My most popular post of all times...sigh! Was six....
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/ok-number-six-out-of-five-most-popular.html
Monday, 6 October 2014
Sometimes the smallest things are the hardest
A little kitten of four months old has adopted me and I must leave him to the woods here in the South. He follows me around and trips me up when I walk. It is right outside my camper door crying to get in. The locals call it, "Mouse". It is black and white with brown eyes. I think it is the alpha cat of a five kitty litter. However, there are seven kitties here and three adults.
Funny how some of the smallest things make one hard put to leave a place.
Funny how some of the smallest things make one hard put to leave a place.
The Persecution Stage LAST
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/06/supreme-court-gay-marriage/16546959/
I knew this would happen. I am not surprised.
Persecution for Catholics, dioceses, clergy, bishops, cardinals in America beginning of the last stage...
I knew this would happen. I am not surprised.
Persecution for Catholics, dioceses, clergy, bishops, cardinals in America beginning of the last stage...
Much Needed Advice from An Older Mum
Sometimes, God makes it clear to me that I need to write on a specific topic, when several readers bring up the same doubts or direct questions.
I have been thinking of writing on parental roles in discerning children's vocations for a few days, and had two people bring this up in different parts of the country.
Please consider what I have to share here.
First of all, young parents, and by young I mean under fifty, lack confidence in their parenting. Society has beat confidence to pulp by undermining the role of the parent in the formation of the child. Governments now want and do take over the formation of children, which is not only in contradiction to the teaching of the Church, but natural law.
Parents are the first, primary and God-given teachers of their children.
Second, parents are given graces in the sacrament of marriage for raising children. Part of the raising of children is the formation of virtue, which some of you have read in my long series last summer of 2013.
Third, parents are given gifts, insights into guiding their children to the specific vocations to which God is calling them.
Finding out one's vocation is not great hidden secret. Indeed, in times past, parents not only saw the gifts of their children clearly but guided them directly into various vocations.
Which leads me to the next point. Parents not only are given gifts to help their children discern their vocations, but parents have a duty to do so.
Why parents are so reluctant to guide directly their own children is a mystery to me. And, if someone is giving advice to the contrary, those people are just plain misguided.
Parents have duty to ask God specifically what a child is called to do and to help that child fulfill that vocation.
Any parent who neglects prayer and guidance is not fulfilling the role and authority given to them by God. A parent who neglects his duty to raise a child in holiness, guiding that child to the vocation God has in Mind, may lose his salvation for thwarting God's plan.
Now, here is the rub. The parent must be objective and holy to see clearly what God has in mind for the children. A parent cannot merely want a child to be a doctor, for example, because of pride and status, or money and security.
A parent cannot push a child to live out the faded and unfulfilled dreams that the parents once had but lost.
A parent cannot push a child away from a vocation to the priesthood or religious life because that parent wants the child in his life, or wants grandchildren, or the name of the family to be carried on in posterity.
No, no, no...
God will genuinely show the parent who is sincere about seeing God's plan for their children's lives. God will show the parent what to do, how to plan the child's life, education, formation.
This is the natural plan of God, to work with the parent so that the child becomes the man or woman God intended them to be. God even calls children to be and to do things from the womb.
Why young parents back off from this important role is a mystery to me. Children need and deserve guidance from holy parents who want the child to be what God desires.
Some saints had excellent parents who cooperated with God's plan. Some did not. One thinks of the excellent parents of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who are both recognized as being holy-his mother is a blessed-, and the awful, selfish parents of St. Thomas Aquinas, who are not blesseds.
Catholic parents must pray daily for knowledge and to push this responsibility totally on a youth, no matter how old, is irresponsible.
Whether a child is called to marriage, a religious vocation or the priesthood, that child needs the direction of holy parents
Some parents pray that God would show the child his or her vocation, when the prayer should be that God would show the parents and the child the vocation to which God has called that child.
God gives many hints and even large indications as to what He wants a child to do and to be. And, if a child rebels against holy parents who have sought out the will of God, woe to that child. Disobedience and rebellion are not normal.
Pray and pay attention, parents, as that is your role.
I have been thinking of writing on parental roles in discerning children's vocations for a few days, and had two people bring this up in different parts of the country.
Please consider what I have to share here.
First of all, young parents, and by young I mean under fifty, lack confidence in their parenting. Society has beat confidence to pulp by undermining the role of the parent in the formation of the child. Governments now want and do take over the formation of children, which is not only in contradiction to the teaching of the Church, but natural law.
Parents are the first, primary and God-given teachers of their children.
