Faith and Science:

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/october.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 4, 2009  

THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).

(Rom 1:20-21) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. His eternal power also and divinity: so that they are inexcusable. Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God or given thanks: but became vain in their thoughts. And their foolish heart was darkened.

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ZENIT.ORG: Pope Notes Limits of Looking Through a Telescope- Cautions Against Being Blinded by Scientific Success

EDITIORIAL (LA Times): What do scientists think about religion?

FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA A Moment with Mary: The Student and the Man with the Rosary

More than a hundred years ago, a man traveling in a train found himself seated next to someone who appeared to be a wealthy peasant with a rosary in his hands. "Sir," the student addressed the old man, "do you still believe that old stuff ?"

"Yes," the other replied, "I certainly do. What about you?"

The student burst out laughing and went on: "I don't believe that silly stuff. Follow my advice: throw your rosary out the window and learn what science has to say about it."

"Science? ... Maybe you could explain it to me?" replied the man humbly, with tears in his eyes.

The student noticed the emotion on the face of his traveling companion and to avoid hurting his feelings further, told him: "Please

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give me your address, I will send you some information."

Then, glancing at the business card the man had taken out of his inside pocket, the young man fell silent. The card read: Louis Pasteur, Director, Scientific Research Institute, Paris

EXCERPT POPE JOHN PAUL II (General Audience, July, 1985): May a reference to an Italian scientist, Enrico Medi, a few years deceased, be sufficient. At the International Cathechetical Congress of Rome in 1971 he affirmed: "When I tell a young person: Look, there is a new star, a galaxy, a neutron star 100 million light-years away, yet the protons, electrons; neutrons and mesons which are found there are identical with those which are found in this microphone... Identity excludes probability. That which is identical is not probable... Therefore there is a cause, outside of space, outside of time, the master of being, which made being to be in this way. And this is God...

The being -I am speaking scientifically- which has caused things to be identical at a distance of billions of light-years, exists. And the number of identical particles in the universe is 10 raised to the 85th power... Do we wish then to take in the song of the Galaxies? If I were Francis of Assisi I would say: O Galaxies of the immense heavens, give praise to my Lord, for he is omnipotent and good. O atoms, O protons, O electrons, O bird-songs, O blowing of the leaves and of the air, in the hands of man as a prayer, sing out the hymn which returns to God!" (Acts of the Second International Catechetical Congress. Rome, 20-25 September 1971, Rome, Studium, 1972 pp. 449-450).

Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph 159: Faith and science: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth." "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are."

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 24- "On meekness, simplicity and guilelessness"

17. Guilelessness is a joyous state of soul far removed from all ulterior motive.   

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ADVENT MEDITATIONS
FOR THE FIRST EIGHT DAYS
By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

MEDITATION VI

The Sight of our Sins afflicted Jesus from the First Moment of His Life.

Dolor meus in conspectu meo semper.
"My sorrow is continually before me." (Ps. 37:18)

I.
All the inflictions and ignominies which Jesus Christ suffered in life and death, all were present to His mind from the first moment of His life. And He offered them all every moment of His life in satisfaction for our sins. Our Lord revealed to one of His servants that every sin of men gave Him during His life so much sorrow that it would have sufficed to cause His death, if His life had not been preserved in order that He might suffer more. Behold, O my Jesus! What gratitude hast Thou received from men, and especially from me. Thou has spent thirty-three years of life for my salvation, and I have done as much as I could, as far as it depended on me, to make Thee die with sorrow, as often as I have committed sin.

II.
St. Bernard of Sienna writes that Jesus Christ "had a particular regard to every single sin." Each of our sins was present continually to our Saviour, even from His infancy, and afflicted Him grievously. St. Thomas adds that this one sorrow of knowing all the injury which resulted to the Father from every sin, and all the evil which it occasioned to us, surpassed the sorrow of all the contrite sinners that ever were, even of those who died of pure contrition; because no sinner ever arrived at loving God and his own soul as Jesus Christ has loved the Father and our souls.

Therefore, my Jesus, if no man ever loved me more than Thou hast done, it is only just that I should love Thee above all men. Since, then, I can say that Thou alone hast really loved me, so will I love Thee alone.

III.
That agony which Jesus suffered in the garden at the sight of our sins, for which He had taken upon Himself to satisfy, He suffered from the time He was conceived in His Mother's womb. If, therefore, Jesus Christ passed a life full of tribulations for no other reason than on account of our sins, we ought not, during our life, to afflict ourselves for any other evils than for the sins which we have committed.

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My beloved redeemer, I could wish to die of sorrow at the thought of all the bitterness that I have caused Thee during my life. My Love, if Thou lovest me, give me such a sorrow as may take away my life, and so obtain for me Thy pardon, and the grace to love Thee with all my strength. I give Thee my whole heart; and if I do not know how to give it to Thee entirely, oh, do Thou take it Thyself, and inflame it with Thy holy love. O Mary, advocate of the wretched, I recommend myself to thee.

[From 'The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ.']

