Friday, September 2, 2005
It's Really Bad...

I can't get over the horrible conditions in the hurricane-stricken areas of the US. These people are dying from thirst and hunger. There is just too much gone. As I was watching the news I heard stories of people dying and being left behind and it is just horrible down there with all the devestation.

If you can please donate to someone, please do so. Money is the best gift for these people because it can buy almost anything - except their lives and family. Please also say a special Rosary for these people. The Rosary has done great things in the past and we need miracles now as well. Venezuela has responded by sending $1 million dollars in aid. It is one of many countries sending aid. A list has been made and is being updated with new developments on the International Response to Hurricane Katrina.

This weekend is set aside for Katrina blogging. A Blogging for Katrina Victims has been set up by the Truth Laid Bear, which has a list of hundreds of participating blogs. I will be participating in the Blogging for Katrina. I also like the great coverage on Christ-Haunted.

To donate please click on the picture in the top left if you can. May God bless us all.
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Hurricane Katrina Floods Much of Lower US


New Orleans and much of the lower United States is flooded beyond use. It will certainly take years to repair all of the damage. So many people have lost everything...

Read about Hurricane Katrina on Wikipedia.

Image Source: In the Public Domain (Wikipedia)
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Thursday, September 1, 2005
St. Maximilian Kolbe


Memorial (1969 Calendar): August 14

St. Maximilian Kolbe died as a martyr for the faith in a concentration camp where he offered to take the place of a father there for the man to be set free. He did so and instead of being led to the gas chambers, he was starved to death for over 3 weeks. He died by receiving a lethal injection. St. Kolbe showed unwavering love and exists as one of the greatest examples of commitment to Christ's words: "As I have loved you so should you love one another"

St. Maximilian Kolbe was born Raymond Kolbe on January 8, 1894, in Poland as the second of three children to two poor but pious Catholics. In 1910, he entered the Conventual Franciscan Order and was ordained in 1918. During that time, his father, Julius, fought for Poland's independence from Russia and was hanged by the Russians in 1914. His mother, Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun while his brother Alphonse became a priest too. After St. Kolbe's ordination, he returned to his birthplace in Poland and began promoting his Militia of the Immaculata movement of Marian consecration; it was founded on October 16, 1917, by St. Kolbe and six friends. He previously took the name Maximilian on September 5, 1917, at his first profession of vows.

St. Maximilian Koble was considered a wild child until he completely changed his life in 1906 after he received a vision from Mary. St. Kolbe said, "I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both."

St. Kolbe was a disciple of the media. He used the media to spread the Gospel. He started a shortwave radio station and published a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000. In 1930, he established a City of the Immaculata in Nagasaki, Japan. Above all, he was a brilliant theologian that helped develop the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as an "Advocate" for God's people. He was also fiercely against the errors of Freemasonry.

In World War II, the Nazis not only imprisoned Jews but many Catholics - especially priests. ON February 7, 1941, he was imprisoned and transferred to Auschwitz death camp on May 28, 1941. He was branded as prisoner 16670. Because of his calmness and kindness, he was beaten repeatedly and given the worst jobs. But, nevertheless, he continued to hear confessions and secretly administer Holy Communion. In July 1941, there was an escape and the camp guards ordered ten men to die in retribution. Francis Gajowniczek, a father and a married man, was one of them chosen to die. St. Kolbe offered his life for Francis Gajowniczek to be let free so he could return to his family. The arrangement was made but instead of taking St. Kolbe to the gas chambers, he was forced to starve to death for 3 weeks. On August 14, 1941, his captors finally ended his life with a fatal injection. He was burned in the ovens there.

Pope John Paul II canonized St. Maximilian Koble in 1982 and placed a candle in his cell in Auschwitz in 1979. Pope John Paul ll called him a "martyr of charity". Pope Benedict XVI visited that cell to pray briefly when he visited Poland in 2006. St. Kolbe's beatification miracle was the July 1948 cure of intestinal tuberculosis in Angela Testoni, and in August 1950, the cure of calcification of the arteries/sclerosis of Francis Ranier was attributed to the intercession of St. Kolbe.


