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Showing posts with the label St. Thomas Aquinas

Rigid Trads, Judging Catholics & The Demon of Medjugorje: A Brief Update

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Here are my latest posts: One post is an excellent article I reposted, that focuses on Traditional Catholic's and how there is some rigidity concerning how (we) use the term " Novus Ordo " in things we do not like. It wraps up wonderfully with reminding us trads how blessed we truly are to know our Faith and Tradition, but that we mustn't judge that others know it as well and just refuse to take part in it.  Another post is on "JUDGING" . Anyone ever hear of Matthew 7;1 "Judge not lest ye be judged" ? It is used so much nowadays to cover a multitude of sins and to keep quiet about the Faith. But then, there IS a large problem with Catholic's judging others ! So what does the Bible really mean when it talks about "judging" ?   We take a look at the meaning between judging and "admonishing", and look at other sources concerning this issue such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and Mother Angelica.  "The Demon of Medjug...

The prayer God always answers

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Sunday Morning by Thomas Waterman Wood (Wikimedia Commons) How can we know that God will hear and answer our prayers? I learned a new word the other day that I want to share with you: impetration. Impetration is a prayer that God infallibly answers. The concept comes from such New Testament passages as this: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt. 7:7) Now we know from experience that God does not answer every prayer. Or, as we like to say, He sometimes answers with a “no.” So where is the fulfillment of this verse? St. Thomas Aquinas taught that there are four requirements for impetration: We must be praying for ourselves, since freewill is involved. We must be praying for something necessary for salvation (but theologians include in this all the goods that could help us grow in grace). We must pray piously–in Jesus’ name, with humility, trust, and attention. We must persevere in prayer wh...

Top 10 tips for your spiritual life from 2013

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The Virgin Mary Reading by Walters. Here are the posts from 2013 she might recommend to you. 'Tis the season for reviewing the old year. How did you advance towards God this year? Do you remember those blog posts that really struck you at the time, or have you forgotten them? Here are some reminders of how you can grow closer to Christ, taken from my blog posts over the past year. 1. Read the Gospels If you want to advance towards God, you must learn to love Him. Read what He revealed about Himself. Need more motivation to read Scripture? Here are 10 Reasons Catholics should read the Bible. 2. Stop making excuses for missing prayer You’re not going to grow closer to Christ if you aren’t willing to make sacrifices to spend time with Him. Read 7 Ways to make time for prayer. 3. Ponder God’s Word in your heart This follows from #s 1 and 2. It’s a particularly Carmelite way of honoring Mary. See Mary pondered all these things–do you? 4. Choose to become a s...

Spiritual Communion

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I   am learning to live in the Light, remain in the Light and stay connected to the Light within me. My tendency is to switch back to living in misery, burdened with interior pain because this is what I am accustomed to. Ridiculous? Insane?Absolutely, but now a mere glance to the Light and bang- I switch again from misery to joy.  To nurture His Risen Life in me, the life of the Messiah, I am discovering that spiritual communion is powerful. I just  whisper a desire for the Eucharist and He is present like a fire burning in my heart, burning even my skin.  I  could dance for joy, like a child of God in the sunshine. St. Thomas Aquinas defined Spiritual Communion as  “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and a loving embrace as though we had already received Him.” The basis of this practice was explained by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical,  Ecclesia de Eucharistia : “unlike any other sacrament, ...