What Every Catholic Knew…

Between Heaven, “the place of refreshment, light and peace,” and Hell, the abode of eternal torment, there is, till the day of general judgment, a middle state, called Purgatory, for the souls that depart this life justified, but still in need of final purification. In this place of punishment and purification, of justice and mercy, dwell the souls that have venial sins to expiate, or temporal punishment to undergo, or both. The doctrine of the Catholic Church concerning Purgatory is expressed in the following two sentences: 1) There is, in the next world, a temporary place for the atonement of such venial sins, and temporal punishments of sin, as man is found guilty of on his departure from this world. 2) The faithful can, by prayer and good works, especially by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, assist the souls suffering in Purgatory. ~ Charity for the Suffering Souls, Fr. John A. Nageleisen

FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY

O gentle Heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on them. Be not severe in Your judgments, but let some drops of Your Precious Blood fall upon the devouring flames. And, Merciful Savior, send Your angels to conduct them to a place of refreshment, light and peace. Amen.

I thought I would be spending this day under the heaviness of a great darkness. I thought depression would ensue. Instead, I feel an unexpected urge to fight! I feel strangely invigorated to do more for life. It is as if Obama has presented himself as a challenge, and I am excited about meeting this challenge. This challenge to change hearts when we cannot change laws. The challenge to educate others, to prepare for (yes, I’m saying it) the next election.

The only fear left in my heart is for my children. What kind of world are they going to be facing? Will they be prepared to stand up, to be saints, and to never lose heart?

And so, for their sake, and for the sake of all of our children, born and unborn, I am ready to fight. I will not give up. I will only strengthen my resolve to stand up for life!

So come on fellow missionaries - stand up!  Do not give in to the evil of despair!  Let us begin, right now, to change this country.  Let us pray, work and fast, as we did for this election, for the future!  The Evil One may have won the battle, but we KNOW who it is that wins the war!  So let us, His warriors, not give in and surrender.  Let us stand firm and continue to fight.  As Samwise says, “There is some good in this world, Frodo, and it is worth fighting for.”  Direct your anger, your sorrow, your fears towards the evil that surrounds us.  Take the hurt inside of you and form it into a weapon for the Lord.  He WILL give us victory; about this we must have no doubt.  It is our duty to stand with Him, and not give up the fight.

Many of us are deeply hurt and extremely worried with the election of whom America seems to see as their “new hope.”  Let us keep in mind where our true Hope lies.  It is not in any man, nor on anything of this world.  It is in Christ alone.  And for the many of us in the pro-life movement who are afraid of what is in store for unborn babies and their mothers, we must push on.  We must continue our fight against the culture of death, no matter how strong its forces may seem.  Unborn babies need us now more than ever.  Let us work and pray as we did for this election every day, for the unborn.

Catechism Review:

Hope

1817 Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”⁸⁴ “The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.”⁸⁵

1818 The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

1819 Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice.⁸⁶ “Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations.”⁸⁷

1820 Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the “hope that does not disappoint.”⁸⁸ Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.”⁸⁹ Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: “Let us . . . put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”⁹⁰ It affords us joy even under trial: “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation.”⁹¹ Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire.

1821 We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will.⁹² In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere “to the end”⁹³ and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for “all men to be saved.”⁹⁴ She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven:

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.^{95  (St. Teresa of Avila)}

When you bless yourself with holy water, you recall to mind your baptism and Christ’s death upon the cross, profess your belief in the Holy Trinity, and if done with repentance, this action remits venial sins.

Holy water is a precious sacramental, and is especially effective at keeping the demonic at bay. It is a wonderfully pious practice to bless your children every evening before they go to bed.  Holy Water should always be kept in all catholic homes.

This was, for me, the most prominent and important statement made in Kimberly Hahn’s latest book, “Graced and Gifted: Biblical Wisdom for the Homemaker’s Heart.”

This book is the second in a series of books based on Proverbs 31.  In it, Hahn lays out for the homemaker what should be at the heart of her duties, and who or what follows from there.  She does so in her typical easy-to-follow writing and with her usual real world examples.  It is certainly a book a busy wife and mother could pick up and complete without struggle, and be the better for it.

Whenever I read Kimberly Hahn’s writings, it is often single sentences that stand out the most to me.  While these significant soundbites make up very little of the book, in themselves they make the book worthwhile.  they are often the little confirmation or inspiration I need.  As such, i would like to share a few with you.

“You do not finish your homemaking tasks so that you can get to ‘holy’ activities, but you find spiritual meaning even in manual labor.”

“Does God intend for us to complete every homemaking task every day?  No, it is not humanly possible.  If it is not humanly possible, then it is not God’s will for us.”  (This thought has been used quite often lately!)

“Even if all you are doing is humbling yourself to confess the same sins each week, you are taking a whack at pride.  And whatever takes a whack at pride is a movement in the right direction.”

