Thursday, September 29, 2022

Celebrate the Archangels September 29 and the Guardian Angels Oct 2nd

The week leading up to the to today’s Feast of the Archangels and the Guardian Angels on October 2 is a celebratory time for Catholics. A prayerful and celebratory time.  In our current uber materialistic world, a secular media and legacy media aka  the New Pharisees it is easy to dismiss prayer and angles as medieval superstition, something unimportant to our faith or as the New York Times might say, it may be hazardous to your health.  But this would be a denial of God’s design.



No wonder Catholics scientifically, empirically and anecdotally are happier. While happiness and life satisfaction can be tricky to define, happiness has been discussed ad nauseam by philosophers, thinkers and activists, such as Aristippus, Aristotle, Zhuangzi, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Jeremy Benthan and Bertrand Russell, they all have considered happiness and life satisfaction to be one of the highest goals of human motivationThere are all kinds of reasons to be happy:  We are all sinners, yet God still loves us. In the words of Dillan Luke writing for Life Teen: “Our God loves us more than we could ever imagine. So much so that instead of making us reach Heaven, He brings Himself to us here on Earth in the form of the Eucharist´- (D Luke) https://lifeteen.com/blog/catholics-many-reasons-smile/

According to  The Conversations’ Daniel MerinoOur findings suggest that Protestants, Buddhists and Roman Catholics are happier and more satisfied with their lives, compared with other groups. Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and the non-religious were in between, while Orthodox Christians were found to have the lowest happiness and life satisfaction rates. Previous research suggested the “happy person” is young, healthy, well-educated, well-paid, optimistic and extroverted. The same research found the happiest people tend to be religious, married, with high self-esteem and job morale and modest aspirations. It seems your gender and level of intelligence don’t necessarily come into it. Around the world, over 84% of people belong to or are connected to a religious group.

In the Words of James Joyce, the Church can be called Here Come Everybody and the secular world doesn’t like it.  Given Joyce's commitment to expressing the fullness of life, it became necessary for Joyce to use apparently complex techniques, such as 'interior monologue' and 'portmanteau words'. Joyce's obscenities and tricks are necessary for his art.  Purity activists campaigned tirelessly against Joyce's work; his writing was considered obscene and indecent. In the US, Joyce's second novel, Ulysses, was suppressed, confiscated, burned and, ultimately, banned in a 1921 court case. In the UK, no one dared to publish the book as printers could themselves be imprisoned for typing obscenities. In 1922, Ulysses was finally published in (less-prudish) Paris. However, the book was not legally available in the US or UK until the 1930s” (Hannaway C, 2012)


Earthly Lady Bea


And it only gets better.  We have angels! Im looking forward to seeing my little angel Lady Bea, a 15 year old cavachon that died a couple of months back. I know it is not biblical, but I still can hope.  An angel is a pure spirit created by God. Discreet but ever faithful, the angels play a vital role in God's plan for our lives. Created as spiritual beings who mediate between us and God, angels serve as our constant companions, advisers, and protectors, watching over us while standing before God's throne in Heaven. He alone "hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto: whom no man hath seen, nor can see (1 Timothy 6:16)


Hope to see Lady Bea in Heaven


Angels do not have man's shortcomings, and can therefore act for God and represent Him when communicating with men and women. They bridge the huge gap between the holiness and perfection of God in heaven and the shortcomings of people on this planet. Angels were made immortal. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for angel is malak, also meaning messenger.  Although the word "angel" in the Bible, meaning a messenger, nearly always applies to heavenly beings, it can occasionally apply to human messengers. Malachi himself said a priest was a messenger (malak) of the LORD of hosts (Malachi 2:7), and in the Book of Revelation the elders of the seven churches of Asia were called angels (1:20; 2:1 etc.). But when we meet messengers doing supernatural things, there is no doubt they are heavenly beings - God's messengers, working for Him and for the ultimate benefit of mankind.




St. Thomas tells us that the Archangels bear the greatest messages of God to man. They are the chief messengers (arch-aggelos); ruling, as well, over the lesser messengers, or angels, as their chiefs. It is from this latter choir that St. Thomas asserts that the Guardian Angels of individuals are taken.

Seeing Angels: However, the Church has a saint for everyone, not just the young, the healthy or well-educated.  Saint Drogo is a saint for the ugly people and coffee, for example. There is a saint for the bad comedian, the farmer and even the IRS agents! And we are all called to become saints, to be perfected in charity, to grow in holiness (Lumen Gentium, Light to the Nations, 11).  The good news is that we don’t have to move mountains to be a saint. We don’t have to write theological works, be a visionary, or found a religious order. We certainly don’t need any kind of worldly standing or lofty profession. The humblest life can be the pathway to great sanctity.  St. Isidore the Farmer  comes to mind: he was a simple man who worked all his life as a farmer for a wealthy landowner. When St. Isidore, went to Mass in the early morning, his coworkers complained about Isidore being late to work,  but two angels appearing as young men would plow and cultivate his plot and Isidore’s work was always done.

