Reaping What We Have Sown

Posted on September 3, 2018 by mikatsa6

Sowing and Reaping - THE SAVERS NETWORK

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in good time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.” (Galatians 6:7-9).

You hear it all the time. “You reap what you sow.” It is a warning for us to not waste our lives chasing after earthly desires and satisfactions of the body. It is a reminder that we are to spend our moments of time gearing ourselves towards our eternal life. It is a message that is often spoken of in the Bible… we must spend our time on godly things… we must raise our children in godly ways  or we will find that we have squandered our treasure and that we have raised them for the world. Regrettably, we will find that we have foolishly frittered away what the Lord had entrusted to us, and that my friends, is not where we want to be.

Even though many of us have never had to rely on growing our own food or laboring hours in the soil for what we eat, we all still  get the idea of what is meant by ‘reaping and sowing.’ But we still fail to apply this message to our daily lives. We are wasteful with our time. We are careless with our talents and our treasures…( I know…it sounds so cliche…) But as Catholics…as Christians… we need to be careful where our priorities lie. We need to make sure that we are planning for our future and not just squandering away this gift that has been given to us by the Lord.

As the abuse scandal continues to scream at us from the headlines, we have found that many who were in positions of authority in the Church have been sowing in the flesh… they have been reaping in corruption.. They have been unwise as they ‘tended’ to their gardens and now they are reaping the rotted fruits of destruction. As lay members of the Catholic Church… we are also reaping what has been sown. We are left trying to gather the fragments of our trust that has been shattered…We are also left trying to rebuild our families. Even those families who were not affected directly by the scandal and the abuse, have been affected.

Think about it. Not only did the priests, bishops, and cardinals damage the Church with their abuse and their cover up, they damaged the Faith by not instructing the Faithful in the Truth. They have failed to sow in the Spirit… they have failed to instruct their flocks in the Faith… that deposit of Truth that faithful men should cling to, has been erased in many parishes… That image of the Immaculate Bride of Christ… the Holy Church… has been tainted… it has been frayed. Just what kind of life line is that, when having to survive in this cold cruel world?

How did we not see that all the little ‘tiny’ abuses that were occurring over the past several years would not lead to this? Why did we keep ignoring all the red flags that kept popping up? Why is it so hard for us to believe?…Well for one thing, when men  are engaged in sinful behaviors they are more likely to accept the lies… they are more likely not to look too deeply for the Truth, and those in ecclesiastical roles, well, they will be the ones who fail to preach the Truth from the pulpit. In order to cover their crimes they will knowingly… willfully, work against the Lord… all under the guise of niceness and acceptance.

 But it is not just an episcopal problem. It is a family problem. It is a problem with good families… particularly the men of such families, not doing what is right, not doing what is just.  But the women don’t get off either…  it is also a problem with the mothers. Those who ignore the words of St. Paul… those who ignore their proper place in the family. We all know that we could do more… We have allowed ourselves to be lazy… Now whether we want to admit it or not is a whole other story…  We have all let our pride get the best of us. We have let ourselves be led by our desires, particularly those of the flesh, and we have been backed into this black hole of a world, that has robbed our families of their innocence. The world is a thief that has robbed many a family of their good and holy men and women.

We have become so preoccupied living for ourselves that we have managed to raise an entire generation that has placed their miserable selves on the pedestal that belongs to God. An interesting thing about humans… we are all created in the image and likeness of God. Created by His fine hand to worship Him…to love Him and to serve Him. It is a apart of our innate being. And when we remove God from the equation…we still have that need…that desire to worship something…and most of us are so stained by our original sin that we turn that worship towards self. We have raised our families in the void of Truth and now look what we are left with… Now, who are we to blame??

Or sure, most of us are younger than the average age of these corrupt priests and bishops and cardinals who infiltrated the Church years ago…but what about us? What about you? Are we pure and holy? Or are we corrupt. Do we strive for holiness in our every day.. in our every moment of every day? I know we are sinners and we are marked with the same stain of sin…but we mustn’t use it as an excuse…we mustn’t use it as a cover up.

I know each of us has heard something, somewhere, that  so and so priest was doing or had done. Something clearly that worked against God, that was against the Truth and what have we done? Made excuses? What about our grown children who are actively working against the Will of God. Have we spoken up? Have we tried to point them to the straight and narrow? Have we sacrificed and prayed? I’m afraid not.

Most of us spend our lives pretending that we are something that we are not. We pretend that we are strong and courageous but when it matters…when it really matters… When it is a situation between eternal  life or eternal damnation…we shut our trap. We look the other way. We shake our head in disbelief but we do nothing. We are cowards. Raising cowardly unholy children who don’t even know the difference between the lies and the Truth.  We are raising a generation of men and women who not only don’t know the Truth…but they deny it as well. They just Don’t Care. And what do we do? We ‘like’ their posts on Facebook.  We say we don’t agree but we fail to tell them what they are doing is wrong. We are more afraid of losing our familiar relations than losing God. We are more concerned with the here and now than the eternal hereafter. Heaven or hell. We are choosing our path. We are allowing those immersed in sin to seal their fate. We must speak up. We must stand up to the cultural tide that is sweeping everyone into the giant cesspool of sin. We must pray and ask God for His guidance… We mustn’t rely on what we think is right, because more often than not We Will Take the Easy Way Out….We will just be glad and thank God that our homosexual child is not doing drugs. Or that they aren’t killing anyone…. But Oh, they are…they are.

We have got to train our children for God. They are His children, entrusted to us. What will we do with this treasure the Lord has bestowed upon us? ‘To one who  much has been given, much more will be expected in return’… Even in homes without children, we are still responsible for building up our domestic church. This is where we ( parents) are the shepherds of our flocks. We have a job to do. We have got to start recognizing the wolves from the sheep… and separating them as such.

