"Catechism on Pride" by St. John Vianney

Pride is that accursed sin which drove the angels out of paradise, and hurled them into Hell. This sin began with the world. See, my children, we sin by pride in many ways. A person may be proud in his clothes, in his language, in his gestures, even in his manner of walking. Some persons, when they are in the streets, walk along proudly, and seem to say to the people they meet, "Look how tall, how upright I am, how well I walk!" Others, when they have done any good action, are never tired of talking of it; and if they fail in anything, they are miserable because they think people will have a bad opinion of them . . . others are sorry to be seen with the poor, if they meet with anybody of consequence; they are always seeking the company of the rich. . . if by chance, they are noticed by the great people of the world, they boast and are vain of it. Others take pride in speaking. If they go to see rich people, they consider what they are going to say, they study fine language; and if they make a mistake of a word, they are very much vexed, because they are afraid of being laughed at. But, my children, with a humble person it is not so. . . whether he is laughed at or esteemed, or praised, or blamed, whether he is honoured or despised, whether people pay attention to him or pass him by, it is all the same to him.

My children, there are again people who give great alms, that they may be well thought of -that will not do These people will reap no fruit from their good works. On the contrary, their alms will turn into sins. We put pride into everything like salt. We like to see that our good works are known. If our virtues are seen, we are pleased; if our faults are perceived, we are sad. I remark that in a great many people; if one says anything to them, it disturbs them, it annoys them. The saints were not like that -- they were vexed if their virtues were known, and pleased that their imperfections should be seen. A proud person thinks everything he does is well done; he wants to domineer over all those who have to do with him; he is always right, he always thinks his own opinion better than that of others. That will not do! A humble and well-taught person, if he is asked his opinion, gives it at once, and then lets others speak. Whether they are right, or whether they are wrong, he says nothing more.

When Saint Aloysius Gonzaga was a student, he never sought to excuse himself when he was reproached with anything; he said what he thought, and troubled himself no further about what others might think; if he was wrong, he was wrong; if he was right, he said to himself, "I have certainly been wrong some other time. " My children, the saints were so completely dead to themselves, that they cared very little whether others agreed with them. People in the world say, "Oh, the saints were simpletons!" Yes, they were simpletons in worldly things; but in the things of God they were very wise. They understood nothing about worldly matters, to be sure, because they thought them of so little importance, that they paid no attention to them.

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Our Lady of Victory

I found an amazing website dedicated to the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Victory. Click here and go to an interactive picture. You need to click on the picture and while continuing to hold down, drag the mouse left and right to see the 360 degree view of Basilica. There are numerous links below that page with additional photographs. This is worth your time.

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The Cathedral of Christ the King in Ontario, Canada

I want to extend my appreciation for this photographs to Peter @ Fort Zion. I truly appreciate these photos of the Cathedral of Christ the King in Ontario. If you would like to email me your photos of any beautiful Catholic Church in the world, please send me an email through the link in my sidebar or profile. I appreciate any and all photographs of Catholic Churches whether they are your parish or one that you visited.

If you have any photographs of a Tridentine Mass or a Mass from the Eastern Catholic Churches, I would be extremely interested in seeing those.

Here are a few photos of the Cathedral of Christ the King in Ontario, Canada:

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Novena for Peace in the Middle East

From Catholic World News:

Vienna, Aug. 18 (CWNews.com) - The Austrian Catholic internet news service Kath.net has organized a novena starting on Friday, August 18, to pray for peace in the Holy Land.

It is recommended that participants pray five decades of the Rosary each day for this intention. The novena of prayer ends on the feast of Blessed Miriam of Jesus Crucified, the patroness of the Near East.

So, please do pray this Novena starting today for peace in the Middle East.