A Writing of St. Maximilian Kolbe:

I rejoice greatly, dear brother, at the outstanding zeal that drives you to promote the glory of God. It is sad to see how in our times the disease called “indifferentism” is spreading in all its forms, not just among those in the world but also among the members of religious orders. But indeed, since God is worthy of infinite glory, it is our first and most pressing duty to give him such glory as we, in our weakness, can manage – even that we would never, poor exiled creatures that we are, be able to render him such glory as he truly deserves.

Because God’s glory shines through most brightly in the salvation of the souls that Christ redeemed with his own blood, let it be the chief concern of the apostolic life to bring salvation and an increase in holiness to as many souls as possible. Let me briefly outline the best way to achieve this end – both for the glory of God and for the sanctification of the greatest number. God, who is infinite knowledge and infinite wisdom, knows perfectly what is to be done to give him glory, and in the clearest way possible makes his will known to us through his vice-gerents on Earth.

It is obedience and obedience alone that shows us God’s will with certainty. Of course our superiors may err, but it cannot happen that we, holding fast to our obedience, should be led into error by this. There is only one exception: if the superior commands something that would obviously involve breaking God’s law, however slightly. In that case the superior could not be acting as a faithful interpreter of God’s will.

God himself is the one infinite, wise, holy, and merciful Lord, our Creator and our Father, the beginning and the end, wisdom, power, and love – God is all these. Anything that is apart from God has value only in so far as it is brought back to him, the Founder of all things, the Redeemer of mankind, the final end of all creation. Thus he himself makes his holy will known to us through his vice-gerents on Earth and draws us to himself, and through us – for so he has willed – draws other souls too, and unites them to himself with an ever more perfect love.

See then, brother, the tremendous honour of the position that God in his kindness has placed us in. Through obedience we transcend our own limitations and align ourselves with God’s will, which, with infinite wisdom and prudence, guides us to do what is best. Moreover, as we become filled with the divine will, which no created thing can resist, so we become stronger than all others.

This is the path of wisdom and prudence, this is the one way by which we can come to give God the highest glory. After all, if there had been another, better way, Christ would certainly have shown it to us, by word and by example. But in fact sacred Scripture wraps up his entire long life in Nazareth with the words and he was obedient to them and it shows the rest of his life to have been passed in similar obedience – almost as an instruction to us – by showing how he came down to Earth to do the Father’s will.

Brethren, let us love him above all, our most loving heavenly Father, and let our obedience be a sign of this perfect love, especially when we have to sacrifice our own wills in the process. And as for a book from which to learn how to grow in the love of God, there is no better book than Jesus Christ crucified.

All this we will achieve more easily through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin, to whom the most kind God has given the task of dispensing his mercies. There is no doubt that the will of Mary should be the will of God for us. When we dedicate ourselves to him, we become tools in her hands just as she became a tool in his. Let us let her direct us and lead us by the hand. Let us be calm and serene under her guidance: she will foresee all things for us, provide all things, swiftly fulfil our needs both bodily and spiritual, and keep away from us all difficulty and suffering.

For more of his writings, see Let Yourself Be Led by the Immaculate
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Take Action: Plan B morning-after-pill

The news has repeatedly mentioned the Plan B morning-after-pill and I strongly urge everyone to write to the FDA to reject this dangerous measure. If you are looking for key points to include in your letters there is a good website with those included.

For more information on contraception as well as the Catholic Church’s opposition to it please see these previous posts.

Also, according to my poll the Sept. Discussion Topic is currently in a tie, so after this weekend I will see which one will be the topic to allow time for additional votes on it to break the tie.
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Rainbows


We all know that rainbows come out after the rain as the Old Testament says to remind us of God's promise never to destroy the earth again by water. Well, I was reading through a calendar the other day and saw a very inspiration quote.

"If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain" (Unknown).

It reminded me of Sunday's Gospel: "Whoever does not take up His cross and follow me is not worthy of me." After all, it was through the Cross that Our Lord worked the greatest joy in the Resurrection. Trust God and all things shall be bright and beautiful.

