

Finally, this love is fecund. It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents' welfare."

Finding the Peace of Passive Penance by Father Roger J. Scheckel

To understand mortification in...practical terms and how it might be incorporated into the spiritual life of [the faithful] begins with [a] two-fold manifestation: 

suffering that happens to us, what is known as passive mortification, and suffering we allow to happen, known as active mortification. 

Passive mortifications come in various forms, but they are not the sufferings we experience from having sinned, e.g., suffering a hangover after being intoxicated. Rather, they come to us unsolicited, the consequence of living in a world that has fallen from the grace of God. Passive mortifications can be grave, for example, sickness or injury, the death of a loved one, losing one’s employment. For the most part, passive mortifications come to us in smaller and less severe versions such as a difficult boss or co-worker, a spouse who from time to time is insensitive and uncaring or children who are demanding and unappreciative. 

St. Jose Marie Escriva, the founder of the Opus Dei Prelature often pointed out that our daily life and work provide significant opportunities to experience passive mortifications, primarily through petty annoyances like an unexpected change in plans, instruments or tools that fail us, the discomfort caused us by the weather being to hot or cold. When these small crosses are embraced generously and courageously they help us to grow in holiness. 

Pope Paul VI spoke eloquently about carrying these kinds of daily crosses in his March 24, 1967Address: “To carry one’s cross is something great. Great….It means facing up to life courageously, without weakness or meanness. It means that we turn into moral energy those difficulties which will never be lacking in our existence; it means understanding human sorrow; and finally, it means knowing really how to love.” 

To avoid the many crosses that come unsolicited to our lives each day is to avoid the possibility that God makes available to us to become saints.

We Are His Portion And He Is Our Prize, Drawn To Redemption By The Grace In His Eyes

He is jealous for me, 
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, 
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, 
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, 
And I realise just how beautiful You are, 
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so, 
Oh how He loves us, 
How He loves us all...

Communism in America

Listed below are the Communist Goals of 1963. Take a quick look and compare these goals to our present day circumstances. You will notice that most of them have been fulfilled.

Communist Goals for America (1963)

Documention below Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35

January 10, 1963

Current Communist Goals

EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Thursday, January 10, 1963

Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, 

Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier,which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America. At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen: [From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen]

CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.  

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces.(Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations whichare under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."  

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness,repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the groundthat it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a world-wide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who hadno concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.  

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

Note by Webmaster: The Congressional Record back this far has not been digitized and posted on the Internet.  It will probably be available at your nearest library that is a federal repository. Call them and ask them. Your college library is probably a repository. This is an excellent source of government records. Another source are your Congress Critters. They should be more than happy to help you in this matter. You will find the Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto interesting at this point. Click here to see them listed with brain-challenging comments. 

Documentation

 Webmaster Forest Glen Durland found the document in the library. Sources are listed below.

The quote starts on page 259.

Microfilm:

 California State University at San Jose 

 Clark Library, Government Floor

 Phone (408) 924-2770 

 Microfilm Call Number: J11.R5 

 Congressional Record, Vol. 109 88th Congress, 1st Session 

 Appendix Pages A1-A2 842 Jan. 9-May 7, 1963 Reel 12 

 The book was found in the off campus stacks, was ordered and checked. The quote below was checked against the original and is correct. The few errors in the copy from the Congressional Record are shown in [ ] .The quote starts on page 259. 

Stalin knew the vulnerable underbelly of America is the good heart of her people, which could be used against her to subvert the very principles upon which she is founded.

Sanctity of Heart is a Simple Fiat

I believe that if those souls that tend towards sanctity were instructed as to the conduct they ought to follow, they would be spared a good deal of trouble. I speak as much of people in the world as of others. If they could realise the merit concealed in the actions of each moment of the day: I mean in each of the daily duties of their state of life, and if they could be persuaded that sanctity is founded on that to which they give no heed as being altogether irrelevant, they would indeed be happy. If, besides, they understood that to attain the utmost height of perfection, the safest and surest way is to accept the crosses sent them by Providence at every moment, that the true philosopher's stone is submission to the will of God which changes into divine gold all their occupations, troubles, and sufferings, what consolation would be theirs! What courage would they not derive from the thought that to acquire the friendship of God, and to arrive at eternal glory, they had but to do what they were doing, but to suffer what they were suffering, and that what they wasted and counted as nothing would suffice to enable them to arrive at eminent sanctity: far more so than extraordinary states and wonderful works. O my God! how much I long to be the missionary of Your holy will, and to teach all men that there is nothing more easy, more attainable, more within reach, and in the power of everyone, than sanctity. How I wish that I could make them understand that just as the good and the bad thief had the same things to do and to suffer; so also two persons, one of whom is worldly and the other leading an interior and wholly spiritual life have, neither of them, anything different to do or to suffer; but that one is sanctified and attains eternal happiness by submission to Your holy will in those very things by which the other is damned because he does them to please himself, or endures them with reluctance and rebellion. This proves that it is only the heart that is different. Oh! all you that read this, it will cost you no more than to do what you are doing, to suffer what you are suffering, only act and suffer in a holy manner. It is the heart that must be changed. When I say heart, I mean will. Sanctity, then, consists in willing all that God wills for us. Yes! sanctity of heart is a simple "fiat," a conformity of will with the will of God. What could be more easy, and who could refuse to love a will so kind and so good? Let us love it then, and this love alone will make everything in us divine.


