Saturday, December 31, 2016

I HAVE to see this Movie

CORRECTION: Chinese Church does NOT want to separate from Rome.

A very astute reader called attention to my misleading headline on a previous blog post. I said The Church in China wants to be separate from Rome! But that is very misleading because the Chinese CHURCH does not want to separate from Rome. In fact, it is Chinese officials. The Chinese government wants to take control of the Church and their worship. They want to make sure people have an allegiance to Beijing and no allegiance nor to the Holy See, for they fear outside influence. Despite progress, China is far from a free country. They control much of the information that enters the country and people are not free to make their own decisions in many areas. It's also worth noting that atheism is the official state belief system in China and they have cracked down forcefully on religious practice.

Members of Falon Gong have been systematically intimidated, tortured, and overall coerced into not following that religion. Other religions have been severely limited in what they can and cannot do. Many brave martyrs have died defending the Truth in China and will continue to do so until it becomes legal.

There are many faith-filled and great Chinese Catholics who want to listen to and follow the Pope in Rome but it is the Chinese Government which is preventing them. Sorry about the error and big thanks to the Facebook follower who pointed this out!

Friday, December 30, 2016

The Church in China wants to be separate from Rome!

This is absolute LUNACY. The Church in China and everywhere else must be subject to Rome!!

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/12/30/chinese-patriotic-catholic-church-asserts-independence-vatican/

Italian Bishop DENIES Mass Intention for Slain Mafioso

Read the Article here: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/church-mass-for-murdered-canadian-mafioso-rocco-sollecito-kiboshed-by-catholic-authorities

A notorious mafia boss, Rocco Sollecito, was killed back in May. Then just the other day, a priest in Italy wanted to celebrate a Mass where they would remember this mafia boss. But the archbishop of the area intervenes and strictly forbade the priest from doing so.

For some bizarre reason, the priest says he will appeal to the pope. I think the archbishop is right to deny a Mass intention for a known criminal thug. I applaud that BRAVE bishop for standing up to this evil and confronting it.

By the way, I doubt Pope Francis will do a lot. He openly said the mafia needs to repent IMMEDIATELY before it's too late.

That group needs to stop calling itself "Catholic".

Canada's Assisted Suicide Rates Spiraling out of Control

So far, over the past 6 months or so since Canada legalized assisted suicide, at least 744 people have had doctors kill them. We are now fully on a path where old age is considered a terminal condition and people will be put down like dogs we don't like anymore. This is only the beginning. But this number has shocked even the greatest supporters of this new law.

It's no surprise. People think the government has to do everything for them. They no longer feel obliged to care for their elderly parents. They think that's the government's responsibility. Then when the older person becomes too much of a burden, they toss them in an old age home and never visit. When they do visit, they talk about the older person in the third person and make it very clear how much of a burden that person is to them. Well, they will usually say they are a burden to the "family" instead of "me" because that just sounds more noble.

After hearing this over and over the older person decides to commit suicide. The children can barely contain their glee, but try to hide it a little to be a tiny bit respectful. Now, this isn't always the case. Sometimes the older person has no children or none of the children visit them anymore. Whatever the case, older people are treated really poorly.

But sometimes the old person themselves is to blame. They do not want to suffer in any way. In terms of Catholic theology, a person can receive painkillers even if they are fatal if they are required to relieve the pain. Therefore, no one has to needlessly suffer.

Some have equated choosing to end one's life as dying with dignity. They imply that having medical needs or requiring assistance from others to do normal everyday activities is somehow undignified, but nothing could be further from the truth. Dignity means living the life God has given you to the best of your ability. It doesn't mean ending the life God gave you because it doesn't fit some pre-determined standard.

The law about assisted suicide was not enacted democratically. It was legislation from the judicial bench. Somehow our brilliant supreme court justices decided that there was a right to doctor assisted suicide BECAUSE of our right to life. Even attempting to explain this inanity would prove difficult, and I suggest you look at the ruling yourself because you probably won't believe me.

To summarize it, because people have a right to life, doctor-assisted suicide must be provided and regulated by the government because this could potentially give the person some time to contemplate this decision to end their life (thus potentially extending it). No evidence of this was ever offered. Clearly this isn't the case. For the most part, if an elderly person isn't able to procure a doctor-assisted suicide, they probably won't do it on their own.

BY making suicide by doctor legal, you make it acceptable. At least that's the case in the religion-less populace of Canada that has no morals. Sadly, we rely on the government for everything, even deciding our morals.

Anyway, as mentioned, this will only continue to get worse. Much worse. But at leaset the government-worshipers will be happy. To them, human beings are expenses, a budget item, not people with dignity.


Thursday, December 29, 2016

Note to People: Stop Talking Throughout the Mass

One of the things I find most annoying when I go to mass is people talking. I'm not referring to people who have a couple of words to say or a few sentences here and there because that's human nature. So that's not so bad. What I'm referring to is people who are talking on the way into the church, they talk all the way as they enter into their seat, and then they continue talking throughout the entirety of the mass. They do not hesitate even for a couple of minutes.