We live in a society that slaughters our children before our very eyes and we do nothing… I ask you, where is the outrage over that?!  Oh, you are outraged? But still you do nothing… We have all got to realize that if we are not part of the solution we are part of the problem. Sure we may not have created the abuse in the Church…we may not have perpetrated the crimes but by allowing our Churches to lose focus…to lose it’s voice as “all things for Christ“, we have in our subtle and not too subtle ways, contributed to this scandal. We have taken our eyes from Christ and we have distorted our vision of the Lord.

This cleansing of the Church has got to come from God. In order to participate in this cleansing, we must first seek God’s mercy… we must seek His forgiveness.  We must make reparations for our own sins. And then, when we have removed the splinter that blinds our own eye,  we can work to restore all that belongs to Christ. We must pray and call upon Him to pour His grace upon all who are the Church, that we may once again be the visible sign of  holiness on earth. We must unite ourselves to His Holy Will…  unite ourselves to His sacrifice… His sufferings. It is time for Catholic families everywhere to stop accepting the lies as Truth. We have got to stop allowing our families to become so consumed with the material aspects of this present world that we forget our path is one lived in Faith… dictated by the Truth so that we may focus our energies on the reality of our eternal life with God… with Christ.

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The Passion of St. John the Baptist

Posted on September 1, 2018 by mikatsa6

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When we say the ‘Passion of St, John the Baptist’… Just what does this mean?… Well, the word passion is actually derived from the Latin word ‘patior’ which means to suffer. It is often the word associated with Christ’s suffering and death on Good Friday. Much like Christ who suffered at the hands of his tormentors, St. John the Baptist suffered in a similar, although  ‘smaller’ way. St. John the Baptist’s death was a precursor of what was to happen to Christ… it was not only to prepare… but to point the way to Christ as well.

Unfortunately in our over sexualized society, the word ‘passion’ is often likened with feelings  of sensuality and pleasure… It is often used in reference to feelings of intensity and love, particularly the physical aspects of love. In our modern language, the word has been so often associated with this definition, that saying ‘the passion’ of St. John the Baptist, makes it  sound exotic and erotic….

How fitting then, that we should examine the ‘Passion’ of St. John, during this period of upheaval in the Church, an upheaval brought about because holy men have abandoned the Truth to follow after their disordered passions. And as a result, they have lost their capacity to recognize the evil that lines the path they are traveling on. They have allowed their passions to corrupt their souls… they have abandoned their vocation as shepherds, and they have become the very wolves they promised to protect us from.

The Passion of St. John the Baptist reminds us that we must adhere to the Truth of Christ in our daily lives. It also reminds us, just how destructive these disordered inclinations can be to the sanctity of our souls. We must remember that a disordered inclination includes all of those things in our lives that we feel drawn to…even though they go against the laws of God... regardless of how good it feels… or how much satisfaction we may gain from it.

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It is precisely these types of disorders that St. John the Baptist preached against. He understood that he must speak the Truth in all matters… even if it meant that he would be punished … even if it meant his death…  As a prophet of the Lord he had an obligation to speak the Truth… And as disciples of Christ, these same obligations apply to us today. Many of us who refer to ourselves as Christians are afraid to rock the boat… in the hostile environment of our present day, I’m afraid that many of us never speak up because we are afraid of what we might lose.

We are afraid that the world will mark us as crazy or even fanatical. But we must remember that “Our work is for God, not man” (Galations1:10) So what does it matter what people think? Remember the baker who refused to bake a cake for same sex marriage?  Of course we remember, it was devastating…  In a world that wants nothing more that to silence Christ’s message, speaking out is bad for business. Many of us keep our mouths shut because we don’t want the extra press… We need our jobs and we need to put food on the table…. We don’t want to live on locusts and honey… Many of us just  aren’t prepared to enter the ring as a full combatant in this fight with the devil. We’d rather turn the other way and hope the evil just moves on by without taking us with it.

Another reason many fail to speak up is that we have been conditioned to think that we need to keep our mouth shut. We have been told that somehow speaking the Truth is wrong… that it is evil. The secular society teaches us  that we shouldn’t judge… heck even Pope Francis mimics that message!  As  Christians we  are encouraged to follow the straight and narrow but then we are told not to judge… we are encouraged to blur the lines between Truth and lies… to blur the lines between dark and Light. But regardless of our excuses.. this is no way to live our lives…

As Christians we are all called to follow St. John the Baptist’s great example of living for God. The Passion of St. John the Baptist tells the story of a great prophet who spoke only the Truth. He was a prophet who separated himself from the clutches of the world and all her empty promises and possessions. He lived simply… he lived humbly. He was a hermit in the desert, eating only what was needed to survive, spreading God’s message everywhere… especially where it wasn’t wanted. He preached and he taught any one who would listen about the coming Messiah. He held himself in no esteem and realized that his life was as a man, who owed everything  he had, to God. Ironically, he was martyred by the hands of a drunken king who held himself in great esteem and allowed himself to be ruled by his lust and his pride, a man who was so attached  to the world and her riches, that he forgot he was in a fact a child of this same God… Just like St. John the Baptist.

