Association Of Catholic Bloggers

To kick off my series on the works of Mercy, I am compiling my five favorite ideas for families to live the virtue of Feeding the Hungry.  There are so many who are hungry out there, it truly is the easiest to start with.  In raising our children, we want them to not just know the faith, but live it.  St Paul said that faith without works is dead. Please join me for this twelve part series on living the works of mercy and see the faith of your family blossom and bear fruit! Source 1 Make Bag Lunches for the Homeless Our parish participates in "Midnight Run" where our priests, youth group, and parent volunteers travel to "the City" and distribute goods to the homeless. Out of the back of minivans, they spend the night handing out clothing, blankets, and toiletries.  They also distribute bag lunches that includes a sandwich, soft fruit, drink, and dessert.  For the past few years, my children and I have packed lunches for this venture. Continued

What victory is this, that all suffering that we suffer now will pass away, and every tear, every pain along with every joy, and shout of praise will bring to fruition the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. I have seen the victory, and it is wondrous. In a moment at God's will I was shown the end.... TO READ MORE..CLICK HERE!

St. Michael the Archangel and the Souls in Purgatory   The trap of Purgatory is too many souls rely on Purgatory as the destination of their soul after death, and slap God in the face by not trusting in His mercy, and do not seek Heaven.  They use Purgatory as their "backup plan" and as a result lead lukewarm lives, saying to themselves that in an exchange for just doing the "minimum" faith requirement, thinking that when they die they will just have to spend a few years in Purgatory and then eventually end up in Heaven. Whether we spend time in Purgatory is at  God's  discretion, not ours.   The greatest misuse of Purgatory is that many Catholics do not fear God because of Purgatory. Those that hang their hopes on Purgatory are already among the lukewarm and possibly among those heading to the second death. Jesus will spit those out of His mouth that have failed to make every effort to follow Jesus and heaven, NOT Purgatory. To READ MORE: CLICK HERE!

Today was a rough one.  But I knew it would be, I had been warned ahead of time.  I went to Holy Mass and as usual, I stay after and pray.  This situation is ideal, because no one sees me.  This is important.  If you are truly seeking the good of another soul in your petition to God, and nothing for yourself, then your petition, ideally, should just be between you and God.  Hidden from the eyes of everyone.  No guile, no hidden agendas, just you and God as you plead to Him for His mercy on those He has chosen you to pray for.  (Oh yeah, you usually don't get to pick whom or what you pray for.) .... to find out what happened when praying the stations , CLICK HERE!

(From John Martin, via WikiMedia Commons, used w/o permission.) ('Now that I have your attention ....') God is occasionally presented as violence-prone, with serious anger management issues. Some folks who describe the Almighty this way seem to think that we should worship God because the alternative is getting squashed like bugs. Others claim that God is a make-believe bogeyman , invented by charlatans to frighten people. I think both claims are missing an important point. God is just, God is merciful: and sometimes God has to get our attention. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

How is your spiritual life going? Are you feeling frustrated with yourself? Are you distraught over your lack of progress? Do you keep falling into the same sins repeatedly? Welcome to the human race! No, I’m not trying to dismiss your concerns flippantly. Sometimes we just need a reminder that we are, after all, fallen. Adam’s sin affects us all. But here’s something you may not have realized: Your sins do not shock God! God is used to sinners. He has centuries of experience with them. He even came down from Heaven to live among them. Then people criticized Him for eating with sinners instead of the “righteous.” Yes, He loved to hang out with people like you and me. God delights in showing mercy. He delights in lifting our burdens. He delights in carrying our yoke with us, comforting our sorrows, calming our fears. Continue reading at Contemplative Homeschool.

During prayer one day, the Lord spoke to me. "You know I conquered sin and death."    I don't why I knew it, but I knew this was instruction about my prayer, about how to pray.  "Yes Lord".  Thinking:  What is He trying to tell me?. ..CLICK HERE...

All... I was afraid to write some of the posts I have posted lately.  Part of me didn't want to write them, because of what they could cost me.  Yes, I have written the truth, I will not deny that, ever.  And I was commanded to write.  He said,  "You MUST write."   "OK I will." And write I shall.  The truth I tell could cost me dearly.  It has already begun to cost me, but because of my love, I will be obedient.  The Mathematics I love, may be only a dream, a certificate on the wall.   I may never get to use it.  Not my will but yours.  When you know the truth, any pain of any loss is small compared to the pain of the state of souls in the world. .... READ MORE.

