Where is my church? Where is the church that has the highest reverence for the Eucharist? Where are my brothers and sisters who reverently receive the Eucharist knowing that is it Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity?
It is still here, they are still here. No matter what the internal whirlwind has spit out the truth cannot be changed. There are those who have lost their belief in the Eucharist and live within their own interpretation and it is these souls I pray for as well as their priests who may not stand up and be courageous in speaking the doctrinal teachings which have always guided the ship. No matter what teachings are distorted, the truth remains and it always has and always will.
So I keep my eye on the truth of Jesus Christ through our Holy Mother Church that has not faltered in her teachings. Men may come and try and restructure the truth, but they will not succeed. One cannot destroy what God has created, so in that I find my peace.
Many men, civilizations, rulers, emperors, other faiths, since the moment of Christ's birth have tried to destroy the Light of this Life and have not done so. They will not succeed now.
"The Man of the true religious tradition understands two things: liberty and obedience. The first means knowing what you really want. The second means knowing what you really trust."
G.K. Chesterton
The heart of Christ, the Sacred Heart is present in the Eucharist. The Eucharistic Miracles that have been scientifically tested have shown that they are all found to be human heart tissue and DNA has been detected but undefinable, blood AB+. Every one. These are Eucharistic Miracles, undefinable by todays secular standards, never has happened with anything else, never has happened anywhere else except in the Catholic Church.
This means that those of us who are privileged to attend Mass in a free society actually WITNESS A MIRACLE Every time we witness the Consecration of the Bread to the Body of Christ by the anointed hands of our priests. This is why those who are persecuted risk their lives. The Eucharist becomes Him, He gives us His Heart to unite to ours.
This is beyond all comprehension but it is true. Listen to Him:
"I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." John 6 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." John 6
He keeps HIS word to us everyday, every minute, somewhere in the world a priest is Consecrating bread to true flesh. He is giving His heart, His Flesh, His Blood His Sacred Heart to Us. He is continually giving and giving and giving His love. I pray that we recognize Him in the Breaking of the Bread, because He is there.
It has been a while since I have written anything. During Mass or during prayer time outside, I am always inspired by something that I must write about but then when I get the chance to sit it doesn't come as easily as it did during the inspiratory period. Go figure.
So it has been a little unsettling in the world. We need to be standing strong against those who want to destroy us, I hear some in a position to make a difference speak out faintly but I become frustrated and disheartened with those who are given the task of guiding the Church and the direction of saving souls with the truth. Why so quiet? There are a few courageous ones who do speak up, they are usually the ones we all know via twitter, internet and speaking events.
I am asking and looking for the everyday Shepherds who we see day in and day out. Whose Mass we attend every day, whose homily we listen to with anticipation every day only to be so saddened at the missed opportunity to teach on our faith and to apply it to what is happening in today's culture. We, those who attend Mass, know that God loves us. We may not feel worthy of His love, but we know this. What many don't know is their need of catechesis and most of them only hear and get their knowledge in a homily. If there are no homilies on abortion and its mortal and grave consequences will they not look elsewhere for their belief system? After all, the priest doesn't speak against it. Homosexual unions, (marriage, not really) are never spoken about. Isn't is our calling as baptized Catholics to welcome them but they bring them to the truth and life of the teachings of Christ and that their sinning does not define them? Never hear that in church. How there are such a horrific number of children with no fathers, no family unit where they learn what it means to be a family, where boys learn how to be men by their fathers example and where they see the beauty of the marriage between a man and a woman. This is where there faith and identity start. No, we don't hear that either.
This is the Year of Mercy, where is the mercy? Is it mercy not to speak of sin and to show them how their lives can change with the grace and teachings of Jesus through the Catholic Church? This is Mercy, bringing them to the truth. Hiding behind Love isn't love it keeps those in sin, in slavery to evil. This is not Mercy. You only receive Christ's mercy when you receive the gift of grace that you have sinned and want to seek forgiveness through confession to be free to continue to walk in His Grace and be so overwhelmed that He was waiting for you the whole time. This is The Power of Mercy. It can only be experienced by the truth in all its raw power and life saving goodness.
