Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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I think that if The Lord gave me what I truly

and in justice deserve,

I would find myself  in Eternity's death row i.e. in Hell's waiting room.

 

 

Luke Chapter 12: "But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment

 will be beaten withfew blows. 

From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and fromhim who has been entrusted with much,even more will be demanded."

 

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Matthew Chapter 7: " Forwith the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "

 

Gospel for Today, 16th August 2018: 

 

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'How often must I forgive my brother?'

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.

  ‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

  Jesus had now finished what he wanted to say, and he left Galilee and came into the part of Judaea which is on the far side of the Jordan.

 

 

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Yes, the Church is absolutely holy. Here’s why

https://aleteia.org/2018/08/16/yes-the-church-is-absolutely-holy-heres-why/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en

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Excerpt: "As more priest scandals hit the headlines, the words of the creed at Mass can start to sound hollow: “I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”

How can we look at a Catholic Church that has had such bad men in leadership positions and call it “holy”? The readings for this Sunday, the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, explain how: The Church is holy in its origin, its purpose, its means and its fruits.

 

 

 

 

Daily Reflection – August 16 - St Vincent de Paul Society

“If we wish to give satisfaction to our good God, we must not stop to consider what we would like to do, but rather what he wishes us to do. Our Lord will know where to find you when he intends to give you other work to do.”
– St. Louise de Marillac

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by BarbaraTherese

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Subscribe: http://flocknote.com/catechism

 

385. What are the theological virtues?
The theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity.
Further reading: CCC 1813


386. What is the virtue of faith?
Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and all that he has revealed to us and that the Church proposes for our belief because God is Truth itself. By faith the human person freely commits himself to God. Therefore, the believer seeks to know and do the will of God because "faith works through charity" (Galatians 5:6).
 Further reading: CCC 1814-1816, 1842

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"We need peace, we need inner
serenity. It is no accident that it became our motto, PAX. That
peace of soul is fertile soil in which God tills His bountiful
fields of graces. It is the foundation we need to build houses firm."

Brother Jerome OSB - Rule Commentary

http://www.stmarysmonastery.org/

 

 

 

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I think there is much, an endless treasury, packed into the words Jesus uses "true food and true drink".    We are intimately united in body and soul.  Normal human food will sustain the body only, and the soul needs the body on this earth and so human food is important.  But the Food and Drink Jesus gifts us in The Blessed Eucharist is "true" because at once, it feeds the body and the soul.  This came home to me in something a parishioner said when we were chatting. 

Her grandchildren apparently were a bit reluctant to come along to Mass and she replied to them asking "You know how grouchy nana can be, don't you?  Well, if I did not go to Mass, I would be ten times more grouchy".  Profound words that children can understand and from there grow into.  The Holy Spirit is alive and active in nana.

 

Saint John-Paul II
Pope from 1978 to 2005
Encyclical « Ecclesia de Eucharistia 

 

"My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink"

The sacramental re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice, crowned by the resurrection, in the Mass involves a most special presence which – in the words of Paul VI – “is called 'real' not as a way of excluding all other types of presence as if they were 'not real', but because it is a presence in the fullest sense: a substantial presence whereby Christ, the God-Man, is wholly and entirely present”. This sets forth once more the perennially valid teaching of the Council of Trent: “the consecration of the bread and wine effects the change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. And the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called this change transubstantiation”. Truly the Eucharist is a mysterium fidei, a mystery which surpasses our understanding and can only be received in faith, as is often brought out in the catechesis of the Church Fathers regarding this divine sacrament: “Do not see – Saint Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts – in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are his body and his blood: faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise”.

Before this mystery of love, human reason fully experiences its limitations. One understands how, down the centuries, this truth has stimulated theology to strive to understand it ever more deeply. These are praiseworthy efforts, which are all the more helpful and insightful to the extent that they are able to join critical thinking to the “living faith” of the Church… There remains the boundary indicated by Paul VI: “Every theological explanation… must firmly maintain that in objective reality, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the consecration, so that the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus from that moment on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine”.

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St Vincent de Paul Society

Daily Reflection – August 19

“The poor cannot be judged by their outward appearance, not by their show of wit, for very often they do not look nor seem like intelligent beings, so rough, and homely are they.”
– St. Vincent de Paul

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 SOMETIMES WE DECEIVE OURSELVES::

"Sometimes we can deceive ourselves thinking we love God very much because we experience certain spiritual joys during the time of prayer. We believe that we are ready to confront any sacrifice for the love of God because we feel ardent desires arising within us.

