Day Five of this novena for greater vocations to the priesthood is up at K's blog.Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Day Five of this novena for greater vocations to the priesthood is up at K's blog.Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
Someone might counter and say that the book is fiction, but apparently, the author doesn't think so. The wholly fabricated rituals and claims in this book are obviously believed by the author, Dan Brown.
When appearing on “The Today Show,” host Matt Lauer asked him, “How much of this is based on reality in terms of things that actually occurred?” Dan Brown responded: “Absolutely all of it. Obviously, there are - Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact.” (Source)This book is an attack on Our Lord's Divinity and on His Catholic Church! We shall protest this heresy!
As the controversy around the upcoming Da Vinci Code movie grows, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and its America Needs Fatima campaign announced plans to hold 1,000 peaceful prayer vigils outside theaters nationwide beginning May 19.Join me in praying against the DaVinci Code. I pray that this book may not lead anyone from the faith of Jesus Christ. Please join me as the debut date of May 19, 2006, approaches.
“These public acts of reparation will literally blanket the country. From Alaska to Alabama, from California to Connecticut, dedicated volunteers are banding together for protest prayer vigils in front of movie theaters showing the blasphemous Da Vinci Code movie,” said America Needs Fatima director Robert Ritchie.
...
“Interest is overwhelming. The phones haven’t stopped ringing. Catholics are joining in droves. We have protest leaders of all ages who are very devoted people: priests, college students, parents, and grandparents,” Ritchie explained. “They’re motivated because they realize that if our culture doesn’t respect the rights of God, it won’t respect its own leaders and fellow citizens.”
Referring to the woman who according to tradition wiped Jesus’ face on the way to Calvary, the TFP spokesman said: "Veronica is a good example for us to follow. She saw Our Lord wounded and bleeding, carrying the Cross. Her love for Jesus moved her to take her veil and wipe His face. God inspired her. What she did was heroic. Alone, she faced the guards to console Jesus. Today we have the chance to console Our Lord at hundreds of movie theaters, where He will be mocked again by blasphemy.”
(Source: CatholicPRWire)
Blessed Mother Teresa:
"I believe in person to person. Every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment."
Padre Pio:
"Do not abandon your soul to temptation, says the Holy Spirit, because the joy of the heart is the life of the soul, it is an inexhaustible treasure of sanctity; while sadness is the slow death of the soul and it is of no use to anyone."
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"I believe in person to person. Every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment."
Padre Pio:
"Do not abandon your soul to temptation, says the Holy Spirit, because the joy of the heart is the life of the soul, it is an inexhaustible treasure of sanctity; while sadness is the slow death of the soul and it is of no use to anyone."
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Double (1955 Calendar): April 30
St. Catherine was born on March 25, 1347, as the 23rd child of twenty-five children. Her twin, the 24th child, died at birth. St. Catherine was the daughter of Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth dyer, and, Lapa Piagenti, the daughter of a local poet.
At the young age of six, St. Catherine received a vision of Jesus coming to her and blessing her. At age seven, St. Catherine consecrated her virginity completely to Jesus Christ. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was only 16 years old. She lived and subjected herself to long periods of fasting, where the only thing she consumed was the Holy Eucharist.
In 1366, St. Catherine received the most important vision of her life. She described it as a spiritual marriage with Christ where the Infant Child of Jesus presented her with a ring. She saw it on her hand each day of her life from that moment as a reminder of her union to serving the Lord. Following this, she began writing letters, begging for peace, and serving the sick and dying. She truly lived the life that Jesus calls each of us to live. St. Catherine was even a counselor to Pope Gregory XI and Pope Urban VI.
St. Catherine was also privileged to bear the sacred wounds of Our Lord - the Stigmata. She died on April 29, 1380, and she was canonized as a saint by Pope Pius II in 1461.
Precious Blood, Ocean of Divine Mercy: Flow upon us! Precious Blood, Most Pure Offering: Procure us every Grace! Precious Blood, Hope, and Refuge of sinners: Atone for us! Precious Blood, Delight of holy souls: Draw us! Amen.
