It is inconceivable – or, rather, impossible – that life should not give life to those into whom it enters.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (380-444), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Commentary on Saint John's Gospel, 4; PG 73, 560

As soon as Christ has entered us with his own flesh,
we shall be wholly brought to life.
It is inconceivable – or, rather, impossible –
that life should not give life to those into whom it enters.

Just as people put a cover over a burning brand
taken from a heap of straw so as to keep the spark
of fire going,
so our Lord Jesus Christ conceals the life within us
with his own flesh and sets,
as it were, a seed of immortality there
that casts out all the corruption we bear within us.

So it is not just by his word that he brings about
the resurrection of the dead.
To show that his body gives life, as we said,
he touches corpses and gives life with his own body
to bodies already in process of decomposition.

If the touch of his sacred flesh alone
restores life to these dead people,
what benefit shall we not find
in his life-giving eucharist when we receive it!...

It would not be enough if only our souls were to be
regenerated into new life by the Spirit.
Our solid, earthly body also has to be made holy
by its participation in a body that is
as solid as our own and of the same origin,
and it, too, must thus be called to incorruptibility.

Praised be Jesus Christ now and forever!

Pope Benedict XVI skateboards too!

For Father Cadrecha --- may you always be in such holy company. God bless you & Mary keep you in her Most Holy Heart.

http://www.boardpusher.com/papalskateboard-skateboards.1266114

OSV Our Sunday Visitor Vocations Issue in PDF features Father Rob Cadrecha,Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida. Also features the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Miami, Florida.
http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/Vocations0408.pdf

But where is Mary to look, with her soul's eye, for consolation? ...

But where is Mary to look, with her soul's eye, for consolation? Nay, her soul's eye must look where her body's eye is fixed already. It is bent on Jesus; and it is that very sight which is her torture. She sees His Human Nature; and she is the mother, the mother beyond all other mothers, loving as never mother loved before, as all mothers together could not love, if they might compact their myriad loves into one intensest nameless act. He is her Son, and such a Son, and in so marvellous a way her Son. He is her treasure and her all. What a fund of mystery----keen, quick, deadly, unequalled----was there in that sight! And yet there was far more than that. There was His Divine Nature. We talk of mothers making idols of their sons; that is, worshipping them, turning them from creatures into creators, regarding them as truly their last end and true beatitude, so giving their hearts to them as they have no right to give them to anyone but God. This Mary could not do, and yet in another sense might well do. For Jesus could be no idol, and yet must of necessity be worshipped as the Eternal God. None saw this as Mary did. No Angel worshipped Him with such sublimely abject adoration as she did. No saint, not even the dear Magdalen, ever hung over His feet with such mortal yearning, with such human fondness. Yes! He is God,----she saw that through the darkness of the eclipse. But then the blood,----the spittings, the earth-stains, the unseemly scars, the livid, many-colored bruises,----what did all that mean on a Person only and eternally Divine? It is vain to think of giving a name to such misery as then flooded her soul. Jesus, the joy of the Martyrs, is the executioner of His mother. Twice over, to say the least, if not a third time also, did He crucify her; once by His Human Nature, once by His Divine, if indeed Body and Soul did not make two crucifixions from the Human Nature only. No Martyrdom was ever like this. No given number of Martyrdoms approach to a comparison with it. It is a sum of sorrow which material units, ever so many added together, ever so often multiplied, do not go to form. It is a question of kind as well as of degree; and hers was a kind of sorrow which has only certain affinities to any other kinds of sorrow, and is simply without a name, except the name which the simple children of the Church call it by, the Dolors of Mary.

(excerpt)
Father Faber
The Foot of the Cross
SECTION I THE IMMENSITY OF OUR LADY'S DOLORS

Faith is an inner tunic of such pure whiteness...

that it blinds the sight of every intellect.
St.John of the Cross

(pray for us)

Who shall grant me to repose in you? By whose gift will you enter my heart; and so inebriate it that I may forget my own evils and embrace you, my only good? What are you to me? Let me find grace to speak to you. What am I to you, that you should command me to love you... What you are to me, answer me for your mercy's sake,
O Lord my God: say to my soul: «I am your salvation,» (Ps. 35[34],3).

Speak it aloud so that I may hear you. Behold, the ears of my heart are before you, O Lord: open them, and say to my soul, «I am your salvation.» I will run after that voice, and take hold of you.

St. Augustine

(pray for us)

The Spirit of the Liturgy-by Rev Roman Guardini

PDF download
http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/spirituality/the-spirit-of-the-liturgy.html

June 7,2008 Ordinations

The Most Reverend J. Peter Sartain, Bishop of Joliet,ordained three men as priests for the Diocese of Joliet on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet.

