Advent begins on Sunday. It is the traditional time of preparation for both comings of Jesus: it’s a memorial of His first coming as a baby as well as an anticipation of His Second Coming in Triumph to judge all nations and history. This latter is obvious if you pray the Liturgy of the Hours …
For today’s Immaculate Heart Saturday post, I will continue along the theme from yesterday’s post on the Sacred Heart and Holy Souls. “I am the Mother of all the souls in purgatory, and I am Mother of Mercy to these my children who are in the greatest need of my assistance, since in their torments …
Continue reading ‘The Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Holy Souls’ »
I’ve always loved this passage from the Second Reading of the Divine Office for the Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr: From a sermon by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop: Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exalts, with Stephen he reigns. Stephen went …
Continue reading ‘St. Stephen and St. Paul: united in Heaven’ »
In her diary, ‘Divine Mercy in my Soul,” St. Maria Faustina Kowalska writes of when she was given the gift of appearing before the judgement seat of God: 36 Once I was summoned to the judgment [seat] of God. I stood alone before the Lord. Jesusappeared such as we know Him during His Passion. After …
Someday you will die. Me, too. No one is exempt. It will happen, guaranteed. If you have been recently exposed to death because a loved one has passed away, the possibility was brought to your attention. Most everyone is uncomfortable with it and will routinely brush it off. An article from long ago asks us …
Quite often you read or hear about how we Christians are supposed to keep our “eyes on the prize.” In other words, be mindful of death. (In Latin, that is “Memento Mori.”) We should try to keep our minds on our ultimate goal, Heaven, and remember that we will be judged upon our death. Doing …
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: A reblog from a previous year and slightly edited. November is my favorite month. Mainly because of The Feasts of All Saints on November 1st and All Souls on November 2nd and the general trend in the Church’s liturgical readings in the Mass and Divine Office on Christ’s Coming (First and Second). This leads …
There seems to be numerous novenas at this time of year. That is possibly just my imagination, but nevertheless today begins another novena. This one is to Our Lady of Fatima for the commemoration of the Miracle of the Sun Apparition on October 13, 1917. I know that the typical Fatima novena celebrates the first …