Second, parents are given graces in the sacrament of marriage for raising children. Part of the raising of children is the formation of virtue, which some of you have read in my long series last summer of 2013.
Third, parents are given gifts, insights into guiding their children to the specific vocations to which God is calling them.
Finding out one's vocation is not great hidden secret. Indeed, in times past, parents not only saw the gifts of their children clearly but guided them directly into various vocations.
Which leads me to the next point. Parents not only are given gifts to help their children discern their vocations, but parents have a duty to do so.
Why parents are so reluctant to guide directly their own children is a mystery to me. And, if someone is giving advice to the contrary, those people are just plain misguided.
Parents have duty to ask God specifically what a child is called to do and to help that child fulfill that vocation.
Any parent who neglects prayer and guidance is not fulfilling the role and authority given to them by God. A parent who neglects his duty to raise a child in holiness, guiding that child to the vocation God has in Mind, may lose his salvation for thwarting God's plan.
Now, here is the rub. The parent must be objective and holy to see clearly what God has in mind for the children. A parent cannot merely want a child to be a doctor, for example, because of pride and status, or money and security.
A parent cannot push a child to live out the faded and unfulfilled dreams that the parents once had but lost.
A parent cannot push a child away from a vocation to the priesthood or religious life because that parent wants the child in his life, or wants grandchildren, or the name of the family to be carried on in posterity.
No, no, no...
God will genuinely show the parent who is sincere about seeing God's plan for their children's lives. God will show the parent what to do, how to plan the child's life, education, formation.
This is the natural plan of God, to work with the parent so that the child becomes the man or woman God intended them to be. God even calls children to be and to do things from the womb.
Jeremiah 1:5Douay-Rheims
5 Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations.
Why young parents back off from this important role is a mystery to me. Children need and deserve guidance from holy parents who want the child to be what God desires.
Some saints had excellent parents who cooperated with God's plan. Some did not. One thinks of the excellent parents of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who are both recognized as being holy-his mother is a blessed-, and the awful, selfish parents of St. Thomas Aquinas, who are not blesseds.Catholic parents must pray daily for knowledge and to push this responsibility totally on a youth, no matter how old, is irresponsible.
Whether a child is called to marriage, a religious vocation or the priesthood, that child needs the direction of holy parents
Some parents pray that God would show the child his or her vocation, when the prayer should be that God would show the parents and the child the vocation to which God has called that child.
God gives many hints and even large indications as to what He wants a child to do and to be. And, if a child rebels against holy parents who have sought out the will of God, woe to that child. Disobedience and rebellion are not normal.
Pray and pay attention, parents, as that is your role.
Fear Mongering
I myself would add, "and a toothbrush". However, I did not come up with the idea of not panicking in space. But, people are beginning to panic as they have to face, perhaps, death.
Ancient peoples understood that all people die. They saw people succumb to disease, war, poverty. In modern societies, death seems to be avoided. Great lengths are taken to hide death. Deceit about disease, war, poverty minimize risks. But, one must face death. We all do.
Some Americans are panicking because of the Ebola outbreak. There are true dangers which could be lessened by smart governmental policies. But, where are the leaders?
War is also a danger for the entire Western world. Old enemies of the West and new ones want to destroy our civilization.
Poverty is still hidden in the United States. Many old people face undernourishment, lack of heat, and necessary medicines. As one who has had to choose in the past between food and meds, I know how painful this situation can be.
But, despite the reality of so many threats, what is on the news is the purposeful creation of a fear culture.
Governments create fear in order to control people.
In older days, governments created fears about minorities, fanning ancient prejudices. So, history witnessed the Holocaust.
Fear mongering creates passivity among citizens, who feel overwhelmed, helpless, feelings which allow tyrants to control passive peoples.
This is exactly what is happening. To live in fear is not to be Christian.
We live in hope, knowing that death is not the end.
How interesting that it is those who do not have real faith are those who are panicking.
The British won the war...
to be continued......................................
To Love The Church
When I first was re-converted, in 1971, I clearly was given a gift of a great love of the Church. The Church is my love along with Christ my Bridegroom. But, God warned me, saying, "The Bride of Christ is the Whore of Babylon." I was shocked but soon learned that I had to love the good and the bad, the faults and the virtues of those in the Church. I have never forgotten those words.
One reason I love even "fallen clergy" is that God has given me His love for these men. I love those who have fallen because I fell and there but God's grace go I. They must fact justice, but also mercy. The Church must be preserved in love and in truth.