Then there is Saint Germaine.  St. Germaine Cousin was born with a  withered and paralyzed right hand losing her mother when she was only a child. After the death of her mother, her father remarried and St. Germaine was treated harshly by her stepmother and was denied a real place of her own in the family home. She relegated to worked as a shepherdess for the family and slept in the stables. She was denied practically any contact with her stepbrothers and stepsisters. Each morning, St. Germaine would stick her staff in the ground in the middle of her flock. An angel would come to watch the flock while she left to attend Mass. Despite wolves in the area, she never lost a sheep While her homelife was horrible, her inner life was the opposite. She was a pure soul, in constant contact with God, daily praying the rosary and attending Mass. She died at the tender age of 22 and a half century after her death her body was found to be incorrupt.


Then there's The Third Law of Angelic Warfare: In his introduction to The Screwtape Letters, a brilliant work exposing the unseen spiritual warfare taking place around all of us which uses a series of letters between two demons - the older Screwtape, an instructor and the younger student Wormwood - the great apologist CS Lewis wrote - There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. 

Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God and humanity. Other roles include protectors and guides for humans, and servants of God. Abrahamic religions describe angelic hierarchies, which vary by religion and sect. Some angels have specific names (such as Gabriel or Michael) or titles such as seraph or archangel. Those expelled from Heaven are called fallen angels, distinct from the heavenly host. Angels in art are usually shaped like humans of extraordinary beauty. They are often identified in Christian artwork with bird wings, halos and divine light. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel

 

Pope Leo XIII composed the St. Michael Prayer:  Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.  Amen”

He composed the prayer after receiving a terrifying vision of the future of the Church - entrusting the Church to her guardian St. Michael. Most importantly, Jesus himself had deep friendship with the angels who ministered to him in his moments of suffering. And it was the fallen angels who tempted him: The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.  Mark 1:12–13




In the book, Encounters with Angels,  Odile Haumonté combines scripture, tradition, and the testimony of saints who met angels face-to-face to show how to identify the signs of angelic presences here and now, Where angels are present in the Mass and the role they play in your prayers,  about guardian angels and their unique purpose in family prayer and gatherings. How angels help us to nurture our children’s desire for God. And  how to discern the angels' actions in your life.  Haumonté  is a Catholic publisher and is the editor-in-chief of the magazine Patapon, which is designed to enable people to grow as a family with Jesus. She is the author of about fifty books, including biographies and novels.

 

Cheers.  Cheers to Saint Michael, Cheers to all the Angels around us.

 

 

 

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

War On Life: Mark Houck

You might recall that after the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, there were good news and really bad news for the pro-life movement. The good news were that the judge dismissed seven of the fifteen felony criminal charges against pro-life citizen journalist David Daleiden stemming from his undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood, leaving him facing eight felony counts.





The bad news seemed to be the California Attorney General added a ninth felony charge at David’s arraignment.
Bur the really bad news appeared to be that David may have to stand trial before another San Francisco jury which will decide whether he spends a decade locked away in a state penitentiary.

Why? Because this young man had the courage to lead an undercover investigation that captured video evidence of the abortion goliath conspiring to illegally harvest and sell aborted baby body parts.

But it just got worse:  Days after President Joe Biden's divisive speech to the nation and the FBI designating patriotic symbology as indicative of domestic terrorism, more than 20 FBI agents in full SWAT gear arrested pro-life Catholic husband and father Mark Houck.




According to Congressman Gary Palmer, “If history properly reflects President Biden’s political address to the nation, it will be viewed as one of the most disturbingly divisive speeches from the mouth of an American"  


So why the raid on Mark? Because he was praying outside an abortion clinic and defending his 12-year-old son from being screamed at and chased by a pro-abortion “bodyguard” who tried to stop them from praying.


Contrary to what the DOJ may claim, Mark didn’t commit a single actual crime. He didn’t do anything wrong. All he did was pray and defend his young son from being harassed by a pro-abortion fanatic.


Yet Mark, like David. faces up to 11 years in federal prison on phony, drummed-up charges. So Who approved this outrageous raid? Who decided to put the full weight of the FBI and Department of Justice into targeting pro-life Catholics
And why haven’t the DOJ and FBI arrested one single person responsible for bombing, burning, and vandalizing pro-life pregnancy resource centers and Catholic churches?

Perhaps they wanted this raid to happen. so as to silence the pro-life American who dares to speak out against abortion? 

If you want more information about Mark or want to help his cause, contact the Catholic Vote

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

St Vincent De Paul, Patron Saint of Charities

In Giovanni Boccacio's stories, Abraham a Jewish businessman converts to Catholicism after visiting Rome. He witnesses the corruption and  concludes "that what these scoundrel clerics so zealously want never takes root." Therefore, Abraham concludes: "It is quite to me your Church must have the Holy Spirit for its foundation & support"



Just like Abraham,  Vincent originally became a priest to pursue a life of leisure, but that changed after he heard the confession of an impoverished dying man;  The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de Paul’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life.