Saint John the Baptist - (after) Giovanni Francesco ...As we contemplate this special saint and his passion, we should pause to pray and meditate upon our own mission… upon our own passions. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What do we allow to guide our hearts… to guide our souls?’ Are we pointing the way to the Lord? Are we humble or are we holding ourselves in high esteem like King Herod, allowing ourselves to fall away from the grace of the Lord? Are we praying for our priests… that they remain pure and holy? Are we using our voices to point to the Truth? If we think that someone else will enter this battle on our account, we need to reconsider our priorities. And just like St. John the Baptist preached, we must realize that we must repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

 

 

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Husbands, Love Your Wives

Posted on August 27, 2018 by mikatsa6

 

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St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 5:21-32

Brothers and sisters:  Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.  Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body.  As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

Ah… the reading from the book of Ephesians about wives being subordinate to their husbands…. it always gets the blood going doesn’t it? So many of the couples sitting in the pews glance sideways at each other shaking their heads… mostly the women.  I mean, who wants to be subordinate to another person… equality among the sexes after all, right? From the glances and the nudges,  ‘subordinate’ seems to be a bad word these days…Wives be subject to your husbands….. There’s just something about it that rubs the feminist mind the wrong way. But, it shouldn’t. Because if you listen to the whole passage it is obviously a passage written towards men, directing them as to how they should be treating their wives… it is a passage that directs men to holiness.

It reminds  men that in order to be holy… in order to reach their holy potential, they should be loving their wives, loving them like they love themselves… “He who loves his wife, loves himself.“ It is calling men, or the husbands, to put their wives first… Just as Christ loved the Church, and handed Himself over for her… completely and without limits… It is quite a command if you think about it. But with the rate of divorce among Catholics having skyrocketed over the past several decades, it is apparent that we are failing to grasp these most fundamental of commands for Catholic couples… For Catholic families… to not only survive… but thrive.

This letter is a call for the Christian husband to put his wife first… He is reminded that not only is he to love her… He is to cherish her. He is called to direct not only his path, but her path as well, he is their guide to holiness. Husbands are to love their wives with that purity of love that Christ shared with His Church… that sacrafical love which will carry them into heaven. This sort of love has roots in Christ… it has a depth to it, that can only be shared between man and wife.

We must also remember that this letter is not only a letter for the husband, but it is a reminder for the wife to heed her husband’s direction…she is to follow his lead… to submit herself to his authority. It can be difficult, because it is a call for trust. Complete and united…the Trust between man and wife.

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In order for a man to properly fulfill his role as husband… as head of his household… he must be strong in his Faith. This strength will be the foundation of their home. He must also be kind towards his wife and family. He mustn’t abuse  his authority over them. He needs to be firm but patient. There is no place in the heart of a Christian husband for ill will towards his wife.

A good husband is strong and will have to be the support…the structure for the home…. Just as Christ is for the Church. And like Christ, he will also have to have the courage to love his wife  as he loves himself.  The courage to love his wife as Christ loves His bride; the Holy Mother Church. Most of us have a hard time loving ourselves… just how are we going to love with a love like that? It is a vulnerable love that leaves most men nervous. Oh, they may say they’re not, but it takes a strong man to love  his wife with that kind of openness… with that  kind of heart. It isn’t an angry possessive love that seeks only to satisfy the passions…there is a passion to this love, of course… but it has to be a love that satisfies beyond the physical. It has to fill the carnal as well as the spiritual. It is supposed to be a love that not only satisfies the body… but nourishes the soul.

Perhaps one of the most beautiful writings on this Epistle was written by St. John Chrysostom, in which he extols the beauty of the relationship between husband and wife. He explains the way a man should love his wife… regardless of his own emotions or hers for that matter. It is rather beautiful and something to think about the next time you hear some liberal minded woman complaining about ‘subordination’.

And perhaps, if in our own lives, we approach our spouses either as Christ approaches the Church… giving over everything in love….or as the Church, which submits to the Authority of Christ, each of us… husbands and wives… can bring a bit more holiness to our marriages and treat them like the sacraments that they are…. A Sacred bond with God, joined with Him… as man and wife… united as one flesh, one body… in Christ…

“Thou hast seen the measure of obedience, hear also the measure of love. Wouldest thou have thy wife obedient unto thee, as the Church is to Christ? Take then thyself the same provident care for her, as Christ takes for the Church. Yea, even if it shall be needful for thee to give thy life for her, yea, and to be cut into pieces ten thousand times, yea, and to endure and undergo any suffering whatever,-refuse it not.

Though thou shouldest undergo all this, yet wilt thou not, no, not even then, have done anything like Christ. For thou indeed art doing it for one to whom thou art already knit; but He for one who turned her back on Him and hated Him. In the same way then as He laid at His feet her who turned her back on Him, who hated, and spurned, and disdained Him, not by menaces, nor by violence, nor by terror, nor by anything else of the kind, but by his unwearied affection; so also do thou behave thyself toward thy wife.

Yea, though thou see her looking down upon thee, and disdaining, and scorning thee, yet by thy great thoughtfulness for her, by affection, by kindness, thou wilt be able to lay her at thy feet. For there is nothing more powerful to sway than these bonds, and especially for husband and wife. A servant, indeed, one will be able, perhaps, to bind down by fear; nay not even him, for he will soon start away and be gone.

But the partner of one’s life, the mother of one’s children, the foundation of one’s every joy, one ought never to chain down by fear and menaces, but with love and good temper. For what sort of union is that, where the wife trembles at her husband? And what sort of pleasure will the husband himself enjoy, if he dwells with his wife as with a slave, and not as with a free-woman? Yea, though thou shouldest suffer anything on her account, do not upbraid her; for neither did Christ do this.”- St. John Chrysostom

 

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Scandal Among the Shepherds

Posted on August 24, 2018 by mikatsa6

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As we entered into the liturgy of the Mass on Wednesday, one could not help but to hear the true prophetic voice speaking to us from the 1st reading from the Book of Ezekiel… chills ran down my spine as it seemed that it could have been written precisely for this time... for these particular days of scandal. It is a harsh message from God, directed to the shepherds of ‘Israel’ who have used their roles as shepherd, not to guide and instruct, but rather to lord over the sheep and to have their fill with them … As the new ‘Israel’, the Catholic Church and Her shepherds; the clergy,  have been found to have fallen into this same sin of old.

