Another Catholic Blog

I wanted to announce another good Catholic blog by Ed called To Jesus Through Mary. He writes well and has some very good posts and novenas at his blog. I've been working on helping him create a good sidebar. So please go on over, have a look around, and say hello.

2007 Update: His blog is no longer online.

Image Source: The Assumption of the Virgin by Veronese

Read more >>

Thank you for the Prayers for Kathleen

First, thank you everyone that commented on my post below about a friend of the family dying. It really comforts me to know that other people are out there praying for her. My family recently saw her in November, and she was setting up a camper for the summer. In a few weeks we were supposed to go down and have a little vacation. But it's not going to happen.

But, I entrust her soul completely to Christ, the Most Merciful. Thank you all for your prayers. It really means a lot to me.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Image Source: At Prayer by Edwin Longs den Long

Read more >>

Please Pray for the Repose of the Soul of Kathleen

A friend of my family just died a few hours ago. Her name was Kathleen and she was Catholic. It is very hard for my family. Please pray that she might now be in God's mercy in His glorious love. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son," and God loves us still.

Please pray for her soul. Please offer up indulgences and prayers. She was so kind to us. It is very upsetting to write about. I ask for your prayers.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Image Source: Photo of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen believed to be in the Public Domain

Read more >>

5th Day of the Novena to St. John Bosco

Today is my 5th day of the Novena to St. John Bosco, who worked so many miracles in his life. His feast day is approaching - January 31st.

If you have not started this novena, please do so and pray along with me. Here's a link to the Novena.

Read more >>

St. Angela Merici

Optional Memorial (1969 Calendar): January 27
Double (1954 Calendar): May 31
Class III (1962 Calendar): June 1

Today the Church remembers St. Angela Merici, virgin. St. Angela was born in 1474 in Italy and ended up forming the Order of Ursulines, which was the first teaching order for women to be approved by the Church.

Early on in her life, St. Angela devoted her life to Christ as His bride. This deep love for God led her to a deeper prayer life and love beyond today's standards. When her parents died, St. Angela lived for Christ and His Gospel every day in solitude. In 1524, St. Angela journeyed on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She visited Pope Clement VII, in Rome, who desired for her to remain in the city. So, in 1516, she founded a society for girls under St. Ursula's protection, which later became the Ursuline Order. At age 70, St. Angela Merici died, and her body remained perfectly incorrupt for 30 days afterward. A remarkable event also happened at her burial in the Church of St. Afra.

In 1954, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen setting it on May 31st, and to make room for it, he moved the feast of St. Angela Merici to June 1 from May 31st.

Traditional Matins Reading:

Angela de Merici was born of virtuous parents at Decenzano, a town in the diocese of Verona, near lake Benago, in the Venetian territory. From her earliest years she kept the strictest guard over the lily of her virginity, which she had resolved should never be taken from her. She had a thorough contempt for those outward deckings on which so many women set their hearts. She purposely disfigured the beauty of her features and hair, that she might find no favour save with the Spouse of our souls. Whilst yet in the bloom of youth, she lost her parents; whereupon she sought to retire into a desert, that she might lead a life of penance; but being prevented by an uncle, she fulfilled at home what she was not permitted to do in a wilderness. She frequently wore a hairshirt, and took the discipline. She never ate flesh-meat, except in case of sickness; she never tasted wine, except on the Feasts of our Lord’s Nativity and Resurrection; and, at times, would pass whole days without taking any food. She spent much time in prayer, and exceedingly little in sleep, and that little on the ground. The devil having once appeared to her in the form of an angel of light, she at once detected his craft, and put him to flight. At length, having resigned her right to the fortune left her by her parents, she embraced the rule of the Third Order of St Francis, received the habit, and united evangelical poverty to the merit of virginity.

She showed her neighbour every kind office in her power; and gave to the poor a portion of her own food, which she procured by begging. She gladly served the sick. She gained the reputation of great sanctity in several places, which she visited either that she might comfort the afflicted, or obtain pardon for criminals, or reconcile them that were at variance, or reclaim sinners from the sink of crime. She had a singular hunger for the Bread of Angels, which she frequently received; and such was the vehemence of her love of God, that she was often in a state of ecstasy. She visited the Holy Places of Palestine with extraordinary devotion. During her pilgrimage, she lost her sight on landing on the isle of Candia, but recovered it when leaving. She also miraculously escaped shipwreck and falling into the hands of barbarians. She went to Rome during the Pontificate of Pope Clement the Seventh, in order to venerate the firm Rock of the Church, and to gain the great Jubilee Indulgence. The Pope had an interview with her, at once discovered her sanctity and spoke of her to others in terms of highest praise; nor would he have allowed her to leave the city, had he not been convinced that heaven called her elsewhere.

