Is Pope Francis Married?

Pope Francis is not and has never been married.

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

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

More info here.

Happy Second Sunday of Advent

Today, Sunday, December 4th, 2016 is

The Second Sunday of Advent in Christianity

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

The colour this week is again purple.

Article about Pope Francis I discovered is SHOCKING

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

View it here.

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

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

Interesting input from VERY IMPORTANT Vatican official

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Article here.

Feast Day of...

Prayer for Throat

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

Feast Day of...

Prayers against stroke or sudden death

St. Andrew Avellino is the patron saint of victims of stroke. He actually died while about to say Mass. He is invoked as a saint against sudden death. Pray to St. Andrew Avellino for anyone who has suffered a stroke or similar incident. Also pray to him to prevent these things.

One of the big problems that I struggle with a lot is anger. I'm just going to put it right out there and just tell people and not shy away from it because anger is something that I deal with frequently. And I think that there are really many different forms of anger and anger which comes from different sources. Some forms of anger are very negative in that you're angry at other people you're angry at people you are interacting with and you have a sort of hatred and meanness towards those people. I find this happens with me a lot if I'm driving and somebody gets in my way or goes too slow or something of that nature and I will become very angry and upset at that person it causes me a lot of anger even long after that person is gone and is no longer causing any problems and so on. But the anger sort of lingers and sometimes can build up.

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

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

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

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

Happy First Sunday of Advent!!

Today, Sunday, November 27th, 2016 is

The First Sunday of Advent in Christianity

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

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

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

Prayers for Skin Disease

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