Recently, it has been revealed, that many of our Bishops, our Cardinals and priests have failed to shepherd the flocks that were entrusted to them, the very flocks which they had vowed before the Lord to care for, but instead, have abused and neglected. These ‘shepherds’, often acted more like aggressors and not the protectors they promised … with their lives, to be. Much damage has been done. With guilt and shame, many of the abused feel abandoned by the very Faith that should have sustained them … ‘and  the sheep, left defenseless, scattered in the world’…

34 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

And no matter how bad all of that is… that’s not even all of  it… In addition to the abuse the shepherds inflicted upon the faithful… they also failed to care for the flock that was entrusted to them. Because they failed in their roles to preach the Truth, many others suffered spiritually… falling away from the faith,  without proper guidance, many of them left the Church and they scattered. Unsure of what to believe or who to trust, many of the sheep have been lost to the world and all her sensualities… Many of them have fallen into egregious error, while still others became food for the bellies of the wild beasts that roam about the lands looking to devour their tender flesh…

7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

But we needn’t fear. Even though it is terrible (the kind of stuff that horror movies are made of...) with so  much damage that has been done, and we ‘the faithful‘ are left, gathering ourselves amidst a landscape marred with shattered innocence and empty carcasses… we know by our Faith, that God is still in control. And we must be strong. As faithful laity, we must pray for our good and holy priests to be faithful and courageous. We must pray for good and holy families to be strong and steadfast in the coming storms. In these trying times, we mustn’t give in to the feelings of anxiety or depression that threaten to overtake us at the sight of the carnage that is being flashed before us. We must not despair...

11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

It is time to hunker down in prayer,  as all the evil that has been hiding in dark corners gets thrown into the light. It is time to cling to the Promise of God’s Mercy as His Holy Hand flushes out the filth. We must hold true to His Word. And we must be diligent in our prayer life. Diligent in our fasting and the frequency of our use of the sacraments. We must sacrifice ourselves out of our comfort zone, and  unite ourselves under the weight of these sins and make reparations. We must pull on the cloak of humility and follow where the Lord wishes for us to go. And do whatever He asks. We must speak the Truth at all times… and all matters with kindness of heart. There is a charity of Truth that will never be found in lies, no matter how compassionate they may seem.

It looks to be a difficult ride. Those in the world, who wish to see the destruction of the Holy Church, will be at the front of the attack. ‘Destroy the Church,’ they will holler. ‘Destroy the Sacraments,’ they will scream. They will want to see drastic changes made in how the Church holds fast to the sacrament of confession, and the chastity of  Her holy priests. They will say that it is time for a change. They will say that these things only happen when you hold men to such ‘unnatural’ measures of purity. They will blame everyone except those who really are to blame. But we know better. We have been taught the Truth. Sin is still sin. Regardless of what the world says. God’s Holy Word testifies to this. It can all be found in the Words of Holy Scripture. Black and white. Good and evil. Darkness and Light.

This scandal in the Church just goes to prove how unnatural, how vile and evil are the tendencies that lurk in the hearts of sinful men. Men who boast of their power and satisfy their desires with sins of homosexuality, are seeped in this sin. They have had their hearts soiled. They have become shepherds who have lost sight of the Lord and lost the call of their vocation. We need to have compassion, but we mustn’t lose sight of the Truth. We mustn’t allow ourselves to be turned away from the Holiness of the Church… The Bride of Christ on earth… our Mother Church…We are about to be thrown into one of the worst attacks against the Holy Catholic Church in the history of our modern world, one where facts and fictions will be distorted and interchanged to serve the anti- Christ propaganda. The Church must maintain a language of Truth and honesty. We must operate under the banner of the Lord and turn away from all that threatens the Church’s sovereignty. Pray that we will have the strength to hold fast to the Truth, and the courage to proclaim the difference.

17 “‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

The Holy House of God…our Mother Church, has been dirtied with a vile muck and will need a thorough cleaning, scrubbed of all the filth that was allowed to fester in the dark corners, veiled under the cloak of inclusiveness, this scandal was born out of the sins of men acting out their homosexuality. We must move the Church out of the shadows…and be the Light that Christ has called us to be. Each of us...serving the Church…serving the Lord, with humility, obedience and trust.

25 “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. 26 I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing.[a] I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

 

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Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Posted on August 22, 2018 by mikatsa6

 

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O Mary Immaculate Queen, look down upon this distressed and suffering world. You know our misery and our weakness. O thou who art our Mother, saving us in the hour of peril, have compassion on us in these days of great and heavy trial.

Jesus has confided to you the treasure of His grace, and through you He wills to grant us pardon and mercy. In these hours of anguish, therefore, your children come to you as their hope.

We recognize your Queenship and ardently desire your triumph. We need a Mother and a Mother’s Heart. You are for us the luminous dawn which dissipates our darkness and points out the way to life. In your clemency obtain for us the courage and the confidence of which we have such need.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, You Who did crown with glory in Heaven the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Savior, grant that all her children on earth may acknowledge her as their Sovereign Queen, that all hearts, homes, and nations may recognize her rights as Mother and as Queen. 

Mary Immaculate Queen, triumph and reign! Amen.

 

Prayer, O Excellentissima

O most excellent, glorious, most holy and ever inviolate blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Queen of the world, and Mistress of all creatures! Thou who forsakest no one, despises no one, who leavest in sadness none who seek help at thy hands with pure and lowly hearts; do not despise me because of the number and hatefulness of my sins, do not abandon me on account of my grievous iniquities nor on account of the hardness and uncleanness of my heart. Do not refuse me, thy servant, a share in thy favor and thy love.