- By Saint Catherine of Siena
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who commemorate the heavenly birthday of blessed Catherine, Thy Virgin, may rejoice in her yearly festival and profit by her example of great virtue. Through our Lord.
Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal
Please pray the fourth day of this novena for greater vocations to the priesthood. It's posted at K's Blog.Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
Zenit recently published a very enlightening article on the growth of the Catholic Church in Russia following the re-establishment of the Church there, which began on April 13, 1991.
Here is part of the article:
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Here is part of the article:
Q: How has the Catholic Church in Russia transformed itself after the re-establishment of its structure 15 years ago?
Archbishop Kondrusiewicz: Here I think it's necessary that I speak of statistics. At the end of the '30s of the last century, only two Catholic churches remained in Russia, along with two priests.
We grew a bit in 1991 as 10 parishes were registered "officially." To register, means to present oneself at the Russian Ministry of Justice to be able to have juridical status and status of a physical person.
Also working were seven priests, two of whom were older than 80; there were four chapels and two churches. That was all! There wasn't anything else!
At present, after 15 years, we now have an episcopal conference, not very large because there are only three bishops, four archdioceses, close to 225 parishes and around 25 organizations, such as the seminary; Caritas, which has developed very strongly in the different archdioceses; Radio Maria in St. Petersburg and Radio Don in Moscow, among others.
We also have more or less 270 priests and 250 nuns; in both cases the majority are foreigners, from 22 different countries.
Little by little we are forming priests and, for example, 10% of them are now of Russian origin.
As to the number of Catholics, there are about 600,000 in the territory of the Russian Federation, though some studies point out that they comprise 1% of the population, that is, just under 1.5 million Catholics. However, many are in diasporas or are still afraid to declare their faith, and they must be sought and gathered.
Continuing with the statistics, of the 225 parishes, close to 25% of them do not have their own church. They do not have a place to pray, so they must find an alternative site.
We also have a seminary in St. Petersburg, "Mary, Queen of the Apostles," where about 50 seminarians are studying. The first priest was ordained in 1999, eighty years after any Catholic priest had been ordained in Russia!
In the archdiocese of Moscow there are seven publishing houses that, over these 15 years, have published close to 600 different publications in Russian. So imagine, if every parish priest had at least one copy of each of them, he would have a library!
© Innovative Media, Inc.
Read more!
Our Lord died for us; He died for a reason not to be put on our wall or in a textbook but to be placed in our hearts to make us remember we are to be Eucharistic tabernacles to let the light of Christ to shine through us.
Source: Me
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Source: Me
~ St. Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389)
Friday, April 28, 2006
Please remember to say the third day of the Novena for Vocations which is available at K's blog.Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
Questions on Novenas:
Also, a commentor of this blog asked if Novenas can be said anytime in the year. I answer is yes. Some novenas have more preferred times for their usage like the nine-days leading up to a certain feast, but they can be prayed anytime of the year. For example, I can start a novena to St. Thomas Aquinas any day in the year, but it would be more popular to pray it for the nine-days before St. Thomas's feastday.
Also, some novenas involve chaplets, which are said on Rosary beads, but most do not require a rosary to say the prayers. Many novenas have different prayers for each of the nine-days, so you would need to use the Internet, get a prayerbook, or just print out to Novena to pray it later on.
I hope this helps for the person that asked. Let me know if you'd like to know more about Novenas.
Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain, Image of Fr. James Coyle, who was murdered in the Southern USA
It is children and young people who are often the first to experience the consequences of this eclipse of love and hope. Often, instead of feeling loved and cherished, they appear to be merely tolerated. In "an age of turbulence" they frequently lack adequate moral guidance from the adult world, to the serious detriment of their intellectual and spiritual development. Many children now grow up in a society which is forgetful of God and of the innate dignity of the human person made in God's image. In a world shaped by the accelerating processes of globalization, they are often exposed solely to materialistic visions of the universe, of life and human fulfillment.I pray that our society might value children and see to it that all children may have adequate education, health care, and food along with loving parents.
