Love Catholic/Lutheran School Sports Headlines And Phrases

Here are some typical examples .....

Martin Luther beats Racine Lutheran

St. John Bosco's Josh Rosen National Number One
 

 

Our Lady Queen of Peace Meets St. Benedict's

Pope John Paul II shows defensive aggression in four-team scrimmage.

Assumption Blasts West.

... we invite you to come experience Trinity basketball


St Aloysius Grapples with Injuries.

Holy Angels Loses New Coach

St. Olas is very tough....

Yes, Yes, Yes

Two readers wrote to me that they use my postings for children's groups (manners and virtue training) and for adult catechesis (perfection series).

Please feel free the print off anything and use it. I only ask that if you use the short stories and poems, the novellas and plays, that you give me credit as the fictional author, as I am trying to get some of these published in hardbound at this time.

But, the commentaries on Scripture, the personal meditations and posts, please use. That is why these are here-for the building of the Kingdom of God. The meditations on Scripture are from my own prayer time, mostly, unless a source is given.

God has blessed me with so much, the five loaves and two fish, that to share is a joy and a necessity.

Go for it and you do not have to ask.

Most of the references I use are either on line or easily found as well. I have provided links to sources for all things.

The Crux of The Matter

 Matthew 24:37

And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.


In our times, the time of the New Testament, the New Covenant, millions of people have been given grace through baptism to hear God daily. We hear God in the daily Scriptures, at daily Mass if we are lucky enough to get to one, through other Catholic, orthodox, praying friends, through Mr. Voris, Father Z, EWTN, Salt and Light, Internet sources, through reading and studying, by being silent and reflecting.

We can hear God because we are in sanctifying grace. Some listen.

In the Old Testament times, not all people heard the Lord, which is why the People of God had the prophets, teachers and leaders who did.

From Abraham down through John the Baptist, the Patriarchs and Prophets shared the Word of God with the people. Some listened.

In a time of tribulation, God allows the world to be covered in a darkness, in order to purify the elect and save many who otherwise are not paying attention.

Pay attention now.

If you are too busy to pray and reflect, you are too busy.

Soon, many if not all of us will find ourselves in a terrible state of not being able to hear God.

Christ warned Jerusalem of its destruction because the inhabitants refused to acknowledge Him as the Messiah.

Some left, most did not.

Hear the Lord while you can.

Pray to respond quickly to His Voice and to know when He is calling, speaking, nudging.

Soon, all human voices which share God's word will be stopped. You must learn to rely on Him alone.

Well I guess I shall not be going to Iceland soon

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ICELAND_VOLCANO?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-23-09-41-28

Thoughts

The Net is off and on here again today.  One symptom of the fact that Americans are being isolated, on purpose. With an aging population which does not care about Net communication, and not enough younger ones to keep the infrastructure of the States and Canada going smoothly, or at all in some places, (abortion, contraception=not enough young people), we shall see interruptions in the type of communications and travel we have come to expect.

Father Z. has over 36,000,000 hits since he started.

Keep looking while you can.

Counting my previous blog, I am up to about 1,300,000 and very pleased.

Do not take it for granted that any of us Catholic bloggers will be on the Net in a year, dear readers.

Just for Balance

A Lost Summer

I have hardly been outside this summer.

If I were teaching again in college, I would have gone back to the classroom this week, or next week. Today, it has rained, as it has most days this past August where I have been living. Twice, we had to turn on the heat, as the temperatures dropped into the high 40s.

I cannot remember an August like this in America, ever.

August was not summer. It was a month lost in cold, rain, and illness.

July was lost as well, with planning to move, moving, settling and getting back to a schedule.

June was a bit traumatic because of family issues, physical therapy on my back and foot, and insecurities .

A lost summer. Somehow, I think this summer represents the future for many of us. We shall have to adapt to huge changes in the normal.

I love summer and summer weather. I am hot weather person. To have missed these three months with nary a visit anywhere, without a real "vacation" day, has been a disappointment. But, I do think this is the new normal.

I cannot indulge any longer in any type of disappointments.

Suffering comes in small as well as big "hits".

I can handle rain in England, especially in London, but not in the States....hmmm. I cannot believe the rendition of this song I like is six years old. I thought I first heard it in 2006, which would make it eight years ago...input?

Wisdom from St. Paul

I have written on this topic before from a different angle. But, in these times, it is necessary to try and help young Catholics understand "unequal yoking".

St. Paul is referring to marriage here in this passage from 2 Corinthians 6. The city of Corinth was a great pagan center and Paul had to convince new Christians not to marry unbelievers. He was seeing the problems in relationships involving those who had received the light of Christ from those who had not.

 11] Our mouth is open to you, O ye Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. [12] You are not straitened in us, but in your own bowels you are straitened. [13] But having the same recompense, (I speak as to my children,) be you also enlarged. [14] Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? [15] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?
[16] And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: [18] And I will receive you; and I will be a Father to you; and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

I am going to concentrate on the juxtaposition in this passage "And what concord hath Christ with Belial?"

I think Paul is engaging in poetic irony or making a pun in this phrase, as the word Belial, (which was identified with a demon in the Old Testament), can be translated as "yokeless". 

Paul is saying if one is yoked to Christ, a person that is made one with Christ in baptism, how can one join in marriage to one who is not yoked to Christ?

In verse 16 Paul becomes more specific: how can a Christian, who is a temple of the Holy Ghost, who enjoys the Indwelling of the Trinity, be joined with one who does not? Now, some Catholics simply have not understood that there is more to marriage than love. The fact that two people become one means that there must be a joining of the mind, the heart, the soul, and not just the body.

If you recall in an earlier post this year, I was incensed that a young friend who had pals who had fallen away from the Church noted that these young men should find strong Catholic girls to save them.