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"On Prayer" by St. John Vianney

Our catechism teaches us, my children, that prayer is an elevation, an application of our mind and of our heart to God, to make known to Him our wants and to ask for His assistance. We do not see the good God, my children, but He sees us, He hears us, He wills that we should raise towards Him what is most noble in us--our mind and our heart. When we pray with attention, with humility of mind and of heart, we quit the earth, we rise to Heaven, we penetrate into the Bosom of God, we go and converse with the angels and the saints. It was by prayer that the saints reached Heaven: and by prayer we too shall reach it.

Yes, my children, prayer is the source of all graces, the mother of all virtues, the efficacious and universal way by which God wills that we should come to Him. He says to us: "Ask, and you shall receive. " None but God could make such promises and keep them. See, the good God does not say to us, "Ask such and such a thing, and I will grant it;" but He says in general: "If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you. " O my children! ought not this promise to fill us with confidence, and to make us pray fervently all the days of our poor life? Ought we not to be ashamed of our idleness, of our indifference to prayer, when our Divine Saviour, the Dispenser of all graces, has given us such touching examples of it? For you know that the Gospel tells us He prayed often, I and even passed the night in prayer? Are we as just, as holy, as this Divine Saviour? Have we no graces to ask for? Let us enter into ourselves; let us consider. Do not the continual needs of our soul and of our body warn us to have recourse to Him who alone can supply them? How many enemies to vanquish--the devil, the world, and ourselves. How many bad habits to overcome, how many passions to subdue, how many sins to efface! In so frightful and painful a situation, what remains to us, my children? The armour of the saints: prayer, that necessary virtue, indispensable to good as well as to bad Christians. . . .

Within the reach of the ignorant as well as the learned, enjoined to the simple and to the enlightened, it is the virtue of all mankind; it is the science of all the faithful! Everyone on the earth who has a heart, everyone who has the use of reason ought to love and pray to God; to have recourse to Him when He is irritated; to thank Him when He confers favours; to humble themselves when He strikes.
See, my children, we are poor people who have been taught to beg spiritually, and we do not beg. We are sick people, to whom a cure has been Promised, and we do not ask for it. The good God does not require of us fine prayers, but prayers which come from the bottom of our heart.

Saint Ignatius was once traveling with several of his companions; they each carried on their shoulders a little bag, containing what was most necessary for them on the journey. A good Christian, seeing that they were fatigued, was interiorly excited to relieve them; he asked them as a favour to let him help them to carry their burdens. They yielded to his entreaties. When they had arrived at the inn, this man who had followed them, seeing that the Fathers knelt down at a little distance from each other to pray, knelt down also. When the Fathers rose again, they were astonished to see that this man had remained prostrate all the time they were praying: they expressed to him their surprise, and asked him what he had been doing. His answer edified them very much, for he said: "I did nothing but say, Those who pray so devoutly are saints: I am their beast of burden: O Lord! I have the intention of doing what they do: I say to Thee whatever they say. " These were afterward his ordinary words, and he arrived by means of this at a sublime degree of prayer.

Thus, my children, you see that there is no one who cannot pray--and pray at all times, and in all places; by night or by day; amid the most severe labours, or in repose; in the country, at home, in traveling. The good God is everywhere ready to hear your prayers, provided you address them to Him with faith and humility.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Assumption Homily

The following is Pope Benedict XVI's homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary on August 15, 2006. I found this on the Papa Ratzinger Forum.



Here is a translation of the homily delivered extemporaneously by the Holy Father at the Mass of the Assumption which he celebrated at the St. Thomas of Villanova parish church in Castel Gandolfo yesterday morning.

Venerated brothers in the Episcopate and Priesthood,
Dear brothers and sisters!

In the Magnificat - the great song of the Madonna which we heard in the Gospel today - we find a surprising sentence. Mary says: "From this hour on, all generations will call me blessed."

The Mother of the Lord prophesies the Church's Marian praises for all the future, the Marian devotion of the people of God to the end of times.

In praising Mary, the Church has not invented anything "beside" the Scriptures: it has responded to the prophecy made by Mary herself in that moment of grace.