There have been times when I've sat at mass and there might be a couple of people, usually women I hate to say it, who will just have a long unending conversation throughout the entire Mass. Because it's sometimes impossible not to overhear them, you can catch some of the things that they're saying and I can tell you that they are not important or earth-shattering things that must be said immediately. For example they often talk about what they are going to cook for dinner what they will be doing for Christmas, or what TV shows they like, etc.

My question is "Why do you even bother coming to Mass?" Seriously. Obviously you have no idea why you are there or why the Mass has any value or importance whatsoever. You are just there to gab the entire mass and get absolutely nothing out of it. Plus, you are distracting everyone else who is there to be spiritually fed.

I would even ask a deeper, spiritual question. Does it fulfill your Sunday Obligation to attend Mass every Sunday, if, while you are there, you talk the entire time and pay absolutely no attention. If you have no interest in what is happening during the Mass and are not interested in connecting to God spiritually whatsoever. Can it really be said that you "attended the Mass" given all of this?

I think somewhere along the way people were told they had to attend Mass every Sunday, which is true. But even though they technically enter in through the church doors, they are in no real way "attending" the Mass. It's no different than staying outside in your car while the Mass is happening inside and listening to the radio and then later claiming you actually attended the Mass. It's ridiculous and inaccurate.

The priest should always, at the beginning of Mass, inform the people there that there should be absolutely no talking whatsoever unless there is an extreme emergency. The only things people should say are the responses to the prayers that are designated to the people.

By the way, it's also worth noting that this includes the rosary. Sometimes people will go to Mass and just recite the rosary the entire time that they are there. They again don't have any interest in the Mass. They are only there to say the rosary. Now, individually the rosary and the Mass are good. Combined, not so much. It's inappropriate to recite the Rosary throughout the Mass. You are not participating int hat case.

And in some cases, when someone does recite the rosary, they do so very loudly. Not literally talking out loud, but whispering very loudly. Some older people have a tendency to make a very high pitched S sound every time they read a word with that letter. It's very distracting.

The point is, if you go to Mass, then GO TO MASS. Don't go there to discuss your grocery list. Don't go there to say the rosary. Go there to participate in the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Fourth Sunday of Advent - December 18th, 2016

Today, Sunday, December 18th, 2016 is

The Fourth Sunday of Advent in Christianity

Today, Sunday, December 18th, 2016, is the fourth week of Advent which means that next week is Christmas Day! Jesus Christ out Lord will be born in 1 week. The fourth week is a time of great preparation, not just for material things, but mostly for spiritual things. Think of others who are needy both materially and spiritually. Pray to God and place your trust in him.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Third Sunday of Advent: December 11, 2016

Today, Sunday, December 11th, 2016 is

The Third Sunday of Advent in Christianity

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent in the Catholic and Christian Calendar. That means it is two weeks before Christmas Day. Today is called Gaudete Sunday ("Gaudete" means Rejoice in Latin). The official colour is rose and we always light that candle. As noted earlier, this is the earliest possible date for the third Sunday of Advent.

Thursday, December 08, 2016

DIARY of a Catholic: I'm Not Really Feeling It...

Hey guys, just wanted to write a very personal entry today about how I'm feeling. As I've mentioned before, I sometimes feel angry. I think this stems from frustration which comes from various sources. I think I get frustrated from my workplace and just feeling like I can't make a good go at things. I would say that overall my enjoyment for my job is at about 20%. Sometimes it's okay, but sometimes it seems very boring and also annoying.

I work in customer service. I don't need to get into the exact details, but basically I deal with people in a serious area. They depend on the service we proide. I spend much of my time telling these people they do not qualify or they have not filled out the proper application or that the thing they need immediately will take a couple of weeks to receive by mail. I deal with a lot of upset and angry people.

On top of that, most of the calls I take are in French. Although I studied French in school from kindergarten to graduation, I had not spoken it for many years before I took this job. It was about 15 years since I had really spoken any French in school when I took this job. But I still indicated on the application that I was bilingual in French. I don't mind speaking to people in another language especially since I've been doing this job for almost 2 years now. But after a long day it becomes more and more difficult to speak in a foreign language in a continuous basis. On top of that, management is continually training me in new material. I do not have a deep interest in the material that they teach us and the subjects can be very tedious and boring. Then I am obliged to be an expert on these topics in French. In many cases I've never even heard most of the words that I am being asked to explain.

On top of my job I am also struggling very hard to have my own business which I find very difficult and I have not yet attained very much success in at all. In fact, very little.

Furthermore, I sometimes feel like there's no time in the day to work on the things I want to and then I'm always overwhelmed with so many things to do. I feel stressed out, overwhelmed and like I sometimes cannot cope. And that's the point of my diary entry today is to say that I'm feeling very frustrated and I would like for you to pray for me on this subject.