Love God, Love One Another: "The Way to Him Is the Way of the Cross" by Rita Ring, May 19, 1994

The Way to Him Is the Way of the Cross

May 19, 1994

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R. He went out in such pain. Why should I be free? Suffering and pain teach us to let go. When I am experiencing intense pain, I cannot experience it without letting go. It is in suffering that I am drawn closer to Jesus. If I let go, I jump into His waiting arms. Intense pain…let go…forced to…Faith and trust…let go…Hairs of our head are numbered…don't have time to fume and fret and focus on self…constant letting go, giving to Him and trusting…I sit still…others move around me and bump their heads…He walks up and gives us what we need…The more I do it, the more I botch it up!

http://www.sofc.org/

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Truth Time:

Truth Time:

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CHRISTMAS FOES WALK A MINEFIELD

 

Catholic League president Bill Donohue talks about the way Christmas foes navigate the holiday:

 

This is a tricky season for those who delight in warring on Christmas.

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 Consider what is happening in Waterbury, Connecticut.

 

Erik Brown is the principal of Walsh Elementary in the Waterbury School District. His staff is under strict orders not to employ secular, as well as religious, Christmas symbols when they enjoy their “winter celebration” on December 21. Yet Christmas carols will be sung at the event, as well as Hanukkah songs. And students will be given gifts.

 

Is there a law against the display of secular holiday symbols in Connecticut schools? No. So why the ban? Brown says, “It is state law that a public school can’t knowingly exclude children.” He is, of course, wrong: there is no such law. If there were, then his school would be open on April 2, 2010. But there is no school that day, and that is because the Waterbury School District Calendar marks April 2nd as “Good Friday.”

 

Why are Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs allowed to be sung on “winter celebration” day? Don’t they exclude Buddhists? And if those songs are okay, why are teachers forbidden from displaying Frosty the Snowman, never mind Baby Jesus? Moreover, why is it okay to sing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,"

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 but it is not okay to display a poster of Santa?

 

Come to think of it, why are they having a “winter celebration” at all? To be exact, there is no “summer celebration” scheduled for Monday, June 21, 2010. So why the discrimination? Aren’t there students who would like to sing “Those Lazy, Hazy, 

Crazy

 Days of Summer” and receive another round of gifts? How can they be legally excluded under Connecticut law?

 

Seems to us that Mr. Brown has sat through one too many multicultural workshops. Give him a call at (203) 574-8164, and wish him a Merry Christmas.

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A Different Christmas Poem

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM

 

 

 

  

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,  I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.   My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,  My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.  Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,  Transforming the yard to a winter delight. Image by Julep67 via Flickr  The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,  Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.   My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,  Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.  In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,  So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.  The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,  But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..   Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the  sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.  My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,  And I crept to the door just to see who was near.  Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,  A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.   A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,  Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.  Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,  Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.  "What are you doing?" I asked without fear,  "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!   Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,  You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"  For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,                       Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light  Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,   I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."  "It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,  That separates you from the darkest of times.  No one had to ask or beg or implore me,  I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.   My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"  Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."  My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',  And now it is my turn and so, here I am.  I've not seen my own son in more than a while,  But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile..   Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,  The red, white, and blue... an American flag.  I can live through the cold and the being alone,  Away from my family, my house and my home. Image via Wikipedia  I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,  I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.   I can carry the weight of killing another,  Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..  Who stand at the front against any and all,  To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.."  "  So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,  Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."  "But isn't there something I can do, at the least,  "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?  It seems all too little for all that you've done,   For being away from your wife and your son."  Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,  "Just tell us you love us, and never forget.   To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,  To stand your own watch, no matter how long.  For when we come home, either standing or dead,  To know you remember we fought and we bled.  Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,   That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."  PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many   people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our  U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these  festivities.. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people   stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.    LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN  30th Naval Construction Regiment  OIC, Logistics Cell One  Al Taqqadum, Iraq

 

 

 

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Bishop-elect Fr. Paul Etienne of Cheyenne an Outdoorsman from a faith-filled family:

New Fly fishing Rod

Indianapolis, Ind., Dec 2 (CNA) - Fr. Paul D. Etienne, the bishop-elect of Cheyenne, is an Indiana outdoorsman whose vocation was nourished by a faithful mother and relatives in the priesthood and religious life. 

Fr. Etienne, 50, will become one of the youngest Catholic bishops in the U.S. when he is installed as Bishop of Cheyenne on Dec. 9. TheIndianapolis Star reports that he celebrated his final Masses as pastor in his two parishes in Perry County, Indiana where he has been assigned since July. 

The bishop-elect earned a business degree at a Minnesota college and struggled to resolve his doubts about his vocation during his studies at the Gregorian in Rome. 

His resolution became firm in 1990, two years before his ordination. 

The priest explained that while in Rome he sensed God speaking “within the depths of my heart.” 
“It was as if I was able finally to bring my will into line with God's will for me," he said, "and the priesthood was something that I wanted for myself. And life changed for me.” 

He and his brother Bernard, who is also a priest, have maintained a 145-acre tract just north of Tell City, Indiana as their retreat. On hillside land that was once heavily logged, they have planted oaks, clover patches and a thousand pine trees to make the area hospitable for rabbits, turkeys and deer. 
The brothers also built a small pond as a water source for the game and for a place to fish. 

Fr. Etienne told the Star that caring for the land takes a lot of investment with “little to show for it at first.” 
“Preaching is a lot like that,” he explained. 

He and his brother have visited the forest for years on Sunday afternoons and Mondays. They had intended to build a retirement cabin on the land, though Bernard believed his brother would be appointed a bishop someday. 

