Amen
Month: April 2014
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Jesus knew how to cook, says Italian theologian
I don’t even have to read this to know its true! I was released from the hospital with Congestive Heart Failure last week. Its best that I stay away from salt and my pantry was close to empty! I still had to make dinner for my family. Our LORD told me what to do with Pasta, Shrimp, Celery Seed, Charvel, Olive Oil, Lime & a little butter & Black Pepper along with of ALL things, a HARP Beer LOL
He told me what to do and how to do it and what to use! It was FANTASTIC! Than I found out how healthy all those ingredients truly are! Never touched the salt shaker, didn’t need to! It was wonderful!
He is Lord. He knows how to do everything.
Edit to add: I heard in my heart, to add this, no women priests.
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A 2 by 4.
Building…
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Its been very interesting, to say the least, this Easter Week. I have once again been struggling with health issues and have finally been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure.
A year ago, when it was time for me to step aside from all my duties at my old parish, I had told my pastor at that time, our Lord was calling me to go home. Our Lord was telling me to spend time with my children and family. I struggled so hard with that message. Now I feel He is telling me why. He has made Himself very visible in the last few weeks, although He has made Himself very visible in all aspects of my entire life, this time, it is as if He is tying everything together and everything I do, say, see and hear, I see He is there.
For close to 17 years, He has shown me through His grace, all that I had done to Him. Now, He is showing me all the things I have done for Him.
In my diagnosis, from Tuesday, I went from a diagnosis from having pneumonia and a possible Pulmonary Embolism, to entering into the ER and finding out about the fluid surrounding my heart and a little damage to the left side, although I had not had a heart attack. Thus I was given the diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure. Not having a Pulmonary Embolism or pneumonia at all. I actually laugh at how they did not know. How they try to shove you into some mold that everyone should fit, because of such & such. Don’t get me wrong, I forgive them, and I know my Lord is my true Doctor, and no two are ever carbon copies but what He created us to be.
What I need to say today is complete consolation from our Lord. Through this beautiful conversion of heart, with my Lord’s grace, I am pondering, relishing and digging into a vast well of joy. I am coming to grips with how He has used me and changed me, has forgiven me and truly loves me. Just as He loves each of us. I am surrounded by His arms.
I called my old pastor and he came to my home and anointed me and another good friend came and brought me our Lord in the Eucharist. Both visits, had nothing to do with me. Nor will anything else. It’s about everyone else. It’s about Him. It’s about time and we do not have much of it, and it all belongs to Him. Everything is His.
When my visitors left, I was looking around talking to our Lord. My eyes came to one wall in my living room. Immediately, I knew what He was telling me. That entire sinful world I created, I lived and turned away from, was completely contained while what He has done is now my freedom to fully enjoy. How did I see this? The picture above is that wall. It’s not was is on the wall, it’s what is now contained and no longer free. That cage on the table, contains a snake. A snake that my cat dragged in (sparking, Lion of Judah) that I tossed into a cage and sealed up. (It’s a long story and she was hurt) Symbolism people, don’t call anyone about animal cruelty. hahah
When I see the symbolism of the “snake” (my old sins and tormentor) and I see it now totally contained, no longer free, unable to escape and hurt me and I see the pictures of all that I love, free and everywhere, and I hear the words of our Lord in my heart, there is no more doubt, there is no more anxiety, there is no more questioning, there is only a major consolation from our Lord telling me, yes you did capture and get rid of what I needed you to get rid of. This is the heart of repenting. I don’t expect anyone to understand this because He is sharing this with me and to understand it, you would have to know every second of my life.. It truly has been Him and I hear Him saying, You did it! I say back to my Lord, You did it Lord.
Now on to this Last Mission. Nothing is about me. He told me to spend the rest of my time with my family, that is the mission I am on now. I love them so much and it is a matter of teaching them now, be not afraid. Live the faith, not the world. This is what Divine Mercy is all about. Not looking at the consolations our Lord is giving to us as mine, but to see them in yourself, to give to others.
Pax Domini
All glory and honor to God -
Blessed Pope John XXIII, Pray for us
Blessed Pope John Paul II, Pray for us
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us all
Amen
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Look at it this way… You’re NOT in it. You can cross over it…There is a Bridge, His name is Jesus Christ. The only Way.
Thank you Lord for being the ONLY “Bridge”.
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He has risen as He said…
The Resurrection of Jesus.
But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others.The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.
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The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”…
BE NOT AFRAID!
My Lord and my God!
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My husband and I were discussing the fact that since the fall of man from grace, not one soul was allowed into heaven. In all the souls who had passed since then, not one was worthy, other than our Lord to open the gate and allow the souls to enter.
I’m sitting here imagining and pondering our Lord and His passion,on the “Outside”. Not able to fully comprehend the vast amount of souls waiting for Him to come to their rescue.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
ARTICLE 5
“HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN”631 Jesus “descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens.”476 The Apostles’ Creed confesses in the same article Christ’s descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.477
Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479
633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” – Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek – because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.480 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”:481 “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.”482 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.483
634 “The gospel was preached even to the dead.”484 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.
