Joke of the Day

Are you looking for an ark?

Cuz I NOAH guy!

Joke: What do John the Baptist and Winnie the Pooh have in Common?

Joke: What do John the Baptist and Winnie the Pooh have in Common?

Answer: They both have the same middle name!

Feast Day of Christ the King

Today, November 20, 2016 is the feast day of Christ the King

Joke of the Day!

What's the difference between Adam and Eve and everyone else?

Answer: Parents!

Prayers for Sufferers of Infectious Disease

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was an Italian American religious sister who founded the missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She was the first naturalized citizen naturalized citizen. She is the patron saint of immigrants, Hospital administrators.

St. Cabrini is known for having opened Columbus extension Hospital comma later renamed st. Cabrini Hospital in the heart of the city's Italian neighborhood. She found it 67 institutions during her lifetime.

She is the patron saint of infectious diseases. The primary reason is that she herself died from an infectious disease known as dysentery at the age of 67 in Illinois in 1917. She was an extraordinarily holy person.

Prayer to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
Almighty and Eternal Father,
Giver of all Gifts,
show us Thy mercy,
and grant, we beseech Thee,
through the merits of Thy faithful Servant,
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini,
that all who invoke her intercession
may obtain what they desire
according to the good pleasure of Thy Holy Will.
(here name your request)
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini,
beloved spouse of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
intercede for us
that the favor we now ask may be granted.

Joke: Who Is the Patron Saint of Shopping?

Joke: Who Is the Patron Saint of Shopping?

Answer: St. Francis de Sales!

Prayers for Heart Disease Sufferers

St. John of God

Patron Saint of Heart Diseases

Prayers to St. John of God, Patron Saint of Heart Diseases, including Heart Attacks, Cardiac Arrest, Arrhythmia, Heart Murmurs, Heart Value Disease, Irregular Heart Beat, and other cardiac and other cardiovascular diseases.

St John of God was born in Portugal and lived a very eventful life. He spent much of his time in the military until eventually he found it hospitals and places for the sick and poor.

Later the followers of Saint John of God formed what became known as The Brothers Hospitallers St John of God which is now a worldwide Catholic organization 4 caring for poor sick and those suffering from mental disorders.

Here is a prayer which can be said for the intersection of Saint John of God for people suffering from any form of her issue.

St John of God, you are honored as the patron of those who are afflicted by heart disease. Obtain for me the Grace from God to be well again. Bless me with a healthy heart, I asked you for your intercession and help. Grant that I received the favor for which I ask Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Pope Francis digs in his heels

Pope Francis today issued a rebuke implicitly against the four Cardinals who simply wanted clarification on his recent statements about divorced and remarried Catholics and their admission to receive Holy Communion.

The pope simply dismissed their comments and questions as a form of legalism and said that he is more interested in spreading God's love or something along those lines.

This is a very serious and concerning development for serious Catholics. St Thomas Aquinas spent his entire life explaining and defending the faith in the most minor detail and he was the source and continues to be the source of theological interpretation for the Catholic Church even to this day. It has always been held that interpretation of church rules and laws is extremely important and that sometimes you must delve deep into specific legislation.

Seeking clarification does not in itself constitute legalism. The problem with this entire issue is that the pope seems to be saying that divorced married couples or unmarried couples who are cohabiting against Church law can still receive Holy Communion despite the fact that they are living in a Gravely sinful situation. The Cardinals who wrote a letter to the pope simply want to know if the church has changed its teachings on this issue and whether or not it considers illicit sexual unions to be sinful anymore. If not is the church now removing the requirement that people be in the State of Grace in order to receive Holy Communion at Mass.

This is definitely not a trivial matter and the pope should definitely not be trivializing it.

Click here for further details.

Scariest Part of a Catholic Mass

Many people are absolutely terrified and petrified of the thought and possibility of going to a Catholic mass. This unfortunately includes many Catholics themselves and many of whom were actually raised in the Catholic faith from a very young age. Somewhere along the way they abandon their faith and chose other things to do in life. Some chose other Christian denominations some chose other forms of spirituality and still others chose not to believe in God at all and become a full-time atheist.