"I have thought that he had a target on his back for quite a while,” Fr. Bernard told the Star. “I wasn't ready for it to happen yet. I wasn't ready for the dramatic change that this was going to be in our relationship.” 

Two of the brothers’ six siblings are also in religious life. Their mother, Kay, had felt a call to the religious life but desired a family more strongly. On a pilgrimage to Lourdes, she asked God to give her a husband and a family and she would devote her children to 

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His service. 

Her brother was a priest and her sister was a nun. This uncle and aunt brought many other priests and nuns to Fr. Etienne’s grandparents’ home in Tell City for meals and fun. 

"They came to family gatherings. They played softball with us when we were growing up. They played football with us. They played cards with us. And when we got older, they drank with us," Fr. Etienne told the Star. "It was just very human experiences with them. It wasn't just them presiding over the sacraments of the Church." 

Archbishop of Indianapolis Daniel M. Beuchlein told the Star that he had submitted Bishop-elect Etienne’s name as a candidate fit to become bishop. 

"I think the outdoorsman part probably caught the papal nuncio's interest," Archbishop Buechlein said. "They were looking for somebody like that for Wyoming." 

Bishop-Elect Etienne said a friend has given him a new fly rod for trout fishing in his new home. 
“I can’t wait,” he told the Indianapolis Star.

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Redemptorists' Adven

Redemptorists' Advent Calendar: http://htxt.it/WcVE

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ADVENT MEDITATIONS
FOR THE FIRST EIGHT DAYS
By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

MEDITATION V

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Jesus has done and suffered Everything to save us.

Dilexit me, et tradidit semetipsum pro me.
"He loved me, and delivered Himself for me." (Gal. 2:20)

I.
If, therefore, my Jesus, Thou hast for the love of me embraced a laborious life and a bitter death, I may, indeed, say that Thy death is mine, Thy sufferings are mine, Thy merits are mine, Thou Thyself art mine; since for me Thou hast given Thyself up to so great sufferings. Ah, my Jesus, there is no trouble that afflicts me more than the thought that once Thou wert mine, and that I have so often willingly lost Thee. Forgive me, and unite me to Thyself; suffer me not in future ever to offend Thee again. I love Thee with all my heart. Thou willest to be all mine; and I will be entirely Thine.

II.
The Son of God being true God is infinitely happy; and yet, as St. Thomas says, He has done and suffered as much for man as if He could not be happy without him. If Jesus Christ had been obliged to earn for Himself upon this earth His eternal beatitude, what could He have done more than to burden Himself with all our weaknesses, and assume all our infirmities, and then end His life with a death so severe and ignominious? But no, He was innocent, He was holy, and was in Himself blessed; Whatever He did and suffered was all to gain for us divine grace and paradise, which we had lost.

Miserable is he that does not love Thee, my Jesus, and that does not pass his life enamored with so much goodness.

III.
If Jesus Christ had permitted us to ask Him for the greatest proofs of His love, who would have dared to propose to Him to become a child like one of us, to embrace all our miseries, to make Himself of all men the most poor, the most despised, the most ill-used, even to dying in torments the infamous death of the cross, cursed and forsaken by all, even by His own Father? But that which we should not have dared even to think of, He has both thought of and done.

My beloved Redeemer, I beseech Thee to obtain for me that grace which Thou hast merited for me by Thy death. I love Thee, and am sorry for having offended Thee. Oh, take my soul into Thy hands; I will not let the devil have dominion over it any more; I desire that it may be entirely Thine, since Thou hast bought it with Thy Blood. Thou alone lovest me, and Thee alone will I love. Deliver me from the misery of living without Thy love, and then chastise me as Thou willest. O Mary, my refuge, the death of Jesus and thy intercession are my hopes.

[From 'The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ.']

Love God, Love One Another: "We Are United in Communion" by Rita Ring, May 19, 1994

We Are United in Communion

Image by Loci Lenar via Flickr

May 19, 1994 After Communion at Father Smith's Chapel

I am one in you and you are one in Me. As the Father has sent Me, you are one in Us. I am in your body, child, at this moment. I am inside of you. I love you with such intensity. No union is greater than the union you experience after Communion. I am united to you after Communion. Pray for openness to grow in your relationship with Me. Now is the time to throw yourself into My arms and be totally open.

I am your precious Jesus, your Savior. I am God. I am present inside of your breast. Focus on Me and Me alone. Focus on Me before you receive Me. You must let go of your attachments to worldly concerns and thoughts. Drive th

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em from your mind. They keep you from union with Me.

I am your all. I am present and by your side always. Do not belabor points in your head. I care for you as a mother cares for her baby. Babies do not plan and worry. Let go and surrender to Me. I am hyper-vigilant and by your side.

Oh, child, I love you so. I tend to your every need. Be with Me now. Let go. Surrender and be totally alone with Me. Free yourself in your mind of any attachments. Focus only on Me. I am one in you and you are one in Me. At this moment, be totally in My arms. Oh, how I love you, My beautiful one.

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Why they still fear Christmas!

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/october.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 2, 2009  

(John 3:19-21) And this is the judgment: Because the light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved. But he that doth truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest: because they are done in God.

HUMAN LIFE INTERNATIONAL: Get Ready for Christ Our Savior! by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer

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FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA Frank Rega, SFO: Why they still fear Christmas!    

