Tribulation Times
READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/may.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101
May 18, 2010 (Joh 21:16) He saith to him again: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs.
ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN (IRELAND): "The agenda for change in the Church must be one that comes from its message and not from pressure from outside and from people who do not have the true good of the Church at heart. [...] [T]rue reform of the Church will spring only from those who love the Church, with a love like that of Jesus which is prepared also to suffer for the Church and to give oneself for the Church." "Thank God there are many who love their Church: lay persons, religious and clergy. We love the Church because the Church is our home, the place where we encounter the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ and where we gather in love to break bread in his memory."
FROM THE MAILBAGREFLECTION by Father Ted: My dearest Lord Jesus, during this past two weeks You have told us to “love one another”. You did so 2 Sundays ago - on the 5th Sunday of Easter in the gospel; You did so again today in the gospel for the Friday in the 5th week of Easter. You did so today on this feast of the Apostle, Saint Matthias. This is supposed to be our special mark or characteristic of Your children – our love for each other. Yet how many of us really put this command of Yours into practice? How many of us who call ourselves Catholic even know this command of Yours? How many of us who call ourselves Catholic have even heard this exhortation of Yours proclaimed by Your priest or Your deacon in the Mass two Sundays ago or even today on this feast of Saint Matthias? How many Catholics even went to Mass last Sunday? Or on the Sunday before? I must admit - not too many! And why not? What has happened in the Church during these years since my ordination? Where are all the children? Where are all the young people – the teenagers, the young adults? Why didn’t they hear the “Good News” last Sunday in Church? Or on the previous Sunday? Why weren’t they at Mass? How do I answer these questions, Lord? I do remember when I was a young priest in the 60’s, how many children, how many adolescents, how many young people went to Mass every Sunday. But I also recall, while I was teaching Science in one of our Catholic schools in the 70’s, that some of our students were being taught by their religion teachers that they did not need to go to Mass, if they did not feel like it. They believed what they were being taught. And since many times they did not feel like going to Church on Sunday, they didn’t. What was happening? Feelings were being emphasized during that time – If it feels good, do it. If it doesn’t feel good, don’t. What was really happening? We were not teaching the “Good News” as Jesus had taught, as His disciples had taught. What had happened is that we had neglected to focus on our purpose in life – to know God, to love Him, to serve Him, so that we could be with Him forever in His home, namely Heaven. Instead we focused on the here and now. We focused on ourselves and our earthly wants and needs. We were neglecting daily prayer; we were omitting family prayer. We were beginning to deemphasize the importance of communal worship – including the obligation of worshiping God on Sunday. We were gradually accepting that “false teaching” that we did not need to worship God on Sundays at Mass. As a result we gradually accepted many other “false teachings”. Without the benefit of daily prayer, without the benefit of weekly Mass and the reception of Holy Communion, without the benefit of frequent confession, we began to lose our spiritual strength; we began to alienate ourselves from our heavenly Father; we began to forget about our relationship with God. Lord, how blind we have become. How foolish we have become. Lord, enlighten us with Your Truth. Teach us once more, what we need to know so that we can once again live as Your beloved children. LINK : Budding priests in a time of crisis: Seminarians enter scandal-scarred vocation
Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "On discernment of thoughts, passions, and virtues"
41. Untimely jesting is sometimes born of lust; and sometimes of vainglory, when a man impiously puts on a pious air; and sometimes too of luxury.Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.
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