Amazon book is in the works! Until then this is a beautiful edition from Blurb. Their work is top notch and beautiful in its quality.
Monthly Archives: November 2013
Practice What You Preach
From a sermon given during the last synod he attended, by Saint Charles, bishop
Practice what you preachI admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to pray the office or to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the office or for Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?
Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter.
If teaching and preaching is your job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well. Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.
Are you in charge of a parish? If so, do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself.
My brothers, you must realize that for us churchmen nothing is more necessary than meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: I will pray, and then I will understand.When you administer the sacraments, meditate on what you are doing. When you celebrate Mass, reflect on the sacrifice you are offering. When you pray the office, think about the words you are saying and the Lord to whom you are speaking. When you take care of your people, meditate on the Lord’s blood that has washed them clean. In this way, all that you do becomes a work of love.
This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work: in meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men.
Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival
It’s time once again for Sunday Snippets. We are Catholic bloggers sharing weekly our best posts with one another. Join us to read and/or contribute. To participate, go to your blog and create a post titled Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival. Make sure that the post links back to here, and leave a link to your snippets post on our host, mRAnn’s, site, This, That and the Other Thing.
Who really died?
Your Presence – Audio Post #Presence
Boy Wanders Onto Stage To Hang Out With #Pope Francis
The #Saints Crowned in Glory
Ceaseless Prayer
Too Many Words
This one was fun because Cardinal Giusseppi, Personal Assistant to Pope Francis, favorited it on Twitter.
Cardinal Giuseppe 
Sistine Chapel Close up and Spectacular – Vatican Virtual Tour
Your Presence – Audio Post #Presence
Your Presence
Your presence is all around me,
And Your glory shines forth
From even the smallest of Your creation.
If I were to feel Your effects all day long
I would live in tears,
Rejoicing with tearful gladness,
And weeping, conscious of my deserts.
So I avert my gaze from these flowers of love
That I may carry on
Keeping my feet anchored on earth,
Though my soul would have me take flight
And keep company with the angels.
My spirit strains upward
As over and above all
I reach for You in humility of heart,
Worn out by Your mercies,
Never tiring in Your consolation.
Come Holy Spirit!
Make Your home in me
With customary gentleness.
Debt and Destruction by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano on Creators.com – A Syndicate Of Talent
Throw the Rascals Out? – Thomas Sowell – Part 1
via Throw the Rascals Out? – Thomas Sowell –
Polls indicate that the public is so disgusted with Washington politicians of both parties that a surprisingly large proportion of the people would like to get rid of the whole lot of them.
It is certainly understandable that the voters would like to “throw the rascals out.” But there is no point in throwing the rascals out, if we are just going to get a new set of rascals to replace them.
In other words, we need to think about what there is about current political practices that repeatedly bring to power such a counterproductive set of people. Those we call “public servants” have in fact become public masters. And they act like it.
They squander ever more vast amounts of our tax money, and still leave trillions of dollars of national debt to be paid by our children and grandchildren. They intrude into our private lives with ever more restrictions, red tape and electronic surveillance. And they turn different groups of Americans against each other with class warfare rhetoric and policies.
None of this is inevitable. In fact, this pattern is largely the culmination of political trends set in motion during the 1930s, and reaching a climax today. During the 1920s, the national debt was reduced and the role of government scaled back. Unemployment went as low as 1.8 percent.
President Calvin Coolidge, with every prospect of being reelected in 1928, declared simply: “I do not choose to run.” Later, in his memoirs, he explained how dangerous it is to have anyone remain too long in the White House, surrounded by flattery and insulated from reality. What a contrast that attitude is with the attitude of the current occupant of the White House!
The contrast extends beyond these two presidents. What we have today that we did not have in the early history of this country is a permanent political class in Washington — a Congress and an ever growing federal bureaucracy composed of people who have become a permanent ruling class.
The United States was not founded by career politicians but by people who took time out from their regular professions to serve during a crucial time in the creation of a new nation, and a new kind of nation in a world ruled by kings and emperors.
Read more: Throw the Rascals Out? – Thomas Sowell – Page 1.
Be Holy! 