Hear me, a wretched sinner, who trusts in thy mercy and pity. Help me, O most loving Virgin Mary, in all my perils and needs, and obtain for me from thy beloved Son, Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of all my sins, the grace of the fear and love of thee, health and chastity of body, and deliverance from all the dangers which beset both soul and body.

In the last moments of my life be thou my kind helper, and save from eternal darkness, and from evil of every kind, my poor soul, and the souls of my parents, brothers, sisters, friends, relatives, and benefactors, together with the souls of all the faithful, both living and dead; through the grace of Him whom for nine months thou didst bear in thy most holy womb, and Whom thou didst place with thy holy hands in the manger, Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom be all honor given for endless ages. Amen.

(100 Days, once a day. ii.–Leo XII, January 30, 1828)

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The Battle Against the Holy Mother Church

Posted on August 18, 2018 by mikatsa6

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Personally speaking, this past year has been a bit of a rough ride. As a family, we have experienced some life changing events that have altered our story forever. We have had some bad days. Those days when the veil of darkness was resting upon us… smothering us… blocking out the very source of our comfort… blocking out the very source of our life… threatening our unit as a whole.  It was painful. That heart-breaking kind of pain, that causes your breath to shatter about in your chest, ripping apart your very soul… The kind of pain that brings with it, tempting voices that whisper in the dark of night, that there is no hope, that from here on out...it is nothing but gloom and despair…

Whispers cloaked in darkness that slipped in close and said, ‘this is how it was… this is how it is everywhere and there is nothing that you can do about it’. At times we felt the ground spiraling open below us and for a brief moment, I am afraid we may have even believed it to be so. After all, we are human and prone to weakness. But God…well like I have said many many times before... He is God and He is good. And that is enough for us. So we cast our eyes towards Him and called out, just as Peter called out to the Lord. And we reached out, more like fell out into the outstretched hand of God that was there to meet us…to hold us… to keep us from falling into those empty promises of despair. But it was hard. And I’m not going to lie, it is still hard some days. But we must keep our eyes…our hearts on God and we will get through this too. Remember Job? He lost everything and never gave up… and in the end he got his reward, God gave everything back to him. Even if we don’t believe it at first, we have to put our miserable selves into His hands and let Him guide us. Let Him show us that indeed He does exist and that He is still in control.

Then as we entered into summer, I had, for the most part, taken time away from the throws of all the violence on the news… and all the damning speculations and words that were revealing to us what we have known for some time. That the devil had taken the reigns in the hearts of many men, men who hold roles of authority in the Church.  And since he is bent on destruction he has gone after the One Holy Catholic Church…the voice of Christ on earth … In his arrogance he thinks that he will win. From the looks of things… He probably thinks that he is winning now.

But we must remember that these men were unholy before they entered into the Church… the Church didn’t make them unholy… But it will appear that way for many who don’t understand the Truth of the Church. Many will blame the institution. Many will call for all of those in charge to be punished… as they should be. We also need to remember the message of Matthew 5:30  “And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” 

It feels like it is time for a good house cleaning. What we do know for certain is  that all the news surrounding this is bad. And it is far reaching. Poison spreading through holy veins… threatening the very foundation of the Holy Church… the very breath of God upon the earth…and it is frightening…. and if not for our Faith in God… in the Truth… then surely we all would die. Surely we all would lose our capacities and wander through the desert much like the men of old…much like Judas…without any hope. As His Church Militant, we must remain faithful regardless of the scandals, as St. Francis de Sales put it, “Those who commit these types of scandals are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder. While those who give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal- who allow scandals to destroy faith- are guilty of spiritual suicide.” Do not allow your Faith to suffer.

In the dark trials we encounter, whether they be personal or public, we must look to God and His shining examples that He has placed before us in all of the Holy Saints. These men and women who were often in situations that seemed to be utterly hopeless but weren’t, because they refused to give up their Faith in God. They refused to turn to the world for their comfort. They relied on God and His Truth. They put all of their hope and their Trust in Him. We must do the same. We must do whatever we can… on a daily basis… in our day to day battles… We must strive to be the authentic Light of Christ in a world grown hungry for the rotting flesh of men. We must pray, and we must offer our very blood to the Lord. We must consecrate our families to Him and to the Blessed Mother. We must continue to be strong in the face of all of this evil. It will be hard and it will take Faith. It will take all of our joys, all of our sorrows… all of our everything. The good as well as the bad… our successes and our failures. It will take everything we have… Every moment. Every day. All of our deeds belong to Him already… but we can still offer them back to Him for our sanctification and the sanctification of our families…

We also need to remember that there are still truly holy men and women out in the world today who have heard the call of Christ and have consecrated themselves to the Lord… in the Holy Mother Church. They need our prayers. These are the ones who will help keep the Church steady during these periods of upheaval. We have to Trust. Not just in good and holy men… but in God. In His promise that the Holy Mother Church would survive until the end of times… regardless of all the attacks… regardless of what miserable men do to destroy it… She will survive.  In all of Her splendor… in all of her goodness and holiness. How do I know this? Because God said it would be so… Because Jesus Christ Himself said it would be so. He gave His life as a ransom for man… and for The Holy Mother Church… He is the Heart of the Church…embodied in the Blessed Sacrament… in the Holy Eucharist... He hasn’t abandoned us.

So as we walk through this world with attacks coming at us from every side…some even from within the ‘Holy Church’ itself…  we have got to remember God’s Holy Word … we have got to trust in His Promise that He would never leave us… and that my friends will be enough to get us through the coming storms.

