Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Monday, October 27, 2008

John Quinn Short Bio - St. Bellarmine Blogger

Finally, A New Little Book
by St. Robert Bellarmine

Revealing His True Love Our Lady
and Her Weapon, the Rosary.



Announcing a New Book By St. Robert Bellarmine taken from a meditation about the Our Lady's Weapon, the Rosary.

With This Weapon!
The Hidden Secrets of the Rosary
by St. Robert Bellarmine


About the editor, John Quinn;

John Quinn is a happy father with his hands full raising and home schooling four children all being under the age of six. (Thank God for a wonderful wife.) Wanting to encourage devotion to their family patron, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, he found that St. Aloysius did not write anything. However; St. Aloysius’s, spiritual director and biographer, St. Robert Bellarmine wrote more books than the average person reads in a life time.

Virtually all of his books are out of print, written in Latin or can’t be found. This Doctor of the Church is a hidden gem needing to be exposed. So, in thanksgiving for all graces received through St. Aloysius’s intercession, he started a blog named "St. Robert Bellarmine: Controversies & Secrets. . .".

The purpose of the blog is three fold.

  1. To spread devotion to St. Robert Bellarmine. Click here for over forty articles posted about Saint Robert Bellarmine
  2. To challenge all Catholics to live a life of holiness.
  3. To encourage love and obedience to the Holy Catholic Church.

The blog’s success has been very humbling. Having articles featured in great sites like LifeSiteNews, SpiritDaily, New Advent, Creative Minority Report, Good Jesuit; Bad Jesuit, Catholic Dads Blog, Some Have Hats, PewSitter, Catholic Report, etc…


To get a free copy of the short book you must sign up for the free e-book located at the top right of this sight. Clearly labeled "Get Your Free Rosary E-book!"

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Fr. Corapi Calls Us To Arms


Fr. Corapi Calls for Novena:

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta urged us to understand: “But I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing, direct murder by the mother herself.”

Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children.

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

I strongly urge every one of you to make a Novena and pray the Rosary to Our Lady of Victory between October 27th and Election Day, November 4th. Pray that God’s will be done and the most innocent and utterly vulnerable of our brothers and sisters will be protected from this barbaric and grossly sinful blight on society that is abortion. No woman, and no man, has the right to choose to murder an innocent human being.


May God grant us the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counsel to form our conscience in accordance with authentic Catholic teaching, and then vote that well‐formed Catholic conscience.


Please copy, email, link and distribute this article freely.


God Bless You



Fr. John Corapi

HR - Mary’s Anawim

CA Prop 8 Defends The Sanctity Of Marriage



Please pray for CA as they are in a huge battle to defend the sanctity of Marriage. This will have a rolling affect to other states.

When will Catholics stand up?

Saturday, October 25, 2008

They Kicked Me Out Of Seminary School

Learning about the troubles honest seminarians went through really takes one by surprise. There is much more deception within the priesthood than we really like admit. This election is really a sign on how deep that deception is. Of course there are many priest not living in lies, but fear.

Dear God, grant a new fire of courageous truth to flood your priest and seminarians.
Amen.

Read this story of one person's struggles in Seminary School.
"My own experience of Seminary mirrors what I am sure others went through. Managing to finish the Minor Seminary, I interviewed for the Major Seminary, but encountered many obstacles that my brother seminarians who were of a particular liturgical bend did not have. When asking about learning Latin, I eventually had to learn what little I could on my own. Even there were priests who were trained in Latin, and taught it before, you could not loose a Latin word from their lips. Learning Latin, and certainly trying to learn of our patrimony in the form of the Traditional Mass was verboten. Our vocations director at the time was a good man for the most part, but would not but in a good word for you if some one on the screening committee determined that one was not “keeping up with the Church in the Modern age.”

I would have like to have learned if I could further discern my vocation through the process, but any hope of at least having the opportunity to do so was squashed by the screening committee, not by voting and saying I was unfit, but by reports of “immaturity,and perhaps unable to work with women.” That report went to the Vocations Director, and despite his knowing me and my family for several years beforehand, he did not challenge it. And I was not recommend to continue on to the Major Seminary.

