HolyMotherChurch.blogspot.com is an easy-to-read blog regarding news, events, and opinions of what is happening inside the Catholic Church.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
CORRECTION: Chinese Church does NOT want to separate from Rome.
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!
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/12/30/chinese-patriotic-catholic-church-asserts-independence-vatican/
Italian Bishop DENIES Mass Intention for Slain Mafioso
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
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
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
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
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!
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!
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Sunday, December 04, 2016
Is Pope Francis 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
The Second Sunday of Advent in Christianity
Saturday, December 03, 2016
Article about Pope Francis I discovered is SHOCKING
View it here.
Thursday, December 01, 2016
"I'm greatly concerned for a lot of the older people"
Interesting input from VERY IMPORTANT Vatican official
He USED to like Pope Francis, then this happened...
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Monday, November 28, 2016
Prayer for Throat
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Prayers against stroke or sudden death
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!!
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
What I Think About Castro's DEATH
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
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.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Diary of a Catholic: How I Got Serious withe my Faith
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.
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.
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.