And these words were not simply Mary's own personal words, nor were they arbitrary. Elizabeth, according to St. Luke, had greeted her, filled with the Holy Spirit, crying out: "Blessed is she who believed." And Mary - she, too, filled with the Spirit, continues and completes what Elizabeth says, in declaring "All generations shall call me blessed."

It is a true prophecy, inspired by the Holy Spirit; and the Church, venerating Mary, has responded to the command of the Holy Spirit, it has done what it should do.

We do not praise God enough if we keep silent about his saints, especially about "the Holy One" who became His dwelling on earth, Mary. The simple but multiform Light of God appears to us in all its variety and richness in the face of the saints, who are the true mirrors of His Light.

And in looking on Mary's face, we can see more than by any other way the beauty of God, His goodness, His mercy. In her face we can really see the Divine Light.

"All generations shall call me blessed." We praise Mary, and venerate her, because she is "blessed," and blessed for always. This is the content of the feast we celebrate today. She is blessed because she is united with God, she lives with God and in God.

Our Lord, on the vigil of His Passion, said in bidding farewell to His disciples: "I am going to prepare a dwelling for you in the house of my Father. And in my Father's house are many dwellings."

Mary, in saying,"I am Your handmaid, Thy will be done" prepared on earth a dwelling for God; with body and soul, she became this dwelling, and in this way, she opened the earth to heaven.

St. Luke, in the Gospel we heard today, using other indications, makes us understand that Mary is the true Ark of the Alliance, that the mystery of the Temple - God's indwelling on earth - is fulfilled in Mary.

In Mary, God truly dwelt and became present here on earth. Mary became His shelter. That which all cultures have desired - that God live among us - was realized through her.

St. Augustine said: "Before she conceived God in her body, she already conceived Him in spirit." She gave to the Lord the space of her soul and thus became the true Temple in which God was incarnated, became present on this earth. Thus, being God's dwelling on earth, her own eternal dwelling was already prepared in her, for always.

This is what is contained in the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in body and soul to the glory of the Heavens. Mary is "blessed" because she had become - totally, in body and soul, and forever - the dwelling of God.

If this is so, Mary not only, not simply, invites our admiration and veneration, but guides us, shows the way of life to us, shows us how to become blessed ourselves and find the way to happiness.

Let us listen once more to the words of Elizabeth that are completed in Mary's Magnificat: "Blessed is she who believed." The first and fundamental act to becoming a dwelling of God, and to find happiness thereby, is to believe. Belief is faith, faith in God, that God who showed Himself to us in Jesus Christ and who makes Himself heard in the divine words of Sacred Scripture.

To believe is not to add another opinion to others. And the conviction, the faith that God exists, is not like any other information. Most information, whether true or false, means nothing to us, does not change our life. But if there is no God, life is empty, the future is empty. If God exists, everything changes - life is light, our future is light, we have an orientation for living.

And so, believing is the fundamental orientation of our life. To believe, to say, "Yes, I believe you are God, I believe that in your incarnated Son, You are present among us" orients my life, inspires me to attach myself to God, to unite myself to God and therefore find the place where I should live, the way that I should live.

Believing is not just a kind of thought, an idea. It is, as I have indicated, a way to behave, a way of life. To believe means to follow the path indicated to us by the Word of God.

Mary, beyond her fundamental act of faith, which is an existential act, a stand one takes for life, also says: "His mercy extends to all who fear Him." She speaks, with all of Scripture, of "fear of God." This perhaps a word which we do not all understand or that we do not welcome.

But "fear of god" is not terror - it's something else. As children, we are not terrified of our father, but this "fear of God" is our concern not to destroy the love on which our life is based. Fear of God is that sense of responsibility that we should have, a responsiblity for that portion of earth which is entrusted to us in life. A responsibility for administering well our share of the world and of its history, and thus contribute to building a just world, towards the triumph of good and of peace.