An ongoing theme in the book is to be mission-minded rather than schedule driven.  For example, you have a list of ten items to do for the day.  All involve taking care of your household.  You are on number four when one of your children gets hurt, and another cannot seem to complete her math assignment.  You must leave your list incomplete to nurse the wound and review the assignment.  Now your list will not be done before dinner.  So what?  Your mission, to take care of your family, was not halted.  It was simply found in another direction.  As a homemaker, you must always keep your mission in the forefront of your mind (especially if you are a type “A”  personality - schedule driven & task oriented  - such as myself).

The book also contains some great spiritual advice, most especially from Saint Josemaria Escriva and Fr. Michael Scanlan.  Their words alone were worth reading the entire book for, and I plan on making index cards of them to be reviewed often.

Not to be forgotten are the hints of practical advice.  They do not by any means make up the majority of the book, but when they come up they are very helpful.  I love the directions given to establish a weekly planner.  This is NOT your typical to do list.  It is actually rather flexible, while ensuring that the necessities are accomplished.  I believe it will also help me with my problem of putting off what I just don’t want to do.

Overall, I found the book’s advice very helpful and the scripture references very pertinent.  I plan to make use of them in my daily life, and to improve my mission as a homemaker as a result of them.  May the Lord help me to do so.

This review was written as part of The Catholic Company product reviewer program. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Graced and Gifted - Biblical Wisdom for the Homemaker’s Heart.

So many of us draw a dividing line between those priests who have served us well, and those who we struggled to find a compliment for. Those who were faithful to Holy Mother Church, and those who drove us crazy with their dissent from Her teachings. Those whose Masses were so very beautiful and full of reverence, and those whose Masses varied with the priest’s whims and left much to be desired. the point is, all of our priests need our prayers.

Some always pray in thanksgiving for holy priests, while some continue to pray for the conversion of those who do not seem so. The truth is, we should be praying for all of them. We should rightly give thanks for those holy men who dedicate themselves with obedience to Holy Mother Church. Those priests who struggle with orthodoxy certainly need our prayers as well. But so do those men who are lukewarm, those who are questioning their vocation, those we are in formation to be ordained, and those who are considering the choice of that journey. All priests, regardless of our judgments of their actions, need our prayers. And here is a wonderful way to start:

O Jesus, our great High Priest,
hear my humble prayers
on behalf of your priests.
Give them a deep faith,
a bright and firm hope,
and a burning love
which will ever increase
in the course of their priestly life.
In their loneliness, comfort them.
In their sorrows, strengthen them.
In their frustrations,
point out to them
that it is through suffering
that the soul is purified and
show them that they are needed
by the Church,
they are needed by souls,
they are needed for the work
of redemption.
O Loving Mother Mary,
Mother of Priests,
take to your heart your sons
who are close to you,
because of their priestly ordination
and because of the power
which they have received
to carry on the work of Christ
in a world which needs them so much.
Be their comfort be their joy,
be their strength,
and especially help them to live
and to defend
the ideals of consecrated celibacy.
Amen.

– John Joseph Cardinal Carberry
Archbishop of St. Louis

What I wish every Catholic knew: Our priests, past, present and future, need and deserve our prayers.

What I wish every Catholic would do: Pray for our priests, daily.

Are you ready?  Do you want to get a head start?  The new and improved (and approved) text for the English Mass has been issued and is available to peruse:

http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/missalformation/OrdoMissaeWhiteBook.pdf

No more “We believe”  it is properly translated “I believe.”  And for those of you, like myself, still beating your breast, you are about to be joined by your fellow parishioners.  There are several changes, or as I should say, corrections in the new translation.  Simply understood, those words and phrases that were so poorly translated in the first place are being corrected.

Some will celebrate, some will curse, and some will simply follow along in indifference.  Just remember, obedience above all.

What I wish every Catholic knew: The new translation is a cause for joy.

What I wish every Catholic would do: Embrace it whole-heartedly.

I usually resist the urge to simply refer to something else as my post, but this is way too wonderful not to share with the world.  PLEASE, take the time to listen to this.  Everyone needs to hear this and take it to heart.

http://www.stlambert.org/Weekly%20Bulletins/Simon%2017th%20Sundary%20Ordinary%20A%20-%2001.%20Track%2001.MP3

What I wish every Catholic Knew: The Truth

What I wish every Catholic would Do: Listen to this man, and take his words truly to heart.  Please.

Our Holy Father has declared June 2008-June 2009 as the Pauline Year, in celebration of the Saint’s 2000th birthday. He has invited us to share in celebrating the work of St. Paul, in all that he did to spread the Gospel.  This “apostle to the gentiles” brought the Lord to countless people during the first century, and continues to do so today.  From Christian persecutor to apostle and Saint, his is one of the most dramatic and well-known conversion stories of all time.  His letters contain great insights into the understandings of the early Church, and continue today to shed light on the teachings of Christ and his Church.  We should take the time to get to know this man whom the Holy Father has dedicated an entire year to!

“May he guide us and protect us in this bi-millenary celebration,” he added, “helping us to advance in the humble and sincere search for the full unity of all the members of the mystical body of Christ.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

What I wish every Catholic Knew: That we are celebrating the year of St. Paul

What I wish every Catholic would do: Spend some time each day reading his letters.