A most eloquent homily on our need to grieve HIS Passion on Good Friday.
When Joseph was sent by his father to his brethren on a message of love, they, when they saw him, said, “Behold, this dreamer cometh; come now, therefore, and let us slay him.” (Gen. xxxvii. 19, 20) They did not kill him, however, but they put him in a pit in spite of the anguish of his soul, and sold him as a slave to the Ishmaelites, and he was taken down into a foreign country, where he had no friends.
Now this was most cruel and most cowardly in the sons of Jacob; and what is so especially shocking in it is, that Joseph was not only innocent and defenceless, their younger brother whom they ought to have protected, but besides that, he was so confiding and loving, that he need not have come to them, that he would not at all have been in their power, except for his desire to do them service.
Now, whom does this history remind us of but of Him concerning whom the Master of the vineyard said, on sending Him to the husbandmen, “They will reverence My Son”? (Matt. xxi. 37-39) “But when the husbandmen saw the Son, they said among themselves, This is the Heir, come, let us kill Him, and let us seize on His inheritance. And they caught Him, and cast Him out of the vineyard, and slew Him.”
And now, instead of taking the case of the young, innocent, and confiding, let us take another instance which will present to us our Lord’s passion under another aspect. Let us suppose that some aged and venerable person whom we have known as long as we could recollect any thing, and loved and reverenced, suppose such a one, who had often done us kindnesses, who had taught us, who had given us good advice, who had encouraged us, smiled on us, comforted us in trouble, whom we knew to be very good and religious, very holy, full of wisdom, full of heaven, with grey hairs and awful countenance, waiting for Almighty God’s summons to leave this world for a better place; suppose, I say, such a one whom we have ourselves known, and whose memory is dear to us, rudely seized by fierce men, stripped naked in public, insulted, driven about here and there, made a laughing-stock, struck, spit on, dressed up in other clothes in ridicule, then severely scourged on the back, then laden with some heavy load till he could carry it no longer, pulled and dragged about, and at last exposed with all his wounds to the gaze of a rude multitude who came and jeered him, what would be our feelings? Let us in our mind think of this person or that, and consider how we should be overwhelmed and pierced through and through by such a hideous occurrence.
But what is all this to the suffering of the holy Jesus, which we bear to read of as a matter of course! Only think of Him, when in His wounded state, and without garment on. . .view Him dying, hour after hour bleeding to death; and how? in peace? no; with His arms stretched out, and His face exposed to view, and any one who pleased coming and staring at Him, mocking Him, and watching the gradual ebbing of His strength, and the approach of death.
These are some of the appalling details which the Gospels contain, and surely they were not recorded for nothing; but that we might dwell on them. Do you think that those who saw these things had much heart for eating or drinking or enjoying themselves? On the contrary, we are told that even “the people who came together to that sight, smote their breasts and returned.” (Luke xxiii. 48)
Crucifixion with Mary Magdalene by Luca Signorelli, c. 1500 [Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy] Click to expand
If these were the feelings of the people, what were St. John’s feelings, or St. Mary Magdalene’s, or St. Mary’s, our Lord’s blessed mother? Do we desire to be of this company? do we desire, according to His own promise, to be rather blessed than the womb that bare Him, and the paps that He sucked? do we desire to be as His brother, and sister, and mother?
I can understand people who do not keep Good Friday at all; they are indeed very ungrateful, but I know what they mean; I understand them. But I do not understand at all, I do not at all see what men mean who do profess to keep it, yet do not sorrow, or at least try to sorrow. Such a spirit of grief and lamentation is expressly mentioned in Scripture as a characteristic of those who turn to Christ. If then we do not sorrow, have we turned to Him?
If there be persons here present who are conscious to themselves that they do not feel the grief which this season should cause them, who feel now as they do at other times, let them consider with themselves whether perhaps this defect does not arise from their having neglected to come to church, whether during this season or at other times, as often as they might.
