Several years ago when my wife and I went to a Daily Mass we were delayed due to a funeral being said before the regular Mass. We had to wait for a while in the Adoration Chapel adjacent to the Church proper, when the final hymn was sung (“On Eagle’s Wings”) we moved over to …
What happens when you die? A lot of hopeful people assume that you go straight to Heaven. Hell is a fantasy to scare people into being good, and that God would never send anyone to Hell (This is true, God would never send anyone to Hell. But people send themselves to Hell by the choices …
Our true home is Heaven. Our life on Earth is an exile, the time we spend here prepares us for our arrival home. If we misuse this time to an extreme (consistently rejecting the will of God and working against His Will) we will banish ourselves and be eternally damned. Damnation is the natural consequence …
Note: this was originally posted in different form long ago here at Sober Catholic: On October 13, 1917 the final Marian Apparition at Fatima, Portugal took place. I know the anniversary was a few weeks ago, but I decided to post this today, the Feast of All Hallow’s Eve (a/k/a “Halloween”). I’ll explain at the end. …
I am in the process of transferring old posts from “The Four Last Things,” a blog I ran until 2016 on ‘Death, Judgement, Heaven (& Purgatory) and Hell.’ This process of migrating was started quite some time ago, but for no reason aside from laziness and forgetfulness was never completed until today. By ‘completed,’ I mean the posts …
On this date in 1995 my father died. He and I weren’t very close, (“fathers and sons …”) generational and attitudinal differences separated us. As a result, I didn’t really grieve over his death. I mean, I was saddened and did feel the loss, but I wasn’t ripped apart by his death like I was …
The First Reading for the Mass for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) is from 1st Book of Kings Chapter 19, verses 4-8; Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death saying:“This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am …
Continue reading ‘This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers’ »
“O death! You separate those who are joined to each other in marriage. You harshly and cruelly divide those whom friendship unites. But your power is broken. Your heinous yoke has been destroyed by the One who sternly threatened you when Hosea cried out: O Death! I shall be your death. And with the words …
Given that the Vatican recently extended the plenary indulgence for visiting a grave during the Octave of All Saints to all of November, I thought it opportune to bring back this retropost. (What’s a retropost? Read the italicized paragraph at the end. It’s the one before where I ask you at the end of every …
Every year in late October or very early November I publish a post regarding a plenary indulgence granted to the faithful who: “A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, is granted to the faithful who, -on any and each day from November 1 to 8, devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, if only mentally, …
Continue reading ‘Plenary Indulgence for Cemetery Visits in November Extended’ »