Pictured are Reverend Greg Podwysocki, Reverend Nathan Gohlke, Bishop J. Peter Sartain, Reverend Matthew Pratscher.

The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them,

and what came through them was longing.
These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—
are good images of what we really desire;
but if they are mistaken for the thing itself,
they turn into dumb idols,
breaking the hearts of their worshipers.
For they are not the thing itself;
they are only the scent of a flower we have not found,
the echo of a tune we have not heard,
news from a country we have never yet visited.

—C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory.”

You came through them.... You shine in them... for souls...

shining through our human weakness....

You choose the weak and make them strong in bearing witness to you...

The Language of the Liturgy: The Value of the New Translations

The Bishop's Corner - Catholic News Agency
The Language of the Liturgy: The Value of the New Translations
By Bishop Arthur Serratelli
Paterson, New Jersey

(excerpt)
A language suited for the Liturgy: this is the one of great advantages of the work being done on the new translations. There is more to the Liturgy than the human language of any age or any one country. In the new translations of the Roman Missal, a conscious effort is being made to suit the human word to the divine action that the Liturgy truly is. As Pope Benedict XVI has said, the “central actio of the Mass is fundamentally neither that of the priest as such nor of the laity as such, but of Christ the High Priest: This action of God, which takes place through human speech, is the real "action" for which all creation is in expectation… This is what is new and distinctive about the Christian liturgy: God himself acts and does what is essential” (The Spirit of the Liturgy p. 173).

http://www.patersondiocese.org/category.cfm?Category=78

May 2006 Press Conference- Bishop Sartain video

On Tuesday, May 16, 2006, the Apostolic Nuncio announced the appointment of Bishop J. Peter Sartain (pronounced Sar’-tin) as the Fourth Bishop of Joliet,Illinois.
Bishop Sartain was born on June 6, 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee.On July 15, 1978 he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Memphis. He was appointed as Bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock on January 4, 2000 and was ordained on March 6, 2000.
Bishop Sartain attended St. Meinrad College in Indiana, studied at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, and earned a licentiate of sacred theologyfrom the Pontifical Athenaeum San Anselmo in Rome in 1979.
In addition to his pastoral experience as a parochial vicar and as a pastor,Bishop Sartain also has considerable administrative experience, having served as Director of Vocations, Chancellor, Moderator of the Curia, Vicar for Clergy, and Vicar General. He has also been a chaplain, academic dean for the permanent diaconate formation program, and a member of the Advisory Council for the Institute for Priestly Formation.

The ceremony of installation took place at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27, 2006

He currently is a member of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as the Chair of the USCCB Committee on the Home Missions.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is granted a personal parish in Rome