Sometimes I feel like things can be helpless because I feel like ultimately we do not have a lot of control over things that are happening to us. I sometimes wonder about the nature of God and how we do not have a lot of power and don't get a say on what happens to us or the world. I see a lot of people suffering in various ways and it's difficult to cope with it.

Anyway, I'm just being very real about some of the struggles that are happening and I wanted to throw it out there. Please feel free to write your own experiences in the comments section below and I look forward to hearing what people have to say. In the meantime, I'm going to say my daily Rosary now. So have a great day and God bless.

Jesus is NOT the Immaculate Conception!

Today is the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, but a common misconception is that this refers to the conception of Jesus Christ but it doesn't. It refers to the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception in the womb of her mother St. Anne. Mary was preserved from the stain of original sin from the first moment of her conception so that she would be a fitting woman from which to be born the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

In some places, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation meaning you have to go to Mass as a Catholic just as if it were a Sunday. However, this is not the case in some places such as Canada.

To summarize: Happy Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception!

Sunday, December 04, 2016

Is Pope Francis Married?

Pope Francis is not and has never been married.

Pope Francis who was previously known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio before taking his papal name was never married. In fact, had he been, it is almost certain he would not have become pope. The Roman Catholic Church doesn't select priests from married men. There are exceptions from priests in Eastern rites or priests that are converts from other religions such as Anglicanism and Lutheranism.

It is said that Pope Francis had brief relationships with young ladies in his younger years. One came forth a couple of years ago named Amalia Damonte. From the looks of it, none of these relationships lasted very long and Pope Francis diligently prepared for the priesthood.

More info here.

Happy Second Sunday of Advent

Today, Sunday, December 4th, 2016 is

The Second Sunday of Advent in Christianity


Today is the Second Sunday of Advent in the Christian Calendar which is celebrated by Catholics and Protestants alike. This year is the earliest possible Advent season because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year. If it falls on a Monday, it would be the latest possible Advent season.

The colour this week is again purple.

Saturday, December 03, 2016

Article about Pope Francis I discovered is SHOCKING

I was looking up some information about Pope Francis and I came across this article that was written just after he became Pope. I wasn't even looking  for anything controversial just certain basic statistics about the current pontiff such as the day he became the Pope and things of that nature. That's when I came across this shocking article about the pope while he was still a cardinal known as Jorge Bergoglio. It basically talks about how the current pontiff doesn't really care much at all about Doctrine or rules or anything of that nature but instead speaks and very ambiguous terms so as to cause great confusion. This is how he was as Bishop, Archbishop, then Cardinal and how he continues to act even to this day. A real eye-opener I suggest you take a look at it:

View it here.

Thursday, December 01, 2016

"I'm greatly concerned for a lot of the older people"

I came across a clip of Colonel Sanders believe it or not, and in the second half of the interview he talks about how he accepted Jesus as his Savior when he was 77 years old. He says he is somewhat concerned about older people, because he said they need to accept Jesus as their Savior as soon as possible. Right before this part, he mentions Catholics and has good things to say and he accepts that they are just as good Christians as anyone else. That's refreshing to hear. A lot of time there is a lot of division among denominations, so it's nice to hear conciliatory words, even if they were many decades ago. Of course, Catholics don't share the same interpretation, but you can gain some value from what he is saying here.

Interesting input from VERY IMPORTANT Vatican official

The head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, has issued his take on the "dubia" controversy and it's encouraging in my opinion.

He USED to like Pope Francis, then this happened...

There used to be a time when faithful Catholics could depend on their Pope. The main people they had to convince of the Catholic faith were non-Christians and they knew that whatever they said, if they were in good standing, would be backed up by the pontiff in Rome. But unlike ever before, many faithful Catholics have felt somewhat abandoned by the current pope.

As can be seen in this article, a Catholic writer has struggled to listen to what Pope Francis says and to abide by and do his best to follow it. But he's finding it more and more difficult every single day. Specifically he is talking about Pope Francis's recent statements about illicitly divorced and remarried Catholics. The question of whether or not they should receive communion has been made very ambiguous by the current pope. But the problem is that anytime anybody attempts to receive clarification about this very important issue, the pope responds by saying they're too caught up with the rules and that they are not being real Christians and so on. But all throughout the history of the Church great saints have asked specific questions and sought specific answers. Of course much of the time Catholic theologians have been ridiculed and mocked for entertaining very esoteric and unimportant topics and questions such as "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?". But the question of the moral status of people in irregular marriages is not something that is abstract or that does not concern or affect anybody.

Pope St. John Paul II addressed the question of Catholics who may have been immature in their faith who decided to divorce and remarry and whether or not they can receive communion. The former Pope acknowledged that these are difficult situations in many cases. For example, if a second marriage produces children and this family has been together for many years, the pope did not feel it would be a reasonable obligation to force this illicitly married couple to split up and go their separate ways. Rather, he said, that for the sake of the children the couple could remain together and live together so long as they were not in a conjugal relationship.