During this Advent, let us remember in prayer all of the unborn little ones who will never live to see their first Christmas, and for the conversion of those who are permitting this to happen.  We should especially pray for the pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians and activists, such as Pelosi, Biden, and Sebelius, whose Michael Corleone Catholicism will not save their souls.  In the Godfather, Al Pacino's character Michael Corleone, during a solemn Baptism ceremony, professes his loyalty to Christ and renounces Satan, with all his pomps and all his works.  At the same time, Corleone's henchmen, acting upon his orders, are committing a series of brutal murders in organized crime's gang wars.

In the real-life culture wars, Christophobia plays an integral part along with the crimes against the unborn, since a burgeoning, concerted attack is being waged on the Christmas season and the birthday of Jesus.  Just what are the "Happy Winterfest" folks afraid of?  Is it because December 25th flies in the face of the entire secular New World Order agenda, with its anti-family, anti-traditional-marriage, anti-childbirth, and anti-God satanic program?  As we know, the grinches even hate the very word "Christmas," attempting to eliminate mention of it in the public square.  But the more they attack this Holy Day, the more we should promote it, since it is a Divine wedge uprooting their evil machinations.  It teaches us that the birth of a child is something joyful and wonderful, not a "punishment" as the president of the United States

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once contended *.  Our president has also stated on more than one occasion that the United States is no longer a Christian nation.  This is religious indifferentism applied to politics.  It is a crude attempt at psychological manipulation, since people will tend to believe that this falsehood must be true, because the "president" himself has said it.  We may not be officially a Christian nation, but the great majority of our citizens still profess belief in Christ, and attend Christian places of worship.  Since Christ is God, this is the way it should be.  If we hold onto our Christian roots, and if true Catholics adhere to the Traditional Faith, we will undermine the agenda of the socialists, evolutionists, godless amoralists, and the abortionists' "organized crime" lobby, with their Corleone Catholics.  Right now the grinches are still confined to being the counter-culture, in terms of numbers at least, but their goal is to bury Christian America.

I believe one clue to this Christophobia to be found in the disturbing memo made available on the web by Randy Engel at her U.S.  Coalition for Life site, www.uscl.info.  In this heinous 1969 memo from Planned Parenthood to the Population Council, numerous strategies for controlling world population growth are outlined.  The current implementation of many of these proposed policies from forty years ago illustrates the power and influence of the Population Control machine.  For example, one of their nefarious schemes is to "encourage increased homosexuality." Yes, your children are being exposed to this life style not because anyone really cares about some nebulous self-fulfillment or self-expression, but because rampant homosexuality will contribute to population reduction!

Abortion, contraception, denigration of marriage, propagandizing women to abandon their homes and enter the workforce, control of education, etc., it's all there in this 1969 blueprint, inclu

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ding compulsory sterilization and child-bearing limits.

The celebration of the birthday of Jesus is the worst nightmare of the abortion / population control lobby.  During this season, the birth of a male child is literally glorified throughout the land.  This event is presented as a time of great joy and happiness, with hymns and special church services commemorating it.  The grotto of Bethlehem becomes an archetype of the domestic hearth, with a husband and wife presenting their lovely new-born baby to warmly-welcomed visitors and strangers.  And to make matters worse for the population control Christophobics, the spouses are of opposite sexes!  And that is why they are still afraid of Christmas.

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 24- "On meekness, simplicity and guilelessness"

15. Guile is a science, or rather, a diabolical deformity, bereft of truth and thinking it can escape the notice of the many.   

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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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What Does “Christ” and “It” Have in Common?

I

t has been raining for the past several days in Medjugorje. As the rain continued to fall this morning, the decision was made that Mirjana would not go to the Blue Cross for her Second of the Month apparition, but instead would have it in the privacy of her home. When Our Lady came today, She appeared neither happy or sad, but “normal” in Mirjana’s view. Marija, another Medjugorje visionary usually describes this as “tranquil”. Following is the message Our Lady gave today to Mirjana today in Medjugorje.

“Dear children at this time of preparation and joyful expectation I, as a Mother, desire to point you to what is the most important, to your soul. Can my Son be born in it? Is it cleansed by love from lies, arrogance, hatred and malice? Above all else does your soul love God as your Father and does it love your fellow brother in Christ? I am pointing you to the way which will raise your soul to a complete union with my Son. I desire for my Son to be born in you. What a joy that would be for me as Mother. Thank you.”
 

What Does “Christ” and “It” Have in Common?

Preparation, joyful expectation, Mother, point, born. A message wonderfully all about Christmas! But also, magnificently said in wisdom, a message all about abortion.

In Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, their inner serenity must have been filled with wonder and awe to know that they, as two individuals who walked the earth, were the center, the two, who were fulfilling the Scriptures, “The Savior would be born in Bethlehem.” This had to have been in their thoughts and discernment. At the same time, the uneasiness of the physical circumstances must have disquieted at least Joseph, and to some degree Mary. Yet, there was also the joyful expectation of Mary becoming a Mother, the birth of the Savior from Her womb. There was the star pointing the way for the Three Kings so that they could adore Jesus and be filled with joy. Our Lady places usin these circumstances today. How? As the Star of Bethlehem pointed and led the Three Kings to Jesus, Mary, Her name meaning “Morning Star’, points your soul to Jesus. She is speaking of Jesus being born in your soul not just figuratively, but ‘pregnantly,’ or in other words, it’s as real as a physical pregnancy, in which there is a period of time of ‘expecting’ before the actual birth. It, Our Lady says, is in reference to your soul. Our Lady’s use of the word ‘it’, is used as a subject in describing your soul as its own entity, apart from your body. This makes clear Our Lady’s intent that She is as a ‘star pointing’ you to Jesus, for Him to be born in your soul. By this the soul, being imprisoned in the body, experiences liberation of ‘it’self and, through the soul’s liberation the body is also liberated to be in complete union with Jesus. The joyful soul, which is in a state of “expectation” just as pregnant mother who is ‘expecting’ the birth of her child, cannot but give birth to a culture of life, tranquility and peace, even in the midst of a culture that is in a state of disintegration. While darkness is satan’s plans of destruction, Our Lady points us to the light of Jesus and of the plan of the re-construction of the culture. For those who will not follow the Star, for those who reject the way, for those who will not allow themselves to be ‘pointed’ in the right direction, they will fall with the oncoming destruction of everything not of God. The purifying of your soul, ‘it’s’ cleansing through Confession which thereby unites ‘it’ by love to the Father is the only way to peace, happiness, and tranquility. But if Our Lady, in today’s message, is about Christmas, it cannot help but to include the event that took place at the time of the first Christmas two thousand years ago—the slaughter of the innocents. Our soul is what is most important. Our soul is the womb in which Our Lady wants Jesus born in ‘it’. Abortionists— Dr. Lies, Dr. Arrogance, Dr. Hatred, and Dr. Malice, operate clinics that offer abortions of Jesus from the soul through a numerous and variety of lies, arrogance, hatred, and malice. These abortions are a pandemic in today’s culture. A separation from darkness, just as what took place in the early Christian communities, is necessary to nurture and strengthen the ‘soul’, so that Jesus in‘it’ can be brought to full term in order to be in complete union with the Father. Only nurtured souls can evangelize, and only nurtured communities can then evangelize.

We are talking about a real expectation, a real term of expectation, a real birth, a real nine months relative to the “term” of years that Our Lady will be with us, to unite us and birth the world into a real brotherhood who will be one with Her Son, one with the Father, and one with Her. Contemplate this season of expectation and wake up to the joy of little children on Christmas morning by realizing that you can really have Christmas in your heart in a way that you have never had before.

If you long to feel Christmas, for it to physically manifest itself in your heart, for you to be as the shepherds on the holy night, come to Caritas, Friday, December 11, 2009 forChristmas in the Field, a night you can see the birth and give birth.
 

In the love of Christmas and its joy,

P.S. Christmas in the Field, as mentioned above, is part of a five day spiritual retreat, starting December 8th and ending December 12th that is known as the Five Days of Prayer for the Reconciliation of Ourselves, Our Families and Our Nation Back to God. We, of course, invite you to attend all five days, but for those who are unable to attend the whole retreat, Christmas in the Field is a beautiful event that will help prepare the heart for Christmas.

It doesn’t take long for the word to get around the village when there is a change in the time or place of the apparition. Wherever Our Lady goes, the pilgrims follow. They want to be as near to the “source” of the apparitions as they can possibly be. Unfortunately, few are able to be present with Mirjana when she has her apparition in her home, but whatever space she does has, it fills to capacity. Here, pilgrims and villagers are entering Mirjana’s house for her apparition last April 2, 2009, while, below, many thousands filled the narrow street in front of her house. Apparition Mountain can be seen in the distant background.

 

Here, Mirjana is in ecstasy during her October 2, 2009 apparition at the Blue Cross. Today, December 2, 2009, was Mirjana’s last apparition for the year 2009. This year will be significant as it was the year Mirjana’s apparitions returned to Apparition Mountain at the Blue Cross. It would be good for all of us to return and meditate on the messages of Our Lady given to Mirjana during this year—during “…this time of preparation and joyful expectation…” as Christmas approaches. In doing so, will we not discover what is the “most important” for our soul in order for Jesus to be truly born in it? Go back through Our Lady’s 2nd of the Month Messages as you ask yourself if your heart is “…cleansed by love from lies, arrogance, hatred and malice?...”May we all respond to Our Lady’s invitation in order to bring Her the joy of seeing Jesus born in our hearts this Christmas.

 

 

 

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Catholic Population in the World

ADVENT MEDITATIONS
FOR THE FIRST EIGHT DAYS
By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

MEDITATION IV

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

Happiness of having been born after the Redemption and in the True Church.

Ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum . . . , ut eos qui sub lege erant, redimeret.
"When the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son . . . that He might redeem them who were under the law." (Gal. 4:4)

I.
How thankful should we not be to Almighty God for having caused us to be born after the great work of man's redemption was accomplished! This is what is meant by the fullness of time, a time blessed by the fullness of grace, which Jesus Christ obtained for us by coming into the world. Miserable should we have been if, guilty as we are of manifold sins, we had lived on this earth before the coming of Jesus Christ.

II.
Oh, what a miserable state were all men in before the coming of the Messiah; the true God was hardly known even in Judea, and in every other part of the world idolatry reigned, so that our forefathers worshiped stones, and wood, and devils; they worshiped innumerable false gods, but the true God was neither loved nor known by them. Even now, how many countries are there in which there are scarcely any Catholics, and all the rest of the inhabitants are either infidels or heretics! And all these are certainly in the way to be lost. What obligation do we not owe God for causing us to be born, not only after the coming of Jesus Christ, but also in countries where the true faith reigns!