Perhaps, some of my little sufferings can be reparation when I am finally perfected and not merely suffering for my own sins. But, I have suffered from bad monks, bad nuns, bad priests, which are all in stories involving those who betrayed me and abandoned me when I stood up for truth at a famous university, a famous seminary, a high school, an elementary school and other places. I suffered the hatred of those who hate the real Church because I love Her. Most who hated me and the truth were clergymen and nuns, as well as supposedly Catholic laity. Some people have said to me, "I am surprised you stayed Catholic after...."
I know where God is. I know where the Truth is. I know wherein is my salvation.
I have lost patience with those Catholic journalists both on and off the Net who are caught up in the adversarial spirit, which is not from God. One must transcend hatred and failure and love.
When all falls apart, we only have ourselves to blame, not others.
Here is Garrigou-Lagrange on St. Catherine:
One of the characteristics of heroic charity is to bear with great generosity the sufferings that come from those one loves. Thus saints who, like St. Catherine of Siena and St. Joan of Arc, had a great love for the Church, have also had to suffer particularly from the faults of churchmen. This suffering was in the nature of reparation.
God may ask some of you to suffer in, with, for the Church. I have said yes to this many times, but I still pray that I have the courage and strength to face the last battle.
Garrigou-Lagrange on St. Catherine and St. Joan's Hope
When she offered herself for the reformation of the Church, the Lord gave her the following counsel for herself and her spiritual children: "You ought to offer to Me the vessel of many fatiguing actions, in whatever way I send them to you, choosing, after your own fashion, neither place, nor time, nor actions. Therefore the vessel should be full, that is, you should endure all those fatigues with affection of love and true patience, supporting the defects of your neighbor, with hatred and displeasure of sin. . . . So, endure manfully, even unto death, and this will be a sign to Me that you love Me; and you should not turn your faces away and look askance at the plough, through fear of any creature or of any tribulation; rather, in such tribulations should you rejoice. . . . After your sorrow I will give you most sustaining consolation, with much substance in the reformation of the holy Church." (24)
The Lord sustains the hope of His saints by words like those He addressed to Joan of Arc in her prison: "Do not fail to esteem your martyrdom; as a result of it, you will finally come to the kingdom of paradise." The saints place their trust more and more in helpful omnipotence, saying to themselves: "God is stronger than all"; and their immolation itself is a triumph which configures them to our Savior. With Him they thus win the victory over sin and the devil. To persevere in the struggle, they ask the Lord to give them the sincere desire to share in His sacred humiliations, and in this desire to find strength, peace, and occasionally joy that they may revive the courage of those about them.
In the same proportion as charity grows, the fear of suffering diminishes and that of sin increases without weakening trust. The more closely we are united to God by charity, the more we fear sin, which would separate us from Him, and the more we trust in Him who loves us and draws us to Himself.(25)
More from Garrigou-Lagrange: Signs of The Unitive State
Sunday, 5 October 2014
Feast of Our Lady of The Holy Rosary
Celebrated today in the EF, this feast is called an "feast" and the TLM I just attended was truly beautiful.
Singing, superb. Ambiance, superb. Sermon, out of this world
I hear the best sermon I have heard in 40 years live.
Why?
Because the young priest was honest about enemies inside and outside the Church, sparing no names and referring to the euphemistic Turks as Muslims, which they were and are.
I heard a real call to holiness, to leadership, to the renewal of the Church and the defense of the Church.
God bless this young priest.
Note to A Byzantine Reader
A Byzantine Catholic sent me a note and the email sent is not working, as you wanted a response. Can you re-send your email, please?
STM
STM
Blessed Alvero del Portillo
As most of you know by now, one saint I have prayed to for my needs has been Blessed Alvero del Portillo, who was recognized as a blessed last week.
Here is a video of the Mass. I ask you all, dear readers, to beg him for a miracle for my immigration needs. If he answers this one prayer, I shall honor him on this blog and also share with you all the details.
I need a miracle.
http://opusdei.us/en-us/video/beatication-of-alvaro-del-portillo/
And here is, again, the prayer for you to use on my behalf, please
O God, merciful Father, you granted your servant Alvaro, Bishop, the grace of being an exemplary pastor in the service of the Church, and a most faithful son and successor of Saint Josemaría, the founder of Opus Dei. Grant that I too may respond faithfully to the demands of the Christian vocation, turning all the circumstances and events of my life into opportunities to love you and serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Deign to glorify your servant Álvaro, and through his intercession grant me the favor I request ... (here make your petition). Amen.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
In conformity with the decrees of Pope Urban VIII, we declare that there is no intention of anticipating in any way the judgment of the Church, and that this prayer is not intended for public use.
