Jer 20:9

Catholic.

[sistertaxon]

when you drive your chevy to the levee but the levee is dry and you see the good old boys drinking whiskey and rye

[hislittleflower-throughconcrete]

Non-Catholic: *says something wrong about Catholicism*

Me: That’s not true.

Non-Catholic: No, no it is. I went to Catholic school.

Me: *looks at an imaginary camera like I’m in The Office*

[salt-and-corn-deactivated201908]

Please pray for me. I am doing quite poorly.

[captainvatican]

Y’all, I’m tired.

Like.

So tired.

I’m sitting here wondering if it’s worth it to continue to do anything.

Why should I continue to plan and put together program and events for people who halfheartedly commit themselves?

Why should I pour myself into my study and formation if nothing is coming out of it?

Why should I continue to invest in friendships that are bitter, annoying, dramatic, and draining?

Stuffing my head into my pillow, I just kept asking “Why?”

“Why should I keep loving and serving?”

And it hit me, as tired and exhausted as I am sometimes, I realize it’s because I’ve lost focus. I’ve lost touch of my source. I’ve lost my unity with the Spirit.

I shifted my focus in the last day/week, out of bitterness and ache, to wanting my own outcomes. But that’s not love. Love pours itself out regardless of what the lover gains. It just desires the sanctification and joy of the beloved.

Yeah, I’m tired. But those people who have attended/will attend these programs and events are receiving in their own unique progression. I can’t put a progress bar on the Holy Spirit’s movement and put my own constraints on Him. My study and formation has pushed me deeper into prayer. To say nothing has come of it would be saying that the fruit and conversation I’ve found in sitting in the depths of my heart with God holds no value. These friendships that push my buttons and hurt me when I have to focus on myself for a solid second to keep my sanity help me grow to holiness. That small whisper of an ache can become an opportunity to become sanctified.

Whatever it be, the “why” does not matter as much as the “who” I am before - and seeing who they belong to: Abba.

In recognizing my own status as son, I cannot forget that everyone else is a son and daughter, desperately clawing their way to the fountain. I have to have the same patience, empathy, and understanding towards them that I have found Christ having for me.

“Why should I keep loving and serving?”

Because I have found my joy in it. And as tired as I may be some days, as underappreciated and undervalued I may feel often, it does not compared to the sudden rush of joy when I can look up at the sky and know the Star Breather shines the constellations for me. It does not compare to the laughter of those I meet. It does not compare to the flicker in someone’s eyes when I’m giving a talk.

I cannot be robbed of the joy that comes with proclaiming the truth of our identity as the children of the Most High.

If the stars were made to worship, so will I.

Even when it hurts like hell.

[a-path-beyond84]

“I have now learned that Satan hates mercy more than anything else. It is his greatest torment.”

— St. Faustina (via hope-and-fire)

[by-grace-of-god]

“I have a mustard seed and I’m not afraid to use it.”

“Perhaps the time has come to say farewell to the idea of traditionally Catholic cultures. Maybe we are facing a new and different kind of epoch in the church’s history, where Christianity will again be characterized more by the mustard seed, where it will exist in small, seemingly insignificant groups that nonetheless live an intense struggle against evil and bring good into the world – that let God in.” -Cardinal Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth (1997) (+)

[eternal-echoes]

I get insecure when I slip up and accidentally show my flaws to people. But when I see flaws in other people, it makes it easier to relate to them, tbh. I don’t mean that in a disparaging way but it’s sorta like “I feel your pain, too.”

[a-path-beyond84]

It’s a difficult temptation but we shouldn’t pretend not to be flawed.  First, out of humility, and second, because most people feel similarly when they see others flaws (I certainly do).  Now if our flaws are sinful, then yes we should try to avoid them, but if our flaws are something like clumsiness we should just accept the fact that we are clumsy and not worry about it. 

[judica-me]

recognizing how deeply broken I am from sin has made it way easier to be charitable regarding anyone else’s flawed moments

[catholicthinker]

‪"To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.“ - G.K. Chesterton‬

[judica-me]

“The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth.”

— St. Thomas Aquinas (via saintquotes)

[of-roses-and-stars-deactivated2]

Possibly my favorite thing from a vocations pamphlet.

[weirdpolis]

Explain this to me:

Parents love their son and are willing to fight for his life and do anything it takes to try saving him.

There’s a hospital willing to treat that child, free of charge, even if it turns out there’s no saving him - in that case they will let him stay there as long as he lives.

The country where the hospital is gives the boy a citizenship, to make it legally easier.

There an air ambulance ready and waiting to transport him there.

But the doctors from the hospital he’s in say “no, we are turning his life support off, and we are not letting him out of our hospital. He’ll die here”

The Court rules “No, you can’t take your child from this hospital, and the life support will be turned off. He must die here.”

Why are they standing in the way, when there are people willing to fight for that child’s life? Isn’t this an active murder attempt? If not for the empathy, then for practical reasons, why not wash your hands off and let the child be taken away? Why are they so determained to have that child die on their hands?