I pray that my children have a vocation to the religious life and thank the Lord that now we can look at Traditional orders through such venues as the Internet. My vocation was killed, I pray that perhaps my children will look to orders such as the Royal Heart of Jesus, the Institute of Christ the King, or the FSSP."


Comment by Un Mexicano Tradicional

This is a comment made on Father Z blog. My reactions to this post is A Battle for the Seminarians Soul.

Family Funny

So we are eating sugary baked pears after supper. John Paul (2) still prefers his hands as eating utensils. The dessert was a big hit and little John Paul finished with very sticky hands. Giving him a wet rag I said,

"John Paul, wash your hands."

He obeyed quickly, but not thoroughly.

"John Paul, wash the back of your hands."

A little confused, he takes his hands and the rag behind his back to finish washing them.



______________

Want more family funnies?

What are your family funny moments?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Life is The Foundation

Without Life We Build Our House On The Sand.



Stand up America!

Vote in accord with the authentic teachings of the Church.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Overcoming The Capital Sins

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, on the Capital Sins


Method.

With regard to the Seven Capital Sins, after Additional Direction, the preparatory prayer should be made in the way prescribed, but with the modification that the object is the sins to be avoided, whereas before, it was the Commandments to be observed. In like manner the method prescribed, the regulation of the time, and the colloquy observed.


Note.

In order to understand better the faults committed that come under the Seven Capital Sins, let the contrary virtues be considered. See also, the better to avoid these sins, one should resolve to endeavor by devout exercises to acquire and retain the seven virtues contrary to them

How many are my inequities and sins? Make me know my crimes and offences.
Job xiii, 23


Pride conquered by humility.

For your power, O Lord, is not in a multitude, nor is your pleasure in the strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to you: but the prayer of the humble and meek have always pleased you. Judith ix, 16

For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God, enlighten my darkness Psalm xvii. 29

O God of the Heavens, creator of the waters, and lord of the whole creation, hear me a poor wretch, making supplications to you, and presuming of your mercy. Judith ix, 17


Greed conquered by generosity

A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loves riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity. Eccles v, 9

Show, O Lord, thy ways to me, teach me thy paths. Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art God, my Savior; and on thee have I waited all the day long. Psalms xxiv. 4, 5

Now this I say: He who soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly: And he who soweth in blessings. Every one as he has determined in his heart, not with sadness, or of necessity: or God loveth a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians ix, 6, 7


Envy conquered by love

For God created man incorruptible and to the image of his own likeness he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death came into this world: and they who follow him are of his side. Wisdom ii, 23 – 25

Send forth thy light and thy truth, they have conducted me, and brought me unto the holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.Psalms xlii. 3

For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that who so ever believes in him, may not parish, but have life everlasting. John iii, 16


Anger conquered by kindness

Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger…

Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice.Ephesians iv,26, 31

Consider, and hear me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes, that I never sleep in death: Lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him. Psalm xii. 29

And be kind to one another; merciful, forgiving of one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ. Ephesians iv, 32


Lust conquered by self - control

Let us walk honestly in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscence’s.Romans xiii. 13, 14

Make the way known to me wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee… Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Psalms cxlii 8, 10

For you have done manfully, and your heart has been strengthened, because you have loved chastity…: Therefore also the hand of the Lord hath strengthened you, and therefore you shall be blessed for ever. Judith xv, 11


Gluttony conquered by temperance

Are you set at a great table? Be not first to open your mouth upon it. Say not: There are many things which are upon it…. Stretch not out your hand first, lest being disgraced with envy, you be put into confusion. Be not hasty at a feast… Use as a frugal man the things that are set before you: lest if thou eat too much, you will be hated. Leave off first, for manners sake and exceed not, lest you offend. And if you are seated among many, reach not your hand out first of all: and be not the first to ask for drink. Ecclus xxxi, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19-21

And Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him, Saying: What wilt thou that I do to thee? But he said: Lord, that I may see. Luke xviii 40, 41

The meadows are open and the green herbs have appeared, and the hay is gathered out of the mountains. Lambs are from your clothing: and kids for the price of the field.

