There May Be Legitimate Diversity Of Opinion Among Catholics About Waging War And The Death Penalty, But Not With Regard To Abortion And Euthanasia

‘Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.’ - Pope Benedict XVI

A God Who Weeps With So Many Tears At The Loss Of One Soul...

Ah, who would not be touched? ... A God who weeps with so many tears at the loss of one soul and Who cries unceasingly: My friend, my friend, why proceedest thou thus to lose thy soul and thy God? Stop! Stop! Ah! Look at my tears, my Blood which flows yet. Must I die a second time to save thee? Look at me. Ah! Angels from Heaven descend upon earth, come and weep with me for the loss of this soul! Oh, that a Christian should be so unfortunate as to persevere still in running towards the abyss despite the voice which his God causes him to hear continually! But, you may say to me, no one says these things to us. Oh my friends, unless you want to stop up your ears, you will hear the voice of God, which follows you unceasingly. Tell me, my friends, then, what is this remorse of conscience which overwhelms you in the midst of sin? Why do these anxieties and storms agitate you? Why this fear, this dread that you are in, when you seem to be forever expecting to be crushed by the thunders of Heaven? How many times, even when you were sinning, have you not experienced the touch of an invisible hand which seemed to push you away, as if someone were saying: Unhappy man, what are you doing? Unhappy man, where are you going? Ah my son, why do you wish to damn yourself?

Would you not agree with me that a Christian who despises so many graces deserves to be abandoned and rejected because he has not listened to the voice of God or profited by His graces? On the contrary, my dear brethren, it is God Himself Who is scorned by this ungrateful soul who would seem to wish to put Him to death again. All creation demands vengeance, and it is, in fact, God alone Who wishes to save this soul and Who is opposed to all that could be prejudicial to it.

He watches over its salvation as if it were the only soul in the world. - Saint Jean Marie Vianney

Unless You Want To Stop Up Your Ears, You Will Hear The Voice Of God

Oh my friends, unless you want to stop up your ears, you will hear the voice of God, which follows you unceasingly. - Saint Jean Marie Vianney

God From God And Light From Light, Entered Into Human History Through The Family

The only-begotten Son, of one substance with the Father, "God from God and Light from Light", entered into human history through the family: "For by his incarnation the Son of God united himself in a certain way with every man. He laboured with human hands... and loved with a human heart. Born of Mary the Virgin, he truly became one of us and, except for sin, was like us in every respect". If in fact Christ "fully discloses man to himself", he does so beginning with the family in which he chose to be born and to grow up. We know that the Redeemer spent most of his life in the obscurity of Nazareth, "obedient" (Lk 2:51) as the "Son of Man" to Mary his Mother, and to Joseph the carpenter. Is this filial "obedience" of Christ not already the first expression of that obedience to the Father "unto death" (Phil 2:8), whereby he redeemed the world? - Blessed Pope John Paul II, Letter to families, 1994

Christian Wives And Mothers Owe Gratitude To The Catholic Church

Christian wives and mothers, what gratitude you owe to the Catholic Church for the honorable position you now hold in society! If you are no longer regarded as the slave, but the equal of your husband; if you are no longer the toy of his caprice and liable to be discarded at any moment, like the women of Turkey and the Mormon wives of Utah; but if you are recognized as the mistress and queen of your household, you owe your emancipation to the Church. You are especially indebted for your liberty to the Popes who rose up in all the majesty of their spiritual power to vindicate the rights of injured wives against the lustful tyranny of their husbands.

How opposite is the conduct of the fathers of the so-called Reformation, who, with the cry of religious reform on their lips, deformed religion and society by sanctioning divorce. - Cardinal Gibbons

The Fellowship Of A Christian Husband And Wife Is Cemented By The Grace Of God

Matrimony is not only a natural contract between husband and wife, but it has been elevated for Christians, by Jesus Christ, to the dignity of a Sacrament: “Husbands,” says the Apostle, “love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and delivered Himself up for it, ... so also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.... For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall adhere to his wife and they shall be one flesh. This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ and in the Church.”

In these words the Apostle declares that the union of Christ with His Church is the type or model of the bond subsisting between man and wife. Now the union between Christ and His Church is supernatural and sealed by Divine grace. Hence, also, is the fellowship of a Christian husband and wife cemented by the grace of God. - Cardinal Gibbons

The Holy Eucharist: Superior To The Manna

When our Savior says to the Jews: “Your fathers did eat manna and died, ... but he that eateth this (Eucharistic) bread shall live forever,” He evidently wishes to affirm the superiority of the food which He would give, over the manna by which the children of Israel were nourished.