Having returned to Brescia, she took a house near the church of Saint Afra. There, by God's command, which was made known to her by a voice from heaven and by a vision, she instituted a new society of virgins under a special discipline, and holy rules, which she herself drew up. She put her Institute under the title and patronage of Saint Ursula, the brave leader of the army of virgins: she also foretold, shortly before her death, that this Institute would last to the end of the world. At length, being close upon seventy years of age, laden with merit, she took her flight to heaven in the year 1540, on the sixth of the Calends of February (January 27). Her corpse was kept thirty days before being put in the grave, and preserved the flexibility and appearance of a living body. It was laid in the church of Saint Afra, amidst the many other relics wherewith that church is enriched. Many miracles were wrought at her tomb. The rumour of these miracles spread not only through Brescia and Decenzano, but also in other places. The name of Blessed was soon given to Angela, and her image used to be placed on the altars. St Charles Borromeo affirmed, whilst preaching at Brescia, a few years after Angela’s death, that she was worthy of canonization: Clement the Thirteenth ratified and confirmed the devotion thus paid her by the faithful, which had already received the approbation of several bishops, and the encouragement of several Indults of Sovereign Pontiffs. Finally, after several new miracles had been juridically proved, Pius the Seventh enrolled Angela in the list of holy virgins, in the solemn canonization celebrated in the Vatican Basilica, on May 24 in the year 1807.

Litany to St. Angela Merici for private recitation:

God the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, and faithful Guardian of our Mother Saint Angela, Pray for us.

Saint Angela Merici, Pray for us.
St. Angela, favored with the choicest gifts of God from thy infancy, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who didst give thyself to the practice of all the virtues from thy tenderest years, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who didst always preserve a spotless purity, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who by thy love for holy purity, didst merit to receive thy name, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who from childhood found thy delight in solitude, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who led an angelic life in the house of thy parents, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who didst daily hear on thy body the mortification of Jesus, Pray for us.
St. Angela, whose gift it was to reconcile the bitterest enemies, Pray for us.
(St. Angela, who at thirteen become a Tertiary of St. Francis and ever remained faithful,) Pray for us.
St. Angela, gifted with the graces of prayer and contemplation, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who visited the Holy Land, and there followed the bloody footprints of Jesus, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who triumphed over the illusions of the devil, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who wast not afflicted at the loss of thy sight in visiting the holy places, Pray for us.
St. Angela, whose sight was miraculously restored in the Island of Candia, Pray for us.
St. Angela, whom the love of God had wounded and whom this same love cured, Pray for us.
St. Angela, model of perfect self-denial and true humility, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who, like Jacob, wast permitted to see the mysterious ladder, Pray for us.
St. Angela, chosen by God to be the mother of many holy virgins, Pray for us.
St. Angela, Foundress of the illustrious Order of the Ursulines, Pray for us.
St. Angela, to whom God promised that this Order should always subsist, Pray for us.
St. Angela, who, filled with joy, didst give up thy soul in the embrace of the Lord, Pray for us.
St. Angela, whose body remained incorruptible after death, Pray for us.
St. Angela, Patroness of Christian mothers, Pray for us.
St. Angela, Protectress of young girls, Pray for us.
St. Angela, our Mother and Advocate, 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.

V. Pray for us, O glorious Mother Saint Angela:
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray.

O God, Who by means of our blessed Mother Saint Angela didst cause a new Order of holy virgins to flourish in Thy Church: grant, through her intercession, that we may imitate her angelic virtues, and, forsaking all earthly things, may be found worthy of eternal bliss. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. R. Amen.

Litany Source: Kyrie Eleison — Two Hundred Litanies by Benjamin Francis Musser O.F.M., The Magnificat Press, 1944

Read more >>

Final Day for the Novena for Chrisitian Unity

Please join me in praying the 9th and final day for the Novena for Christian Unity. Yesterday was the Feast of St. Paul's Conversion, and we remember how anyone can be converted. We must pray for everyone.

Also, today is the 4th day in the Novena to St. John Bosco.