Let the milk of the goats be enough for your food, and for the necessities of your house, and for maintence for your handmaids. Proverbs xxvii 25, 26, 27


Sloth conquered by zeal

I passed by the field of the slothful man, and by the vineyard of the foolish man: and behold it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had covered the face there of, and the stone wall was broken down. Which when I had seen, I laid it up in my heart, and by example, I received instruction. You will sleep a little, said I, you will slumber a little, said I, you will fold your hands to rest: and poverty shall over come to your as a runner, and beggary as an armed man. Proverbs xxiv. 30-34

May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of his countance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us. That we may know thy ways upon earth; thy salvation in all nations. Psalm lxxvi 2, 3

But I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls; although loving you more, I be loved less.2 Corinthians xii, 15


The 6 Sins against the Holy Ghost

  1. Presumption
  2. Despair
  3. Resisting the known truth
  4. Envy of another’s spiritual good
  5. Obstinacy in sin
  6. Final impenitence


The 9 Ways We Participate in Others’ Sins

  1. By counsel
  2. By command
  3. By consents
  4. By provocation
  5. By praise or flattery
  6. By concealment
  7. By partaking
  8. By silence
  9. By defense of the ill done


3 Conditions for Mortal Sin

  • Grave matter
  • Full knowledge
  • Deliberate consent

HT to Joseph, Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit

Monday, October 20, 2008

Without God's Mercy, We Would All Be Toast!

My Dear People,

Without God's Mercy, We Would All Be Toast!

What do we truly OWE Our Lord? This is a question that Jesus answers in the Gospel today. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's...give to God what is God's." Jesus made it very clear. We have both temporal and spiritual responsibilities. By God's permissive will, He has given temporal authority to our civil leaders. It is a Divine gift. As God's representatives, these civil authorities, have limited authority over us. Hence, when taxes are levied (federal, state and social security), we must pay them. We owe this to Caesar.

By the same token, we also owe God as well. He has not limited, but "supreme" authority over us as our Creator. All that we have and are belongs to God Himself. That is why at the very end of our lives, we must file a complete "life report" to our God. Jesus reminds us of this throughout the Gospel. Of the four last things: death, judgment, Heaven and Hell, we experience two JUDGMENTS by Our Lord. First, we experience personal judgment. Secondly, we experience general judgment. Nothing get past Our Good Lord. He knows and sees all things. That is why it is so important to plead His Divine Mercy over us. Without God's Mercy, flowing from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we would all be TOAST. No one could survive either judgment. So, live in God's truth and love. Plead His Mercy upon you every single day.. and trust in HIM!

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,

Fr. Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Thursday, October 16, 2008

St. Robert Bellarmine On The Spiritual Exercises

Want to know the keys to having a joy filled life? St. Bellarmine has the answer. Take a minute to listen, it is worth it.

Thanks Father Joseph Rutchik


Apostleship of Prayer

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Purgatory - Part of God's Divine Mercy

My Dear People,

Purgatory - Part of God's Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy ImageWe continue with the Kingdom parables this Sunday in our Gospel. Matthew presents us with the wedding feast motif. The Father has prepared a great banquet for his guests. In doing so, He expects us to be ready to celebrate with Him. He has dispatched his angels to gather the elect. All have been invited to the feast. But some have completely ignored the invitation. Some were to busy with everyday affairs. Others abused and murdered his servants. Afterwards God told His servants to out into the highways and byways to gather His guest. The only requirements God expects from us, is that we arrive properly disposed (properly dressed).

One such guest was not and cast into the darkness outside the banquet hall. There was much suffering and remorse. The suffering was not imposed by the Father, but was experienced by the son who had wasted his time with things not preparing his entrance into the Kingdom. This great Divine Mercy is called Purgatory. Our hearts, minds, and souls must be purified and cleansed of all darkness and sin before we can live in God's Holy Light. Even venial sin must be removed before entering into Heaven. That is why it is so essential to sacrifice and pray for the dead, especially in our own families. Without our prayers and offerings, they continue to wail and agonize in the fires of Purgatory. Next moth we celebrate All Souls Day. Pray daily and often for the repose of all souls who have died. It is a great act of Mercy!

