Tag Archives: Church

Catholics Coming Home

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Good news in my e-mail from Catholics Come Home – Thousands are coming home this Easter!

During a time when the secular press is infiltrating the media with negative, anti-Catholic news, Catholics Come Home (CCH) makes headlines for its courageous media effort to invite thousands home to the Church in dioceses around the country. The astounding success of the CCH Advent and Lent television campaigns have been noticed by the National Catholic Register, who will feature CCH on the front page of its upcoming holy week edition to be released Monday, March 28. You can read the article online here.

Purification in the Paschal Mystery

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From the pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world of the Second Vatican Council
(Gaudium et spes, nn. 37-38)

All human activity is to find its purification in the paschal mystery

Holy Scripture, with which the experience of the ages is in agreement, teaches the human family that human progress, though it is a great blessing for man, brings with it a great temptation. When the scale of values is disturbed and evil becomes mixed with good, individuals and groups consider only their own interests, not those of others.

The result is that the world is not yet a home of true brotherhood, while the increased power of mankind already threatens to destroy the human race itself.

If it is asked how this unhappy state of affairs can be set right, Christians state their belief that all human activity, in daily jeopardy through pride and inordinate self-love, is to find its purification and its perfection in the cross and resurrection of Christ.

Man, redeemed by Christ and made a new creation in the Holy Spirit, can and must love the very things created by God. For he receives them from God, and sees and reveres them as coming from the hand of God.

As he gives thanks for them to his Benefactor, and uses and enjoys them in a spirit of poverty and freedom, he enters into true possession of the world, as one having nothing and possessing all things. For all things are yours, and you are Christ€™s, and Christ is God€™s.

The Word of God, through whom all things were made, himself became man and lived in the world of men. As perfect man he has entered into the history of the world, taking it up into himself and bringing it into unity as its head. He reveals to us that God is love, and at the same time teaches us that the fundamental law of human perfection, and therefore of the transformation of the world, is the new commandment of love.

He assures those who have faith in God€™s love that the way of love is open to all men, and that the effort to restore universal brotherhood is not in vain. At the same time he warns us that this love is not to be sought after only in great things but also, and above all, in the ordinary circumstances of life.

He suffered death for us all, sinners as we are, and by his example he teaches us that we also have to carry that cross which the flesh and the world lay on the shoulders of those who strive for peace and justice.

Constituted as the Lord by his resurrection, Christ, to whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given, is still at work in the hearts of men through the power of his Spirit. Not only does he awaken in them a longing for the world to come, but by that very fact he also inspires, purifies and strengthens those generous desires by which the human family seeks to make its own life more human and to achieve the same goal for the whole world.

The gifts of the Spirit are manifold. He calls some to bear open witness to the longing for a dwelling place in heaven, and to keep this fresh in the minds of all mankind; he calls others to dedicate themselves to the service of men here on earth, preparing by this ministry the material for the kingdom of heaven.

Yet he makes all free, so that, by denying their love of self and taking up all earth€™s resources into the life of man, all may reach out to the future, when humanity itself will become an offering acceptable to God.

Update: Cause for Joy – What’s New

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You are invited!

March 27th,2010 Vigil 10am  – Mass 12noon

That the Servant of God, Alphonse Gallegos,

an Augustinian Recollect and Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento, California,

may ever remain close to his beloved flock,

and they can constantly ask his intercession,

his mortal remains will be transferred to a new tomb

at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe,

711 T Street, Sacramento, California,

on Saturday, March 27, 2010

after a solemn concelebrated Mass

to be presided by his Excellency Bishop Jaime Soto at 12 midday.

The vigil will start at 10:00 in the morning. The faithful are cordially invited to attend

this sacred occasion and to pray that the day may come

when this devoted son of Our Lady of Guadalupe

may be raised to the altars among the blessed and saints.

Charity Should Know No Limit

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From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great,

The virtue of charity

In the gospel of John the Lord says: In this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other. In a letter of the same apostle we read: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God; he who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

The faithful should therefore enter into themselves and make a true judgment on their attitudes of mind and heart. If they find some store of loves fruit in their hearts, they must not doubt Gods presence within them. If they would increase their capacity to receive so great a guest, they should practice greater generosity in doing good, with persevering charity.

If God is love, charity should know no limit, for God cannot be confined.

Any time is the right time for works of charity, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lords Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace, for charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.

As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ did away with our sins, let us first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings of works of mercy. In this way we shall give to those who have sinned against us what God in his goodness has already given us.

Let us now extend to the poor and those afflicted in different ways a more open-handed generosity, so that God may be thanked through many voices and the relief of the needy supported by our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than that which is lavished on his poor. Where he finds charity with its loving concern, there he recognizes the reflection of his own fatherly care.

In these acts of giving do not fear a lack of means. A generous spirit is itself great wealth. There can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed. In all this activity there is present the hand of him who multiplies the bread by breaking it, and increasing it by giving it away.

The giver of alms should be free from anxiety and full of joy. His gain will be greatest when he keeps back least for himself. The holy apostle Paul tells us: He who provides seed for the sower will also provide bread for eating; he will provide you with more seed, and will increase the harvest of your goodness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

An Attempt at Explaining the Divine Office

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Run Nuns Run!

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Checking in with the Anchoress I find this.

Nuns on the run!

Build, build build!

The Anchoress:

This monastery looks like it will be a true spiritual oasis, when completed. I think you’ll really enjoy checking it out, and if you have something or someone you want to memorialize, there are lots of opportunities, there.

It’s a great life!!