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain

Read more >>

The Conversion of St. Paul

Today's Readings:

And he saith: I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the truth of the law of the fathers, zealous for the law, as also all you are this day: Who persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the ancients: from whom also receiving letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus, that I might bring them bound from thence to Jerusalem to be punished.

And it came to pass, as I was going, and drawing nigh to Damascus at midday, that suddenly from heaven there shone round about me a great light: And falling on the ground, I heard a voice saying to me: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered: Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me, saw indeed the light, but they heard not the voice of him that spoke with me. And I said: What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me: Arise, and go to Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things that thou must do.

And whereas I did not see for the brightness of that light, being led by the hand by my companions, I came to Damascus. And one Ananias, a man according to the law, having testimony of all the Jews who dwelt there, Coming to me, and standing by me, said to me: Brother Saul, look up. And I the same hour looked upon him. But he said: The God of our fathers hath preordained thee that thou shouldst know his will, and see the Just One, and shouldst hear the voice from his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness to all men, of those things which thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, invoking his name. Acts 22:3-16 (Douay Rheims)

So Saul was baptized and took the name Paul, by whom the epistles were written and the Church spread a hundred-fold over across the world. I could not help but post the great story of conversion.

While meditating on this passage of Scripture, I'd like to ask my readers, What was your story of conversion? I didn't have a great one as Paul did. I wasn't struck with light, but I knew in my heart the truth of the Catholic faith. I was raised Christian and after visiting a Catholic Mass, my family and I enrolled in RCIA and became Catholic officially at the Easter Vigil in 2002.

Image Source: Photo believed to be in the Public Domain

Read more >>

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

Feast (1969 Calendar): January 25
Greater Double (1955 Calendar): January 25

Today the Church celebrates its only feast that is centered on someone's conversion. Today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. We remember and also realize how extraordinary it was. Through God's divine light on the Road to Damascus, St. Paul came not only to believe in Jesus but serve Him until his death. Through St. Paul's preaching, the Church was formed. His conversion was fundamental but others have in our time experienced this same conversion.

Today is also the final day in the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Acts of the Apostles 9:1-22

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to Him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying, and he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name." So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized, and took food and was strengthened.

For several days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And in the synagogues immediately he proclaimed Jesus, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed, and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called on this name? And he has come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests." But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL by Dom Gueranger

We have already seen how the Gentiles, in the person of the Three Magi, offered their mystic gifts to the Divine Child of Bethlehem, and received from Him, in return, the precious gifts of faith, hope, and charity. The harvest is ripe; it is time for the reaper to come. But who is to be God's laborer? The Apostles of Christ are still living under the very shadow of mount Sion. All of them have received the mission to preach the gospel of salvation to the uttermost parts of the world; but not one among them has, as yet, received the special character of Apostle of the Gentiles. Peter, who had received the Apostleship of Circumcision (Gal. ii. 8), is sent specially, as was Christ Himself, to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel (Matt. xv. 24). And yet, as he is the Head and the Foundation, it belongs to him to open the door of Faith to the Gentiles (Acts, xiv. 26); which he solemnly does, by conferring Baptism on Cornelius, the Roman Centurion. 

But the Church is to have one more Apostle--an Apostle for the Gentiles--and he is to be the fruit of the martyrdom and prayer of St. Stephen. Saul, a citizen of Tarsus, has not seen Christ in the flesh, and yet Christ alone can make an Apostle. It is then, from heaven, where He reigns impassible and glorified, that Jesus will call Saul to be His disciple, just as, during the period of his active life, He called the fishermen of Genesareth to follow Him and hearken to His teachings. 

The Son of God will raise Saul up to the third heaven, and there will reveal to him all His mysteries: and when Saul, having come down again to this earth, shall have seen Peter (Gal. i. 18), and compared his Gospel with that recognized by Peter (Gal. ii. 2)--he can say, in all truth, that he is an Apostle of Christ Jesus (Gal. i. I), and that he has done nothing less than the great Apostles (II Cor. xi. 5). 

It is on this glorious day of the Conversion of Saul, who is soon to change his name into Paul, that this great work is commenced. It is on this day, that is heard the Almighty voice which breaketh the cedars of Libanus (Ps. xxviii. 5), and can make a persecuting Jew become first a Christian, and then an Apostle. This admirable transformation had been prophesied by Jacob, when, upon his death-bed, he unfolded to each of his sons the future of the tribe of which he was to be the father. Juda was to have the precedence of honor, since from his royal race, was to be born the Redeemer, the Expected of nations. Benjamin's turn came; his glory is not to be compared with that of his brother Juda, and yet it was to be very great-- for from his tribe is to be born Paul, the Apostle of the Gentile nations. 