-- Abandonment to Divine Providence

Posted from Blogium for iPhone

Occupy vs. Tea Party

The Democrats and the liberal media have said that the Occupy Movement was a civic group "just like" the Tea Party.

I report...you decide...

REPORTED	OCCUPY PARTY	TEA PARTY
ARRESTS	4149+	0
RAPES	12	0
DAMAGE	$10,000,000.00	$0
PUBLIC DEFECATION	YES	NO
ANTISEMITIC RANTS	12	0
COST TO TAXPAYERS ( by 11/9)	$19,327,487.00+	$0
PUBLIC MASTURBATION	3	0
MOLOTOV COCKTAILS THROWN	10	0
FIGHTS STARTED	YES	NO
CHILDREN EXPLOITED	YES	NO
POLICE CARS DAMAGED	2	0
PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS	YES	NO
DRUG POSSESSION ARREST	YES	NO
CONCEALED WEAPON ARREST	YES	NO
DRUG OVERDOSE	YES	NO
THEFTS	YES	NO
BURGLARIES	YES	NO
VANDALISM ARREST	YES	NO
TRESPASSING ARREST	YES	NO
NON FATAL SHOOTINGS	1	0
PUBLIC URINATION	YES	NO
URINATION ON OTHERS	YES	NO
ISRAELI FLAGS BURNED	2	0
AMERICAN FLAGS BURNED	1	0
AMERICAN FLAGS DANCED ON	1	0
AMERICAN FLAG DESECRATION	25	0
FELONY ASSAULT ON AN EMT	1	0
HEAD/BODY LICE OUTBREAKS	1	0
TUBERCULOSIS OUTBREAKS	1	0
MURDER	1	0
SUICIDE	1	0

SHOTS FIRED AT WHITE HOUSE

1

0

SCABIES OUTBREAKS

1

0

OBAMA ENDORSED IT

YES

NO

PELOSI ENDORSED IT

YES

NO

CAIR ENDORSED IT

YES

NO

SOCIALIST PARTY ENDORSED

YES

NO

NAZI PARTY ENDORSED

YES

NO

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ENDORSED

YES

NO

COMMUNIST PARTY ENDORSED

YES

NO

BIDEN ENDORSED

YES

NO

HUGO CHAVEZ ENDORSED

YES

NO

BLACK PANTHERS ENDORSED

YES

NO

HEZBOLLAH ENDORSED

YES

NO

MARXIST UNION ENDORSED

YES

NO

9/11 TRUTHER ENDORSED

YES

NO

BOLSHEVIK ENDORSED

YES

NO

IRAN GOVERNMENT ENDORSED

YES

NO

AYATOLLAH ENDORSED

YES

NO

NORTH KOREA ENDORSED

YES

NO

FARRAKHAN ENDORSED

YES

NO

NATION OF ISLAM ENDORSED

YES

NO

Oh, yes, I see the similarities now...

St. John Fisher and the Obama Administration's HHS Mandate by Rushad Thomas

Nearly 500 years ago in England a Catholic bishop was martyred. England, which had been known throughout Europe as "Mary's Dowry," had been plunged into heresy and schism by a tyrannical King whose insatiable loins led him to break communion with Christ's Catholic Church and establish a parallel church which permitted divorce and remarriage, against the divine law set down by Christ in the Gospels. 

That bishop who gave his life as a witness to the Catholic Faith was John Cardinal Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. He shed his blood for the Church because he could not, in conscience, support the King's claim to supreme leadership of the Church on Earth. Fisher knew quite well that the Lord Jesus had given that role to Blessed Peter the Apostle, and to Peter's successors as Bishop of Rome. The King gave Fisher two choices: either violate your conscience and live, or remain faithful to it and die a gruesome death. Instead of doing what was easy (indeed, what EVERY OTHER BISHOP IN THE REALM did), Fisher chose Christ before Caesar, and went peacefully to his death on the scaffold in the Tower of London on 22 June 1535. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935, 400 years after his death.

So what relevance does St. John Fisher's life and martyrdom have for us moderns in 21st century America? Well, to put it quite bluntly, a lot. In recent weeks the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (a Catholic who has been refused Holy Communion by her Archbishop over her avowed support for legalized abortion), handed down a mandate under ObamaCare which requires individual Catholic employers and Catholic institutions to provide employee health plans which cover various forms of birth control (the pill, IUDs, etc...), abortifacient drugs (Plan B, Ella, etc...), and sterilization free of charge. Yes, my friends, this means that Catholic institutions and employers will be required by federal law to subsidize artificial contraception (the use of which the Church deems morally reprehensible) or face a $2,000 fine per employee.