It is with great joy that the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter announces the opening of a personal parish in the Diocese of Rome. The decree of erection of the parish, which is dated Easter day of 2008, states that in conformity with art. 10 of Summorum Pontificum, "and after having received the proposal of the Cardinal Vicar, the Holy Father has established that in the central sector of the Diocese of Rome, in the 1st District, and in a fitting place of worship, namely, the Church of Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini [...] should be erected a personal parish, in order to guarantee proper pastoral care for the entire community of Traditional faithful residing in the same Diocese".
The Fraternity of St. Peter is deeply grateful to the Holy Father and his Vicar, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, to be entrusted with this parish in the See of Peter. Of the many dioceses where the Fraternity serves, this is the tenth apostolate which has been erected as a full personal parish, and the first in Europe. It is hoped that this particular parish will serve not only the local parishioners, but that it will also provide a fine example of the beauty and solemnity of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite to the many pilgrims and students in Rome. Rev. Joseph Kramer, FSSP, has been appointed as the first pastor of the parish Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini, Rector of the venerable Archconfraternity of the same name, and Rector of the church.
The installation of Fr. Kramer as pastor, and official opening Mass of the parish will take place on June 8, 2008. The Fraternity of St. Peter asks for your prayers in carrying out these new duties towards the faithful, and the Diocese of Rome.
From the General Secretariat FSSP, on May 7, 2008.
More information: http://roma.fssp.it/ Photo album: Santa Trinità dei Pellegrini
The following is taken from an article in the FSSP French newsletter, the "Lettre aux amis" of May 2008.
Dear Friends of the Fraternity,
As you know the Fraternity of St. Peter has a particular attachment to the Eternal City. It is in Rome that we were founded. Those instrumental in our foundation were the Holy Father John Paul II and then Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, the Sovereign Pontiff and Bishop of Rome. Finally we were given the great grace to take the name of the Prince of the Apostles St. Peter, patron of Rome; the first order to take on such a name in two centuries. Since that first great act of fidelity to the Successor of Peter by our founders our Fraternity has kept a continuous presence in the Eternal City. In our less than twenty years we have sent 15 men for licentiate and doctorate work at the Roman Universities and have had a very small chapel, S. Gregorio that we have served as chaplains since 1997.
It is then with great joy that on behalf of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter I can announce to you that on Easter Sunday (March 23, 2008) the Vicariate of Rome granted a personal parish to the care of our Fraternity at the church of Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini. The Fraternity is honored that the Holy Father has established this personal parish to serve the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite in the heart of Rome, and that through his Cardinal Vicar Camillo Ruini the FSSP has been chosen to serve it. What better example could be found of an application of Summorum Pontificum! It is only fitting that Rome, the heart of the Church is the first Diocese in Europe to confide a personal parish to our Fraternity.
The church Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini stands in the very center of Rome only 100 meters from the Palazzo Farnese, near the Ponte Sisto. It would be hard to imagine a finer location. The church, which dates from the beginning of the 17th century, has a rich history in Rome. It was built by the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims which was founded under the inspiration and direction of St. Philip Neri, with the specific mission of housing and caring for pilgrims in Rome. The church has its very roots then in the work of St. Philip who is often called the third apostle of the Eternal City, whose mission was a true reform of bringing faithful back to a zealous practice of the faith through processions, devotions and the liturgy. The church also has the mission of receiving pilgrims at its origins and further reinforces the mission of the Fraternity in Rome.
Typical of the Roman churches of the Counter-Reformation period, Trinità dei Pellegrini has a wide sanctuary with no liturgical choir, enabling the faithful to see the sacred ceremonies more clearly. Likewise, the 8 side chapels, two major ones and 6 minor, are constructed in such a way as to not distract from the principal sanctuary. The church contains several interesting artworks, such as the “Madonna and Child with Ss. Francis and Augustine” of Giuseppe Cesari, (also called the Cavaliere d’Arpino), under whom the painter Caravaggio worked during his Roman sojourn, and the famous “Mass of Saint Gregory” by Iacopo Zucchi, an interesting document of Roman liturgical practice in the later 16th century. However, the most outstanding piece by far is the majestic painting of “the Trinity” by the Bolognese painter Guido Reni. Commissioned by Card. Ludovisi, the nephew of Pope Gregory XV, in 1625, this beautifully balanced and colored painting, done when the artist was 50 years old, is a version of the “mercy-seat” motif; God the Father, at the top of the painting, is shown with open arms, with the Holy Spirit at His chest above the Crucified Christ. The figure of Christ is painted in a stark white which causes him to stand out against the colorful background, echoing the Elevation of the white Sacred Host taking place during the solemn Mass celebrated underneath the painting at the main Altar. It is considered one of the most beautiful retables in all of Rome.
In establishing a church in Rome to serve as the centre for the traditional Mass the Vicariate not only wanted a parish life which would serve those living in the city, but also a place which would receive the pilgrims coming to Rome who desire to worship according to the extraordinary form. The Vicariate of Rome stated from the start that the structure of a personal parish is the one which best makes these faithful feel at home, and thus active members of the local Church. It also best manifests the priests’ relation to the bishop and their concrete duties towards him. In this way our priest, like every parish priest, will form a sort of bridge for the people to their pastor, the bishop.
A second purpose of this magnificent church is to give an example of the full liturgical life of the extraordinary form in all of its splendor. One of the main efforts of the Fraternity of St. Peter will be to provide a church with a living liturgical life which can serve as an example of what Pope Benedict XVI refers to as the “treasures of worship and culture accumulated” in the Roman Rite. Masses and offices will be offered solemnly with highly trained ministers and musicians. For years the Russian College in Rome has served as a living example of the beauty of the Eastern Rites. Here the Rites are carried out in full solemnity. Many priests and faithful have come to know and appreciate these Rites in this beautiful setting. It is now our duty to try to do something similar in the Eternal City. How many pilgrims and how many young priests will have their first contact with the beautiful ritual of the Extraordinary Form at Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini. The duty that lies before us is very humbling, but very exciting. We can only thank His Holiness Pope Benedict the XVI for this opportunity.
I ask for your prayers for this endeavor which is important not only for our community but for the whole Church. We will be glad to use Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini for all offices and Masses of our twentieth anniversary on October 18, 2008. I also hope to see you there to celebrate the opening of our parish on June 8, or at another time in Rome in the not too distant future, in the heart of the See of Peter.
Very Rev. John Berg, Superior General FSSP