The difference here is that when the question of continuing a conjugal relationship comes up, the pope tries to sidestep answering it and has gone so far as to state that each case is individual and even sexually active couples could receive communion in certain circumstances. Naturally, people want to know what the certain circumstances are. And we know from experience that whenever a small exception is granted to a general rule in many places Catholic churches have been known to go way overboard in implementing the exception. For instance there is a dispensation that allows a person to choose to do a charitable act instead of abstaining from meat on Friday. But most Catholics do not even believe that abstinence from meat on Friday is in any way even suggested anymore let alone required unless they do something to substitute that action.

Another example is receiving communion on the tongue. 95% of Catholics receive communion in the hand and then they place it in their mouth. But even today receiving communion on the tongue is considered the norm and receiving in the hand is considered an exception yet as we can see clearly 95% of Catholics follow the exception rather than the rule. The same goes for altar girls. Alter girls were allowed as a very specific exception to the rule in one particular diocese I believe in the US. However despite the fact that they were a tiny exception in the overall grand scheme of things they have now become again the norm. Yet another example is extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. Once again these are lay people who are given special permission in very finite and unusual circumstances to allow them to distribute communion instead of just the priest. However I would challenge anybody to find a single Church on any given Sunday where there are not a half-dozen or more lay people giving out communion.

My point with these multitude of examples is to show that anytime the Church grants even the tiniest of exceptions under the most specific of circumstances. in general. because of our fallen nature. people will abuse the exception to the point where it becomes the absolute norm. So it is with these teachings that are coming from Pope Francis. There are legitimate questions about what happens when a person and the couple is legitimately married contrary to the rules of the church that we believe come from Jesus Christ himself and whether they should be accepted to receive communion which presumes they are in the state of grace. This is a serious question and Pope Francis has not only not specified and clarified, he simply tells people to look elsewhere and to ask someone else and then he usually proceeds to, in some way, insult people who are even just searching for answers.

The funny part about it is that although Pope Francis is criticizing people's legalism - as he calls it - he does not hesitate to condemn in the strongest language certain pet peeves of his that he considers to be very grave. For instance he has called income inequality one of the greatest sins in the world. He has forcefully condemned people who talk about abortion and say that it is wrong. So it's not as if Pope Francis in general says don't be mean and don't say things that are harsh because he has no problem doing that himself.

I strongly recommend you read this article by a faithful Catholic who has tried and tried to the best of his possible ability to listen to Pope Francis and accept what he has to say but find it extraordinarily difficult.

Article here.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Prayer for Throat

St. Blaise is the Patron Saint of Throats. Pray to him if you have any ailment or issue of the throat. Also, if someone swallows a bone or similar object, say a prayer for St. Blaise's intercession.

Feast Day of...


Sunday, November 27, 2016

Prayers against stroke or sudden death

St. Andrew Avellino is the patron saint of victims of stroke. He actually died while about to say Mass. He is invoked as a saint against sudden death. Pray to St. Andrew Avellino for anyone who has suffered a stroke or similar incident. Also pray to him to prevent these things.
One of the big problems that I struggle with a lot is anger. I'm just going to put it right out there and just tell people and not shy away from it because anger is something that I deal with frequently. And I think that there are really many different forms of anger and anger which comes from different sources. Some forms of anger are very negative in that you're angry at other people you're angry at people you are interacting with and you have a sort of hatred and meanness towards those people. I find this happens with me a lot if I'm driving and somebody gets in my way or goes too slow or something of that nature and I will become very angry and upset at that person it causes me a lot of anger even long after that person is gone and is no longer causing any problems and so on. But the anger sort of lingers and sometimes can build up.

 On the other hand sometimes anger can come from Fear or worry. This is a little bit strange when you think about it but it's just as real. So for instance sometimes I might have a nightmare 4 things might be coming up that upset me or worry me and then I will become angry angry at the world angry at all kinds of different things and this is a different form of anger. So I'm not angry at a particular person as such but I'm angry at the situation.

 I feel like another form of anger come from just things that happen in life. One example for me would be that sometimes I get up in the morning and I'm very very tired and I just think about the fact that I have to go to a job that I really don't want to go to and I just feel like I have no time to do anything and I don't have time to get ready in the morning and I feel rushed and I feel panicked and I feel angry that I have to even do this and I feel tired and perhaps sore and various things like that and so I get very upset and angry and sometimes I find myself when I'm driving to work I will be very angry very very angry at various things and so on.

 Now that I have sort of given an outline of events and times that caused me to become angry I think it's important to realize that ultimately anger is more harmful and hurtful to yourself than to anybody else. The sages and wise sayings in our tradition have to find anger as an inordinate desire for vengeance. And while I think this is true how anger can sometimes extend to inanimate objects ideas Concepts as well as towards people. But ultimately it creates a lack of control over our lives we feel powerless helpless and we feel frustration and we're not effective. And many people believe that the way to get over anger is to express it is to let it out. But this is absolutely not true in fact the more you let out your anger the more likely you will resort to anger the next time something comes up because you're not training yourself to avoid becoming angry and you are not creating yourself on techniques to mitigate and lessen the anger and produce calm.  You are much better off establishing ways of calming yourself and training your body to react calmly to various stimuli in your life because that way you train yourself just like an athlete trains him or herself to become adaptable to various circumstances.

