Catholic Faith

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[catholicfaith]

belovedmegan:

St. Thérèse, privileged Little Flower of Jesus and Mary, I approach you with childlike confidence and deep humility. I lay before you my desires, and beg that through your intercession they may be realized. Did you not promise to spend your heaven doing good upon earth? Grant me according to this promise the favors I am asking from you.

Intercede for us all the days of our life, but specially during this Novena and obtain for us from God the graces and favors we ask through your intercession. Amen.

[introibo-ad-altare-dei-deactiva]

It is true, Jesus Christ wants to have a personal relationship with each of us as our Savior and Lord. But Jesus wants much more than that; he wants us in covenant with himself. I can have a personal relationship with the neighbor down the street; but that doesn’t mean he wants me to move in and share his home. Likewise, Augustus Ceasar proclaimed himself to be Lord and Savior over all his subjects; but he didn’t die on a cross so that they could become his brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ wants us in the New Covenant that he established through his own flesh and blood, the same covenant he renews through the Holy Eucharist. When his sacrifice for us is renewed at the altar, we gather at the family table for the sacred meal that makes us one. Jesus wants us to know not only the Father and the Holy Spirit but his Blessed Mother and all his sainted brothers and sisters as well. He also wants us to live according to the family structure he established for his Church on earth: the Pope and all the bishops and priests united to him. Come home to the Church established by Christ. Supper’s waiting and the Savior’s calling: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and *eat* with him and he with me” (Rev 3:20).

Scott & Kimberly Hahn, Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism (via dennisjoealoy)

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I've prayed this I was a small child.

Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom God’s love commits me here, Ever this day, be at my side, To light and guard, Rule and guide.

Amen.

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Angels

“From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their (the angels) watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united to God.”

- from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 336.

[fighterofthegoodfight-blog]

[catholicfaith]

cee829:

‎”Eucharistic Adoration is the closest thing we can do to imitate the highest level of angels.” -Dr. Miravalle, professor of Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville

Happy feast of the Archangels!! St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael, pray for us.

[musicofasoul-blog]

[catholicfaith]

musicofasoul:

In the Hands of God~St. Teresa of Jesus I am Yours and born of You,What do You want of me?

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[catholicfaith]

adaltaredei:

St. Michael is one of the principal angels; his name was the war-cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against the enemy and his followers. Four times his name is recorded in Scripture.

Following these Scriptural passages, Christian tradition gives to St. Michael four offices:

To fight against Satan.

To rescue the souls of the faithful from the power of the enemy, especially at the hour of death.

To be the champion of God’s people, the Jews in the Old Law, the Christians in the New Testament; therefore he was the patron of the Church, and of the orders of knights during theMiddle Ages.

To call away from earth and bring men’s souls to judgment (“signifer S. Michael repraesentet eas in lucam sanctam”, Offert. Miss Defunct. “Constituit eum principem super animas suscipiendas”, Antiph. off. Cf. The Shepherd of Hermas, Book III, Similitude 8, Chapter 3).

From: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10275b.htm

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[catholic-inspiration]

Chastity is a virtue which we do not have strength to practice unless God gives it to us, and God does not give this strength except to someone who asks for it. But whoever prays for it will certainly obtain it.

St Alphonsus Liguori (via catholic-inspiration)

[fighterofthegoodfight-blog]

“If you think you’re going into an empty church, there’s no such thing. If Jesus is there, there are thousands of angels there in Adoration.” Dr. Mark Miravalle, professor of Mariology at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

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[catholicfaith]

catholiclifeguard:

I was wondering something tonight in light of the news that Congress will be investigating Planned Parenthood.   Are there really Catholics who are personally pro-life and publicly pro-choice?   Is that an honest opinion?   The answer, if you can call it that, came to me in the form of a question.   Have I ever seen or heard of personally pro-life Catholics praying in front of abortion clinics?

Nope.

Have I seen personally pro-life Catholics pushing to hold Planned Parenthood or other abortionists to higher safety standards?

Nope.

But the truth is that to be pro-anything it can not be a passive stance.   It must be active or it can’t be described as “pro,” can it?

In the political sphere, there’s plenty of so-called personally pro-life Catholics like Rudy Giuliani.   He’s so personally pro-life that he’s donated to Planned Parenthood.

But it ain’t just Rudy.  These names ring a bell?  Kerry, Schwarzenegger, Dodd, Durban, Leahy, Mikulski, Pelosi, Delahunt, Capuano, Markey, Murkowski, Casey, Collins, McGovern, Meehan, Granholm, Sebelius, Pataki, Pelosi, Richardson, Cellucci, Cuomo, Kucinich, Rangel, and Biden.   All “personally pro-life Catholics.”   And there’s lots more.   You ever hear any of them talk at length about abortion being the taking of a human life?   Any of them?   We see plenty of evidence for the publicly pro-choice part but little to back up the personally pro-life part.

Cardinal Arinze was quoted as saying:

“Some…say I am personally not in favor of abortion, but I will not impose my views on others.  It is like saying, I am personally not in favor of killing you….But since some people want to shoot all of you in the Senate and the House of Representatives, I won’t impose my views on them, it is pro-choice!