Letter from the Pope on Blessed Alvero, with my boldface type:
Dear Brother,
The beatification of the Servant of God Álvaro del Portillo, faithful collaborator of St Josemaría Escrivá and his first successor at the head of Opus Dei, is a moment of special joy for all the faithful of the Prelature, and also for you, who were for so long a witness of his love for God and others, and his fidelity to the Church and to his vocation. I too wish to unite myself to your joy and to thank God, who embellishes the face of the Church with the holiness of her children.
His beatification will take place in Madrid, the city where he was born and spent his childhood and youth. Here his life began to take shape in the simplicity of family life, through friendship and service to others, as when he went to outlying districts to help provide human and Christian formation to so many people in need. And in this city, above all, there took place the event that definitively marked the course of his life: his meeting with St Josemaría Escrivá, from whom he learned to fall more in love with Christ every day. Yes, to fall in love with Christ. This is the path to holiness that every Christian has to follow: to let ourselves be loved by the Lord, to open up our hearts to his love, and to allow him to be the one who guides our lives.
I like to recall the aspiration that the Servant of God would often repeat, especially for personal celebrations and anniversaries: “Thank you; forgive me; help me more!” These words bring us closer to the reality of his interior life and his relationship with the Lord, and can also help to give a new impulse to our own Christian life.
In the first place, Thank you. This is the soul’s immediate, spontaneous reaction on experiencing God’s goodness. It cannot be otherwise. He always goes ahead of us. However hard we try, his love always gets there first, touches and caresses us first, He beats us to it. Álvaro del Portillo was aware of the many gifts God had given him, and thanked God for that manifestation of his fatherly love. But he did not stop at that: his recognition of Our Lord’s love awakened in his heart desires to follow him with greater commitment and generosity, and to lead a life of humble service to others. Especially outstanding was his love for the Church, the Spouse of Christ, whom he served with a heart devoid of worldly self-interest, far from discord, welcoming towards everyone and always seeking in others what was positive, what united, what was constructive. He never spoke a word of complaint or criticism, even at especially difficult times, but instead, as he had learned from St Josemaría, he always responded with prayer, forgiveness, understanding and sincere charity.
Forgive me. He often confessed that he saw himself empty-handed before God, incapable of responding to so much generosity. But to admit our poverty as human beings is not the result of despair but confident abandonment in God who is our Father. It means opening ourselves to his mercy, his love, which is able to regenerate our life. His love does not humiliate us, nor cast us into the depths of guilt, but embraces us, lifts us up from our prostration and enables us to go forward with more determination and joy. The Servant of God Álvaro knew the need we have of God’s mercy, and devoted a lot of his own energy to encouraging the people he met to go to the sacrament of Confession, the sacrament of joy. How important it is to feel the tenderness of God’s love, and discover that there is still time to love!
Help me more. Yes, the Lord never abandons us, he is always at our side, he journeys with us, and every day he expects new love from us. His grace will not fail us, and with his help we can take his name to the whole world. The heart of the new Blessed beat with the desire to bring the Good News to all hearts. And so he travelled to many countries to foster new projects for evangelization, undeterred by difficulties, moved by his love for God and his brethren. One who is very immersed in God is able to be very close to other people. The first condition for announcing Christ to them is to love them, because Christ loves them before we do. We have to leave behind our selfish concerns and love of comfort, and go out to meet our brothers and sisters. That is where Our Lord is awaiting us. We cannot keep our faith to ourselves: it is a gift we have received to give away and share with others.
Thank you, forgive me, help me! These words express the thrust of a life that is centered on God. It is the life of someone who has been touched by the greatest Love and who lives totally on that love; someone who, while experiencing their own human weakness and limitations, trusts in God’s mercy and wants all mankind, their brothers and sisters, to experience it too.
Dear brother, Blessed Álvaro del Portillo is sending us a very clear message. He is telling us to trust in the Lord, that he is our brother, our friend, who never lets us down and is always at our side. He is encouraging us not to be afraid to go against the current and suffer for announcing the Gospel. He is also teaching us that in the simplicity and ordinariness of our daily lives we can find a sure path to holiness.
I ask all the faithful of the Prelature, priests and lay-people, as well as all those who take part in its activities, to please pray for me. At the same time, I give them all my Apostolic Blessing.
May Jesus bless you, and may the Holy Virgin watch over you.
Fraternally,
Franciscus
Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/10/path_to_sainthood_bayonne_nun_blessed_at_newark_catholic_basilica.html
Please pray to her for all who suffer eye complaints, including myself.
Also, pray to her for holy families to nurture new vocations to the religious life.
Pray to her for America.
Please pray to her for all who suffer eye complaints, including myself.
Also, pray to her for holy families to nurture new vocations to the religious life.
Pray to her for America.
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