Now, if the Eucharist were merely commemorative bread and wine, instead of being superior, it would be really inferior to the manna; for the manna was supernatural, heavenly, miraculous food, while bread and wine are a natural, earthly food. - Cardinal Gibbons

Jesus Actively Permits Himself To Be Pierced, Ceaselessly Pouring Forth From Himself A Perfect Merciful Love

As God, Jesus actively permits Himself to be pierced, ceaselessly pouring forth from Himself a perfect merciful Love that has its source in the Father and invites man’s heart to enter into interpersonal communion with the Heart of God. - Rev. Gregory Gresko

When The Heart Of Man In His Entire Person Authentically Meets The Pierced Heart Of Jesus

When the heart of man in his entire person – body and soul – authentically meets the pierced Heart of Jesus, this encounter is the sacred place of our salvation where we ask Jesus to be the Lord of our hardened hearts, exchanging them for His Heart so completely full of love and life, as the Holy Spirit pours forth into us as a living spring of the Father’s Divine Mercy (cf. Ezekiel 36.26-28). - Rev. Gregory Gresko

When Spouses Speak The Truth With Their Bodies

http://catholicparents.org/oxcart/spousesspeaktruth.html

Marriage: More Than Just Two People Living Together

The Church teaches us that marriage is more than just two people living together who share common likes or because of convenience. It is a sacramental covenant that bonds two people together in an indissoluble union by which the couple makes God present in their marriage. It is the only sacrament that is not administered by a priest. The priest is present at the wedding to witness the validity ofthe marriage. But the sacrament itself is administered by the husband and wife to each other. The sacrament begins at the moment they commit themselves in marriage with the exchange of vows to freely, faithfully and fruitfully love each other. But the sacrament is perfected when they consummate the marriage in the marital embrace. It is in the sexual union that the couple makes manifest the sacrament and shares in the divine grace that God wishes to give them as man and wife. The vows said with their mouths at the altar are perfected and renewed through their bodies each and every time in the conjugal act. - Kenneth Henderson

The Desire For God Is Written In The Human Heart

The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for. - CCC #27

Cultivating The Gift Of Contemplative Prayer

http://www.catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=37506

The Taste Of God In Contemplation Is More Precious Than Everything Else

The taste of God in contemplation is more precious than everything else; for, no matter what a man might wish for, it is nothing when compared to this. For when the spirit of a man stands before God and sees his happiness and tastes his delights, then in truth he as attained to paradise. — Saint Anthony of Padua

Take Away The Supernatural And What Remains Is The Unnatural

Take away the supernatural, and what remains is the unnatural. – G. K. Chesterton

For A General Rule You May Be Sure That Complaining Is Sin

Complain as little as possible of your wrongs, for as a general rule you may be sure that complaining is sin; the rather that self-love always magnifies our injuries: above all, do not complain to people who are easily angered and excited. If it is needful to complain to someone, either as seeking a remedy for your injury, or in order to soothe your mind, let it be to some calm, gentle spirit, greatly filled with the Love of God; for otherwise, instead of relieving your heart, your confidants will only provoke it to still greater disturbance; instead of taking out the thorn which pricks you, they will drive it further into your foot. – Saint Francis de Sales

It Is Suffering Which Clears The Way For The Grace Which Transforms Human Souls

It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. Suffering, more than anything else makes present in the history of humanity the powers of the Redemption. – Blessed Pope John Paul II

From The Moment Of Her Fiat Mary Began To Carry All Of Us In Her Womb

From the moment of her fiat Mary began to carry all of us in her womb. – Saint Anselm of Canterbury

The More I Find, The More I Seek

Eternal Trinity, you are like a deep sea, in which the more I seek, the more I find; and the more I find, the more I seek you. - Saint Catherine of Siena

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On Being 'Moderate'

“The only time being ‘moderate’ is a good thing is when one is exercising liberties to do the things some call ‘vices’ in moderation (drink, etc). We should never be moderate in guarding our Natural Rights and in doing what is good, just, and Godly.” – David Persyn

The Mass Is A Biblical Event

The Bible is a liturgical document and the Mass is a Biblical event.

The Principle Cause Of Delinquent Children Is Delinquent Parents

The principle cause of delinquent children is delinquent parents. Almighty God has given children to the parents as so much clay to be molded according to the Divine Image. When a child is born, a crown is made for it in heaven; woe to those parents if that crown is eternally unused. – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Servant of God

If We Wish To Keep Our Rights, Then We Must Keep Our God

If we wish to have the light, we must keep the sun; if we wish to keep our forests we must keep our trees; if we wish to keep our perfumes, we must keep our flowers – and if we wish to keep our rights, then we must keep our God. – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Servant of God

After Confession: He May Be Grey And Gouty; But He Is Only Five Minutes Old

...when a Catholic comes from Confession, he does truly, by definition, step out again into that dawn of his own beginning and look with new eyes across the world to a Crystal Palace that is really of crystal. He believes that in that dim corner, and in that brief ritual, God has really remade him in His own image. He is now a new experiment of the Creator. He is as much a new experiment as he was when he was really only five years old. He stands, as I said, in the white light at the worthy beginning of the life of a man. The accumulations of time can no longer terrify. He may be grey and gouty; but he is only five minutes old. – G. K. Chesterton

I'm Not Religious, But I'm Spiritual; I'm Not Honest, But You're Interesting!