I thank Thee, O Lord, for this. Woe to me if, after so many transgressions, it had been my lot to live in the midst of infidels or heretics! I know, O my God, that Thou willest that I should be saved; and I, miserable wretch, have willed so many times to damn myself by losing Thy favor. Have pity, my Blessed Redeemer, on my soul, which has cost Thee so much.

III.
God sent His Son that He might redeem them that were under the law. The slave therefore sins, and by sinning gives himself into the power of the devil, and his own Lord comes and ransoms him by His death.

O immense love, O infinite love of God towards man! O my Saviour, if Thou hadst not redeemed me by Thy death, what would have become of me? Of me, who so many times deserved hell by my sins. Oh, if Thou, my Jesus, hadst not died for me, I should have lost Thee forever, and there would have been no hope for me of recovering Thy grace, or of seeing Thy beautiful face in paradise. My dearest Saviour, I thank Thee; and I hope to come to heaven, there to thank Thee for all eternity. I regret above every evil that of having despised Thee in times past. In future, I purpose to choose every trouble, every kind of death, rather than offend Thee. I beseech Thee, my Jesus, let me never do so; "never let me be separated from Thee, never let me be separated from Thee." I love Thee, O infinite Goodness! And I will always love Thee in this life, and in all eternity. O my queen and advocate, Mary, keep me always under thy protection, and deliver me from sin.

[From 'The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ.']

[MaryVitamin] burning charity

 

Mary Vitamin for December 1st

Image by Vitrearum via Flickr

 

Topic: Burning Charity of Our Lady

 

Quote:

"Mary by a singular privilege granted to no other saint, loved, and was always actually loving God, in every moment of her life, with such ardor, that St. Bernard declares, it required a continued miracle to preserve her life in the midst of such flames."

St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books: 1978), 411.

 

Meditation

:

 C.J. Woollen

"Those who begin to love God are inclined to think that they will henceforth show their love solely by praying much and attending to their spiritual progress. They will need to do that, but progress in the grace of God is never secured by self-contained spirituality. Just as God has gone out of Himself, as it were, to give Himself to the soul, so must the soul go out of itself to give itself to others. So it is that those advancing in the love of God find joy in doing things for others. And they will learn that they can be doing works of charity all day long, and every day."

Fatima Basilica. Image via Wikipedia

The Twelve Fruits, (Roman Catholic Books), 6-7.

 

St. Francis de Sales

"Among all those who are included under the title of neighbor, there are none who deserve it more, in one sense, than those of our own household. They are nearest of all to us, living under the same roof and eating the same bread. Therefore they ought to be one of the principal objects of our love, and we should practice in regard to them all the acts of a true charity, which ought to be founded not upon flesh and blood, or upon their good qualities, but altogether upon God."

A Year With the Saints (Tan Books), 328

 

 Resolution:

 In honor of Our Lady's burning love for God and to begin imitating this love, I will purposefully be charitable to the members of my family.

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

 

Marian Vow:

The Marian vow can set my heart on fire for God, like the Blessed Virgin Mary, because She is there to start, stoke, and maintain the fire. I will let Our Lady work in me this Advent through the Marian vow of total and unlimited consecration.

 

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 

Thanks be to God for graces received.

 

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate

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IN MEMORY OF FATHER ROBERT J. FOX +RIP

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/october.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

December 1, 2009 

(2Ti 4:7-8)  I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming. Make haste to come to me quickly.

FATHER ROBERT J. FOX FOUNDER OF FATIMA FAMILY APOSTOLATE HAS PASSED AWAY

Father Robert J. Fox passed away at his home on Thanksgiving day at 12:45 P.M. He died a peaceful and happy death. He was anointed the night before and he also offered Mass. A wake service will be held at the Shrine of The Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville Alabama. The body will arrive at 3:00 P.M. and the rosary at 7:00 P.M. His burial will be in Alexandria South Dakota at St. Mary of Mercy Catholic Church. Please check this site for more information for more funeral details.
Fatima Family Apostolate International dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima (30 November 2009)
 
OBITUARY (The Cullman Times): Father Robert Joseph Fox

EXCERPT CHAPTER 18: Fatima Today - The Third Millennium by Fr. Robert J. Fox

MORE: Words spoken by Mary at Fatima

BIBLIOGRAPHY: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._Fox

PRAYER: O God, Thou didst raise Thy servant, Robert, to the sacred priesthood of Jesus Christ, according to the Order of Melchisedech, giving him the sublime power to offer the Eternal Sacrifice, to bring the Body and Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ down upon the altar, and to absolve the sins of men in Thine own Holy Name.  We beseech Thee to reward his faithfulness and to forget his faults, admitting him speedily into Thy Holy Presence, there to enjoy forever the recompense of his labors.  This we ask through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord.  Amen.

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 24- "On meekness, simplicity and guilelessness"

14. Simplicity is a constant habit of soul that has become immune to crafty thinking.   

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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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Legal group tells city of Merced no need to change name of annual Christmas Parade

“Constitutionally protected activities”

Image via Wikipedia

News release from Alliance Defense Fund
 

MERCED -- Alliance Defense Fund attorneys sent a letter yesterday, Monday, Nov. 30, to the mayor and officials of the city of Merced urging them to change the name of the town’s newly dubbed holiday parade back to the Christmas parade. City officials replaced “Christmas” with “holiday” in the name of the town’s public parade, but ADF attorneys have assured them that, if the change was motivated by fear of lawsuits, keeping the former name is a decision that is constitutionally protected.