So after 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, or even 50 years away from going to mass a person may be very concerned and afraid of what awaits them there. They fear that they will be harshly and severely judged by a whole big pile of potential hypocrites. But this does not represent even a tiny portion of the greatest fear people have about going back to Mass. In actual fact the thing people fear most about going to Catholic mass is taking that first step. It's the thought of changing their life for the better. That may sound crazy but anything we do in life the hardest part is always the first step. Deep down people know that mass is a place where everybody is accepted and loved, a place to worship God.
My strong and sincere request and urge is for people of all ages, all races, all ethnicities, all ways of Life all religions to take a little bit of time to go to mass to see what it's all about. You may not be swept up in joyous ecstasy the first time you go but after some time and after some study you will become closer and closer to God.
As is often said if you do not believe act as though you do believe and eventually you will become among the greatest of believers.

This form of birth control is never allowed by Catholics!!

As most people are now well aware artificial birth control is completely and utterly prohibited by the Catholic church under all circumstances. Obviously some people don't like this rule because they want to have sex without the possibility of getting pregnant. And of course some people get pregnant and because they don't want to be pregnant they go out and have an abortion. But that's not the topic of discussion right now we will focus on birth control.
So all forms of birth control are strictly prohibited by the Catholic church but there is one in particular that I wanted to talk about today and that is IUDS otherwise known as intrauterine devices. These are basically metal wires that are attached inside a woman's uterus to prevent her from being able to conceive. Obviously if you want to get into more nitty-gritty details please feel free to do a Google search viewer discretion is strongly advised.
So for some reason many people especially many Catholic women believe that are you these are perfectly fine. I'm not really sure where they get this information but they've become extremely popular and as we know most Catholic women don't even bother to care about birth control and whether or not they should use it. These people are operating outside the constraints of the Catholic church and are in violation of her laws. Their first course of action right after having their IUD removed permanently is to find the nearest possible confessional going there confess their sin and come out renewed.
The problem with birth control is many. For one thing you are purposely preventing a Perfectly Natural and healthy bodily function from occurring. You are purposely distorting and thwarting a natural body function. We don't do this in any other context. Some people will say oh but look we do all kinds of unnatural things with our bodies and nobody seems to care. Look we use glasses don't we will use prescription drugs don't we? What on Earth is the difference? Are you saying that you go around only doing things which are 100% natural? Haha caught you you hypocrite!
Not so fast. All the examples that are provided are examples of things which ultimately improve you. They bring you closer to your intended and design self. If you have an injury you take care of it, if you have an illness you receive treatment. But the goal is always to bring us closer to what we really should be. Furthermore it is within our nature to be fertile and reproductive being infertile and being non reproductive are contrary to our nature. Therefore doing anything which renders us contrary to our nature is inherently and always immoral.
So therefore whether you are talking about IUDs or condoms or any other form of birth control if you want to be Catholic you should cease and desist using these things as soon as possible.

Scariest Confession Ever!!

Many people like their Catholic faith some even absolutely love being Catholic. But even the most ardent and devout follower of the Catholic religion may be absolutely terrified of going to confession.

There are many people who although extremely involved extremely loving extremely caring and extremely good people all around and in almost every way who are absolutely and utterly petrified of even the thought of going to confession.

They believe that their sins are so great so substantial so shocking that they will absolutely and completely embarrass themselves if they enter into the so-called Catholic Penalty Box. But what in fact is the truth? Let me explain some of my own experiences with confession and maybe just maybe this will ease your fear.

A few years ago I strongly returned back to the sacrament of confession and I must admit that the first two or three times were scary but the very first time I was going back after quite some time was extremely horrifying. I was sweating, my heart was racing I was nervous my mouth was dry all of these things are happening all at the same time.

I waited in line for maybe 15 or 20 minutes while others ahead of me told their confessions to the priest. But this short amount of time seemed like many hours as I was completely and utterly terrified of what would happen once I entered that room. Mentally I was preparing, I wanted to make a good confession I wanted to make sure that I told the priest everything and that I wouldn't botch it.