Image Source: In the Public Domain (Wikipedia)

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Hurricane Victims


Please keep the victims of Hurricane Katrina in your prayers. There are so many that need for and water and homes, but I found an article on Planned Parenthood (the main abortion provider) rushing to them and giving birth control pills! Do they even have their priorities straight? These people need food and water not contraception. As Catholics would know, artificial contraception is morally wrong for all peoples!

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans around the end of August 2005. For information about it, please see Wikipedia.

Image Source: In the Public Domain NASA
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Monday, August 29, 2005
The Anima Christi

Say this prayer for the sick, suffering, and dying that God's mercy may intervene and save them. This prayer is from the 14th Century and commonly said after receiving Holy Communion. This prayer is one that has an indulgence attached.


Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels Forever and ever
Amen

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
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Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist


Memorial (1969 Calendar): August 29
Greater Double (1955 Calendar): August 29

Today, we recall the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who baptized Christ and prepared His way by baptizing people in repentance. Specifically, today, we recall his death. Devotion to St. John the Baptist has been widespread for centuries.

According to Pius Parsch's The Church's Year of Grace, this day commemorates "the second finding of his most venerable head." As he writes: "In the year 362, pagans desecrated the grave and burned his remains. Only a small portion of his relics were able to be saved by monks and sent to St. Athanasius at Alexandria. The head of the saint is venerated at various places."

One interesting point is that in some of the Eastern Catholic Rites (e.g., the Melkite Catholic Church) the feast of the Beheading of St John the Baptist is a day of fast and strict abstinence where neither wine nor oil are allowed.

The Gospel Account of his martyrdom:
At the time Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servants, "This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him." Now Herod had arrested John, bound (him), and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.

His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus. (Matthew 14:3-12)
Say a prayer for St. John the Baptist's intercession that he might lead us closer to Jesus Christ, Our Lord, and Master. And like St. John, may we be willing to stand true to the Faith and morality even if it means our own martyrdom.

Dom Gueranger in "The Liturgical Year" on today's feast and what may have happened to Herod and the dancing girl in the years following:

The sacred cycle itself seems to convey to us too a similar lesson; for, during the following days, we shall see its teaching as it were tempered down, by the fewness of the feasts, and the disappearance of great solemnities until November. The school of the holy liturgy aims at adapting the soul, more surely and more fully than could any other school, to the interior teaching of the Spouse. Like John, the Church would be glad to let God alone speak always, if that were possible here below; at least, towards the end of the way, she loves to moderate her voice, and sometimes even to keep silence, in order to give her children an opportunity of showing that they know how to listen inwardly to Him, who is both her and their sole love. Let those who interpret her thought, first understand it well. The friend of the Bridegroom, who, until the nuptial-day, walked before Him, now stands and listens; and the voice of the Bridegroom, which silences his own, fills him with immense joy: ‘This my joy therefore is fulfilled,' said the precursor.

Thus the feast of the Decollation of St. John may he considered as one of the landmarks of the liturgical year. With the Greeks it is a holiday of obligation. Its great antiquity in the Latin Church is evidenced by the mention made of it in the martyrology called St. Jerome’s, and by the place it occupies in the Gelasian and Gregorian sacramentaries. The precursor’s blessed death took place about the feast of the Pasch; but, that it might be more freely celebrated, this day was chosen, whereon his sacred head was discovered at Emesa.

The vengeance of God fell heavily upon Herod Antipas. Josephus relates how he was overcome by the Arabian Aretas, whose daughter he had repudiated in order to follow his wicked passions; and the Jews attributed the defeat to the murder of St. John. He was deposed by Rome from his tetrarchate, and banished to Lyons in Gaul, where the ambitious Herodias shared his disgrace. As to her dancing daughter Salome, there is a tradition gathered from ancient authors,[5]that, having gone out one winter day to dance upon a frozen river, she fell through into the water; the ice, immediately closing round her neck, cut off her head, which bounded upon the surface, thus continuing for some moments the dance of death.