These are the words of the dying Prophet: Benjamin, a ravenous wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil (Gen. xlix. 27). An ancient writer (long thought to have been St. Augustine) asks, Who is he, that in the morning of impetuous youth, goes like a wolf in pursuit of the sheep of Christ, breathing threatenings and slaughter against them? Is it not Saul on the road to Damascus, the bearer and doer of the high-priest's orders, and stained with the blood of Stephen, whom he has stoned by the hands of all those over whose garments he kept watch? And he, who, in the evening, not only does not despoil, but with a charitable and peaceful hand, breaks to the hungry the bread of life--is it not Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin, the Apostle of Christ, burning with zeal for his brethren, making himself all to all, and wishing even to be an anathema for their sakes? 

Oh! the power of our dear Jesus! how wonderful! how irresistible! He wishes that the first worshipers at His Crib should be humble Shepherds--and He invites them by His Angels, whose sweet hymn was enough to lead these simple-hearted men to the Stable, where lies, in swaddling-clothes, He who is the hope of Israel. He would have the Gentile Princes, the Magi, do Him homage--and bids to arise in the heavens a Star, whose mysterious apparition, joined to the interior speaking of the Holy Ghost, induces these men of desire to come from the far East, and lay, at the feet of an humble Babe, their riches and their hearts. 

When the time is come for forming the Apostolic College, He approaches the banks of the sea of Tiberias, and with this single word: Follow me, He draws after Him such as He wishes to have as His Disciples. In the midst of all the humiliations of His Passion, He has but to look at the unfaithful Peter, and Peter is a penitent. 

Today, it is from heaven that He evinces His power: all the mysteries of our redemption have been accomplished, and He wishes to show mankind that He is the sole author and master of the Apostolate, and that His alliance with the Gentiles is now perfect. He speaks; the sound of His reproach bursts like thunder over the head of this hot Pharisee, who is bent on annihilating the Church; He takes this heart of the Jew, and, by His grace, turns it into the heart of the Apostle, the Vessel of election, the Paul who is afterwards to say of himself: I live not I, but Christ liveth in me. (Gal. ii. 20) 

The commemoration of this great event was to be a Feast in the Church, and it had a right to be kept as near as might be to the one which celebrates the martyrdom of St. Stephen, for Paul is the Protomartyr's convert. The anniversary of his martyrdom would, of course, have to be solemnized at the summer-solstice. Where, then, place the Feast of his Conversion if not near Christmas, and thus our own Apostle would be at Jesus' Crib, and Stephen's side? Moreover, the Magi could claim him, as being the conqueror of that Gentile-world, of which they were the first-fruits.

St. Paul's conversion is "The Example" of how anyone can come to believe and follow our Savior. While we may not be struck by a blinding light on the Road to Damascus as St. Paul was, we too must experience the light of the Gospel changing our hearts.

Remember too, that St. Paul persecuted Christians as is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. The first martyr, St. Stephen, was sentenced to death by St. Paul. But, through God's love each of us can be converted. Conversion is a life-long process where the end result of a true conversion is Heaven. Just like St. Paul, anyone can find God, and likewise, we must pray for unbelievers.

Prayer:

O God, Who hast taught the whole world by the preaching of blessed Paul the Apostle: grant, we beseech Thee, that we who this day celebrate his conversion, may through his example draw nearer to Thee.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

Read more >>

Novena Reminders: Christian Unity and St. John Bosco

Please keep praying!

Today is the 8th Day in the Novena for Christian unity and since today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, it's a great day to pray for unity. Also, today is the 3rd day of the Novena to St. John Bosco, whose feast day is January 31st.

Please keep praying with me.

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain, Title Unknown

Read more >>

Pope Benedict XVI's First Encyclical is Here!

Today was the release of Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical - "Deus Caritas Est" (God is love).

I just learned from one of the readers of my blog that the Vatican has now made all Encyclicals copyrighted. This means I can't publish it here, but I can link to the document and read it free of charge. So please go ahead and read, but remember that it is now a copyrighted document along with all encyclicals going back to Pope John XXIII. I don't agree with this because I think that the words of our Holy Father should be free, but that's just me.

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain

Read more >>