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Behold Jesus Christ crucified, who is the only foundation of our hope; He is our Mediator and Advocate; the victim and sacrifice for our sins. He is goodness and patience itself; His mercy is moved by the tears of sinners, and He never refuses pardon and grace to those who ask it with a truly contrite and humbled heart. – St. Charles Borromeo

 

 

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The Beauty of Mary and Her Glorious Assumption Into Heaven

Posted on August 17, 2018 by mikatsa6

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Oh sweet Mary…oh love divine…

Of all of God’s creatures, none is more holy… or more closely knit to the Will of the Heavenly Father than that of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Unlike what many of our protestant brothers and sisters have mistakenly been led to believe, she was unmarked by the stain of original sin… she was kept pure and holy...  As a fulfillment of God’s plan, she was  Immaculately conceived, remaining ‘immaculate’ the entirety of her life … In all ways.  From the onset of her creation, until the very end of time.

When Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and gave God her yes, ‘her fiat’, not only did she become the Mother of our Dear Lord, but she became the mother of us, as well. Because of her intimacy with Jesus throughout all stages of His life… His birth, His Passion and His resurrection… especially when lived with her heart of humility and obedience; she was chosen… entrusted, by the Lord with the role as co-redemptrix.  Her ‘yes’ was the foundation our salvation was built upon. She had free will, but she did not have sin. She could have said no, if God had not created her in such a unique way. We need to remember this. We need to realize that she was not just another of God’s creatures. She was special …She is special and deserves to be treated as such.

We must remember that not only was she ‘Immaculately conceived’, but unlike the rest of humanity, she  lived her life completely… and perfectly… for the Lord… From beginning to end… She held nothing back … Because of her nature, she was forever charitable and generous beyond  measure. It was this way of living completely and totally united with the Lord that He created the glory for her in heaven… and she was Assumed,  body and soul, so that she could reign with Him in heaven…in her purity… As there was nothing for the rot to take hold of… there was nothing in her nature that was corruptible...

The start of her Queen-ship truly began for the rest of mankind once she was assumed into heaven. It was then that she was more fully able to carry out God’s plans and spread His message of mercy everywhere. It was then that she was more able to aid so beautifully in the salvation of man, converting entire nations in all areas of the world…and at all times… Mary, Queen of Heaven… Queen of Earth… Pray for us.

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“Prayer is powerful beyond limits, when we turn to the Immaculate who is Queen even of God’s   Heart.” – St. Maximilian Kolbe

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Assumption of the Blessed Mother- Prayer

Posted on August 15, 2018 by mikatsa6

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O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and Mother of men.

We believe with all the fervor of our faith in your triumphal Assumption, both in body and soul, into heaven, where you are acclaimed as Queen by all the choirs of angels and all the legions of saints; and we unite with them to praise and bless the Lord who has exalted you above all other pure creatures, and to offer you the tribute of our devotion and our love.

We know that your gaze, which on earth watched over the humble and suffering humanity of Jesus, is filled in heaven with the vision of that Humanity glorified, and with the vision of Uncreated Wisdom; and that the joy of your soul in the direct contemplation of the adorable Trinity causes your heart to throb with overwhelming tenderness.

And we, poor sinners, whose body weighs down the flight of the soul, beg you to purify our hearts, so that, while we remain here below, we may learn to see God, and God alone, in the beauties of His creatures.

We trust that your merciful eyes may deign to glance down upon our miseries and our sorrows, upon our struggles and our weaknesses; that your countenance may smile upon our joys and our victories; that you may hear the voice of Jesus saying to you of each one of us, as He once said to you of His beloved disciple: behold thy son.

And we who call upon you as our Mother, like John, take you as the guide, strength, and consolation of our mortal life.

We are inspired by the certainty that your eyes which wept over the earth, watered by the Blood of Jesus, are yet turned toward this world, held in the clutch of wars, persecutions, and oppression of the just and the weak.

And from the shadows of this vale of tears, we seek in your heavenly assistance and tender mercy comfort for our aching hearts and help in the trials of the Church and of our fatherland.

We believe, finally, that in the glory where you reign, clothed with the sun and crowned with the stars, you are, after Jesus, the joy and gladness of all the angels and of all the saints.

And from this earth, over which we tread as pilgrims, comforted by our faith in the future resurrection, we look to you, our life, our sweetness, and our hope; draw us onward with the sweetness of your voice, that one day, after our exile, you may show us Jesus, the blessed Fruit of your womb, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

                                                                     by Pope Pius XII.

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Take Courage, It is I, the Lord…

Posted on August 13, 2018 by mikatsa6

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Gospel of Matthew 22 -33

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

“Lord, save me...” As Christians, how many times have we called out this very phrase to the Lord? How many times have we found ourselves, after falling into a difficult situation, unsure of what to do next? Although, as a Catholic, I’m afraid the more pressing question I have to ask is, ‘With access to Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist, how have we lost sight of God so fast?‘  How have we allowed ourselves to lose our focus of the Lord so quickly?

Actually, it’s pretty easy. Like Peter, we lose ourselves and in our laziness, we allow ourselves to be distracted by all the counter- noise beckoning us towards the world. Becoming overwhelmed in the chaos, we lower our heads as to buffet the storm, but by taking our eyes off God,we become easily distracted and we start to flounder. Instead, we should be raising our eyes… our hearts… toward God and the heavens, focusing on the Lord… then, with humility and trust, we should be relying completely on God as the True source of our courage and our strength.

But we are human. We are prone to sin. And unfortunately many of us think that we can make this trip on our own.  We have been raised with the mindset of the world… and however slowly or quickly it happened... we have allowed ourselves to listen to this message and in certain regards, we have become part of the world. Acting on our arrogance, many of us think that we are doing what the Lord wants, that we are doing His Will.  In reality, many of us have never even asked God what He wants.