Our feelings are not in our own power; God alone can rule our feelings; God alone can make us sorrow, when we would but cannot sorrow; but will He, if we have not diligently sought Him according to our opportunities in this house of grace? I speak of those who might come to prayers more frequently, and do not. I know well that many cannot come. I speak of those who can, if they will.
Even if they come as often as they are able, I know well they will not be satisfied with their own feelings; they will be conscious even then that they ought to grieve more than they do; of course none of us feels the great event of this day as he ought, and therefore we all ought to be dissatisfied with ourselves.
However, if this is not our own fault, we need not be out of heart, for God will mercifully lead us forward in His own time; but if it arises from our not coming to prayers here as often as we might, then our coldness and deadness are our own fault, and I beg you all to consider that that fault is not a slight one.
We, my, brethren, every one of us, shall one day rise from our graves, and see Jesus Christ; we shall see Him who hung on the cross, we shall see His wounds, we shall see the marks in His hands, and in His feet, and in His side. Do we wish to be of those, then, who wail and lament, or of those who rejoice? If we would not lament at the sight of Him then, we must lament at the thought of Him now.
Let us prepare to meet our God; let us come into His Presence whenever we can; let us try to fancy as if we saw the Cross and Him upon it; let us draw near to it; let us beg Him to look on us as He did on the penitent thief, and let us say to Him, “Lord remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.” (Luke xxiii. 42)
Let this be added to the prayer, my brethren, with which you are about to leave this church. . . .fancy you see Jesus Christ on the cross, and say to Him with the penitent thief, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom;” that is, “Remember me, Lord, in mercy, remember not my sins, but Thine own cross; remember Thine own sufferings, remember that Thou sufferedst for me, a sinner; remember in the last day that I, during my lifetime, felt Thy sufferings, that I suffered on my cross by Thy side. Remember me then, and make me remember Thee now.”
I will fast this lent. But not by giving up, but by offering up. I will fast from complaining, I will fast from gossip, I will fast from temper, I will fast from anxiety, I will fast from selfishness and pursue this beyond and every day in the hope of creating a cleaner soul. Create in me a clean heart O God.
Hail Mary and The March for Life In saying the Hail Mary during the Rosary this evening, I was reminded of the March for Life this weekend, a March to end abortion, an evil that persists. The Hail Mary can be a prayer for the woman contemplating abortion for her child. She can make it her own. Blessed is the fruit of Mary's womb, Jesus. Mary's womb, carrying our Lord. Mary is the Mother of Life, pregnant as Our Lady of Guadalupe chose to appear to the world. May all women that may contemplate abortion turn to The Blessed Mother for strength, protection and may she be surrounded by those who will help her choose life. Hail Mary Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen
Woman, full of dignity and the daughter of Our Lord, Blessed are you that has the gift of life in your womb, Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for them to choose life. Now and forever. Amen
Why do I wear a veil to Mass? I have been asked that a number of times or else I hear "I remember when we used to wear those years ago." I ask them if they would consider wearing the veil again, the women that used to wear them until Vatican II, and their answer is typical as "been there done that." I try to encourage them and leave it at that. I always felt it was one of our churches most beautiful traditions, and it was written in canon law at that time for 1,963 years more or less. Why did it begin?