May we as good stewards, learn to recognize the difference between what we need and what we want, trusting that God will always give us all that we need.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,

Fr. Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Battle For the Seminarians Soul

Once upon a time, good faithful seminarians were either expelled from seminaries or lived hiding their Orthodox beliefs. Fr. Mark, Your Catholic Sunday Homily, said many times while teaching.

"Mom, I don't know what these people are teaching me? I am sticking with the Catholic Church you taught me."

The other statement was.

"When I was ordained and took the vow of obedience, I had to disobey everything I was taught in seminary."

Do you have a hippie aged priest? Pray for them. I can only imagine how bad I would have turned out being authoritatively taught a false gospel. Here is what Father Z had to say about his seminary life.

"This is certainly the case in the USA as well. The seminary I was in the US was a hell-hole of heresy and sheer dopiness. But then the student body began to shift. The faculty simply couldn’t throw that many guys out, and word was getting back to bishops about how bad things were there. Slowly but surely the student body changed the seminary, and eventually the bishop made some changes as well, good ones. Now that seminary is for the most part sound. The aging hippies now openly lament the loss of their 60’s dreams and mutter gloomy warnings about how "conserrrrrvativvvve" the seminarians now are."

Scary stuff. But the tide is changing. Father Groeschel, EWTN Priest, said in a recent poll of people entering the religious life, 98% are looking for Orthodox orders.

Praise the Lord!

Let us renew our commitment to pray for our priest and religious.

May God have Mercy on us.


Monday, October 6, 2008

The Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

Your Catholic Sunday Homily Minute - 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

My Dear People,

Pray the Rosary Daily!

October a traditional month dedicated to the Blessed Mother. On the seventh day of the month, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. This day marks a Marian Miracle which protected the Church from being overtaken by Her enemy. Even though the great odds were against the papal supported army, the enemy was crushed, and the Church survived another great trial. This was due to Our Lady's intercession.

If you fallen out of the habit of praying your daily rosary, make a resolution to start October 1st. Ask Mary our Mother in Heaven, to crush the enemy in your own family. Together with St. Michael, they are an unbeatable team. It is the moral obligation of all Fathers to lead their spouses and children unto the Lord. SO ATTENTION ALL DADS AND GRANDPA'S.... you set the example for the whole family and pray the Most Holy Rosary with your spouses and children. In this time of chastisement in our country. ALL dad's need to lead their families into the way of God's PEACE. PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!

May we find joy in faithfully and generously giving our time, talent and treasure to produce fruit for the Kingdom of God.

Entrusting you to the care of Our Lady,

Fr. Mark


Sunday, October 5, 2008

What Would St. Thomas More Do?

This really touches home for me. Believe it or not, my heart is with the Democratic Party. But, alas, the party took that heart and pierced it like the are doing to so many unborn babies. I realized I didn't leave the Democratic Party, they left me. So now I am in looking for pro-life Democratics like my Father, Grandfather and Great Grandfather. Except on the local level it is very hard to find one. The following is the story of St. Thomas More and his struggles in similar chalenges we face today.

'By the age of fifty-five, as a lawyer, officer of the realm, husband, father, popular citizen, speaker, and writer, he had achieved as much fame, wealth, professional success, and genuine affection as any person could desire.'


'Nevertheless, for what most called a foolish scruple of conscience, he threw all that away and died three years later -- alone -- in broken health. His closest political colleagues abandoned him; he was condemned as a traitor, beheaded, and his head placed on a spike on a bridge.'

Thomas Moore

These days, faithful Catholics
lose elections; in Thomas More's
day, they lost their lives.
Thomas More knew that.
He knew that the lustful Henry VIII
might kill him for his fidelity to the Church.
. . . which is why More constantly asked,
'How much evil can I tolerate?
Where must I take my stand?'
Those were dangerous questions
in a dangerous time, yet as a politician
--- a Catholic politician ---
fear never caused Thomas More to waver:


'In a storm,' he said,
'you don't abandon ship
just because you
can't control the wind.'


Today, winds of a fierce new anti-Catholicism buffet us. Just two days ago, the most powerful political party in America declared the following:

'The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.'