St. Maria Teresa Goretti ,pray for us

St. Maria Goretti's Biography
Here is a thorough, but semi long biography about this wonderful saint.

http://www.saintmariasmessenger.com/biomaria.php

Preface
Luigi and Assunta Goretti
Maria Teresa Goretti
A Catholic Mother
Migrant Farmers
Death of Luigi
Daughter/Mother
The Daily Schedule
Longing for Jesus
Actions Speak Louder than Words
Alessandro Serenelli
Storm Warnings
Ten Inch Blade of Steel
Call the Doctor and the Police
Through the Night
Yes, I Pardon Him
Epilogue


http://www.saintmariasmessenger.com/pdfs/sampleissue.pdf

The security to be funny-- Father Z. & Parody songs

Has anyone else noticed that it seems only serious, traditionally minded Catholics tend to have a good sense of humor? I guess this comes from the fact that when you are right you can’t be wrong. That gives us the security to be funny.
- Fr. Z. WDTPRS
***
all across the world people will, alas, take note that some priests and bishop have decided to wash the feet of women during the Holy Thursday Mass.

They do this even though they shouldn’t and, probably, know they shouldn’t.

Pretty frustrating, isn’t it?

And in those times when we are irritated by such disrespect what do traditional, conservative Catholics do?

They write parody songs, of course!

The official WDTPRS parodohymnologist, Tim Ferguson, has sent me this:



A Holy Thursday Reflection on “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” by Lew Brown, Sam Stept and Charles Tobias.
(Imagine Ray Eberle and the Modernaires singing this…)

Don’t go washing those women’s feet; the Latin is plain to me:
“selecti” should be “viri.” The rubrics are clear you see. No, no, no,
Don’t go washing those women’s feet at Thursday night’s liturgy,
Thus says the Pope of Rome.

Don’t go altering rubrics now, no matter who you may be,
Or where you got your degree in Scripture and Liturgy. No, no, no,
Don’t go altering rubrics now, this calls for humility:
You’re not the Pope of Rome.

I just got word that Ranjith has heard,
‘n put the Vicar in a jam,
Seems some priest here, washing feet last year,
Scrubbed a nylon-covered gam.
So, don’t go washing those women’s feet at Thursday night’s liturgy,
Or feel the wrath of Rome.

There… isn’t that better?



http://wdtprs.com/blog/category/sessiunculum/honored-guests/parody-songs/

Without the illumination of Faith...we cannot understand the language of creatures.

I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. Galatians 2:20

If we lived uninterruptedly by the life of faith,

we should be in continual contact with God;

we should speak with Him face to face...

Faith is the interpreter of God;

without the illumination which it brings,

nothing can be understood of

the language in which creatures speak to us.

-- Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Jesuit

Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, II, 1 (trans. Algar Thorold)

http://dailygospel.org/www/popup-comments.php?language=AM&id=1245

image above is St. Gabriel. Holy Angels, pray for us and with us.

Praystation Portable - SQPN

Praystation Portable: Your Daily Call With God

a great podcast if you want to inject a bit of spirituality into your busy day to day life.

Turn your mobile phone, your iPod or even your PSP into a powerful Praystation by subscribing to this feed. You will automatically download a fresh morning- and evening prayer for every day

Your eyes are not to be fixed in what you have left but in what you have been given...

BE NOT AFRAID!

http://www.piercedhearts.org/mother_adela/be_not_afraid.htm
Reflection of Mother Adela to Seminarians at
S. John Maria Vianney, Archdiocese of Miami
January 20-2006
http://www.piercedhearts.org/

I would like to tell you: “Be not afraid”.
Fear is caused, many times, by understanding the measure,
the height, the depth of the vocation and gift you have received
and also the measure of the response which the gift demands.

Do not be afraid!
1. To leave everything for Christ and to generously embrace the vocation you have received.A vocation is a mystery of divine election, of God́s call to your heart.. to you, personally.. He has called you by name, He chose you from among many : “ You did not choose me, but I chose you” (Jn 15,16).

This election needs to be pondered in your hearts... you have been chosen by God to a personal, intimate relationship with him and participation in His priestly heart, life and mission.

Your vocation is not an accident, something that you can take lightly or superficially, because as the Lord says in Jer 1,5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you”

Why have you been chosen? I do not know... and you do not either. It is part of the mystery of love.

Love, as Pope Benedict said in Cologne, “ knows no why, it is a free gift to which one responds with the gift of self”.