"All generations shall call you blessed". The future, what is to come, belongs to God, it is in the hands of God. God triumphs, not the dragon referred to in the first Reading today, the dragon which represents all the forces of violence in the world.

These forces may seem invincible, but Mary tells us they are not. The Woman - as the First Reading and the Gospel tell us - is stronger because God is stronger. Certainly, compared to the armed dragon, this Woman who is Mary, who is the Church, appears defenseless, vulnerable. And God, too, is really vulnerable in this world, because he is Love, and love is vulnerable. But the future is in His hands - love wins, not hate, so in the end, peace wins.

This then is the great consolation found in the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in body and soul to the glory of heaven. Let us thank the Lord for this consolation, but let us also look on this consolation as a commitment for us to be on the side of good, on the side of peace. And let us pray to Mary, Queen of Peace, that she may help peace to triumph today.

Queen of Peace, pray for us. Amen.

Photo Source: AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano

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If you are interested in learning more about the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary please consider purchasing the applicable lesson from CatechismClass.com.

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In Light of Recent Comments...

I want to make it clear that I am here to blog for Jesus Christ. I will not be deterred when people say I am "indifferent" or claim that Catholicism serves no purpose for the modern world. I tell you, as one that has received the Holy Eucharist, God is real and if the whole world would bow down just for one minute and adore him, death and destruction would end.

I am here not to present politically correct messages or try to increase in popularity. I am here to post prayers. I am here to provide news relating to Catholicism. I am here to provide good, informative posts on the Sacred Traditions and teachings of the Faith. Above all, I am here to be a witness in the dark abyss of our world. Although I am a sinner, I am here to help spread the reign of Jesus Christ so that everyone that reads this blog will not only accept Jesus but His Catholic Church.

So, please be charitable in all of your comments on this blog. Let us do all things in love!

Thank you and God Bless!

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One Year Anniversary of Brother Roger's Death

One year ago yesterday, Brother Roger, founder of Taizé Community (see Charistmatic Heresy), was murdered. Please say a prayer for his soul. It is not completely settled whether he died a protestant or a Catholic. However, he was given a Catholic funeral making it very likely he died a Catholic. But no matter what, please just say a prayer for him.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 16, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI remembered Brother Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical Taizé Community, one year after his death. Brother Roger was stabbed to death Aug. 16, 2005, by an apparently mentally-disturbed Romanian woman at an evening prayer service attended by 2,500 people in the Burgundy region in France. He was 90.

The Holy Father said today to the crowds gathered at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo for the weekly audience, that the life of Brother Roger was a "testimony of Christian faith and ecumenical dialogue was a precious teaching for entire generations of young people." "We pray to the Lord that the sacrifice of his life will contribute to consolidate the commitment to peace and solidarity of all those who have the future of humanity at heart," the Pope added.

A day before Brother Roger's death, Benedict XVI received an affectionate letter from him in which he assured him of his ecumenical community's intention to "walk in communion with the Holy Father." The Taizé community will mark the one-year anniversary of its founder's death with a Mass presided over by Bishop Gérard Daucourt of Nanterre.

Source: Zenit

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Our Lady of Czestochowa

Today is the first day of the Novena to Our Lady of Czetochowa leading up to the feastday on August 26th. This is primarily posted for my Polish readers and those of Polish descent, since the Polish people, like Pope John Paul ll, have a great devotion to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Czetochowa.

The Novena and the information concerning Our Lady of Czestochowa are available through the website of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czetochowa in Pennsylvania, USA. Please visit that website for each day of this Novena. During this modern era, we can never have too much devotion to Mary! Remember, devotion to the Blessed Mother always leads to Jesus Christ!

Photo Source: Pope Benedict XVI prays before the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa during his 2006 papal trip to Poland (AP Photo/Diether Endlicher)

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Adult Stem Cells Treat 72 disorders

According to an August 14, 2005, poll, ABC news reported that 6 in ten Americans claim to have some understanding of stem cells, yet some just don’t care. So for the other 4 in 10 who don’t what it is, lets chat. First and foremost, stem cell research is based on the concept of cells that have not yet differentiated and become the specific type of cell that they will become. Take for instance a blood cell - it specializes in blood just as a bone cell specializes in bones. Stem cells much like people have all kinds of potential, but unlike people they don’t get yelled at for not living up to their potential. Stem cells are unique because they have the potential to become any future type of cell.

This is what makes them so important because they can be used to serve as a repair system for the body. Stem cells theoretically can divide without limit so they can replenish needed cells. Stem cell research is founded on the principle that stem cells can become any specialized cell. But, there are several different approaches to obtaining these cells, some of which cross moral boundaries. Most of you are probably wondering why you should care about stem cell research and the purpose lies in the distinction between the two types of stem cells. Stem cells are divided into two dominant categories – adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells come from a live human patient, and scientific research has revealed a higher success rate for those patients using their own stem cells. According to StemResearch.org, Adult stem cells have helped cure patients suffering from a variety of diseases including twenty-three types of cancer.

Embryonic stem cells, as opposed to adult stem cells, are extracted by taking a human embryo and removing the cells, which kills the embryo. Scientists have argued that embryonic stem cells have more potential, but where is the potential? There has been no scientific research that shows anyone being helped through the use of embryonic stem cells.

Consequently, embryonic stem cells research has attracted attention in the political arena and herein lies the controversy. Embryonic stem cell research is far too destructive between the existence of life and science by taking an innocent life, so this form of research should be immediately disbanded. Again, no one has been helped through stem cells. According to the International Communications Research Foundation, 70% of Americans do not want their tax dollars invested in stem cell research. All of us should care because our taxes dollars would then not only fund an unproductive form of research but also the death of a human embryo. So, what’s is one human embryo worth anyway? Well, for each stem cell removed, it takes on average five embryos. Yes, for one stem cell to be removed five embryos must die.

Most of these embryonic stem cells are used from In vitro fertilization clinics where 12% of the embryos are discarded. But still, we must not allow ourselves to step down to the level to experiment with human life without that life’s consent. The genesis of the problem is that embryos cannot voice their consent to die for another to supposedly benefit – why are they treated as if they were not even humans? This destructive and completely unsuccessful form of research could quite possibly lead to further experimenting with humans. Even the 2003 book, “Medicine,” introduces a society where organ harvesting of the living is overwhelmingly accepted. Why should we, in another affront again the dignity of life, step down and not voice our opposition to killing? When is killing of an innocent life every justified? Would you actually sacrifice someone else’s life to walk again if you were paralyzed? Would you willingly take the entire life away from dozens of embryos to no avail? There is no rest to the arguments in stem cells today although there are solutions to the stem cell debate.

Ultimately, it comes down to us to know that we are the future of this country. Pope John Paul ll said, “The future starts today, not tomorrow,” and he could very well have been talking to us about stem cells. What can we do in reality to circumvent this ominous problem? We must bring awareness to the success of adult stem cells. Adult stem cells have put Khron’s disease in remission, fixed fractures, and restored a blind man’s sight. Our physicians today rely on the Hippocratic Oath that binds a doctor to take care of their patient to the fullest extent possible. If a doctor were to intentionally kill their patient they would be put into opposition to their solemn oath.

According to the Illinois Right to Life Campaign, most embryos taken to be killed are from IVF clinics and three to five days old. If the clinic knew they would not need these embryos just five days ago why did they waste them? The carelessness of IVF clinics has lead to the death of roughly 6 million embryos. America must be informed; we, American citizens, must care about the building block of life. All of us were once embryos and would you have wanted to die to no avail. America could very well spend their money in better areas then experimental research. In 2001, President Bush stopped federally funding for embryonic stem cells except for 60 existing lines. Today, 13 lines exist, private research is still pouring in, and yet, there is no progress. Let’s move on past the deception of some and realize that adult and not embryonic stem cells are the solution.

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