St. Teresa of Avila, with keen psychological insight, warns souls of the pitfalls into which they may fall and puts them on their guard: “No, sisters, no; what the Lord desires is works. If you see a sick sister to whom you can give some help, never be affected by the fear that your devotion will suffer, but take pity on her: if she is in pain, you should feel pain too; if necessary, fast so that she may have your food, not so much for her sake as because you know it to be your Lord’s will” (Interior Castle V, 3). 

This is real love, and it was exactly in this sense that St. John the Evangelist said in his first epistle, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). He did not say, because we love God, but because we love the brethren, for fraternal charity is the most certain sign of true love for God."

 

 

 

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THINKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A PERSON

Excerpt only: "But there is a point at which we have to face the truth: the difficulties we have in approaching the Holy Spirit as person reminds us of the mystery and absolute otherness of God, as the first quotation in this article stated. Ultimately our task is not to box the Spirit into our human concept of a person, but to recognize that for God to be three persons is radically different than what it means to be a human person. In the end, we should aim to get to know the Holy Spirit as a person on his own terms, not our own."

 

 

 

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Watched tonight a documentary on the Cassini Spacecraft Mission to Saturn and her moons.  Fascinating!  It made my heart sing to the Wonder and Glory of The Lord in His creation.  One of the moons (forgotten the name) has water and real potential for life.  It was decided not to go close to the moon in case Cassini crashed and life found at some later point was criticised as Cassini having introduced bacteria-life.

I don't think the documentary is on You Tube.........but do check.......... I watched the video on iView but returned for the link and could not find it.  

Edit Found the link!

Series 18 - Death Dive into The Rings of Saturn (you will need to scroll down a bit, not much) https://iview.abc.net.au/show/catalyst/series/18/video/SC1602H006S00

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Particular Judgment 

(Immediately after death)

EWTN..... https://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/judga1.htm

 

by Rev. William G. Most

"Jesus will come at the end of time to judge all human beings. This is called the parousia, His second coming. It was foretold by the angels as He ascended: "This Jesus who is taken up from you to heaven, will come in the way in which you saw Him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11).

However, those who die before the parousia will be judged immediately at their deaths. This is known as the particular judgment. The Epistle to the Hebrews says (9:27): " It is appointed to men to die once, and after that comes the judgment". Then, "Each one will receive his pay, according to his works" (1 Cor 3:8).

There are three possible outcomes to the particular judgment. Those whose love for God has been perfected in this life are taken straight to heaven, where they enjoy endless happiness in the face to face vision of God. Those who die in God's love but still love Him imperfectly must be purifed in the intermediate state of purgatory. Those, however, who reject God's love by mortal sin and die without repenting are condemned to the everlasting torments of hell. The general judgment at the end of time simply solemnly confirms the particular judgments of each one, with the difference that then the body as well as the soul will receive what is due it. And all God's judgments will be revealed as most just."

 

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Made another attempt at a blog, but got lost in it all and gave up............again. 

I just cannot understand blogging at all.  ...............hence, I guess I am meant to remain on Phatmass.  I did plan to put a link to this thread on the blog as an opener.

I think I have to abandon the idea of blogging all together and delete it from the back shelves of my mind too.

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When an occasion of practicing some virtue offered, he addressed himself to God, saying, “Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enablest me;” and... then he received strength more than sufficient. When he had failed in his duty, he simply confessed his fault, saying to God, “I shall never do otherwise if Thou leavest me to myself; it is Thou who must hinder my falling, and mend what is amiss.” After this, he gave himself no further uneasiness about it.
    ... Joseph de Beaufort (17th century), The Character of Brother Lawrence

 

 

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I am watching on and off on Foxtel Go, the mini series "A Place to Call Home" some of the cast as above.  There are some quite profound one liners in the series, quite profound!

Of all the cast, the most lovable and endearing is Doris Collins (as below).  Her character in the series is described by one of the other characters as a "lovely soul in a sometimes irritating package".  To me she is a delight.

I think that the series is worth watching, if for nothing else for those profound one liners dotted here and there in the episodes.

It is a reminder to me that gold is wherever it is found and that The Holy Spirit is not snobbish.  

"The wind blows wherever it wills" (John Ch3)