Women wore head coverings so their hair wouldn't be the center of attention and there is a humbleness to the practice. Our Holy Mother and all the women who followed Jesus covered their hair as well. It was a Jewish practice that became a part of our faith as well. A woman wearing a head covering, typically a veil in the Catholic faith, submitted herself to the Lord's presence. In the presence of Christ we cover our hair to not call attention to ourselves but to call attention that we are in front of Our Lord and we change when we enter in front of the tabernacle. So, this has always made sense to me even though I was one of the ones who went without a veil for many years. But I found the closer and deeper to my faith I became the more I desired to wear the veil. It distinguishes me from the secular world. It separates me from what is not good and reminds me that as I enter church I am entering the Lord's presence, this is why we genuflect as well, so doesn't it make sense to honor Him with what we wear? How we present ourselves to him? It also separates us from other Christians in meaning of identity, because of the Real Presence of Christ! Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It represents to us and others, this is not a symbol but the Real Presence! We are there and He is there, present before us! Also, in wearing the veil, it becomes like a prayer tent that encompasses your being and helps place you into a prayerful state of mind and being. I have been blessed with other women who attend daily Mass as well that have started to wear the veil. It takes everyone who is not used to wearing one some bit of time to get used to the idea, they feel as if they are calling attention to themselves. But what they are really doing, and they eventually realize it, that they are calling attention to being in the Presence of Christ. It is a holy action. So, if you are a woman reading this, look at some articles and videos on veiling, if you are a man, encourage the woman in your life to wear a veil. I have received the most compliments from men that they think it is a beautiful practice and my husband is especially proud of the veil and cannot understand why all women don't wear them! God Bless Him for this support, for I know there are some men who are not supportive of their wives wearing the veil.."too old fashioned". Whatever the reason you decide it is between you and Our Lord, if you decide to wear one, I promise you will never want to go without one, if you don't, that's OK too, but secretly, I know you really want to.:) The video below may give you some encouragement, enjoy and May God Bless You.
Faithful Christians are being murdered and persecuted because they will not give up their faith or denounce it in any way. Young, old, men and women alike. Isn't this what the early church martyrs died for as well? They do them service that throughout Church history people were killed for their faith. Do those of us that can still go to church freely realize the great humility we need to show? It would bring one to genuflect as soon as we enter the Lord's presence in church, receive Him in Communion with reverence and purity, knowing that others are dying for that very moment we are receiving Him. What gifts the sacraments are to those who willingly give themselves over to their graces. Pray for all Christians, Our Holy Mother Church, The Holy Father, Priests and Seminarians. They will be in the line of fire, in the frontlines, for our Good Priests give us The Eucharist. Please pray for the end to this violence of hatred. Keep Hope in Your Heart.
The ways of The Lord are not comfortable, be we were not created for comfort, but for greatness, for good. ...... Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Last Night, Holy Thursday, The Mass of The Last Supper.
After Mass we processed after our Pastor as he carried the veiled ciborium, consecrated hosts to the place where Jesus was then reposed. Adoration followed until Midnight. A Holy Night, a night of repentance, a night of reparation, and night of waiting with Jesus and fearing what is going to happen to Him. And so it began, the betrayal, the beatings and degradation. We were all His Apostles last night, those who waited with him. Imagining what it was like for them, waiting with Jesus, fearing what lies ahead.
We all have natural fears of what lies ahead but we know what happens this Sunday, we know our Lord Resurrected, they did not. The Apostles were left alone, or so they thought.
In front of the Altar of Repose, I knelt and looked upon the tabernacle. It was so palpable. He was in there. I know that He is always in there. Our faith is certain of this. There was a living and holy presence it was such that I wanted to tell others there, "Hey, come and kneel here so you can feel what I feel".. !
This Triduum takes on a different aspect than others before. It is because how in this present time our persecuted brothers and sisters are living the passion and have been for a long time now. Maybe that is what I was feeling kneeling in front of the tabernacle, He is still in tremendous pain. Please remember them in your prayers, they are the living victims for Christ, as He was once the victim.
All of them have one thing in common, they are strong in their faith. Why? It is because we all know of the Living, Holy Presence of Jesus with us today. They are the disciples of the day being hunted down, as were the Early Christians. Let us continue to speak the truth and remember the Holy Dwelling Place where Jesus lives.
Like the Apostles, they may think they are left alone, but with the Resurrected Christ, they know He is with them. Let us be one with them as well. It may be us someday.
Let us all pray for the strength of faith Such as these men and pray for the repose of their souls. May they look down upon us from heaven as Holy Martyrs and pray for us as well. They are in Paradiso!
1 of the 21 men who were beheaded a few weeks ago was not a Christian, that is he wasn’t a Christian until he saw the faith of the men who refused to deny Jesus and died for it. By their witness, he decided to believe in Jesus too! Here is the story:
ISIS announced the execution of 21 Copts but only 20 names were confirmed, most of them were from the province of Minya(Upper Egypt). There was an inaccuracy in the number of Egyptian Hostages; there were only 20 Egyptians(Copts). Then who was this remaining one non-Coptic victim?