Yet children and young people are by nature receptive, generous, idealistic and open to transcendence. They need above all else to be exposed to love and to develop in a healthy human ecology, where they can come to realize that they have not been cast into the world by chance, but through a gift that is part of God's loving plan. Parents, educators and community leaders, if they are to be faithful to their own calling, can never renounce their duty to set before children and young people the task of choosing a life project directed towards authentic happiness, one capable of distinguishing between truth and falsehood, good and evil, justice and injustice, the real world and the world of "virtual reality."
Far too many people believe in lies about the Catholic Church and never fully understand the beauty of God's Church. If you are one of those people, I sincerely ask you to please read What Catholics Don't Believe by Rev. Joseph Di Bruno, D.D.
"There are not one hundred people in this world who dislike Catholicism, but there are millions who dislike what they mistakenly believe Catholicism to be." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
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"There are not one hundred people in this world who dislike Catholicism, but there are millions who dislike what they mistakenly believe Catholicism to be." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
"If we don't want to be fools and blind the intellect there's no reason for doubt. Receiving Communion is not like picturing with the imagination, as when we reflect upon the Lord on the cross or in other episodes of the Passion, when we picture within ourselves how things happened to Him in the past. In Communion the event is happening now, and it is entirely true. There's no reason to go looking for Him in some other place far away"Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
I received this email:
Eternal rest grant unto Megan, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace!
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Please pray to and for the soul of Megan L. Boever. I did not know her, but my sister-in-law did. She was 30 years old, and like St Gianna died a martyr's death for love of her unborn child. Megan had cancer while pregnant with her 4th child and gave up treatment so the baby could live. She's a powerful example that not everyone in the US is a participant or a passive onlooker in the "culture of death."
Eternal rest grant unto Megan, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
"Nothing seems tiresome or painful when you are working for a Master who pays well; who rewards even a cup of cold water given for love of Him."
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Photo Source: REUTERS/Peter AndrewsPope Benedict XVI will be visiting Poland from May 25-28, 2006, and I will try to post as often as I can as the Holy Father makes this journey to Poland. Poland's TVP public broadcaster has promised to ban all TV ads that contain any erotic or violent scenes during the Pope's visit. Pope Benedict XVI is calling this trip a journey of remembrance for his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
The Holy Father's schedule:
May 25:
May 26:
- He celebrates Mass in Pilsudski Square
- He journeys to Jasna Gora to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa
May 28:
- He visits Auschwitz
- Departs Poland
- Total Population: 36,684,000
- Number of Catholics: 34,850,000; 95%!
- Percentage that attend Sunday Mass: 53%
- According to most sites, 75% of Poland Citizens are practicing Catholics
- Number of parishes: 9,941
- Number of priests: 26,911
Statistics Source: Institute of Statistics of the Catholic Church SAC
Pope Benedict XVI has called for raising the standards for beatifications, which comes after his predecessor canonized more saints than any previous pope. In his letter to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Benedict XVI says a cause should not be opened unless there is "a proven reputation for holiness."
Source: CWNEWS
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Source: CWNEWS
Please join in the second day of the Novena for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It is available at Cirque de moi.Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
The Discovery of The True Cross by Gustave Dore
I adore You, O glorious Cross, which was adorned with the Heart and Body of my Savior Jesus Christ, stained and covered with blood. I adore You, O Holy Cross, out of love for Him, Jesus, who is my Savior and my God.
(Pope Pius IX declared that reciting this prayer five times on Friday will free five souls from Purgatory and 33 souls by reciting it on Good Friday. This prayer should be recited before a crucifix with a contrite heart and praying a few minutes for the Pope).
Holy Virgin Mary, there is no one like Thee born in the world among women, Daughter and Handmaid of the Most Highest King, the Heavenly Father, Mother of Our Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ, Spouse of the Holy Spirit:
Pray for us with St. Michael the Archangel and all the powers of Heaven and all the Saints before Thy Most Holy and Beloved Son, the Lord and Master.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, ...
Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain
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