Women who want to be married should not "yoke" themselves with unbelievers. The man is the spiritual leader in the family and if that is lacking, all with suffer, particularly the children. Thinking that it is the duty of a wife to bring her husband into the Church is naive and a set-up for deep suffering.

Strong Catholic marriages are covenants made between equals in the Holy Spirit. 

To be unequally yoked demands patience and even disappointment. One should never marry thinking that the other half of the partnership will eventually convert. I know marriages where this has not happened.

Unequal yoking weakens the Church and may be an occasion of sin for the believing person. However, God does give graces for conversion to all people. And, in a loving marriage, the groundwork for the acceptance of that conversion may be made if the believing person is living in the life of virtues.

For those in unequally yoked marriages, I pray that God truly gives tremendous graces so that the two may really become one. Paul's warning is prudent and wise.

The Time of Mercy

For many decades, the world has experienced a time of mercy, with excellent popes and some solid teaching. At the same time, the Church has been weakened from within.


This time of mercy is coming to an end. God will not tolerate the cries of the aborted babies or the martyrs around the world.

One of my friends today said he hoped Jesus would return soon. But, I cautioned him, stating that we should be glad for this time of mercy.

I want to ask my readers some questions:

Are you going to regular, even weekly Confession?

Are you learning the Faith now and not procrastinating?

Are you bringing your family members who are lapsed Catholics or lazy Catholics back to reality about their baptismal promises?

Are you teaching your children, your spouse, the truths of the Catholic Church?

Soon, many places will be without priests, without the sacraments, without Mass.

What are you doing at the end of the time for mercy?

Hello to Readers in Ireland

I miss my friends there. Photos of the Shrine of St. Oliver Plunkett in Drogheda and one photo of his relics at Downside (with gold casket).

TSA Admits Lying

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/22/TSA-Admits-Illegal-Aliens-Boarding-Planes-Using-Notice-to-Appear-Forms

We Need More Priests Like This One

1881-1895 — Bishop Manogue First Bishop of the newly formed Diocese of Sacramento

from

http://www.diocese-sacramento.org/diocese/history.html

There are more stories told about Patrick Manogue (1832-1895) than any other bishop or priest in California; and the reason for it is the man’s character and the life he led. He was born in Kilkenny County, Ireland in 1832 and lost both parents to sickness. In 1848 he came to United States where he found work and went to college. Under pressure of wanting to bring his brothers and sisters to United States, he interrupted his college life in 1853, and came across country to a place called Moore’s Flat, above Nevada city in California, where he started to dig for Gold — and was successful, in more ways than one — since he was six feet, three inches tall and powerfully built.

While making money, working all day smashing quartz and digging tunnels, he studied at night — he brought his college books with him. What he really wanted was to become a priest. There were many disputes in the mining camp. Manogue, though only in his early twenties, was the acclaimed judge of these disputes. Size, strength, and goodness have a way of convincing people!
In four years of mining, Manogue made enough money to afford an education in Paris at one of the best seminaries of the time, Saint Sulpice. During those years he not only studied but traveled throughout Europe — but he never forgot his family living in Moore’s Flat. He regularly wrote to them.

Manogue was ordained a priest in Paris and came back home to California and his first assignment: Virginia City, Nevada. A strong man was needed for Nevada. Manogue fit the bill. While there, not only did the city grow with the discovery of first gold, then silver — Manogue grew also in his ability to help others; nor was he afraid to use his strength. On one occasion he learned that one of his parishioners was dying. He got on his horse, at night, and started out to the lonely cabin. When he arrived, the lady’s husband came out of the cabin, a pistol trained on the priest. “No blankety-blank priest is going to touch my wife!” The pistol waved in the air. Manogue decked the man, took the pistol away, went into the cabin and prayed with the woman. When he returned, the astonished husband was sitting on the steps. Manogue gave back the pistol, got on his horse and rode back to Virginia City. The stories about the man are legend!

One of the men Manogue had mined with was John Mackay, an ordinary miner who later discovered the Comstock silver lode in Virginia City. He became the richest man in the world, but never lost his friendship with Manogue.  He built both a hospital and a school for the parishioners. The hospital still stands and is a relic used by art groups during the summer.

John Mackay also contributed heavily for the building of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento. A cathedral is for a Bishop, which Manogue became in 1881. By 1886, he was moved to a newly created diocese, Sacramento. It needed a cathedral, right next to the Capitol. His long time miner friends helped him build and celebrate it—at the old Golden Eagle Hotel on K Street—people like Fair, Flood, Mackay & O’Brien—the big four in mining whose fortunes created San Francisco.
In 1895, Patrick Manogue died in the Cathedral he built. Stories about the man and his life filled the papers for days. He was loved because he lived his life for Christ.

Rose of Lima

In March of 1961, I was given in Confirmation, the name Rose of Lima. At that time, she was the only canonized saint of the New World. I wanted to be brave and heroic like Rose. I wanted to do penances and love Jesus first. I was twelve years old.

I wish I could say that I kept my intentions, but ten years later, I forgot about Rose and Jesus for awhile. But, both brought me back to the Faith the next year.

A great site for some tidbits from the life of Rose is here.

Happy Feast of St. Rose of Lima, one of my patrons.

Why Do?

....Atheists, Muslims, Gay Activists, Rude People, Pro-Abortion, Pro-Contraception, Anti-Catholic, Anti-Clerical, Rabid Feminists, Marxists, Socialists, Lesbians, Far-Left Catholics, Lazy Catholics, Liberal Dems, Far-Right Sedevacantists, and generally unloving people read my blog?

You should see some of the comments I delete. Do they not have something better to do and other blogs to read?

Sigh...