Ahram-Canadian News was able to gather information about this man. He was a Chadian Citizen (Darker skin shown in picture) who accepted Christianity after seeing the immense faith of his fellow Coptic Christians to die for Christ. When Terrorist forced him to reject Jesus Christ as God, looking at his Christian friends he replied, “their God is my God“ so the terrorist beheaded him also.
Lord, may all of us who follow you and profess your name have faith like those who were martyred for being Christian! They were willing to lay down their lives for you and in the process helped make another man come to believe!
This is not unlike the thief on the cross:
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” – Luke 23:39-43
Last week I went to Latin Mass which I try to do when I have the chance. It is held at a different parish than mine, so when the time presents itself I take it. Every time I go I wonder , why was it changed?
I have heard the other side of why people prefer the novus ordo. But sorry, I don't get it.
I know that Jesus is present and the liturgy is holy and hopefully all is done with reverence, the difference is when I go to the Latin Mass I know it is holy, the reverence is palpable. The Veils are worn, the men are dressed with pride , the children are taught well and the girls are veiled as well.
The Altar boys are beautifully vested and their posture as wells gives a clue to where they are and who is present. As the priest processes up to the altar we turn toward him and bow as He passes, in Persona Christi. This gesture alone reveals the major difference as mass begins.
At the Holy sacrifice of the Mass heaven meets earth it's just that for me I get there sooner at the TLM.
As I sit at mass I can't help but be moved that Our Holy Mother Church was The Latin Mass. It was her child that the saints sang about, chants were written for and catholics were martyered for. How I miss her,but I am blessed more than most, some people don't have any opportunity for Latin Mass or Mass at all, and they live under persecution. So, all I am asking is for Reverence and beauty to be brought back to all masses of the novus ordo. I wear the veil at novus ordo daily mass as well as all masses, it is my part to start a movement of "Radical Reverence". Who would have thought that reverence would be a 2nd thought in some churches these days.
Please join me in praying for holiness in our churches and Pray for our Persecuted Brothers and Sisters and conversion of hearts.
On the day after Christmas, I wish those I meet a “Good St. Stephen’s Day.” Personal quirk? Surely. But it’s also been my small homage to my faith’s first martyr. And this year his all-but-forgotten feast day has a special relevance.
To most of us, the “Feast of Stephen” is just an obscure reference in the carol “Good King Wenceslas.” For others, St. Stephen’s a cryptic name in an early Grateful Dead song. But Stephen was the first example, after Christ, of a believer so firm in his faith that he preferred death to betraying his beliefs. At a time when the disciples and apostles clung to the shadows, fearing persecution, Stephen went boldly to his death by stoning.
Now stoning’s back, along with martyrdom, but we look away. We refuse to see martyrs among the Middle East’s Christians. Politically correct toward Islam, while scoffing at Christianity and Judaism, we’ve abandoned the concept of martyrdom to our enemies, to devils in human form who, far from being martyrs, are murderers drenched in the blood of countless innocents. Infernal organizations, such as the Islamic State, AlQaeda, the Taliban and others, don’t produce “martyrs.” They create them.
Herod was mild in comparison.
We have watched in near-silence as Christians and other minorities have been evicted from ancient homes and exterminated in a Biblical landscape. As churches shot flames heavenward, we explained away our enemies’ fanaticism and even blamed ourselves for his atrocities. As two millennia of Christian culture in the Middle East suffered the greatest catastrophe in the faith’s entire history, we invented legal rights for blood-soaked barbarians.
If recent reports from Iraq prove true—that four Christian boys were beheaded for refusing to convert—we are again in an age of martyred saints. When “the Sea of Faith was once, too, at the full,” Christian Churches, east and west, would have sought the canonization of such believers. But today displays of Christian devotion are mocked as blithely as Christ with his crown of thorns.