You ever hear girls say that? "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." I like to reply with "I'm not honest, but you're interesting!"- Daniel Tosh

Only The Humble Find God

Only two classes of people found the Babe; the shepherds and the Wise Men; the simple and the learned; those who knew that they knew nothing, and those who knew that they did not know everything. He is never seen by the man of one book; never by the man who thinks he knows. Not even God can tell the proud anything! Only the humble can find God! - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

St. Thomas From His Prison Cell

I will not mistrust Him, Meg, although I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how St. Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to Him for help. And then I trust He shall place His holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning. - Saint Thomas More, from his prison cell

Human Law Is Law Only By Virtue Of Its Accordance With Right Reason

‎Human law is law only by virtue of its accordance with right reason, and thus it is manifest that it flows from the eternal law. And in so far as it deviates from right reason it is called an unjust law; in such case it is no law at all, but rather a species of violence. - Saint Thomas Aquinas

The Church Has Been Accused Of Hiding The Bible, Which Of Course Is Not True...

The Church has been accused of hiding the Bible, which of course is not true, but even if that had been true, it would have been a less astonishing achievement than that of the Reformation, which succeeded in hiding everything else about the Faith. – G. K. Chesterton

Tradition Refuses To Submit To The Arrogant Oligarchy

Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. ― G.K. Chesterton

You, Lord, Give Perfect Peace

You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in You. – Isaiah 26:3

The Christian Family, Through A Process Of Ongoing Conversion Supported By The Grace Of God, Reflects The Splendour Of Christ In The World

Just like the Church, [the family] is called to welcome, radiate and show the world the love and the presence of Christ. The Christian Family to the extent it succeeds in living love as communion and service as a reciprocal gift open to all, through a process of ongoing conversion supported by the grace of God, reflects the splendour of Christ in the world and the beauty of the divine Trinity. – Pope Benedict XVI

Nothing Great Is Ever Achieved Without Much Enduring

Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring. ― Saint Catherine of Siena

O Love of God! how is it that all creatures do not know how freely you lavish Yourself and Your favours on them while they are seeking You in byways and corners where You are not to be found? How foolish to refuse to breathe the open air! to search for a spot on which to place the foot when there is the whole countryside before you; to be unable to find water when there is a whole deluge at your service, nor to possess and enjoy God, nor to recognise His action when it is present in all things. You search for hidden ways of belonging to God, good people, but the only way is that of making use of whatever He sends you. All leads to union, to perfection, except what is sinful or not a duty. All that is necessary is to accept everything, placing no obstacle in the way of its action but letting it accomplish its work. All things are intended to guide, raise, and support you, and are in the hand of God whose action is vaster and more present than the elements of earth, air, and water. Even by means of the senses God will enter, provided they are used only as He ordains, because everything contrary to His will must be resisted. There is not a single atom that goes to form part of your being, even to the marrow of the bones, that is not formed by the divine power. From it all things proceed, by it all things are made. Your very life-blood flows through your veins by the movement this power imparts to it, and all the fluctuations that exist between strength and weakness, languor and liveliness, life and death, are divine instruments put in motion to effect your sanctification. Under its influence all bodily states become operations of grace. From this invisible hand come all your opinions, all your ideas on whatever subject they may be formed. What this action will effect in you, you will learn by successive experiences, for there is no created heart or mind that can teach it to you. Your life flows on uninterruptedly in this unsounded abyss in which each present moment contains all that is best for you, and as such must be loved and esteemed. It is necessary to have a perfect confidence in this action which of itself can do nothing but what is good. Yes, divine Love! to what heights of supernatural, sublime, admirable and incomparable virtue would all souls arrive if they would but be satisfied with Your action! - Jean Pierre de Caussade

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Hope Is The Power Of Being Cheerful In Desperate Circums

Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate. – G. K. Chesterton

An Age Prospers Or Dwindles In Proportion To Its Devotion To The Holy Eucharist

Let us never forget that an age prospers or dwindles in proportion to its devotion to the Holy Eucharist. This is the measure of its spiritual life and its faith, of its charity and its virtue. – Saint Peter Julian Eymard