You have been given a gift of love, to which you can only respond with the totality of your love. Jesus has invited you to leave everything in order to follow him more closely. One day you heard the voice of Christ in your heart telling you: follow me and leave everything for me. It is a call to renounce other options in life and to chose this path of closeness and intimacy with Him, but it is not an empty renunciation.. It is a call to leave something good for something greater, for a life in which you will find complete personal fulfillment, a life in which your human and spiritual potentials will be expanded for the service of the kingdom of God and for the good of humanity.

JPII asked seminarians and priests in his book “gift and mystery”: “ Could there be any greater fulfillment than to one day be able to re-present everyday in persona Christi, the redemptive sacrifice of the Cross? Could there be any greater human accomplishment than to become fully identified with Christ, the God-made man, and to become ministers of the priesthood of Christ?”

What a great calling you have received!Yes, you are called to leave everything but to gain it all. To lose your life as to find it... to give it all to receive the All. You have to responsibly and maturely know what you are renouncing, thus you can truly embrace a life style that represents clearly what you have left behind, but at the same time you must maturely and visibly represent the life that you have found.

Your eyes are not to be fixed in what you left but in what you have been given-...
(Read the full article
http://www.piercedhearts.org/mother_adela/be_not_afraid.htm)

Open Thy Sacred Heart O Jesus!

A beautiful prayer composed by Blessed Pope Pius IX:

"Open Thy Sacred Heart 0 Jesus! Show me Its beauty and unite me with It forever. May the throbbing in all the movements of my heart, even during sleep, be a testimony of my love and tell Thee unceasingly: Yes, Lord Jesus, I adore Thee ... accept my poor little actions ... grant me the grace of repairing evil done ... so that I may praise Thee in time and bless Thee for all eternity."
-

Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Miami, FL, USA

How is it possible to know God with only the light of human reason? Compendium of the Catechism#3-4

How is it possible to know God with only the light of human reason?
CCC31-36

CCC46-47
Starting from creation, that is from the world and from the human person, through reason alone one can know God with certainty as the origin and end of the universe, as the highest good and as infinite truth and beauty.

Is the light of reason alone sufficient to know the mystery of God?
CCC37-38
In coming to a knowledge of God by the light of reason alone man experiences many difficulties. Indeed, on his own he is unable to enter into the intimacy of the divine mystery. This is why he stands in need of being enlightened by God’s revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error.

Sisters of Life, NYC

The Sisters of Life is a contemplative/ active religious community of women founded in 1991 by John Cardinal O’Connor for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of every human life. Like all religious communities, we take the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. We also are consecrated under a special, fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life. Reverence and gratitude for the unique and unrepeatable gift of each human life made in the image and likeness of God fuels the prayer of each Sister, our first mission in building the Kingdom of God and the “Culture of Life.” It also provides the starting point for our interactions with others, and especially relationships in community between our 60 Sisters (who come from across the United States, Canada and Great Britain) and in our apostolates. Inspired by the love of Christ our Spouse, the author of Life, we desire to pour out all our gifts of nature and grace in the apostolate, that nothing of the gift of life, and no one to whom it has been given, should be lost. Our missions are carried out with the heart of the Church and with the hope of revealing to those we serve the inherent goodness and beauty of their own lives, so that each person may see and experience the truth that they are an unrepeatable creation of the Master. We welcome pregnant guests to live with us in the Holy Respite of one of our convents, assist pregnant women in need of practical assistance through our Visitation mission, invite those who have suffered abortion to hope and healing through day and weekend Entering Canaan retreats, operate the Dr. Joseph Stanton Human Life Issues Library, direct the New York Archdiocesan Family Life/ Respect Life Office and host retreats at Villa Maria Guadalupe Retreat Center.

Home

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today

It is necessary to struggle ceaselessly so that every person will be respected from his conception until his natural death - Pope Benedict XVI




I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants. Deuteronomy 30:19

Father Frank Pavone
Priests for Life

Rev. 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say "Come"

CCC
V. THE SACRAMENTS OF ETERNAL LIFE
1130 The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord "until he comes," when God will be "everything to everyone."53 Since the apostolic age the liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit's groaning in the Church: Marana tha!54 The liturgy thus shares in Jesus' desire: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you . . . until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."55 In the sacraments of Christ the Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life, while "awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus."56 The "Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come . . . Come, Lord Jesus!'"57
St. Thomas sums up the various aspects of sacramental signs: "Therefore a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes it - Christ's Passion; demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ's Passion - grace; and prefigures what that Passion pledges to us - future glory."58
IN BRIEF
1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.
1132 The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers.
1133 The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the Word of God and the faith which welcomes that word in well-disposed hearts. Thus the sacraments strengthen faith and express it.
1134 The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For every one of the faithful on the one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in charity and in her mission of witness.
*************
St. Thomas, pray for us.
"My Lord and My God! I love You and I adore You, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Grant us Your Peace."

