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.

What I Think About Castro's DEATH

So this morning I woke up and I found out that Fidel Castro had died. He was 90 old. Now of course when anybody dies as a specific event it's something that is sad in many ways for their friends and family and so on. But I think it's also important not to whitewash somebody's real Legacy just because they have passed away and in fact this is a good time to bring up some of the negative effects that this person has had during their lifetime. Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90 but throughout many decades of his rule in Cuba he had people tortured and killed in the thousands and he did not accept anybody who would disagree with him.

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

So I will now continue my story about being Catholic and I think instead of making this sort of a specific diary as such I will touch on various things various subjects and sort of continue on with those. One of the things that I started about a year-and-a-half ago I think around July 2015 was to say the Rosary every single day no matter what. And a lot of people will question something like this because they will say well what if life gets busy what if things happen what if things come up. But I can guarantee you that you will always have 20 to 30 minutes per day to say the rosary if ever you need to. And in fact I have never had a day where I was not able to say the rosary I think very close to the beginning I missed one maybe two days or I didn't say it.

 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.

Pope Benedict's New Book: Last Testament

Pope Benedict has published another book - one which is deeply personal.

Diary of a Catholic: How I Got Serious withe my Faith

I would like to start providing some very personal information about what it's like to be Catholic in today's modern world and I would like to talk about myself and about my experiences. This is the first in an ongoing series about my life as a Catholic and some of the struggles and joys that I get from it.

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.

Even to this day unless I am extremely comfortable with somebody and have known them for a very long time I rarely if ever will mention that I attend weekly religious ceremonies or that I pray the rosary every day or anything like that. In fact most of the time I don't even tell my relatives. And I think this is a real shame because our religion has been attacked so often so many times constantly whether in school or in the media or all over the place. Religion is constantly being attacked by dozens of sources.

In fact when I think back on it I think the church has almost always been portrayed in a negative light in public schools. One of the reasons is that the church competes with the liberal leftist socialist Progressive agenda of modern school boards which loath choice. One example of this is when the public school system savagely attacked and destroyed religious education in our province. It's like Jesus says you cannot serve two masters. And the school board decided to serve progressivism and try to destroy traditional Family Values.

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.

Sometimes people say public schools are not very effective they don't do a very good job in the field of Education. But I believe this is false. You cannot say that an institution is failing if you do not know its goal. The goal of the public education system is ironically not public education. That is in fact a misnomer. In reality the public education system is really a government propaganda machine. The goal of the system is to reshape people and to take away their allegiances to families so that opinion shapers and left-wing radical ideologues can indoctrinate the populace.

We can tell that the public education system is in fact doing this extraordinarly well. All you have to do is take a look at what's been going on in Canada's biggest provinces where now parents aren't even allowed by law to remove their children from classes which teach dozens of genders and create gender confusion and classes which give explicit instruction for immoral sexual practices to extremely underage children. I do not think that the authors of the Bible who saw so many horrendous things could even imagine the system that we have created in Canada.

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.

Prayers for Sick Children

St. Hugh of Lincoln is known as the Patron Saint of Sick Children. As a parent, it is very difficult to see a child suffer. Pray for the intercession of St. Hugh of Lincoln to bring healing and peace to any child that is sick.