Monday, 16 December 2013
Do You Believe This?
“If you are what you should be, you would set the whole world on fire.”
from St. Catherine of Siena
from St. Catherine of Siena
Do You Know About the Chaplet of St.Therese?
This Chaplet commemorates each of the 24 years of St. Therese's life on Earth.
Opening Prayer:
St Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more.
On the first bead, say:
Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus, Patroness of Missions, pray for us.
On each of the other 24 beads, say one Glory Be:
Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
A Prayer to Saint Therese:
O little St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, who during your short life on earth became a mirror of angelic purity, of love strong as death, and of wholehearted abandonment to God, now that you rejoice in the reward of your virtues, cast a glance of pity on me as I leave all things in your hands. Make my troubles your own - speak a word for me to our Lady Immaculate, whose flower of special love you were - to that Queen of heaven "who smiled on you at the dawn of life." Beg her as the Queen of the heart of Jesus to obtain for me by her powerful intercession, the grace I yearn for so ardently at this moment, and that she join with it a blessing that may strengthen me during life. Defend me at the hour of death, and lead me straight on to a happy eternity.
Amen
Thanks to....
http://patroncatholicsaints.blogspot.com/2010/02/saint-therese-of-lisieux-chaplet.html
Hello, Wake Up, America
Sibelius said this, folks....
"As you know, we're facing the end of the Western Civilization by having a market-based strategy. We are bringing Western Civilization to its knees by selling private insurance plans on a website where people can pick and choose."
Dr. Ben Carson made clear Friday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. The former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon called the Affordable Care Act the "worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery."
Dr. Ben Carson made clear Friday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. The former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon called the Affordable Care Act the "worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery."
He wasn't exaggerating.
ObamaCare puts the U.S. government in charge of fully one-sixth of America's economy, unconstitutionally seeks to force Americans to buy a service, often against their will, and places each individual's health at the eventual mercy of government bureaucracy.
Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/101413-675081-obamacare-bringing-western-civilization-to-its-knees.htm#ixzz2neq0kkK8
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
Put This on Your Christmas List
http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Flesh-Raymond-Cardinal-Burke/dp/0981631428
Hint, would someone like to get it for me, please?
Hint, would someone like to get it for me, please?
A Return to The Perfection Series
This week, unless I move, I shall start the perfection series up again.
A Happy Christmas present for you and for me.
A Happy Christmas present for you and for me.
On compromising and purification.....
“A bridegroom of blood by circumcision."
One of the most mysterious passages in the Old Testament is Exodus 4:24–26. Moses, on his way to Egypt to free the Hebrews, has been told by God in the verses before these, that the son of Pharaoh would be killed.
The firstborn of Egypt would be killed in order to free the Chosen People of God. Now, according to Jewish commentaries, Moses had made a compact with the pagan priest, Jethro, his father-in-law, to raise one of the boys as a pagan and one as an Israelite. But, God was not happy with this compromise.
In the night, the passage states that God came to destroy the first born of Moses. Zipporah, ever a strong and good woman, quickly circumcised the son who had not been, Gershom. Zipporah, in righteous anger, take the foreskin of the boy and lays it on his feet, to show the Angel of Destruction, that the boy is now circumscribed. But, in her anger, she says to Moses, that he is "a bridegroom of blood by circumcision."
Moses had compromised and the fact that God was willing to kill Moses' firstborn is a lesson in being orthodox. Zipporah calls Moses a bridegroom as he willingly married the daughter of a pagan priest, but did not keep his promise, his covenant to God to pass on the circumcision, the sign of the covenant.
Moses was being warned that he should have taken God seriously about fulfilling the law of the covenant. Moses was going into Egypt to do God's work. Moses had to be purified before doing the great thing of causing and leading the Exodus.
Many Jewish commentators disagree on the interpretation, but this one makes the most sense to me. I have added the bit about purification, but blood was a sign of life and the sacrifice to God; blood was life-giving.
The Jewish comments go back centuries.