The liturgy does not belong to us: it is the Church's treasure.

POPE BENEDICT XVI

Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI gave via satellite Sunday at the closing Mass of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress. The congress was held in Quebec City.

While you are gathered for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, I am happy to join you through the medium of satellite and thus unite myself to your prayer. I would like first of all to greet the Lord Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, and the Lord Cardinal Jozef Tomko, special envoy for the congress, as well as all the cardinals and bishops present. I also address my cordial greetings to the personalities of civil society who decided to take part in the liturgy. My affectionate thought goes to the priests, deacons and all the faithful present, as well as to all Catholics of Quebec, of the whole of Canada and of other continents. I do not forget that your country celebrates this year the 400th anniversary of its foundation. It is an occasion for each one of you to recall the values that animated the pioneers and missionaries in your country.
"The Eucharist, gift of God for the Life of the World," this is the theme chosen for this latest International Eucharistic Congress. The Eucharist is our most beautiful treasure. It is the sacrament par excellence; it introduces us early into eternal life; it contains the whole mystery of our salvation; it is the source and summit of the action and of the life of the Church, as the Second Vatican Council recalled (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 8).
It is, therefore, particularly important that pastors and faithful dedicate themselves permanently to furthering their knowledge of this great sacrament. Each one will thus be able to affirm his faith and fulfill ever better his mission in the Church and in the world, recalling that there is a fruitfulness of the Eucharist in his personal life, in the life of the Church and of the world. The Spirit of truth gives witness in your hearts; you also must give witness to Christ before men, as the antiphon states in the alleluia of this Mass. Participation in the Eucharist, then, does not distance us from our contemporaries; on the contrary, because it is the expression par excellence of the love of God, it calls us to be involved with all our brothers to address the present challenges and to make the planet a place where it is good to live.
To accomplish this, it is necessary to struggle ceaselessly so that every person will be respected from his conception until his natural death; that our rich societies welcome the poorest and allow them their dignity; that all persons be able to find nourishment and enable their families to live; that peace and justice may shine in all continents. These are some of the challenges that must mobilize all our contemporaries and for which Christians must draw their strength in the Eucharistic mystery.
"The Mystery of Faith": this is what we proclaim at every Mass. I would like everyone to make a commitment to study this great mystery, especially by revisiting and exploring, individually and in groups, the Council's text on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, so as to bear witness courageously to the mystery. In this way, each person will arrive at a better grasp of the meaning of every aspect of the Eucharist, understanding its depth and living it with greater intensity. Every sentence, every gesture has its own meaning and conceals a mystery. I sincerely hope that this Congress will serve as an appeal to all the faithful to make a similar commitment to a renewal of Eucharistic catechesis, so that they themselves will gain a genuine Eucharistic awareness and will in turn teach children and young people to recognize the central mystery of faith and build their lives around it. I urge priests especially to give due honor to the Eucharistic rite, and I ask all the faithful to respect the role of each individual, both priest and lay, in the Eucharistic action. The liturgy does not belong to us: it is the Church's treasure.
The liturgy does not belong to us: it is the Church's treasure.
Reception of the Eucharist, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament -- by this we mean deepening our communion, preparing for it and prolonging it -- is also about allowing ourselves to enter into communion with Christ, and through him with the whole of the Trinity, so as to become what we receive and to live in communion with the Church. It is by receiving the Body of Christ that we receive the strength "of unity with God and with one another" (Saint Cyril of Alexandria, In Ioannis Evangelium, 11:11; cf. Saint Augustine, Sermo 577).
We must never forget that the Church is built around Christ and that, as Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Albert the Great have all said, following Saint Paul (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:17), the Eucharist is the sacrament of the Church's unity, because we all form one single body of which the Lord is the head. We must go back again and again to the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, where we were given a pledge of the mystery of our redemption on the Cross. The Last Supper is the locus of the nascent Church, the womb containing the Church of every age. In the Eucharist, Christ's sacrifice is constantly renewed, Pentecost is constantly renewed. May all of you become ever more deeply aware of the importance of the Sunday Eucharist, because Sunday, the first day of the week, is the day when we honor Christ, the day when we receive the strength to live each day the gift of God.