Finally it was my turn to enter that room it felt like I was entering into a dungeon of Horrors I went in and chose to kneel behind the privacy divider. Even people who have never been to a Catholic Church know what I'm talking about because this is always portrayed in movies and television shows. First thing I said when I walked in was bless me Father for I have sinned. The priest immediately said a prayer and asked me to confess. Again I was very nervous very scared unsure of what to do. But in a very contrite and sorrowful way I confessed my sins I told the priest everything.

I felt a heavy burden lift from me as I finished saying everything that I had to say. The priest then thanked me, he thanked me for a very contrite and sincere confession. He could tell from my voice and demeanor that I was sincere and honest. And he said God appreciates this. Then the priest offered some of his advice. Advise that really spoke to me and helped me greatly. He gave me directions but there was absolutely not a single trace of judgement, at no point did I feel that he was upset, angry or judgmental about me. I just listened to his words of encouragement and help. Then in a feeling that cannot be replicated in the natural world he spoke the words of absolution saying through the power of God he absolves me of all my sins. As the priest makes clear he is not acting on his own power but in the power of Jesus Christ who works through the priest. The physical verbal words that the priest is using are so extraordinarily powerful. I believe this is the primary reason why we confess to a priest it is the most powerful experience one can have on this Earth.

After this the priest asked me to make an act of contrition. This is something else that terrifies and scares people because they wonder what will happen if they make a mistake or say something wrong. You have absolutely nothing whatsoever to worry about here. The reason is that an act of contrition is an act of The heart. It's basically simply telling God that you are truly sorry for your sins and that you will do absolutely everything in your power with God's help to never sin again. As long as you express sorrow for the sins you have committed and make a firm commitment never to commit them again with the help of God that is truly all you need to make a good confession.

I can guarantee each and every person who was reading this blog that confession will do nothing but good for you. Although not required even if you are not Catholic you are still permitted to speak to a priest. Technically it would not be a confession but feel free to enter into any confessional and say there are some things you want to get off your chest and that you want some advice about and let the priests know that you are not Catholic and he will be happy to listen.

Also many people are concerned that once the priest find out the sins people have committed he will either tell others or judge you in the future. For one thing a priest who blabs about someone else's sins is automatically excommunicated and it's one of the most serious sins a priest could possibly commit. You can be very sure a priest would never do this. And in fact there are almost no examples in the history of the world where this has happened even though there have been billions of confessions throughout history. Furthermore a priest never looks at you differently afterwards. Many priests have explained a strange phenomenon where after hearing confession they never remember them. In fact most priests say they would never want to remember any of this and because they hear very many and they're simply not interested in remembering them. Plus this strange phenomenon removes the memories from almost all priests.

Therefore be not afraid to confess your sins to a priest. I can guarantee you that no drug on Earth feels as good as leaving a confessional after having done a good confession. Trust me.

Four Cardinals Seek Clarification from Pope

So four cardinals of the Catholic Church have approached Pope Francis to get clarification about his statements in an encyclical he wrote called amoris laetitia. In the encyclical there are some confusing paragraphs which talk about divorce remarriage and the reception of Holy Communion. Basically these four  Cardinals are concerned about changing the church's teaching on divorce and remarriage.

As the Cardinals point out there are limited ways to interpret what the pope has said in the encyclical. Either divorce and remarriage now constitutes a valid marriage in which case this would mean the church now accepts divorce as a possibility as opposed to saying that divorce of a valid marriage is never possible. If not this would otherwise mean that two people who are not validly married yet  engage in a sexual relationship can still receive communion somehow.

Obviously none of this makes any sense whatsoever and these for Cardinals are rightfully seeking clarification on these very important topics.

 The problem is that if divorce and remarriage is considered fine then that would change Millennia of church teaching on the subject. Otherwise it would be saying that sexual relationships outside of marriage are also OK and that a person can receive communion. The only other possibility would be to say that people can receive communion who are in a state of sin. This situation needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

 Please see this article for far more detail and information on this subject: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/these-four-cardinals-asked-pope-francis-to-clarify-amoris-laetitia-43614/

Feast Day of...