 So I feel like my goal right now his to practice calmness and tranquility so that rather than escalating the beginnings of anger and the beginnings of frustration instead turn them the other way I go down the other path so that ultimately that's better for me because I feel better and happier and more at peace and more, because that's one of the things that I pray for and try to achieve. Again if you want to add your own comments or if you have any of your own experiences with anger please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

Happy First Sunday of Advent!!

Today, Sunday, November 27th, 2016 is

The First Sunday of Advent in Christianity



This is very unique in that it is the earliest possible day for Advent in any given year in the Catholic Church and for Christianity in general. That's because it's on a Sunday and because of that the fourth Sunday of Advent is a Sunday and the following week is Christmas day. Normally if it was another day of the week, the Christmas Day would be just the following Sunday. Since the fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Day cannot be on the same day, it is therefore the longest possible time in between.

The latest day possible for the first Sunday of Advent is December 3rd. Incidentally that's when it is next year! So this year it is the earliest possible Advent and next year it's the latest possible advent.

The rest of the Sundays of Advent are as follows:
1st Sunday of Advent 2016: November 27, 2016
2nd Sunday of Advent 2016: December 4, 2016
3rd Sunday of Advent 2016: December 11, 2016
4th Sunday of Advent 2016: December 18, 2016
Christmas Day: December 25, 2016

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Prayers for Skin Disease

St. Anthony of the Desert was really the first monk in Christianity. Pray for his intercession if you or someone you know is suffering from a skin disease, whether it's skin cancer, rashes, or any other disease of the skin.

What I Think About Castro's DEATH

So this morning I woke up and I found out that Fidel Castro had died. He was 90 old. Now of course when anybody dies as a specific event it's something that is sad in many ways for their friends and family and so on. But I think it's also important not to whitewash somebody's real Legacy just because they have passed away and in fact this is a good time to bring up some of the negative effects that this person has had during their lifetime. Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90 but throughout many decades of his rule in Cuba he had people tortured and killed in the thousands and he did not accept anybody who would disagree with him.

So although we can say it's always sad that somebody dies, we need to keep in perspective all of the evil atrocities that were committed by this ruthless dictator in the name of an ideology that we have seen fail over and over again. The Catholic Church always uphold people's right to self-determination to freedom to privacy to all of these lofty values. But Fidel Castro felt that none of these were important because what mattered the most was his full and utter control over the populace at all times.

In the United States, especially in places like Miami, there are huge Cuban communities and these communities represent thousands of people that fled the dictator Fidel Castro. There's not a single person that attempted to flee the United States and risk their lives to go live in Cuba. No matter how much Michael Moore tries to say that Cuba is such an amazing place, in reality almost everybody who lives there is in absolute and complete squalor. The only places where there is any form of prosperity or peace or joy whatsoever are in the tiny areas of Freedom that are allowed by this oppressive government. Certain restaurants and taxi cabs are private in Cuba and they can accept real money and they can accept tips and so on and these are some of the few places in the entire country where people can actually afford to make a living.

Some people even go so far as to make it sound like Fidel Castro was a friend of religious people because he was so generous that he even let religious people into the Communist Party well Whoopty Doo. He was no friend of religion, he was no friend of the values of religion. He was an enemy of our religion, of his baptismal religion. So although it could have been worse in terms of religious freedom there it certainly wasn't very good in any way shape or form and Fidel Castro considered himself an atheist. My only hope in Fidel's case is that before he passed away that he made right with God and that he sought forgiveness for his sins and that he ends up on the right side of Eternity.

Diary of a Catholic: Praying the Rosary

So I will now continue my story about being Catholic and I think instead of making this sort of a specific diary as such I will touch on various things various subjects and sort of continue on with those. One of the things that I started about a year-and-a-half ago I think around July 2015 was to say the Rosary every single day no matter what. And a lot of people will question something like this because they will say well what if life gets busy what if things happen what if things come up. But I can guarantee you that you will always have 20 to 30 minutes per day to say the rosary if ever you need to. And in fact I have never had a day where I was not able to say the rosary I think very close to the beginning I missed one maybe two days or I didn't say it.

 But I think saying the rosary every single day is very important for many reasons. First of all it's important because it's a way of connecting with God and remembering the things that you are trying to accomplish in life period during every Rosary I like to offer my intentions and there's certain ones that I say every day such as certain prayers for people that I want to remain healthy who have had medical situations and so on but also certain personal struggles things about my future about my future spouse and so on. So there's all kinds of attention that you can bring up in things that you can remember and bring to God especially your fears concerns and anxieties and so on. The other reason that you have to say the Rosary every single day is because if you don't if you miss a day or two here and there eventually you miss 3 days then 4 days and so on until eventually you're missing weeks and then you'll go maybe a month without saying the rosary and then you'll remember and maybe you won't go back. In fact similar logic to this is the reason that it's a great idea to go to mass every single Sunday as opposed to once in awhile because once in a while eventually becomes once every couple of months which eventually becomes once per year.