I would also like to invite the pastors and faithful to a renewed care in their preparation for reception of the Eucharist. Despite our weakness and our sin, Christ wills to make his dwelling in us, asking him for healing. To bring this about, we must do everything that is in our power to receive him with a pure heart, ceaselessly rediscovering, through the sacrament of penance, the purity that sin has stained, "putting our soul and our voice in accord," according to the invitation of the Council (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, No.11). In fact, sin, especially grave sin, is opposed to the action of Eucharistic grace in us. However, those who cannot go to communion because of their situation, will find nevertheless in a communion of desire and in participation in the Mass saving strength and efficacy.
The Eucharist had an altogether special place in the lives of saints. Let us thank God for the history of holiness of Quebec and Canada, which contributed to the missionary life of the Church. Your country honors especially its Canadian martyrs, Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues and their companions, who were able to give up their lives for Christ, thus uniting themselves to his sacrifice on the Cross.
Put yourselves in their school; like them, be without fear; God accompanies you and protects you; make of each day an offering to the glory of God the Father and take your part in the building of the world, remembering with pride your religious heritage and its social and cultural brilliance, and taking care to spread around you the moral and spiritual values that come to us from the Lord.
They belong to the generation of men and women who founded and developed the Church of Canada, with Marguerite Bourgeoys, Marguerite d'Youville, Marie of the Incarnation, Marie-Catherine of Saint Augustine, Mgr Francis of Laval, founder of the first diocese in North America, Dina Belanger and Kateri Tekakwitha. Put yourselves in their school; like them, be without fear; God accompanies you and protects you; make of each day an offering to the glory of God the Father and take your part in the building of the world, remembering with pride your religious heritage and its social and cultural brilliance, and taking care to spread around you the moral and spiritual values that come to us from the Lord.
The Eucharist is not a meal among friends. It is a mystery of covenant. "The prayers and the rites of the Eucharistic sacrifice make the whole history of salvation revive ceaselessly before the eyes of our soul, in the course of the liturgical cycle, and make us penetrate ever more its significance" (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, [Edith Stein], Wege zur inneren Stille Aschaffenburg, 1987, p. 67). We are called to enter into this mystery of covenant by conforming our life increasingly every day to the gift received in the Eucharist. It has a sacred character, as Vatican Council II reminds: "Every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree " (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 7). In a certain way, it is a "heavenly liturgy," anticipation of the banquet in the eternal Kingdom, proclaiming the death and resurrection of Christ, until he comes (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26).
In order that the People of God never lack ministers to give them the Body of Christ, we must ask the Lord to make the gift of new priests to his Church. I also invite you to transmit the call to the priesthood to young men, so that they will accept with joy and without fear to respond to Christ. They will not be disappointed. May families be the primordial place and the cradle of vocations.
Before ending, it is with joy that I announce to you the meeting of the next International Eucharistic Congress. It will be held in Dublin, in Ireland, in 2012. I ask the Lord to make each one of you discover the depth and grandeur of the mystery of faith. May Christ, present in the Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit, invoked over the bread and wine, accompany you on your daily way and in your mission. May you, in the image of the Virgin Mary, be open to the work of God in you. Entrusting you to the intercession of Our Lady, of Saint Anne, patroness of Quebec, and of all the saints of your land, I impart to all of you an affectionate Apostolic Blessing, as well as to all the persons present, who have come from different countries of the world.
Dear friends, as this significant event in the life of the Church draws to a conclusion I invite you all to join me in praying for the success of the next International Eucharistic Congress, which will take place in 2012 in the city of Dublin! I take this opportunity to greet warmly the people of Ireland, as they prepare to host this ecclesial gathering. I am confident that they, together with all the participants at the next Congress, will find it a source of lasting spiritual renewal.