Quite a lot has happened, since Father James Statz came to the Our Lady of the Angels parish here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Most of it's routine, like the annual cycle of the liturgical year, some hasn't. Today is the last time Father Statz celebrates Mass as our parish priest. I'm sorry to see him go, but very glad that he has been here. Remembering, Mostly 2003 Some of it hasn't been routine, like when the Christmas tree — over a dozen feet tall — fell over behind him. That was in 2003. I took that photo before the excitement. The choir director had told us that the last song would be "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" when the Christmas tree fell over. Over a dozen children on the near side of the altar, and probably a few other folks, said "eee!" The tree fell neatly on the altar's far side. Then we sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Nobody was hurt, much, although Father Statz got clipped as the tree went past him, and th

There is great evil in the world.  One need only turn on the news and see that.  As such I have cause to pray much about what I see on the news.  When I see death, I kiss the crucifix and ask for mercy for a soul before the judgement and when I hear of great evil acted from one soul to another, I ask for conversion of that most blackest of heart that did the evil. I don't usually get a direct answer to these prayers.  I don't even know the results of my prayers, and nor do I want to.  One day, God will show me all, I am happy to wait till then. However, during one prayer I realized that I was taking the very act of being able to ask God for mercy for someone for granted.   For even the ability to pray is a gift from God.  read more HERE

Pope Francis has proved himself to be a revolutionary, setting some hearts on fire with love and other hearts on fire with anger and dismay. After nearly every telephone call or off-the-cuff remark by Pope Francis, at least one Catholic commentator complains that Pope Francis should just stop speaking so freely. I don't see that happening any time soon. Some of Pope Francis' most controversial comments are actually my favorites. But all of his comments display a clear-sighted vision of the problems facing people today and the immense possibility our Church has to solve those problems through grace and action. Without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite Francis quotes: Read more here...

God's Justice.  As God is complete in all that He is, we are not able to take away or add to His measure.  Since this is so, then God is whole. If God is perfect then His attributes must also be perfect.  God is one, God is the divine Trinity, the three divine persons in one God.  God is pure, and His purity must be perfect, with nothing lacking.  God is just, and His justice must also be perfect.  So God is pure, just and perfect.  As a result, if God's justice is perfect then His justice must not allow any one who is impure, vile or sinful into his presence, for this would not be just and it would be torture for the soul stained by sin to behold the beatific vision of God.   God is also mercy, and His mercy, because He is timeless is for all time God's mercy must also be infinite.  The fact of God's infinite mercy has lead souls down the path to the conclusion that no matter what they do, God's mercy is infinite and God will not allow them to go to Hel

The Pharisee and the Publican ,  James Tissot  [ Wikipedia ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  Luke 18:9-14  ( Revised StandardVersion – Catholic Edition )  Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his hou

Where does Evil Come From? In the beginning God Said, "Let there be light."  And there was light.  God creates with His word, and when He gave the angels free will He also gave them this ability to create out of their words, although to a much lesser degree.  God is all good, there is no darkness in Him.  However, having infinite knowledge of His creation, He knew of evil as a concept (because God knows all things), but evil only existed in the mind of God as a concept, a potentiality.  When he gave the angels free will they two had a knowledge of what rebellion what evil was as a concept, otherwise their will would not be free because they would have no other choice but the good God.  It was a concept, and so as to truly choose God freely, they were given knowledge of "another way".  Again, this was only a concept in the mind of God and the angels, at this time evil did not yet exist.   God did not create evil, even though He knew about it.  By his

To understand why Jesus has to be God, we have to understand the Father also.  The Father is infinite, with no beginning and no end.  Therefore, his attributes are also infinite.  His knowledge is infinite and, most important to us, his memory is infinite.  We were created, and we have a beginning, but with a soul that shall exist forever.  God is the creator of life, and if the angels shall not taste death or annihilation, then neither shall we, to say that our souls face an annihilation is not consistent with the nature of God as creator of life.  We shall be "somewhere" for all time.  A short time, (very short when you think about it) in the flesh, and then eternity either with God or banished from His presence.   So let's go back to the Father's memory.  The Father's memory is infinite, which means He will remember all things for all time.  (He is actually not bound by time, but that is another blog post) So think about that, what you do in the flesh G

Sitting in the Adoration Chapel recently, my eyes were continually drawn to a print of The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Rembrandt. There is much to contemplate within the scene, but on that particular day it was the prodigal himself I returned to again and again. Broken, dirty, battered, he’d been shamed and brought low. And yet there is yielding peace in his very bones as he accepts his father’s embrace. He has surrendered. He knows who he is and where he belongs. Every line of his body, the very profile of his face is eloquent with that acceptance. He makes no excuses for his tattered clothing, the hole in his shoe, his bare head. Rather, he is open, and receives his father’s healing touch, his father’s blessing. The beauty of this parable is that we see fragments of ourselves in each of the characters: the father who hopes, trusts, and forgives; the faithful son who questions the justice of the rebellious son’s welcome – and perhaps to some extent also questions his

We continue to pray this month for priests, that they may always be true witnesses to the caring and merciful love of God. Prayer For The Sanctification Of Priests O God our Father, rich in mercy, who in the Blood and Water which flowed from the Heart of Christ, your Son and our Lord, poured out your infinite love upon all humanity, we beg you to grant that we may respond faithfully to your goodness which has made us ministers of reconciliation among our brothers and sisters. Let us pray together saying: Pour out your mercy upon us, OLord! 1. For all priests scattered throughoutthe world, that they may rediscover their priestly vocation as a "mystery of mercy" and, drawing plentifully from the sacramental source of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, may become channels of mercy for the world, let us pray: 2. For the new evangelization, at the dawn of this millennium, that in every priest the Lord may inspire a deep desire for holiness in his own specific state to live the