That's you and me they oppose
. . . and any Catholic politician who agrees
with the Church that abortion is murder.
*
When that threatening clause was debated,
did a new Thomas More risk his life by rising to denounce it?
Did even one major Catholic Democrat
risk the displeasure of his party
by staying faithful to the Church?
*
Far from it!
Indeed, the Party's nominee for Vice-President
(a position equivalent in power to Thomas More's)
is a Mass-going Catholic whose support for so-called 'abortion rights' was just declared 'seriously wrong' by the Archbishop of Denver, Charles Chaput.
So wrong, says the Archbishop, that
'I presume his integrity will lead him
to refrain from presenting himself
for Communion.'

Henry VIII was also once
a Mass-going Catholic . . .

. . . a politician with faith so strong he wrote A Defense of the Seven Sacraments, one of the most successful works of Catholic apologetics that had yet been produced.

Indeed, Pope Leo X personally bestowed on Henry the title, Defender of the Faith, never guessing that a short decade later, Henry would be the mortal enemy of the Faith he had just so ably defended.
*
Our fathers' generation also saw
Catholic politicians repudiate
the Faith they once held dear.

Before World War II, in the pews, pubs, and union halls of America's cities, millions of poor European immigrants and their children pledged allegiance to the Church of Rome and the party of FDR: the blue-collar, pro-family, pro-life Democratic Party that strongly identified itself with Catholic social teachings.
Born in among these people was Catholic author David Carlin, who grew up in working-class Rhode Island in that time when Catholic Faith and the Democratic Party seemed almost synonymous.
For four decades Carlin faithfully served the party he loved --- twelve years as a state senator and once as the Democratic candidate for Congress.
chopping block
Then the betrayal!

As Thomas More watched helplessly as Henry abandoned his wife and took up with enemies of the Church, so David Carlin watched helplessly as his Party's leaders abandoned their blue-collar, pro-life, and religious constituencies and took up with NOW, Hollywood and the abortion lobby.

*
You know, Thomas More was a Catholic,
not a partisan. With the ax that would kill him hovering near, his last words saluted the very politician who had condemned him to death: 'I die the King's good servant, but God's first.'
Like Thomas More, David Carlin
is a Catholic, not a partisan
--- a 21st Century Catholic who yearns
to be his Party's good servant,
but God's first.

Which is why three years ago, his anguish drove him to determine which principles and policies you and I as Catholics are bound in conscience to support, and which we cannot abide if we choose to remain Catholic.
Armed with that knowledge, and proceeding with the patience and clear-sightedness of a lifelong Catholic knowing that he may soon be called to account by God, Carlin then evaluated the many policies of his Party that trouble him (policies that some would now have the Republican Party embrace, too). The result is Can a Catholic Be a Democrat?, the most lucid, informative, even-handed Catholic evaluation of the Democratic Party available today.

With great sorrow, Carlin concludes that, on issues concerned with human life, sex, faith, morality, suffering --- and the public policies that stem from them --- his once beloved Democratic Party has become, like Henry VIII, the enemy of the Catholic Faith.

As did St. Thomas More before him,
Carlin then asks,


'As a believing Catholic,
how much can I tolerate?'
'Where must I take my stand?'
*
What about you?

As politicians in both Parties embrace ever more positions that attack central teachings of our Church, can you stay silent . . . or even vote for them? And if you do, will you, at the end of the day, be able to face God and say, 'I die my Party's good servant, but God's first'?

'In a storm,' Thomas More said, 'don't abandon ship just because you can't control the wind.' You and I can't control the anti-Catholic winds blowing through the major political parties today, but, with David Carlin's help, we can learn what, as Catholics, we can do --- nay, must do --- if, as did St. Thomas More, we are to stay engaged in politics and faithful to God and His Church.
*
Can a Catholic Be a Democrat? will:
  • Clarify your understanding of the issues in this election, and help you see just what is (and is not) at stake;
  • Show you which political positions you as a Catholic can live with, and which require you, like Thomas More, finally to take a stand;
  • Help you explain even non-negotiable Catholic positions to your friends, relatives, and fellow party members;
  • Equip you to make your own party less hostile to your Catholic Faith;
  • And, as you vote in November, ensure that the choices you make there will leave you able finally to say, 'I was my Party's good servant, but God's first.'

May St. Thomas More pray for us,
and for all Catholic politicians!
John Barger
Publisher