Sure, we pray, but so often we don’t even take the time to listen as He answers us. Instead, we spend whatever time we devote to prayer,  simply asking God questions, or better yet, asking God for things…Our prayer life has been reduced to a hurried repetition of sorts,  and then we rush away… not even waiting for His response to us. We go about our way...still not even knowing what His Will for us is. We just assume that what we want is what He wants. Mistakenly, we think that because we have ‘good motives’ or noble intentions, that we are being ‘faithful Christians‘, that we have conformed our will to His. But again, so often this is not the case. For even though we profess to love the Lord, we ignore His Will and we rely too much on our own strengths… on our own guidance…our own judgements.

We forget our role as His children, and we start putting ourselves in His place…We name ourselves as the ‘Masters’ of our domain. It’s a game of anything goes… And in our arrogance we take our eyes from the One Who made us. The One Who  loves us most. So much so, that He humbled Himself beyond recognition so that He could remain with us in the Eucharist, in Tabernacles throughout the world, Until the end of time... But finding ourselves caught in the embrace of the world, we neglect our duties towards Him… we forget to look for Him…to simply look at Him…to merely love Him...  With that door closed, we stumble, and we fall…we slip just out of reach of His grace…and if not for His mercy…we’d slip away forever...

Somehow, even when we are doing some of what He wants, we get caught up in thinking that this good we have done is our own making. We allow our pride to take our gaze away from the Lord and we start seeking out  the accolades from the world... then basking in our pride…we forget to give God the glory He deserves. And like Peter, who loved the Lord with an imperfect faith, we start to sink. The insincerity of our  prayer has put distance between us and the outstretched hand of the Lord. “Oh You of little faith…why do you doubt?”

As Faithful Catholics…as Faithful followers of Christ… We must remember that there is nothing on this earth that we can do alone. We must rely entirely on God…for everything. A complete surrender of self. I know there are some people out there who think they can do it alone. Or think that they have been doing it on their own for all this time. But that is wrong. It is the voice of the evil one whispering in your ear that you are your own God… feeding poison to your pride...

Let’s look at the model that Jesus gives us. He suffered in the desert and was tempted by the devil. Remember? The devil tried to get Him to do His Own Will… the devil tried to convince Him to turn away from His Father. And even though Jesus was God and He could have done whatever He wanted… He knew what He had to do by uniting Himself… conforming Himself…to do His Father’s Will… however painful it was to be.

It won’t be smooth sailing for us either. But we need to remember that there is nothing we can do on our own. There is no good performed in the world that isn’t done by God. All good things come from the Lord… and if we start to think otherwise, we are creating even more distance between ourselves and the Heavenly Father.  If we have begun to descend down that slippery slope, we need to re-examine our hearts… re-examine our conscience…we need to ask ourselves who is in control of our lives. Because if it is not God, then what we are doing isn’t good and not only are we wasting our time…we are wasting our worth. Seriously, think about it. More importantly, pray about it. Every time.

We must unite ourselves to Christ. We must be willing to be like Him and unite our Will to the Heavenly Father…especially when there is pain… when there is suffering. We need to stop looking at ourselves and turn our gaze back to the One Who made us. Let not Jesus, be a ghost of your imagination. Familiarize yourself with His tender touch. Gaze into His Heart… His Soul…It is a burning furnace of charity and mercy for us all. It is the wellspring of all that is good. All that is Holy. Allow yourself to be immersed in His love… in His beauty.

Finally, living in Faith allows God to work through us in a greater capacity as we make our way in the secular world. It allows us a firm foundation on which to build our hopes. Faith also gives us courage during those difficult times of battle … when we feel our very being threatened. It reminds us, that if we place our trust in God we will never walk alone.   And just as He did with Peter, He will save us… He will calm the storms... He will rescue us from every adversity. Even if we keep falling during the many conflicts of our lives… We  must stand strong …never allowing doubt to enter in … Because when it is all said and done and we are standing at the end of our line, we will find that by trusting God with our whole heart….those struggles we endured only served as an aid in deepening our Faith… and uniting us more closely to  the very Lord Who made us.

 

 

 

 


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Do Whatever He Tells You

Posted on August 2, 2018 by mikatsa6

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“Do whatever He tells you….” These are the very words Mary uses to alert the servants at the wedding party that they are to pay particular attention to Jesus and what He asks of them. She uses these words when she saw that the wine at the banquet had run out, and hoping to spare the host family embarrassment, she told Jesus to do something to help them out of their predicament. But her message doesn’t stop there. After speaking with her Son… encouraging Him to begin His public ministry, she advised the servants to listen to Jesus, she told them; “Do whatever He tells you.” With these words… this ‘command’ to her Son, she was instrumental in making sure that the  Will of the Heavenly Father was done… It is just another example of how Mary, once again, gives God Her yes…her ‘Fiat.’  Because of her close bond with the Holy Spirit, and the Will of the Father, She knew that it was time for  Jesus to begin His ministry here on earth, and at the prompting of the Holy Spirit she used her influence to get the ball rolling… with Jesus turning ordinary water into wine…

I think this is the same message that she has for us today. “Do whatever He tells you…” But unfortunately, so many of us have  grown so accustomed to the constant droning of the world the we don’t have time for Our Dear Mother’s promptings …The fact is, most of us have grown up  in a world that continually tells us that we should do whatever we want… do whatever makes us happy… A world that tells us that we should encourage our children to do whatever they want and promotes self absorption or egotism at its core. A world that leads us to believe that they have the right to do whatever they want as long as it makes them happy. Whatever that entails…and, at whatever cost... And I am beginning to see the failures with this kind of thinking.