 So I say the Rosary every single day and each day has its own set of mysteries. Let me just briefly explain so we'll start the week with Sunday. Sundays and Wednesdays are the Glorious Mysteries. These are the Mysteries where we contemplate Jesus rising from the dead and Mary being assumed into Heaven by God Body and Soul into heaven we remember the Holy Spirit which descended upon the apostles and gave them the courage to spread the gospel. And so this is really the meaning behind The Glorious Mysteries. Then we have fun Monday and Saturday the Joyful Mysteries. So these are not the same as glorious mysteries but they are joyful and so the mystery Zone the Annunciation where Mary is told by the angel that she will bear the son of God then we have the visitation where Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who will give birth to John the Baptist. Then we have the birth of Jesus Christ. Then we have Mary bringing Jesus to the temple where there is the presentation of Jesus. And then finally we have Jesus being found in the temple later in his life when he's around 12 years old. Then on Tuesdays and Fridays we recite the horrible Mysteries which means these are the Mysteries where Jesus suffered and died on the cross and these are really in line and congruent to The Passion of Christ. So these we contemplate Jesus's suffering his Agony in the garden his scourging at the pillar his crown of thorns carrying the cross and finally being crucified and died on the cross. So these Mysteries are said on Tuesdays and Fridays and finally we have the Luminous Mysteries which are said on Thursdays. These Mysteries were pioneered by Pope John Paul II probably about 30 years ago and these celebrated various times during the life of Jesus Christ. So for example some of the Luminous Mysteries include Jesus being baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, the wedding Feast of Cana, the proclamation of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration, and the institution of the Eucharist. These of course are extraordinarily important events in the history of Christianity in it and in Christ's life so they're very important to pray about.

 So overall sometimes I have certain struggles when trying to pray the rosary everyday. We can be distracted by various things we can find it difficult to meditate upon the rosary we find our mind wandering. But this isn't something that we need to panic about or worry about or be very afraid about because at least you're trying and personally I find that even though in my life I sometimes struggle with issues of anger and frustration I find that while I'm actually saying the rosary on cob and that piece even if my mind sometimes wonders I don't get angry and frustrated like I do in everyday life sometimes. So I think it can be extremely beneficial in many ways not to mention the fact that we connect with and become closer with God.

 So I would encourage anybody to pick up the habit of saying the rosary as much as possible . At first it may seem difficult to do but if you stick with it eventually it becomes a habit and it's certainly a good habit to acquire. A good way to think about it is that the length of time it takes to say the rosary is almost exactly as long as a half hour television show is without commercials so really it takes about 20 to 23 minutes and if you have any questions or concerns then please by all means put them in the comments section below and I will get back to you about it. Thank you and God bless and have a good day.

Pope Benedict's New Book: Last Testament

Pope Benedict has published another book - one which is deeply personal.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Diary of a Catholic: How I Got Serious withe my Faith

I would like to start providing some very personal information about what it's like to be Catholic in today's modern world and I would like to talk about myself and about my experiences. This is the first in an ongoing series about my life as a Catholic and some of the struggles and joys that I get from it.

Right now I am 34 years old and I live in Canada. And for the most part my Catholicism really differentiates me from almost everybody I know especially people my age. There is a committed group of Catholics in our community and for the most part we stick together because overall there are not very many of us. We have a group called Catholic Young Adults of Newfoundland because that is the province where we reside. We have people in our group from many different ages between 18 to somewhat over 40. By and large we share one thing in common: our uniqueness among people our own age.

But really my journey as a serious Catholic begin during World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. Obviously before this I was baptized and confirmed and received Holy Communion and Confession and so on. My parents are devout Catholics and so were their parents and so obviously it was quite natural that I too would follow in their footsteps and be a regular Mass attending Catholic each week.

But I became curious and wanted to really learn more. I felt moved to understand my faith better, to learn more about it, to get closer to God and when I was a little over 20 years old I decided to go to a meeting at our church about World Youth Day in Toronto. I think perhaps the first thing that drew me to this was the possibility of going to Toronto for free and also to see the pope. But at this point my faith was something that I had not really explored deeply.

Going to the first meeting I felt a little strange to be honest. I really did not know what to expect. As Catholics when we get into our later teens and early twenties there is a natural tendency to rebel against our parents and against our elders in general. And one of the mistakes I feel that was made and continues to be made is how older people in church will treat any relatively young person who is involved in things as some kind of goody two shoes. Like they are simply going to Mass and doing these things to please their parents because they want to be a good little boy and girl.