635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”485 Jesus, “the Author of life”, by dying destroyed “him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.”486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds “the keys of Death and Hades”, so that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”487
Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him – He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . “I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.”488
IN BRIEF636 By the expression “He descended into hell”, the Apostles’ Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil “who has the power of death” (Heb 2:14).
637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.
EDIT TO ADD:
From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday
The Lord descends into hell
Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity. -
“So when he had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, ‘Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do,’” (John 13: 12-15)
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Nikolai Ge’s 1891 painting Conscience, Judas
Not sure where I found this painting or the words:
Nikolai Ge’s 1891 painting Conscience, Judas shows us a more layered Judas, here grasping his cloak tight around him, the darkness closing him, the light of Jesus being led away shrinking in the distance, the weight of his betrayal sinking in. Treachery has left its mark on all involved. The betrayed as well as the betrayer. Jesus as well as Judas. Here, alone in the dark, Judas finds himself — as I so often find myself — betraying that which he was meant to love. We, as Christians go with Jesus to the cross. Yet, we as Christians, too, stay with Judas in the garden as the dark closes in, mourning our betrayals.
For as long as I could remember, before my conversion began, I used to think of Judas as just a misunderstood soul, trapped for some reason, in the “Bad Guy” role for what he had to do to our Lord. Until I came to hear and ponder this scripture:
“But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,”Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.” John 12:4-6
With the imagery of Judas, being a thief while he was with our Lord and the Apostles, stealing from them, I can’t help but ponder now, the Good Thief and the Bad Thief, crucified alongside our Lord. The Good Thief being the Apostles who did repent and turn back to our Lord, and Judas, having the time and being given everything he could to turn back to our Lord, being the bad thief and not changing, not taking advantage of the grace he was given to repent in the presence of our Lord.
For someone to hang himself for what he had done, I do know he was a troubled soul with a conscience that would not allow him to rest, who was unable to face life anymore, who was unable to go to the Apostles to seek forgiveness from his brothers because of one simple thing. Pride. The rest of the Apostles were just as guilty of other sins, but did not take their own lives. They repented. They held their ground and asked for forgiveness.
I don’t like to think about Judas as I am sure not many do like to think about him. We all hate to come to the realization that we all have a little Judas in us at some time, that truly needs to be purged and replaced with grace and mercy.
Lord Jesus, you were betrayed by the kiss of a friend:
be with those who are betrayed and slandered and falsely accused.
You knew the experience of having your love
thrown back in your face for mere silver
be with families which are torn apart by mistrust or temptation.
To you, Jesus, who offered your face to your betrayer,
be honor and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
now and forever. Amen. -
Daily Prayer For Priests
O Jesus,
I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;
For your unfaithful and tepid priests;
For your priests laboring at home or
abroad in distant mission fields.
For your tempted priests;
For your lonely and desolate priests;
For your young priests;
For your dying priests;
For the souls of your priests in Purgatory.
But above all, I recommend to you
the priests dearest to me:
The priest who baptized me;
The priests who absolved me from my sins;
The priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me
Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;
The priests who taught and instructed me;
All the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way
(especially).
O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,
And bless them abundantly in time and in Eternity.
Amen By St. Therese of LisieuxPray for Priests and Vocations
“Now we ask you to respect those who work hard
among you. Hold them in the highest regard in love
because of their work.” (1 Thess. 5:12, 13, NIV) -
I reached that point in my conversion back home to where our Lord has told me to go and LIVE. Its been 17 years on this road to this point.. (no, its not over, Its a lifelong process until He takes me home)
For a while, I began to feel like a pill bug, turned in on myself afraid to move, for a VERY long time. I can only assume it needed to be, in order for me to see myself, in every direction, for who I was and for who God created me to be. But more to see God for who He is. I take His words to heart now: “Be not afraid”. Rather than taking them in fear and trembling… Thank you Lord. Glory to God.
I TRUST in You O Lord.
EDIT TO ADD:
We can’t all have that metamorphosis in such a grand way as the worms changing to butterflies. Sometimes, all the changes that need to take place are simply in direction…
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This IS Demonic America. Even the LEAST faithful soul who believes in God, knows the devil is real and demons are real.
1 John 5:19
“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” Who is controlling you and your family? What do you place first? That is what is controlling you and your family…From:Fr. Z’s Blog
Nun UNDER The BusYou probably saw my post Sister explains the situation. Spittle-flecked nutty, bullying, intimidation ensue.
Sr. Jane Laurel, OP, gave a talk at a Catholic High School. Hell broke loose.
If you want to sample her talks, go HERE. Her talk at the High School was “Masculinity & Femininity: Difference & Gift”. Presentations with that title are on that website. Listen to a few. At the High School, Sister included comments about homosexuality, divorce and single parents. Some people lost their minds. Read more here.