It may sound good on paper, but it’s not Christian. It forces us to focus on ourselves and  because we are so preoccupied with self.…we fail to work for God or His glory.  We have taken the same leap as Lucifer…under the lure of creating happy, well adjusted children, we have created ourselves as Lord…. And in most instances the One True God is not even a part of the equation… He’s not even in the picture… and having just eaten of the spoils of this labor, I can clearly see just how flawed this thinking is. We are ruining the fields. We are casting the weeds into the wheat. We are sowing for ourselves a terrible mess that will make the burden of reaping glorious fruits, that much harder.

As a parent, I don’t know how many times I told my children I wanted them to be happy… I did this because, well, I wanted them to be happy. I bought into the psychology that we should be giving our children whatever they need to be happy. I read from the parenting books of self esteem and pride. And without realizing the damage I was doing…I encouraged them to feel so good about themselves, that they forgot about others.  I was feeding them from the trough of pride and failed to balance it out with virtue.

I honestly wanted them to be happy.  As a parent I wanted to see my kids happy… laughing, smiling having a good time. I wanted them to be virtuous and holy but most days, I just wanted them too be happy. But like so many others, I was wrong. I put their happiness in front of their holiness. I cut corners and I took shortcuts in certain aspects of the Faith. And I am not alone. Many of my friends are going through these same troubles. In fact, this kind of child rearing psychology has been going on for decades…

And our kids are floundering. ..we are reaping what we sowed... Many are not practicing the Faith that they were raised in. Most of them are living for the world. They are out in the secular world searching for their worth, and unfortunately many of them are finding their ‘happiness’ in the bosom of the giant beast which wishes only to devour them and rid them of their inheritance with the Lord. The secular world is an angry, lying creature that wishes to suck every bit of holiness from their souls… and it wishes to separate them from their loving Father in heaven…

Many of these same young people who are falling into the lies of the world are sad. And even though they won’t admit it… they are aching…They are searching for what the world cannot give them… they are missing God. And in their effort to be ‘happy’ they have wandered from the narrow path and are dangerously treading on the wide path of destruction… falling away from God and His goodness and grace. They have followed the beck and call of the world and all her empty promises of fortune and success. They have bought into the lie of worldly pleasures. As parents we may have even encouraged it a bit, after all  they deserved to be happy, right? Isn’t that what we were always told? Isn’t that what we have always wanted for them.  Perhaps we didn’t mean to, but somewhere along the line we started believing what the world told us… and in essence, we forgot our vital roles as children of Our Heavenly Father.

We have forgotten that this life isn’t about smiley faces and rainbows. This life is not to be an endless array of satisfactions and pleasures. As parents we mustn’t seek out our happiness  from the world and her enticements. We will become easily distracted. We need to teach our children that they mustn’t always take the easy way out. Even if it means we have to struggle. Even if it means we have to rely completely on God. On His mercy and His grace. We must do it. We must take the narrow path.

We must strip away the lies of the evil one and lead our children on the path of righteousness and good. It will be difficult. And we will fall. Over and over again. There will be days when it seems that the whole world is awash in sin and we are alone in the struggle. Everyone else will appear to be happy and adjusted and we, well, we will be struggling against the flow. We may even lose our footings and if not for the grace of God there will be many days when we would think that surely it would be better to die than to deny ourselves and our children, the pleasures of the world for one more moment, but it is precisely at these times that  we must endure and be strong. We must separate the weeds from the wheat while they are young.  We must fight against the embrace of the world and all its empty promises. There is nothing for our families there.

Oftentimes, we will have to pause and pray, allowing God to remind us of who we are. What we are made for. We have to realize that it is not all sunshine and giggles. God wants better things for us. For our good. He wants for us to be holy. He will help to make  us firm in the faith. Firm in the Truth of what is good. He will allow us to see what is evil, and help us avoid it. God wants holiness in all of our endeavors…even when we don’t feel happy…even when we feel like weeping and sobbing… He wants our holiness…It is that precious... that important… If we work for Him…He will pour out His mercy and His grace upon us in the difficult times…He will fill our every need…comfort our every hurt…and wash us to be new…

As a parent, I sometimes wish I could rewrite the past. But I can’t. It is done and gone. I cannot linger in those dark shadows wishing for things that will never be, but I can change the message I give to the younger ones. I can stress to them that they need to do what God wants.  First and foremost, they need to make God happy. It is what we all must do… it is  our calling. As Christians…it is our obligation. Many of us are going to need to change the way we think about our journey on this cold cruel world. We will need to focus our eyes on the One Who created us… purely out of His love and His goodness.

As families, we will need to put God back on the pedestal that we have used to propel our children into the world for far too long. And it is only then that we will see a change in our young people. A change in those who have fallen into the mind set of ‘I, me, my’... It will be difficult and a painful way to go… so many of us are addicted to our pride… Many will continue to cling to this false sense of  ‘wordly‘ worth and they will struggle with who they really are.  And unfortunately, many will feel a sense of longing for things to stay the same… comfortable roosts are hard to leave… Others may even become violent and angry… throwing insults and lies at us… Maybe even cursing the Church. There will be pain and hurt.  But we have to be strong and focus on God and what He wants for us. It will be an adjustment…that is for sure… but it is the way we must go. We must do whatever He wants…

Finally, we need to understand that God wants us to be happy… Really happy... But His happiness is a happiness that is not the same empty happiness that is being peddled to us from our sinful world. And as parents, we have got to stop marketing this ‘evil’ in our own homes. We have got to train our children for the Lord. We have got to follow the example of our Dear Blessed Mother, because even though she knew that Jesus’ mission was going to pierce her heart, and bring her more pain than most of us could ever endure … When God prompted her, she joined her Will to the One Who made her and  instructed Jesus  to fix the wine problem at the wedding and then she called the servants over and told them, “Do whatever He tells you…” In all things. And at all times. God bless.

 

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