But this is the exact opposite from what real late teens and early twenties actually want. They do not want to be seen as Goody Two Shoe children who are just doing things to make Mommy and Daddy proud. At this age they are seeking to be independent to do their own thing and to be somewhat rebellious. I would like to suggest to anybody who is a little older who sees younger people going to Mass, going to confession, going to various things like this not to treat them like little boys and girls but to treat them like adults. Talk to them like adults. And as we know most adults are polite. They say "hello how's it going" but they don't act patronizing towards one another and I think that can be a huge turnoff for somebody in that age category.

So during my first meeting as I was walking to the church near my house I felt rather odd. I felt like I didn't really want anybody to know I was attending these meetings partly because of the reasons I listed above. Friends definitely do not understand when somebody their age wants to be religious. It's a weird misconception that people who want to participate in any form of religious observance or to become closer to God is just doing it because just childish and trying to suck up to their parents. But in reality young people are desperately searching for answers and reality and Truth.

Even to this day unless I am extremely comfortable with somebody and have known them for a very long time I rarely if ever will mention that I attend weekly religious ceremonies or that I pray the rosary every day or anything like that. In fact most of the time I don't even tell my relatives. And I think this is a real shame because our religion has been attacked so often so many times constantly whether in school or in the media or all over the place. Religion is constantly being attacked by dozens of sources.

In fact when I think back on it I think the church has almost always been portrayed in a negative light in public schools. One of the reasons is that the church competes with the liberal leftist socialist Progressive agenda of modern school boards which loath choice. One example of this is when the public school system savagely attacked and destroyed religious education in our province. It's like Jesus says you cannot serve two masters. And the school board decided to serve progressivism and try to destroy traditional Family Values.

Now as an adult I listen to and read our national public broadcaster and again in this arena they're constantly harassing and attacking all religion and all traditional Family Values. Anybody who dares speak the truth will have their character attacked ceaselessly. And we are forced at the end of a gun to pay massive amounts of money, billions upon billions of dollars, to have this hatred spewed upon us every minute of the day.

Probably the only reason that I even initially just a little older than 20 years old decided to look further into the Catholic Church into what it meant is because of the influence of my parents and their parents because the greatest teachers of the faith our parents. But this is also why Public School teachers, the government and public broadcasters and others constantly and viciously attack families because ultimately progressivists want to completely and utterly destroy all concept of families so that they can take the place of parents.

Sometimes people say public schools are not very effective they don't do a very good job in the field of Education. But I believe this is false. You cannot say that an institution is failing if you do not know its goal. The goal of the public education system is ironically not public education. That is in fact a misnomer. In reality the public education system is really a government propaganda machine. The goal of the system is to reshape people and to take away their allegiances to families so that opinion shapers and left-wing radical ideologues can indoctrinate the populace.

We can tell that the public education system is in fact doing this extraordinarly well. All you have to do is take a look at what's been going on in Canada's biggest provinces where now parents aren't even allowed by law to remove their children from classes which teach dozens of genders and create gender confusion and classes which give explicit instruction for immoral sexual practices to extremely underage children. I do not think that the authors of the Bible who saw so many horrendous things could even imagine the system that we have created in Canada.

This is the backdrop of where religious people come from. So you can imagine that if people and students and families are under continuous attack day and night from every institution of our malevolent overlords obviously people will be led astray. No company no organization can ever come close to the level of pure indoctrination that the government, media, and education system have created. I would estimate that every advertising created by every company in the entire world would form about 5% of the impact that these institutions have. So it is absolutely no surprise that there are very few religious people around my age left anymore.In fact it is downright shocking that there are so many even if they only represent 1% of people our age.

Nonetheless, we are a vibrant community. Stay tuned for more stories about my journey. Thanks for joining me.

Prayers for Sick Children

St. Hugh of Lincoln is known as the Patron Saint of Sick Children. As a parent, it is very difficult to see a child suffer. Pray for the intercession of St. Hugh of Lincoln to bring healing and peace to any child that is sick.

Feast Day of...


Thursday, November 24, 2016

Prayers for Pregnant Women

St. Gerard Majella is the Patron Saint of Pregnant Mothers. He was known as a very humble and gentle saint who cared more for the spiritual well being of others than his own reputation. One time a lady accused him of impregnating her. Despite not having done this, he did not publically defend himself, believing this could hurt he. He had rather take the false blame than put her at risk.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Prayers for Tooth Issues

St. Apollonia is the Patron Saint of Oral Health and Dentists. If you are suffering from any form of tooth or mouth issues, ask for this saint's most powerful intercession. She will surely help.

Prayer against Infectious Disease

St. Agrippina of Rome is the Patron Saint of Infectious Diseases. Pray to this most holy saint for relief from suffering caused by an infectious disease.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Prayers for Digestive Issues.

St. Bonaventure is the Patron Saint Against Digestive Issues. Many people suffer from diet and digestion issues. There are many possible problems, including irritable bowel syndrome and others. Pray to this holy saint for relief from digestive issues.