The Countess de Gondi—whose servant he had helped—persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages. - The Franciscan Media



Later, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity. The Daughters of Charity introduced him to low-income families, and Vincent brought them food and comfort. He mobilized wealthy women in his native France to collect funds for hospitals,  victims of war, and to ransom 1,200 enslaved people from North Africa.

These days St. Vincent de Paul is known as the patron saint of charity, and today we celebrate his feast day.  Renowned for his compassion, humility, and generosity.


Like many saints and by his own admission, Vincent was a hard person to get along—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others.

Vincent was canonized in 1737. Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies, including the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.


The Society is a lay Catholic organisation and does not receive any direct funding from the Catholic Church. The Society enjoys a close relationship with the Catholic Church and is assisted through parishes and schools.

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Blessed Carlo Acutis, Patron Saint of the Internet

Carlo Acutis, patron saint of the Internet, was noted for his cheerfulness, computer skills, and deep devotion to the Eucharist, which becomes a core theme of his life. He was beatified on 10 October 2020, two days before the 14th anniversary of his death.

At the conclusion of the 27th National Eucharistic Congress Pope Francis reminded Christians there is no eucharistic worship without compassion for the poor




 
Carlo was an English-born Italian Catholic youth and amateur computer programmer, who is best known for documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world and cataloguing them onto a website which he created before his death from leukemia in 2006


He is the youngest contemporary person to be beatified - a path taken by two Portuguese shepherd children living in the early 1900s who were proclaimed Catholic saints; Francisco de Jesus Marto and Jacinta de Jesus Marto were siblings from Aljustrel, a small hamlet near Fátima, Portugal, who with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos reportedly witnessed three apparitions of the Angel of Peace in 1916 and several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Cova da Iria in 1917. The title Our Lady of Fátima was given to the Virgin Mary as a result, and the Sanctuary of Fátima.

EWTN Beatification Mass 

Carlo is set to be the first millennial saint and is already known as the "patron saint of the internet"


Reportedly Carlo's last words:
"To be always united with Jesus, this is my plan of life. living with Jesus, for Jesus, in Jesus. I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God”.



10 things about Carlo Acutis

As a teenager, Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia. He offered his sufferings for Pope Benedict XVI and for the Church, saying “"I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and the Church.”

He died on Oct. 12, 2006, and was buried in Assisi, at his request, because of his love for St. Francis of Assisi. His cause for canonization began in 2013. He was designated “Venerable” in 2018, and was designated “Blessed” October 10, 2020.

Carlo's witness of faith led to a deep conversion in his mom, because, according to the priest promoting his cause for sainthood, he “managed to drag his relatives, his parents to Mass every day.

He was known for defending kids at school who got picked on, especially disabled kids.

He was a programmer and built a website cataloguing and promoting Eucharistic miracles. On the site, he told people that "the more often we receive the Eucharist, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven."


Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Happy Feast of Saint Matthew

Today is the Feast of Saint Matthew. Saint Matthew was an IRS agent  for the Romans, not a very popular position with the general public then and certainly not now. He was even less with the Jewish people known as the Pharisees. Jews who held this office were not permitted to marry a Jewish woman nor worship in the synagogue and were generally shunned by civil society.

According to Catholic Culture, St. Matthew is known to us principally as an Evangelist, with his Gospel being the first in position in the New Testament. His Gospel was written to convince the Jews that their anticipated Messiah had come in the person of Jesus. While not much else is known about Matthew. According to tradition, he preached in Egypt and Ethiopia and further places East. Some legends say he lived until his nineties, dying a peaceful death, others say he died a martyr's death. In the traditional symbolization of the evangelists, based on Ezech. 1:5-10 and Rev. 4:6-7, the image of the winged man is accorded to Matthew because his Gospel begins with the human genealogy of Christ.

Today's IRS agents' job description include willingness to use fire arms, even considering that an unarmed IRS agent can be more lethal than 100 armed FBI agents. No wonder tax-collectors are shunned by society, Matthew's life; however. changed when Jesus tells him “Follow me.” Matthew, does not hesitate.  He leaves everything  and becomes a disciple of Jesus, embracing his teachings. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, they quickly criticized Him. Whereupon Jesus answered, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:15–17). According to Luke 5:29, the aforementioned dinner was given by Levi in his house after his call.







Because of Matthew's duties as a public official, the Church has designated him as the patron saint of civil servants and all who serve government in some capacity. He is also patron saint of  Accountants; bankers; bookkeepers; customs officers; security guards; stock brokers and  Salerno, Italy.

Symbols: Angel holding a pen or inkwell; bag of coins; loose coins; halberd; inkwell; king; lance; man holding money; man holding money box and/or glasses; money bag; money box; purse; spear; sword; winged man; young man; book; man sitting at a desk.


Sadly, modern day civil servants, like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez don't view themselves as servants, more like bosses Matthew, pray for all civil servants & government workers