Our entertainers laud their own “courage” for mocking Christians and Jews, but dare not make one joke about Islam. Our leaders care not a jot for the fate of the Christian civilization of the east—which dominated the faith’s first thousand years. We refuse even to name the enemy honestly.
The term “Holocaust” has been abused by those slovenly in language and in spirit, but we are, indeed, witnessing a Christian Holocaust. And it is nearing completion.
“Never again” is humanity’s emptiest promise.
As a Western Christian, I honorSt. Stephen on the day after our Christmas. Eastern-rite churches hold his feast on December 27th. But soon there will be no conflicts on the calendar—the Middle-Eastern churches will be gone.
As fearful Peter denied Christ, we have abandoned his churches.
So, on this Feast of Stephen, spare a thought not only for the leftovers in the fridge, but for the driven, kidnapped, enslaved, raped, tortured and murdered Christians our sloth and scorn have left to a hell on earth.
We are the greedy innkeepers of Bethlehem, and we are the gawking crowds at the Crucifixion
Ralph Peters is a retired U.S. Army officer and former enlisted man.
I have just returned from a Silent Retreat. What a blessing it is to have silence. It is a little uncomfortable at first, but as the silence settles in and your prayer begins it takes on a new dimension which includes listening. Listening for Jesus to touch your heart, to stir your soul to inflame the smoldering embers that may have settled. The silence is the stoking to stir the fire and yes I discovered that silence works. It is nothing that the Church hasn't taught us since Jesus walked on earth, but sometimes it takes an invitation to discover the richness of silence and not just for an hour, but in this case, 72 hours. I also discovered that nearing the end, I didn't want it to end. The Beauty of Silence..it has been taught for thousands of years, and I finally caught up.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of 9/11. I ask anyone who reads this to please take time out of your day and pray, especially the Rosary as Our Blessed Mother asked us to at Fatima. Pray the Rosary for Peace and for all Christians who are persecuted in Christ's name. May all who have lost their lives in these times of terror and hate be remembered in prayer for the souls of the departed. Those who were faithful especially need our prayers, for all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. AMEN
The following excerpt was taken from the book: The Mass of Brother Michel, written by Michael Kent
Here after Mass, was now his chief joy. His time, not required elsewhere, he spent in the chapel, reluctant to leave, impatient to return. Here Love spoke to him, poured Its riches upon him, demanded his love, and received it in return. In this interchange the need for words had long since passed: his soul plunged into silence, as a diver into a deep sea, rising to the surface slowly, slowly, after a prolonged submersion so profound that all activity was stilled and even breath ceased. "Oh, mon pere," he cried to Father Andre, "I did not know that prayer could be such joy, I did not think that one could find such happiness on earth! Why do not more know of it? Why do so few pray?"
While kneeling in Mass this morning waiting for my turn to enter the aisle to process for Communion I looked at the Tabernacle, as I always do. But today, I saw this vessel which holds Our Holy Lord quite differently. It was empty, doors WIDE OPEN, the faithful walking toward Him. Jesus was saying "Come, Come and Receive I have opened my arms for you, look at the crucifix, I now open my doors for you, Come! With this image I was energized, for as I was thinking this I heard all the doors of all the Tabernacles in the world opening up LOUDLY, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, at every second of every minute all over, never stopping, never ceasing. It happens every day, no matter what.
No matter what evil visits us and is around us there is the continual WHOOSH!, of the Tabernacle doors opening wide that we may bring it all to Him and He will give us life and light to survive the trials, decisions, persecutions and doubt that we may be living with.
So next time, you are in a quiet (or noisy) place, close your eyes and feel the wind from the Tabernacle and know that a door is always opening with His love waiting to be received in The Holy Eucharist.
May the Lord Protect All Who Are Living In Fear .....
May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace Amen.
We as Catholics have to be bold in our truth. This is a time for testing. Let us all continue to pray for all those being killed and persecuted in so many horrific ways because of their faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. Do not take our freedoms for granted for if we do not speak out and stand strong and behave as our faith teaches, we may be the ones fleeing to the mountaintop.