I have studying Zipporah since last summer, as she "speaks" to me somehow. I wrote a poem about her a while ago. I share it again below. But, the point of this post is that we can not have any sin or tendencies to sin in order to do God's work. We must not compromise. We must allow God to purify us.
This is why we seek purification-to gain heaven and to do the work of God.
The results of compromise ruins families. In fact, the grandson of Moses, Jonathan, the son of Gershom, became the head priest of idolatry in the land of Canaan. And, notice that it was to Joshua and Caleb that the line of leaders was given, not to the sons of Moses.
Being someone's son or daughter does not guarantee holiness. But, being obedient, not falling into idolatry, not compromising does....See Judges 17.13 for the sad defection of Jonathan. Parents, do not compromise. The salvation of your children is at stake.
Exodus 18 and 19
Zipporah, wandering bird
waiting in the tents of Yitro
Faithful to the wandering Jew
now crossing the Sea of Red.
She and her two sons, the
second, one of promise
Like Isaac, Jacob, second
but chosen-Eliezer-while
Zipporah weeps for Gershom,
passes the springs, not sharing
In the four cups of seder.
How long will this bird wander?
Moses no longer mere shepherd
but king, steps forward, taking
Yitro into his tent, the
mirror-image of times past.
The wandering bird is left
outside, the Kushite beauty
Separated, not loved, like
Sarah, Rebecca, or Rachel
Sisters in the Lord, sans gold
since the new Revelation.
Moses becomes God's eunuch.
The bird fades into the desert.
Why Jesus Came As A Baby
There is a fear in this land and in Europe. It is the fear of Love. This may sound strange, as most people think they are seeking Love. They desire sex, attention, status, money, things all in the name of desiring Love.
But, Love is none of those things. Love is an encounter, a meeting, an event. Love is both Life and the openness to Life.
The fear I see in those who run away from this encounter may be divided into four parts.
The first is the fear of being known. To be known for who one is in the truest aspect of one's being, to be really known is the key to Love. Love seeks to be known and to know.
But, many people do not want to be known. They think that if someone really knew them, they would not be loved. The opposite is true. If these people could be open to Love, they would learn to love themselves as well.
Some hurt, some curse, some huge need for healing keeps these people from wanting to be known.
The second aspect of this fear of Love is the fear of disappointment. Perhaps, a person has loved and been loved by another person. But, then, something went wrong. Perhaps, a person betrayed, or manipulated the person who now is afraid of Love, and runs away.
The third part of the fear of Love is the suspicion one may have that one cannot love back, that one is incapable of loving enough. Again, one may think that one could never return love and this causes pain, the pain of pride.
A possible fourth aspect of the fear of Love is the knowledge that to love is to sacrifice something of one's self, to endure pain, to reach out even when one is at the edge of energy and feeling.
I challenge those who are afraid of Love to look at the One Person Who can change all these parts of fear into courage and even lead one into an adventure of real life. Who can be afraid of a Baby?
Jesus Christ is Love. And, when we are open to Him, He leads us to Love, His Love, to share with others.
Let me answer all the aspects of fear.
One, to be known and to desire to know another is of the essence of Love. But, God loves us "just as we are". He has no false ideas of our sins, our failing, our huge mistakes.
Pride along stands between us and being known by God and by others. To become humble is to be open to being known.
Two, there will be disappointments in relationships with people, but not with a relationship with Christ. He never stops loving us, never, never, never. Again, this fear is based on a pride which denies the Love of God.
Three, I answer that of course, one cannot love back as much as one should. Who do we think we are? Only God loves perfectly, but He can help us towards a perfect love. He can change us to that we can love with His Love, not our own.
Lastly, Love is worth the sacrifice. The joy of Love outweighs the pain.
I hope some can lay aside the fear of Love this Advent and be open.
To me, this is one reason why Christ came as a Baby. How can one reject the innocent Love of the Christ Child, so vulnerable, so poor, so weak? God calls us to become like a little child-trusting, open, unafraid.
Choose Love. Choose Life, this Advent.