Category Archives: All Things Catholic

Known But by Grace

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Only, and far flung God,
Bursting upon the scene of Time
To start the clock
By uncreated might,
And usher forth
Your manifold good will,
In the splendor of creation,
Look on me,
In my becoming.
In this, the only now I know,
This precious fleeting instant,
Reveal Yourself evermore.

You entered Time
That Man might enter Heaven.
You, Who are Eternal Being,
Let me contemplate Thee
Wrapped in swaddling clothes,
Nursing at the Virgin’s breast,
Growing as men grow,
Yet knowing the Father Creator
As only Son.

I see Thee arrayed,
Transfigured in the Light,
Even as You are stretched
Between Heaven and Earth
On Your Holy Cross,
Becoming Sin,
And dying in my stead.
Lifted above the earth in Your divinity,
Higher than the mountains,
Yet pervading depth and breathe,
To shake and shape
The cursed land and Man anew,
In elegant Revelation of Mystery,
Rising from the dead,
To live in universal blessedness,
Across all time and space,
Known but by grace.

Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander

Download Free Catholic Talks – Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice

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After reading F.J.Sheed’s, “Theology for Beginners”, and finding greater clarity and understanding of difficult Truths and concepts, (e.g. the Trinity, spirit, and the nature of God),  I began to read Sheed’s , “A Map of Life”. I also began to search for audios of Sheed’s work. Happily, I discovered a treasure trove of Catholic teachings, at Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice , which offered not only the work of Sheed, as taught by Daphne McCleod, but also talks of Archbishop Fulton J Sheen, and many other Catholic speakers on a extensive range of subjects.

On this website, Daphne McCleod presents F.J. Sheed’s work, faithfully, in her own lovely teaching style.  I am looking forward to hearing more, and thought you, seekers of Truth, might like to check out the website.

Did I mention that it’s FREE?!

Tell everyone you know to watch “Planned Parenthood: Hidden Harvest” on Fox News

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A one-hour Fox News Reporting special, Planned Parenthood: Hidden Harvest, digs deep into the ghoulish but profitable practice of dissecting aborted babies and selling their hearts, brains, lungs, eyes, arms, legs and livers to the highest bidder.

Our friends at the Center for Medical Progress conducted a 30-month sting to get top officials from Planned Parenthood and the “procurement” companies they partner with to talk about this unfathomable practice while being covertly filmed.

With Hidden Harvest, anchored by veteran TV journalist Shannon Bream, Fox News will reveal to a national audience the way abortionists alter the way they extract these innocent victims from their mother’s womb to ensure intact organs and the callousness they demonstrate toward these babies. These are not clumps of cells being aborted; they are tiny humans whose hearts are more valuable to Planned Parenthood than their souls.

Does that sound like health care to you?

It’s not health care, and it’s not legal.

Hidden Harvest will premiere at 10 p.m. ET Friday, Sept. 4, on Fox News Channel and will be rebroadcast at 1 a.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 5.”

Fr Frank Pavone

Courts of Praise # Poetry #Prayer #Praise

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Courts of Praise

Thank you, my Lord, for my life long,
For beloved family and friends,
And all dear hearts touching mine.

My treasure trove of souls
Spills far beyond my time
To number as my own
Those who have gone before,
Your saints of ages past,
The cloud of witnesses on high
And pure angelic beings
In realms veiled from the eye.

There never was a day
In which I was alone,
Nor forgotten
Before Your throne.

There, at Your feet,
All heaven sweet anthems raise,
To set celestial hearts ablaze.
My heart, in chorus,
Swells, dilating in love,
Grown great in gratitude.

Beside Your All Love,
I make small return.
You count my debt as paid,
And bid me enter courts of praise.

©2011 Joann Nelander

Five Paths of Repentance

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From a homily by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop

Five paths of repentance
Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven.
A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I said: I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord, and you forgave the wickedness of my heart. Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse you within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of the Lord.
That, then, is one very good path of repentance. Another and no less valuable one is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in order to master our anger, and to forgive our fellow servants’ sins against us. Then our own sins against the Lord will be forgiven us. Thus you have another way to atone for sin: For if you forgive your debtors, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
Do you want to know of a third path? It consists of prayer that is fervent, careful and comes from the heart.
If you want to hear of a fourth, I will mention almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching.
If, moreover, a man lives a modest, humble life, that, no less than the other things I have mentioned, takes sin away. Proof of this is the tax-collector who had no good deeds to mention, but offered his humility instead and was relieved of a heavy burden of sins.
Thus I have shown you five paths of repentance; condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor’s sins against us, prayer, almsgiving and humility.
Do not be idle, then, but walk daily in all these paths; they are easy, and you cannot plead your poverty. For, though you live out your life amid great need, you can always set aside your wrath, be humble, pray diligently and condemn your own sins; poverty is no hindrance. Poverty is not an obstacle to our carrying out the Lord’s bidding, even when it comes to that path of repentance which involves giving money (almsgiving, I mean). The widow proved that when she put her two mites into the box!
Now that we have learned how to heal these wounds of ours, let us apply the cures. Then, when we have regained genuine health, we can approach the holy table with confidence, go gloriously to meet Christ, the king of glory, and attain the eternal blessings through the grace, mercy and kindness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.       

Via divineoffice.org