“It’s ridiculous that the people of Merced have to think twice about whether it’s okay to have a ‘Christmas’ parade,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “An overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Christmas and are opposed to any kind of censorship of Christmas. City officials shouldn’t self-censor the perfectly constitutional name of their town’s Christmas parade because of unfounded beliefs spread by groups hostile to our nation’s traditions.”

Image via Wikipedia

The city of Merced has held the annual Christmas parade since 1995, but this year, on Dec. 5, the new “Downtown Holiday Parade” is scheduled to take its place. ADF attorneys contacted city officials through a letter encouraging them to uphold their town’s traditions and retain the name of the Christmas parade in full confidence that such a decision would be constitutionally protected. In the event of threatened litigation, ADF attorneys have offered free legal assistance.

“You can be assured that your participation in and acknowledgement of the Christmas holiday and a Christmas parade are constitutionally protected activities,” the letter stated. “The City is free to support a parade regarding Christmas, and you are under no obligation to satisfy the demands of any disgruntled individual or civil libertarian group that may oppose such action.”

Despite the widespread coverage given to those opposing Christmas, a 2008 Gallup Poll reported that 93 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, and a 2005 Gallup poll reported that 97 percent of Americans say they are not bothered by the public celebration of Christmas.

** UPDATE: THE CITY OF MERCED HAS REPORTEDLY RESOLVED THIS SITUATION AND HAS RETURNED TO THE "CHRISTMAS PARADE" NAME AFTER AN OUTCRY FROM RESIDENTS. **

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Love God, Love One Another: "There Is Power in Prayer" by Rita Ring, May 18, 1994

There Is Power in Prayer

May 18, 1994 3:00a.m.

My dear one, come and be counted by the hand of God. You must work swiftly, for time, child, is short. Every moment must be spent in drawing your fellowman to God. Pray constantly. No one realizes the real power of prayer. Pray the rosary, pray with your children, pray the Holy

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

Spirit prayers, pray, pray, pray!

And I say unto you, "Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one letter of My law will ever pass away." Do not doubt. You do not have time for such nonsense! You know exactly your mission. Do it. Satan will constantly work on you. Forget him and pray. Your job is

Image via Wikipedia

quite evident.

You need to lead souls to My most Sacred Heart. I am the Alpha and Omega. I am your all. I do all the work and you, child, are working for Me. No one can stop it but you. Ask for grace to believe, faith to know. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it will be opened unto you.

R. Alleluia. Alleluia. And He made them fishers of men!

Jesus: You are a fisher among men. Believe. Pray for faith, child. Yours is as shaky as some who need to see everything. After all I write to you! How you spend your mind in deliberation. Stop it! Stop it! Trust in Me, My beloved ones. This is for real. Read the Blue Book. Get your answers. Think of My presence with you all day and night. Quit analyzing your data for a conclusion. Believe, pray one solid hour, uninterrupted, in front of Me in the tabernacle! I love you. Amen. Amen. Do you not believe I will care for you? You doubters, let go and see Me before you, clothed in white. See My mother by My side. We walk the barren earth with you and you are raised up to such heights.

I come to you, My sweet one, in the night. Do not cast Me off. Be attentive to My pleading. Tell all of My Real Presence in the Eucharist. Jesus is in your midst this day. He loves you so.

http://www.sofc.org/

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Monthly message as given to Anne, a lay apostle.

On the first of every month, Our Lord gives Anne a new message about His call to service.

"Anne" has received permission from her local ordinary, Bishop Leo O'Reilly, for the spreading of her messages, that her writings are "orthodox." Anne has also submitted all her writings to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We encourage, (as the Church herself permits), the prayerful reading of these messages.

Advent Vespers at St. Mary's church. Image via Wikipedia

December 1, 2009

 Jesus

 My dear apostle, you must remember that we are not separated. Sometimes, in your weariness, you pray and seek understanding of the situations in your life. When you do this, please remember that I am with you. You are not separated from Me when your thoughts seek to provide you with answers. If you remind your self that I am not separate from you, you will search for truth more calmly and with more confidence that there is an answer to your many dilemmas. Please do not concern yourself if you are distracted in prayer. Use these times of distraction to talk to Me. Tell me what is distracting you and we will talk about it together. We are together, after all, so I am there. If a certain pattern of sin is troubling you, ask Me how I feel about it. Ask for My observations. You, my beloved apostle, are a studier of Me and how I treated others. Because of your desire to know me, you have a familiarity with My heart that others lack. I will give you the answers you seek, both in terms of your spiritual condition and in terms of the holiest way to conduct yourself in each situation you confront. We are not separate. We are together. Worries of major proportion would only be problematic for you if you were being asked to assure a holy outcome alone or if you were being asked to travel through the period without Me. I promise you that I will be with you a

Image via Wikipedia

nd that the outcomes occurring around you will be consistent with My will. I cannot promise you that in your humanity you will always rejoice in My will, especially when there is pain. But I can promise you that the greatest amount of mercy will be obtained through your commitment to remaining with Me, united in the life that is yours. All is well. I am with you. I will be generous to My beloved apostles in this holy time of Advent. Be acutely aware of My presence. When you look at all around you, look with My eyes. This will give you the understanding that will insure peace for you. All is well. The infant returns through your heart, as the King.