“You are not serious!  This is Divine Law, it’s not a tennis club regulation.”

The personally pro-life but publicly pro-choice argument, as far as I can make out, is there’s a tiny human being in the womb but don’t want to tell you that you can’t kill that tiny human being because you don’t believe it’s a human being.   Or something.

They seem to love classifying abortion as a religious issue and insist they can’t force their religion on others because of the separation of church and state (a pretend benchmark).   But of course that’s a bunch of hooey.

The fact is that life begins at conception.   That’s science folks.   The pro-aborts are the ones who want everyone to come up with their own timeline as far as this yet another pretend benchmark they call “personhood.”   So to them, the right of individual personhood granting ability supersedes any right to life.

Here’s the thing - I don’t believe in “personally pro-life.”   Not anymore.   It just strains credulity.   Either you believe it’s the taking of a human life or you don’t.   There’s no middle ground.   Either you believe in the right to life or you don’t.

Personally pro-life is a tactic, not a position.   And it should be called out. When the next 40 Days for Life rolls around, call some personally pro-life Catholics you know and ask them to come with you because you know how strong their “personal” commitment is.   Or offer them a pro-life bumper sticker saying something like “Abortion stops a beating heart” for their personal hybrid car.   Watch their lips curl and react as if you just handed them a rodent.

Personally pro-life is, at best, neutral about life, in which case you just don’t care about protecting life.   As Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel wrote, “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.   Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”   If you’re making a distinction between personally pro-life and publicly pro-choice you’re indistinguishable from the oppressors.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/the-myth-of-the-personally-pro-life-catholic/#ixzz1ZHI5k3HK

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[thefullnessofthefaith-deactivat]

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that Catholics believe we are justified by our works.  Galatians 3 makes that far too clear that we are not.  And, if we did believe that, we wouldn’t have confession!  It would simply be well, you screwed up - now you have no hope.  Rather, confession - reconciliation with God - is our hope!  We know that we cannot earn our salvation, yet the free gift of faith, if truly received performs an act in us.   It changes us, continually.  We call it conversion.  The lifelong process, won at the Cross, begun in us in Baptism, damaged through original and personal sin, yet reconciled in Confession, protected in Confirmation, perfected in the Eucharist, healed in the Anointing of the Sick, and given daily direction in either Marriage or Holy Orders.  That is our faith, and the essential work it does.   We believe with our whole hearts that salvation is a gift freely given - grace - but like any true gift, you are always free to reject it.  Not much point in saying you can accept Jesus into your heart if you’re not free to let him go too.  That constant acceptance of the gift, the deepening of our faith will change us, will perform good works in us (James 2:14-26).  We know, as Catholics, that there is an intrinsic link between what we believe and how we act.  We could not possibly ‘rely on our works’ or attempt to ‘earn’ our salvation, for we know that to know in your mind that God has forgiven us, and to accept him into our hearts, is to “Put off the old man that belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in the true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24).   Those we call saints are not holy by their own merit, but by God’s.  Yet they are holy!  They were changed by their faith in God.  And that is what we celebrate when we venerate them.  They did not simply profess with their lips their belief in the Resurrection of Christ and then forget the ones he loved and the Cross he bore.  Their works completed their faith, for the two were one.  To become a Christian for them was to become one like the Master in word and deed.  Their faith was in the Way and Life, not just the Truth of Christ. Let your faith in Christ be lived out in your love for your neighbor and consecrated to God in the Sacraments and your daily prayer.  Only in God are we made whole to live with him forever.  Know it.  Live it.  Stand up for it in love and truth when others hate on it.   Check out Make A Friar!

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[catholicfaith]

crusadermaximus:

“Just over a week into the mission, one of us realized it was Sunday again, two weeks after Easter. Our shifts overlapped for a few hours, so during one orbital night Sid, Kevin and I gathered on the flight deck for a short Communion service.

Kevin, a eucharistic minister, carried the Blessed Sacrament with him, contained within a simple golden pyx. The three of us shared our amazement at experiencing the beauty of creation, and thanked God for good companions and the success achieved so far. Then Kevin shared the Body of Christ with Sid and me, and we floated weightless on the flight deck, grateful for this moment of comradeship and communion with Christ.

Our silent reflection was interrupted by a sudden burst of dazzling white light. The sun had risen (as it did 16 times each day) just as we finished Communion, and now its pure radiance streamed through Endeavour’s cockpit windows and bathed us in its warmth. To me, this was a beautiful sign, God’s gentle touch confirming our union with him.

I rolled away from my crewmates, unable to stem the tears evoked by that singular sunrise. My gaze turned to the overhead windows and the Pacific Ocean, the dawn lighting its surface in a rich, limitless blue.

I called out to Kevin and Sid, “Look at that ocean—what an incredible color!” They both turned and drank in hues unmatched by the palette of any human artist. After a moment, Kevin said simply, “It’s the blue of the Virgin’s veil, Tom.” He was right. There were no other words for that vision out the window.”

[ubipetrusibiecclesia]

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