The Soul Clouded By The Desires Is Darkened In The Understanding

The soul that is clouded by the desires is darkened in the understanding and allows neither the sun of natural reason nor that of the supernatural Wisdom of God to shine upon it and illumine it clearly. At the same time, when the soul is darkened in the understanding, it is benumbed also in the will, and the memory becomes dull and disordered in its dire operation. The intellect cannot get the illumination of God’s wisdom, the will cannot get the love of God, and the memory cannot get God’s image. Darkness and coarseness will always be with a soul until its appetites are extinguished. The appetites are like a cataract on the eye or specks of dust in it; until removed they obstruct vision. The affections and appetites deprive them of a treasure of divine light. Any appetite, even one that is but slightly imperfect, stains and defiles the soul. - Saint John of the Cross, 'Ascent of Mount Carmel,' Bk. 1. Ch. 8. No. 2, 4, 6, 7

Beware That Your Hearts Do Not Become Drowsy From Carousing And Drunkenness

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the son of man. - Our Lord Jesus Christ

There Is Nothing More Nauseating Than A Fickle, Frivolous, Haughty Woman

‎There is nothing more nauseating than a woman, especially if she is married, who is fickle, frivolous and haughty. The Christian wife must be woman of sound piety towards God, an angel of peace in the family, dignified and pleasant towards others. - Saint Padre Pio

Never Have Grudges Against Others Or Lose Your Temper

Guard against foul talk; let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners, otherwise you will only be grieving the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes. Never have grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ. - Ephesians 4:29-32

Adapt Yourself With Gracious And Charitable Compliance To All Your Neighbor's Weaknesses

Adapt yourself with gracious and charitable compliance to all your neighbor’s weaknesses. In particular, make a rule to hide your feelings in many inconsequential matters. Give up all bitterness toward your neighbor, no matter what. And be convinced that your neighbor is in everything better than you. This will not be difficult if you keep even a little aware of yourself. It will give you the ability to overcome your feelings of resentment. Each day look for every possible opportunity to do a kindness for those you do not like. After examining yourselves on this matter every morning, decide what you are going to do, and do it faithfully with kindness and humility. - Saint John Baptist de la Salle

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People who think they want socialism are in for a rude awakening when all the luxuries capitalism gave them are taken away. - Steve Sheppard

ObamaCare makes it FUNCTIONALLY IMPOSSIBLE to be a Roman Catholic AND an American. It prohibits the FREE EXERCISE of Catholicism. Period. This is not debatable. It is an objective fact...Forcing Catholics to subsidize contraception is like forcing muslims to eat pork every day. How do you think a “daily pork consumption mandate” would go over? - Ann Barnhardt

He Who Died In Place Of Us Is The One Object Of My Desire

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. - Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Families Are Called To Be Islands Of Christian Life In An Unbelieving World

From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers "together with all their household." When they were converted, they desired that "their whole household" should also be saved. These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world...In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. It is in the bosom of the family that parents are 'by word and example...the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care any religious vocation.'" - Catechism of the Catholic Church 1655 & 1656

Which Is The One True Church?

Now, in order to determine which is this one true Church, it is necessary to examine which is the Church first founded by Jesus Christ, for when this is ascertained, it must be confessed that this one alone is the true Church which, having once been the true Church must always have been the true Church and must forever be the true Church. For to this first Church has been made the promise of the Savior that the gates of Hell would never be able to overturn it [Matt 16:18]. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. - Will Rogers

The Founders spoke of rights being endowed by the Creator. The government does not grant us rights. It acknowledges them. A government that sees itself as the giver of rights is an arrogant and deluded government. Likewise, the government has no authority to supersede the moral law. It is not in the power of government to redefine marriage. Perhaps, though I'd oppose it, it could claim to have the power of establishing an alternative form of "civil union", but that is wholly different from marriage. Since it disrupts society's understanding of marriage by introducing a false alternative, it is not in for the good of society, and should on those grounds be opposed though government might have the power to establish it. - Anthony Summers

Law that is not in accordance with the moral law is stripped of authoritative power, but is simply enforced by brute force. Nothing in it binds conscience. Therefore, government must not abandon its ground in objective moral law. However, it does not need to enforce the entirety of the moral law. Only those that are most directly and clearly bring necessary stability to a society. Marriage is paramount. - Anthony Summers

Sacraments Recall In Many Ways The Means Our Lord Merited The Graces We Recieve Through Them

The Sacraments recall in many ways the means by which Our Lord merited the graces we receive through them. Baptism recalls His profound humility; Confirmation His ceaseless prayer; Holy Eucharist His care of the needy; Penance His mortified life; Extreme Unction His model death; Holy Orders His establishment of the priesthood, and Matrimony His close union with the Church. - Baltimore Catechism

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