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Christmas According to Marx and Lenin, by Ronald Reagan

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 1 /Christian Newswire/ -- Between his campaign against President Gerald Ford in 1975-76 and his race against Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan delivered more than 1,000 radio broadcasts, running about three minutes each, writing nearly all of them himself. In one broadcast during the Christmas season, Mr. Reagan told a story about Christmas in the Ukraine before and after Communism. 

In an effort to resist Christians, Communist leaders secularized a favorite Ukrainian Christmas carol, "Nova Radist Stala" (Joyous News Has Come to Us). The original song began with these words: "The joyous news has come which never was before. Over a cave above a manger a bright star has lit the world, where Jesus was born from a virgin maiden, ..." Communists feared the public outcry that would follow a complete ban on Christmas, so they began to slowly secularize the holiday. The first rewrite of the song began: "The joyous news has come which never was before, a red star with five tails has brightly lit the world." The second rewrite went further: "The joyous news has come which never was before. Long- awaited star of freedom lit the skies in October [the month of the Revolution]. Where formerly lived the kings and had the roots their nobles, there today with simple folks, Lenin's glory hovers." 

The former Soviet Union eventually began banning Christmas commemorations. St. Nicholas was replaced with "Did Moroz," or Grandfather Frost. This Stalinist creation wears a red cap and long white beard of Santa Claus, but he delivers gifts to children on New Year's Eve. Christmas trees were also banned, but people continued to trim their New Year's trees. Communism folded all Christmas celebrations into a New Year celebration. 

Christians in the former Soviet Union exhibited bravery and courage in confronting Communism's anti- Christmas campaign. One person recalled how the young people would go out in the streets and sing Christmas carols, knowing that if police heard them, they would be arrested. In Communist Romania, Rev. Geza Palffy, a Roman Catholic priest, delivered a sermon in 1983, protesting against the fact that December 25th had been declared a work day instead of a holiday. The next day he was arrested by secret police, beaten, imprisoned and died. Inside and outside the Iron Curtain, Ukrainians never stopped singing: "We beg you our Lord, we pray to you today. Grant us freedom, return glory to our Mother Ukraine." Mr. Reagan ended his broadcast: "I guess we all hope their prayer is answered." Indeed it was. 

The secularization of Christmas is nothing new. Christianity Today in 2002 reported that in the Vietnamese province of Dak Lak, children's choirs were forbidden to sing "Silent Night." From 1969 to 1997, Christmas was banned in Cuba. Such examples are endless. 

Mathew Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "The war against Christmas is nothing new. Repressive forces have always had the same goal -- to first secularize and then to eliminate Christmas."

"Christmas means so much because of one special Child. But Christmas also reminds us that all children are special, that they are gifts from God, gifts beyond price that mean more than any presents money can buy. In their love and laughter, in our hopes for their future, lies the true meaning of Christmas."

                    - President Ronald Reagan, Christmas Address, 

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ADVENT MEDITATIONS
FOR THE FIRST EIGHT DAYS
By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

MEDITATION III

Motives of Confidence that are given to us by the Incarnation of the Word.

Quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit?
"How hath he not also, with him, given us all things? (Rom. 8:32)

I.
Consider, my soul, that the eternal Father, in giving us His beloved Son for our Redeemer, could have given us no stronger motives for confiding in His mercy and loving His infinite bounty; for He could have given us no more certain token of the desire He has for our good, and of the immense love which He bears us, inasmuch as in giving us His Son, He has nothing left to give us. Let all men, therefore, O eternal God, praise Thy infinite charity.

II.
How hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?
Since God has given us His Son, whom He loved as Himself, how can we fear that He will deny us any other good that we ask of Him? If, therefore, He has given us His Son, He will not refuse us pardon for the offenses which we have committed against Him, provided we detest them; He will not refuse us the grace to resist temptations, if we implore it of Him; He will not refuse us His Paradise, if we do not render ourselves unworthy of it by falling into sin. Behold how Jesus Himself assures us of this: "If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you." (John 16:23)

Encouraged, therefore, O my God, by this promise, I beg of Thee, for the love of Jesus Thy Son, to pardon me all the injuries that I have done Thee; give me holy perseverance in Thy grace until death; give me Thy holy love; may I detach myself from everything to love Thee alone, O infinite Goodness; give me Paradise in order that I may come and love Thee there with all my strength, and forever, without fear of ever ceasing to love Thee.

III.

In a word, the Apostle says that, having obtained Jesus Christ, we have been enriched with every good, so that there is no grace wanting to us: In all things you are made rich in Him . . ., so that nothing is wanting to you in any grace. (I Cor. 1:5)

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Yes, my Jesus, Thou art every good; Thou alone sufficest me; for Thee alone do I sigh; if once I drove Thee away from me by my sins, I repent of it now with my whole heart. Forgive me, and return to me, O Lord; and if Thou art already with me, as I hope, leave me not again, or, rather, suffer me not to drive Thee away from my soul again. My Jesus, my Jesus, my treasure, my love, my All, I love Thee, I love Thee, and will love Thee forever. O Mary, my hope, make me always to love Jesus.

[From 'The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ.']