The date for every Saint!

Similar to what I found yesterday here is a list of all of the same categorized by century starting at the 1st century even going back to the Old Testament all the way up to the 21st century so it's a very handy guide for anybody looking for specific information about a particular Saints

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_list_of_saints_and_blesseds

Left-wing Nutjobs ATTACK Young CHRISTIAN Politician

The other day Sam Oosterhoff was elected in the district of Niagara West-Glanbrook as a member of Ontario's provincial Parliament. He is only 19 years old and is the youngest MPP of all time.

As can be expected he has been viciously and savagely attacked by lefties and liberals all over the place. The obvious reason is that he is a social conservative who doesn't believe that we have the right to dismember and savagely rip a baby from a mother's womb. Obviously a lot of Canadians are extremely up in arms about his pro-life stance.

The extreme left-wing socialist progressivist idealogues in the Canadian government has directed the CBC to endlessly mock and criticise this young man because they disagree with him.

I was absolutely disgusted when I found out that an ostensibly comedy show called This Hour has 22 Minutes has gone completely all in destroying the reputation of this young man. For example they have a woman pretending to be very old who is saying how dare this teenager tell me what I can do with my own body. First of all idiots he's not telling you what you can and cannot do with your own body. This is a stupid and nonsensical thing to say. I don't give two frigs what you do with your body. You can do whatever you want with your body and trust me nobody gives a crap. What pro-life people care about is the life of innocent harmless loving cute adorable little babies. But I guess because we are defending the life of innocent little babies that makes us horrible monsters that need to be attacked at all times.

CBC confiscates billions of dollars from Canadians to produce this absolute disgusting vomit-inducing crap and calls it comedy. Even if they were going to produce this vile garbage at least have the decency to pay for it on your own and generate money like any other adult would be forced to do. But of course this is the communist republic of Canada where we have no choice on what kind of Comedy we pay for. We have to pay millions of dollars to these talentless crap actors who are the least funny people in the world. And it keeps getting worse and worse all the time. The program used to be left leaning, but now it has become a full-on all out propaganda wing of the most ideological leftists the world has ever seen. They endlessly promote progessive values of destroying traditional values such as marriage, children comedy decency and bravery.

Please keep your filthy hands off my money you vile people. And stop attacking a decent young person just because you can't keep your legs shut and need to kill your baby when your contraception doesn't work.

Fast Day of...


Monday, November 21, 2016

WOW! A list of EVERY saint ever!

I was just doing some research on Wikipedia and I was looking up information about Catholic saints and I found a listing on their website thousands of saints. And it also shows which denominations actually venerate the Saints such as the Orthodox or anglicans and so on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_saints

Prayers for Diarrhea

St. Polycarp of Smyrna is the Patron Saint of those Suffering from Diarrhea. For some in the first world, this can be an inconvenience, but in the third world, diarrhea can be very dangerous. Pray to this most powerful and holy saint for relief.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

THIS during Communion needs to STOP immediately!

There's something I've seen from time to time during Mass that I find very disturbing and unfortunate. In my opinion it must end immediately.

What I am referring to is people chewing gum while receiving communion. It's already bad enough to be chewing gum during mass at any point even before communion and then throwing it out before going up. Even that is not acceptable. But I have actually seen people who are in the communion line who are chewing a big wad of Gum as they go up to receive communion.

There are many things wrong with this. Number 1 it means you are mixing the body and blood of Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior with your chewing gum. This shows an absolute disrespect towards the body and blood of Christ and perhaps demonstrates that the person does not truly believe in what they are receiving. In fact Catholics are asked to refrain from eating of any kind for at least 1 hour before receiving communion. This is based on the same reasoning as mentioned above. It is to show a certain reverence towards the most holy thing on this planet.

It is also worth noting that there is a certain proper way to receive communion. Communion is meant to be received with great reverence and respect. People should not be doing the Eucharist like they would be doing any other random food. The Eucharist itself which is made of Wheat and then during transubstantiation becomes the body and blood of Christ is very thin and melts in your mouth after a very little time. It's not like you are doing something that is very tough and needs to be chewed a lot. I think overt chewing shows again a certain lack of respect or understanding as to what you are receiving.
It is also worth pointing out that receiving communion in the hand first and then picking it up and placing it in your mouth was and still is considered an exception to the general rule of receiving communion on the tongue. I will admit that by and large I receive communion in my hand and then place it in my mouth myself. Most of the reason for this is that it is not configured in such a way to make it easy to receive on the tongue. I'm a fairly tall person and most of the time if I try to subtly show them that I want to receive communion on my tongue they act bewildered and many times they try to force me to take it in my hand because they have no idea what's happening. I would estimate that only about 5% or fewer people actually receive communion on the tongue. And I greatly respect these people.

On the other hand during Latin Mass they make receiving communion on the tongue easier.

To conclude, we must demand the utmost reverence for people when receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the form of the Eucharist which is the most holy thing on the planet.