Litany of John the Baptist for private use

Lord, have mercy on us. 
Christ, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. 
Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.
Queen of Prophets, pray for us.
Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, precursor of Christ, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, glorious forerunner of the Sun of Justice, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, minister of baptism to Jesus, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, burning and shining lamp of the world, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, angel of purity before thy birth, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, special friend and favorite of Christ, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, heavenly contemplative, whose element was prayer, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, intrepid preacher of truth, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, voice crying in the wilderness, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, miracle of mortification and penance, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, example of profound humility, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, glorious martyr of zeal for God's holy law, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, gloriously fulfilling thy mission, pray for us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

V. Pray for us, O glorious St. John the Baptist,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Collect:

May the holy festival of Thy Forerunner and Martyr, St. John the Baptist, we beseech Thee, O Lord, afford us help unto salvation: Who livest and reignest.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal
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Sunday, August 28, 2005
Gospel: Who do you say that I am, Peter?

We heard those clear words in last Sunday's Gospel and then we see Peter, the first-pope-to-be, answering correctly: "We have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This is the first proclamation of true faith in the Gospel; someone saw Jesus as more than a man but God.

But, in today's Gospel the story changes slightly with two very important messages:

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to Peter,"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Then Jesus said to his disciples,"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct."

This probably seems like a colossal misinterpretation of what Peter said. He only wanted the best for Our Lord, right? But then we see the truth in Peter's words. Remember that Jesus Christ was born for one purpose: to die. He was born to die on our Cross and shed His blood for our sins and go into the ground for three days and rise again. The entire purpose the Son of God (truly God Himself too) became flesh was to die for us; Peter right here thinks he is doing good but he is really tempting Christ like Satan tempted Him in the desert. The Cross was meant for us and Christ came to take it away so that all of our crosses might unite with His.

The entire point of becoming man was to save us, and all of us too, from eternal death. It didn't matter if we would go to Mass every week, pray often, or even love Him...He died for us anyway. He died for every single soul in existence no matter how cruel that said soul was, so that he/she might be able to see His face and live in paradise. Now, Heaven still requires work - we must believe and follow the Commandments including attending Sunday Mass, etc.

Jesus must be the foundation of our lives and we must love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul and love our neighbor as ourself. Every sin no matter how small is a wedge between us and God. Let us reflect on our lives and sincerely plan to go to Confession. Let us profess our belief that Jesus is God, but go further and show good works. Let us do as Peter did and say "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" and add one important extention: "I love you."

The most touching point of the homily today was when my priest asked: "So when did Peter finally figure everything out and follow Christ?" It happened right after Jesus was arrested. He was taken and beaten and interrogated and mocked while Peter sat outside. And there Peter denied Christ three times as Our Lord said would happen. And at that moment, Peter looked up and saw Christ and Christ saw Peter; their eyes met...and Peter wept for He knew the truth. The truth is that Jesus Christ died for him too.

With the Year of the Eucharist drawing to a close very soon let us just sit before the Sacred Host for one moment, gaze into it with our heart and say: "Jesus Christ, I adore you."

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
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Saturday, August 27, 2005
Crossing: Book Review

Here is my review of Crossing: Reclaiming the Landscape of Our Lives by Mark Barrett, OSB. I originally chose this book because it was supposed to deal with the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church's specific prayers of the day, and I wanted to learn more on the Liturgy. This book, though, took the general look at the Liturgy. I was looking for more of the common prayers and advice on praying the Liturgy of the Hours.

In the book the author describes our days as full of crossroads through a garden (the garden being a metaphor of our life), and only if we rely on God and think clearly about how to improve our lives through prayer can we hope to travel through life without going in circles. Make sure you see prayer as a personal dialogue with God and an opportunity to reflect on our day so far. If you, however, do not rely on God then we are nothing and surely can not find our way through a garden because it would undoubtedly seem a wilderness.

My review: It was full of references to works that I have never heard of, and it digressed a little too much at times. 4.0/10
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