I suspect that what happened, to build this up into such a thing, is that parents heard vague reports – I say vague because teens are such great sources of accuracy in reporting – about her remarks from their politically-correctly conditioned children and, stung in conscience, got out the pitchforks and torches.
The nutty built up into grand mal nutty in the form of the increasingly inevitable “town hall” meeting.
Am I entirely off base here? Did Sister actually say things that were so outrageous, so unacceptable, so lacking in truth and in charity, that the resulting furor was appropriate, proportionate and justified? Really? Go listen to some of her talks using that link, above. Does it seem likely?
Now I read that Sister is going to have a sabbatical. HERE
It looks as if Alinsky’s Rules were at work here. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. … Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
Look. This is just the starting line for some observations.
It seems to me that this sad episode is one of many which reveal the building in our midst of a mob mentality akin to that which drove the Salem Witch Trials. If you speak in public now with any clarity about the Church’s teachings on sexuality, marriage, etc., or avert to conclusions which rational people reach about the same derived from the Natural Law, you will be met with fury. “I saw Lizzie Procter speaking with the devil!” Well… bad example, since most of the people who will join the snarling pack likely don’t believe in the devil.
There is a new and twisted “normal” coalescing. This new “normal”, violating the dictates of reason, will prompt the more aggressive and ideologically driven to impose iron norms, which, when violated, will spark vicious attacks from the now easily manipulated mob.
Watching episode in Charlotte build, I had the image of one of those mobs protests a G8 meeting. In these mobs there are professional instigators, anarchists and so forth, who are dedicated to getting the crowd of the curious, the young, the dumb, the enthusiastic, etc., whipped up into a frenzy. Then, as the frenzy rises, someone pitches a garbage can through a shop window and the havoc begins.
What is happening in our society that accepts so readily the hounding to ruin of the head of some business because he says that he supports true, natural marriage and does not endorse homosexual unions?
Surely there is something of a mob mentality building, and swiftly. The speed is driven by the new phenomenon of social media arriving in your hand 24/7. It is also driven by the erosion of the ability of many to reason (thanks to decades of poor education) and incessant mass media exaltation of self-satisfaction and base carnality, which also switches off higher functions.
But there is also something of the demonic in this present movement.
Some of you readers will remember back in the 50′s and 60′s the benign anti-littering campaigns. “Don’t be a litter bug!” education camps once teachers in schools were daily pounding on their empty-skulls heads about “pollution”. That campaign was probably also an outgrowth of the early ecology movement and neo-Malthusian efforts, but, hey, cleaner streets and roads were good.
Gramsci got it right: get control of the schools and, over time, you’ll control everything else. Have an agenda? Focus on school curricula and teachers. Extirpate anyone who doesn’t conform. Silence any discordant voice.
The campaign that we are seeing now, however, anything but benign. It is brush fire fast and there is in it something of the demonic.
The good news? God already won… The choice is yours to make.
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In the recent events of the CEO of Mozilla and now another man from another site being fired from their jobs because in 2008 who supported Traditional Marriage, I see the entire world consumed by hate.
All the rhetoric from the secular world for years, about how the Church hunted down “Witches” is coming back to bite the very accusers.
Hate beguiles hate, and when we hate another with such venom and destruction, we become the very thing we hate. The secular world is now on a “Witch” hunt, seeking to destroy anyone and any idea that does not comply with their way of thinking.
The world that despised what it thought was hate, has been consumed by its own hatred…
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You show me this, I tell you, Yes.
You show me this,
And I see this…No matter how an artist draws our Lord, or an actor portrays our Lord, we must see our Lord as He said. In the Body of Christ.
A conversation between myself and my daughter this morning..
Chloe: “Mom? Is that a picture of Jesus in real life?”
Me: “No Chloe. The Eucharist, The Body of Christ is the real Jesus”
Chloe: “AMEN Mommy”.
Peg Pondering Again began with a second title, Trying to paint A Picture of Christ. I truly believe the painting is complete..
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The apple never falls far from the tree….
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Here is the thing.. There will come a time when he can’t do this anymore and he will need someone else to do this. To often we look and say, boy that was great when SO & SO used to do this or that.I miss that. I miss them..
The reality is we miss the message to pick up where he or she left off, and do it where we are, right now.
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Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.
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Please read and DO! Far to many souls receive our Lord like they are buying a new pair of shoes…
Taken from Saint Peters List:
Personal Prudence and Objective Standards
1. Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision, based on a reasoned judgment regarding one’s worthiness to do so, according to the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: “Am I in full communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting for at least an hour?” The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected (cf. Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” nos. 81, 83).
Abortion, Euthanasia, and the Law
2. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a “grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. […] In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it’” (no. 73). Christians have a “grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God’s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. […] This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it” (no. 74).
Please continue reading at Saint Peters List
Peg Pondering Again 