I just don’t understand their logic.

[fedkaczynski]

The NHS and the government of the UK does not want another government or medical system to make them look bad. Plain and simple. The government of the UK cannot tolerate any resistance, especially in the medical system. 

[long-ant8616-deactivated2023122]

The court are blocking child abuse. Plain and simple. All of medical science says that Alfie cannot be cured and that prolonging his suffering is just causing unnecessary pain. When parents are abusing their child, they go to court. Plain and simple.

[fedkaczynski]

2018, the year where wanting your child to live is now child abuse.

2018, where trying to seek outside medical care for your sick child is “prolonging suffering”.

2018, where fighting for your family is bad

Alfie might not be curable but he and his parents deserve the right to seek care and try to save him.

And any doctor working in the UK has to work for the government so of course they won’t oppose the governent narrative because there isn’t anywhere else to work.

Do you even hear yourself?

Honestly what is wrong with you?

[celtic-pyro-deactivated20230725]

“He has no brain activity” but at the same time he’s cognizant enough to feel and conceptualize pain.

Plus, the UK govt. wouldn’t “look bad” if they let this family go to Italy to get their child treatment, they’re only looking bad by doing everything in their power to prevent it.

[patron-saint-of-smart-asses-dea]

I want to add, the boy has yet to receive an actual diagnosis. By going to another hospital, they have a chance of getting answers. There is nothing bad with that.

[awhiffofcavendish]

This is just the most recent example of why Western politicians need to start suffering tragic accidents. 

[gouachevalier]

[allaboutmary]

A 17th century painting of Our Lady of the Forsaken, Valencia.

[eternal-echoes]

But God forbid that the sons of the Catholic Church ever in any way be hostile to those who are not joined with us in the same bonds of faith and love; but rather they should always be zealous to seek them out and aid them, whether poor, or sick, or afflicted with any other burdens, with all the offices of Christian charity; and they should especially endeavor to snatch them from the darkness of error in which they unhappily lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth and to the most loving Mother, the Church.

Pope Pius IX, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore (via catherine-of-alexandria)

[sermoveritas-deactivated2023030]

[apenitentialprayer]

Litany Against the Deadly Sins

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ hear us. God, Father Who created the world good, have mercy on us. God, Son who Redeemed us from our sins, have mercy on us. God, the Spirit whose Presence sanctifies us, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, One All-Good and Loving God, have mercy on us. From the evils in our hearts, save us. From the iniquities in our souls, save us. From the slavery of Sin, save us. From Asmodeus, who whispers lecheries in the night, save us. From Beelzebub, who craves the damnation of souls, save us. From Mammon, who encourages descent into materialism, save us. From Belphegor, who inspires apathy and indifference, save us. From Satan, who sows division through hatred, save us. From Leviathan, who poisons relationships with bitterness, save us. From Lucifer, who desires to spread the idolatry of the self, save us. Holy Mary, Refuge of Sinners, pray for us. Saint Joseph, Terror of Demons, pray for us. Saint Michael the Archangel, Defender of the Church, pray for us. Saint Raphael the Archangel, Scourge of Evil Spirits, pray for us. Saint Anthony, Disperser of Devils, pray for us. Saint Padre Pio, Helper of Souls in Doubt and Darkness, pray for us. Saint Benedict, Leader of the Holy Warfare, pray for us. Saint Expeditus, Advocate of Sinners, pray for us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, deliver us from evil. Let Us Pray: O Heavenly King, Who has forgiven us our sins through the gift of baptism, protect our souls from the influence of the devil and all his evil spirits. May our hearts be castles manned by the Spirit of Your Love, ever vigilant against corruption and impurity. May we never forget the Redeemer Who has saved us, and may we never turn ourselves back over to the powers of this world. We ask, instead, for the grace to ever remain a temple for Your Most Holy Spirit, and to be beacons of Your Divine Love to those who surround us. We ask this through that same Savior, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

[byjoveimbeinghumble]

The substitute of the State edict for the individual conscience is always a sure sign of decadence, in every country and in every age.

Henri Daniel-Rops, The Church of the Apostles and Martyrs (1960)

[josephmaniaci]

“It is frequently asserted that contraception, if made safe and available to all, is the most effective remedy against abortion. The Catholic Church is then accused of actually promoting abortion, because she obstinately continues to teach the moral unlawfulness of contraception… But despite their differences of nature and moral gravity, contraception and abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of the same tree. It is true that in many cases contraception and even abortion are practiced under the pressure of real-life difficulties, which nonetheless can never exonerate from striving to observe God’s law fully. Still, in very many other instances such practices are rooted in a hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility in matters of sexuality, and they imply a self-centered concept of freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfillment. The life which could result from a sexual encounter thus becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the only possible decisive response to failed contraception.”

Saint John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (via josephmaniaci) [Full text] (via papalwords)