I should certainly note that the HHS Department has included an exemption for religious institutions that primarily employ and serve people of their own faith, and whose primary work is instruction in religious doctrine. This really would only apply to Catholic parishes themselves (although it's questionable if even they would apply, since parishes are involved in the work of serving and employing non-Catholics just like our Church schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions). 

While it is laudable that the Administration saw fit to include some form of religious exemption, it is nevertheless completely unjustifiable that the Administration did not also include an exemption for religious institutions whose primary work is to serve all people regardless of faith. As a wise Catholic leader once said, "we don't serve people because they're Catholic, we serve them because we're Catholic," and for the Administration to presume that because a religious charity or college is not primarily working to promote its particular faith in the execution of its overall mission that they do not qualify as "religious enough" to qualify for an exemption is blatantly ridiculous. Since when is Obama the judge of Catholicity?

So where does this lead us? I must go back to the example of St. John Fisher. When faced with a government trying to tell the Church of Jesus Christ how it must organize its affairs, St. John Fisher said "Hell no, we won't go!" Catholics in this day and age facing a similar challenge should stand up and say the same. This mandate violates the principle of religious liberty which lies at the center of the First Amendment. Catholics must first of all pray to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Patroness of this Land, to convert the hearts of President Obama, Secretary Sebelius, and all those in authority, that they may swiftly change this unjust policy. In addition, we must write to the President, Secretary Sebelius, and our own Members of Congress to voice our disapproval of this mandate. And if the powers that be refuse to listen and this unjust mandate is allowed to go into effect, Catholics have to be willing to engage in peaceful civil disobedience to the government's unjust mandate, including refusing to pay the cost of the birth control coverage and refusing to pay the fines incurred for refusing to pay for the birth control. And, if it comes to it, we must be willing to go to jail to defend the integrity and liberty of Our Holy Mother the Church.

The Catholic Church gives us life. She preaches the Gospel of Life that frees us, she provides the Sacraments of the New Covenant which are the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and she attends to the material needs of the poor and disadvantaged, the least of these, in imitation of her Lord and Savior. Despite the state crackdown on the practice of Catholicism in Henrician England, the Catholic Faith lived on in that realm. Likewise, Barack Obama WILL NEVER stop the work of the Kingdom of God in the United States from pressing forward, but ordinary lay Catholics have to be willing, like St. John Fisher, to stand with Christ before Caesar if we don't want to see the Church kneeling before the world, instead of the world kneeling before the Church. 

by Rushad Thomas

Thy Mercy, My God, Is The Theme Of My Song, The Joy Of My Heart And The Boast Of My Tongue

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep for the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Pain Is A Forest We All Get Lost In

Pain is a forest we all get lost in
Between the branches hope can be so hard to see
And in the darkness we've all got questions
We're all just trying to make sense out of suffering but

You say I am blessed because of this
So, I choose to believe
As I carry this cross, You'll carry me
Help me believe it

Fear is a current we all get caught in
And in its motion faith can be so hard to find
And we all falter 'cause we're all broken
We're all just trying to turn the shadows into light but

You get glory in the midst of this
And You're walking with me
And you say I am blessed because of this
So, I choose to believe
As I carry this cross, You'll carry me

And I know Your promises are faithful
And God, I've seen Your goodness in my life
And oh, I've found Your mercy is a river
Your love is an ocean wide

You say I am blessed because of this
You get glory in the midst of this
And You're walking with me

And You say I am blessed because of this
So, I choose to believe
As I carry this cross, as I carry this cross
'Cause as I carry this cross, You'll carry me

You'll carry me, God
You'll carry me
And Your love is an ocean wide

One Thing Is Necessary...And It Is Not Beauty, Not Health, Not Talent. It Is The Salvation Of Our Immortal Souls.

‎Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with God. Speak with familiarity and confidence as to your dearest and most loving friend. Speak of your life, your plans, your troubles, your joys, your fears. In return, God will speak to you--not that you will hear audible words in your ears, but words that you will clearly understand in your heart. These may be feelings of peace, hope, interior joy, or sorrow for sin...gentle knockings at the door of your heart. 

Who knows? Perhaps if God had given us greater talent, better health, a more personable appearance, we might have lost our souls! Great talent and knowledge have caused many to be puffed up with the idea of their own importance and, in their pride, they have despised others. How easily those who have these gifts fall into grave danger to their salvation! How many on account of physical beauty or robust health have plunged headlong into a life of debauchery! How many, on the contrary, who, by reason of poverty, infirmity or physical deformity, have become saints and have saved their souls, who, given health, wealth or physical attractiveness had else lost their souls! Let us then be content with what God has given us. "But one thing is necessary," and it is not beauty, not health, not talent. It is the salvation of our immortal souls.

From all this can you now have any doubt that God wishes to save you? From this moment onward never dare to utter again: 'I wonder does God wish to save me. Maybe He wishes to see me damned on account of the sins I have committed against Him.' Get rid of all such thoughts, once and for all, since you must now realize that God is helping you with His graces and calling you insistently to love Him. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori