Today is the Memorial of St. John Cantius, also called St. John of Kanty. Check out my post for his feastday from last year.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Today is the Memorial of St. John Cantius, also called St. John of Kanty. Check out my post for his feastday from last year.
"Stay very close to the crib of this most beautiful Child, especially during these days of His birth. If you love riches, here you will find the gold the Kings left Him. If you love the smoke of honors, here you will find that of incense. And if you love the delicacy of the senses, you will smell the perfumed myrrh which perfumes the entire Holy stable" (St. Padre Pio).
Our Lady, Mother Mary, has said that more souls are released from Purgatory on Christmas than any other day in the year.This novena was written by Daniel Lord, S.J.
Day 7
What food is to a starving man.... What drink is to the parched sailor riding the tropic seas on a raft.... What light is to the man long blind.... What restored health is to the patient invalid.... What freedom is to the prisoner.... All this and far, far more is release from purgatory to a holy soul. And when food... light... health... freedom come suddenly, unexpectedly, the human heart leaps and bounds, and the soul knows the sharp ecstacy of joy.
So it is with each prayer that we say for the beseeching souls in purgatory. Our prayer is bread and water and light and health; it is a reprieve and a release and freedom and a homecoming. It is the cutting of bonds, the lessening of weary waiting, the termination of exile, the sudden glorious lift that picks them up and seems almost to shoot them toward the center of their joy, God Himself.
For us that prayer is an almost careless gesture. For us a routine act of charity... Prayer, an alms, a bit of fasting, a good deed done... forgotten in the doing. For them something beyond price and measure, something for which they can repay us only in the immortal coin of eternity.
Such a good deed we perform as we pray:
The Prayer for the Holy Souls
O God, the Creater and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of thy servants and handmaids departed, the remission of all their sins; that through pious supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired. Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
I wanted to share part of this article from LifeSiteNews:
In a meeting today with children from the group Italian Catholic Action, Pope Benedict XVI said "The birth of Jesus is not a fable, it is a story that really happened, in Bethlehem two thousand years ago." The Pope added, "Faith brings us to recognize in that little Child born of the Virgin Mary, the true Son of God Who, out of love, chose to become man."
"In the face of the little Jesus," said Benedict, "we contemplate the face of God, which is not revealed through force or power, but in weakness and the fragile constitution of a child. This 'Divine Child' .. demonstrates the faithfulness and tenderness of the boundless love with which God surrounds each of us. For this reason we rejoice at Christmas, reliving the same experience as the shepherds of Bethlehem."
"The wonder we feel before the enchantment of Christmas" is, he said, in some way reflected in the birth of all children, "and it invites us to recognize the Infant Jesus in all babies, who are the joy of the Church and the hope of the world."
I was recently sent a copy of "Let God's Light Shine Forth
" edited by Robert Moynihan. I was proud to again review a book for Double Day Publishing. This book, however, I had already read back in March 2006. However, I want to finally write a review on the book.
Read more >>
" edited by Robert Moynihan. I was proud to again review a book for Double Day Publishing. This book, however, I had already read back in March 2006. However, I want to finally write a review on the book.
Above all, it was a very good book that was based on Pope Benedict's words. Chapter II composed nearly all of the book and was separated in various areas with subheadings like "Faith" and "Morality". The editor of this book wanted Pope Benedict XVI's words to speak for himself, so all of those pages in Chapter II were the Holy Father's words from his books, homilies, speeches, and letters. I found the book highly informative and saved several intriguing passages on my computer to share them on my blog eventually. It is a great collection of quotations by the Holy Father.
Read an excerpt
Overall, I rank this one 3.5/5.0
Read an excerpt
Overall, I rank this one 3.5/5.0
Our Lady, Mother Mary, has said that more souls are released from Purgatory on Christmas than any other day in the year.This novena was written by Daniel Lord, S.J.
Day 6
Our souls hunger for God with far more intensity than ever a starving body hungers for food. Here in this world we are distracted by the pressure of the life about us. In purgatory there are no distractions. Their eyes are fixed on the closed gates of heaven, the holy souls long for God, yearn for God, hunger and thirst for God. The terms of their sentence ring in their ears: "Thus and thus long shall you remain separated from your joy, until these sins and these misdeeds and these blemishes and these stains have been atoned for."
Balanced against their consuming hunger for God is their certainty that they would not dare enter His Presence with the slightest stain upon them. They almost wish that the fires burned more fiercely and more rapidly so that the pain could be at once more intense and more cleansing.
Imagine then their gratitude for every prayer or good deed by which we help them cleanse their souls and speed them on their way to God. Imagine the leaping with joy with which they welcome any act by which we cut their sentence, shorten their stay in purgatory, and hasten their entrance into heaven.
We can give joy to these holy souls here and now as we say:
The Prayer for the Holy Souls
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of thy servants and handmaids departed, the remission of all their sins; that through pious supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired. Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
I found a link on The Inspired Traditionalist to a page with wonderful photos of the 20th Anniversary Mass of the Saint Gregory Society, New Haven, CT on November 12, 2006.
Check here!
Read more >>
Check here!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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