John Paul II to Priests, Religious, and Seminarians- 4MAY1989 Malawi

In a special way I commend to you young men the closing words of this evening’s Gospel: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Yes, the gift of a vocation to the priesthood is not something you seek for yourselves. It has nothing to do with status or privilege as the world understands these things. Your great privilege will be to lay down your lives with Christ the eternal priest if you are truly called to this vocation. May God help each of you to discern His will so that you too may “Go out to bear fruit, fruit that will last.”
-- John Paul II
To priests, religious, and seminarians in Malawi (May 4, 1989)

Free Download- Latin English Dictionary Program

LATIN-ENGLISH DICTIONARY PROGRAM WORDS - Version 1.97FC
Download a free Latin-English-Latin dictionary program for your PC or MAC
http://users.erols.com/whitaker/words.htm

Prayer Quest- Father Dubay,S.M.

The person who rejects God (either explicitly or in lifestyle) is really saying:

I am choosing finite reality.
- Father Thomas Dubay,S.M.

Prayer Quest #2

Free mp3 downloads of all Father Dubay and more at
http://catholicaudio.us/

Sancta Missa

On-Line Tutorial for Priests who wish to learn the Latin Mass authorized by Pope Benedict XVI in his Motu Proprio, "Summorum Pontificum".

Poor Clare Colettine Videos- Belleville, IL

The Poor Clare Nuns Colettine
A Life for God
This video was originally produced in 2003 by the Poor Clare Nuns at the Belleville, Illinois monastery.It was created as a means of letting people know what the Poor Clares do all dayas well as explain their spiritual life.

http://www.poorclares-belleville.info/video/begin.htm


Prayer and Contemplation
Prayer and Work
Prayer and Meditation
Prayer and Formation

Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), founder of religious communities

An address on Holy Indifference, 16th May, 1659

"Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be"
Where is the loving heart? In whatever it loves – in other words, wherever our love resides, there our heart is held captive. It cannot leave it, cannot rise above it, cannot move either to right or left; see how it is brought to a standstill! Wherever a miser has his treasure, there his heart is; and wherever our heart is, there is our treasure.Think of it! A mere nothing, a fancy, some hard word said to us, the absence of a friendly welcome, some small refusal, just the thought that we are not thought much of – all these things wound and upset us to such an extent that we cannot get over them!

It is self-love that fixates us on these imaginary injuries, we don't know how to throw them off, we are always dwelling on them within, and why?

Because we are held prisoner by this passion. Who is it who imprisons us? Are we «in the freedom of the children of God»? (Rom 8,21). Or are we held fast to possessions, pleasures, honors?
O Saviour, you have opened up for us the door of freedom, teach us to find it.
Make us understand the importance of this freeing,
make us turn to you that we may come to it.
Enlighten us, O my Saviour,
o see what it is we are attached to,
and please set us in the freedom of the children of God.

I just have to borrow this!

ACN- Are we sufficiently united with our persecuted brethren by suffering?

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is an international Catholic charity under papal jurisdiction, which yearly offers financial support to more than 10,000 projects worldwide. ACN supports the poor and persecuted churches with prayer, pastoral relief and material assistance. Help is given to refugees of all denominations.

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Father Werenfried van Straaten - the "Bacon Priest"

http://www.kirche-in-not.org/founder.html

Examine your conscience
Are we sufficiently united with our persecuted brethren by suffering? Don’t we forget their misery all too easily after we have paid our monetary contribution, which probably soothes our conscience to sleep, in a fit of sentimentality, into the account of ACN? What do we do with our own trials and difficulties? Do we sometimes remember that they are not useless and that they may “add what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ”? Do we believe in the redeeming value of our own sorrow? Do we endure it in union with the suffering of the persecuted? Do we believe in the power of our prayers? When praying the Our Father, do we think of our brethren whose keepers we are according to the will of the Father? Are we grateful to them for their example and are we ready for the lessons they give us? Do we enfold them as brothers in our hearts? Or do we only throw them an alms from a distance? Is our help in accordance with their needs?Does it consist of suffering, hardships and sacrifices proportional to the sacrifices with which they are burdened? Do we endeavour honestly to share the weight of their cross, so that we are prepared to bear the same burdens as they? Or are we satisfied with humiliating pity and cheap gratuity?

“We do not expect you to pity us nor do we ask it of you, but that you help us to discover our vocation and to be faithful to it” writes a father of a family in eastern Europe.

"Promise that you will not let a single day pass without praying for me and my poor brothers," asks a persecuted priest.

“They have deprived us of everything of which we can be deprived. We have nothing more to lose. But strength is necessary to remain upright in this total destitution: pray for us!” begs a bishop.

My Life for Christ - Brother Richard Sutter,L.C.- Vocation Video

http://immaculatae.blogspot.com/2008/02/vocations-please-pray.html
see also
http://www.vocation.com/content-nti.htm

Sacerdos Institute - Dedicated to build up Priests and the Priestly spirit in the heart of the Church

Sacerdos Institute is an international apostolic initiative of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement. It is dedicated to build up priests and the priestly spirit in the heart of the Church. Its network of services offers on-going integral formation, pastorally effective resources, and fraternity, within a spirit of communion with the local and universal Church.

Homily resources
http://www.sacerdos.org/english/articulos/homilies.phtml?se=374&ca=921

HOME
Who are we?
What do we offer?
Initiatives to favor the reciprocal enrichment of diocesan priests. Tools for ongoing formation. Activities for priestly fraternity. Help for personal spiritual growth
Contact Information
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(One type of retreat among many is the following)
Desert Days for Priests -A silent atmosphere for diocesan priests to get away from their rectories and experience a contemplative and refreshing environment.

Spiritual Life
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Sunday Homiletic Essay
Homily Packs

The ePriest.com Homil