Friday, February 28, 2020

CONFESSION


Confession is more powerful than an exorcism. One is a sacrament and the other is a blessing. One confession is worth 100 exorcisms.

The devil wants to destroy the soul, and the soul is healed by confession. If people want to decrease the work of Satan, they should increase the use of confession.

Once the confessional line gets thin, the activity of Satan increases. To decrease the work of Satan, increase the use of confession.

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Wednesday, February 26, 2020

WHEN DEATH COMES


It is most useful for our salvation to say often to ourselves: I must one day die! The Church every year on Ash Wednesday brings this remembrance to the faithful. This certainty of death is brought to our recollection many times in the year; sometimes by the burial grounds which we pass upon the road, sometimes by the graves which we behold in churches, sometimes by the dead who are carried to burial.

The most precious furniture that was carried by the anchorites to their caves was a cross and a skull; the cross to remind them of the great love of Jesus Christ for us, and the skull to remind them of the day of their own death. And so they persevered in penitential works till the end of their days; and thus dying in poverty in the desert, they died more contented than if they had died as kings in their palaces.

"The end is at hand! The end is at hand! In this life one man lives a longer, another a shorter time; but for everyone sooner or later, the end comes; and when that end comes, nothing will comfort us at death but the thought that we have loved Jesus Christ, and have endured with patience the labors of this life for love of Him.

Then, not the riches we have gained, nor the honors we have obtained, nor the pleasures we have enjoyed, will console us. All the greatness of the world cannot comfort a dying man; it rather adds to his pains; and the more he has gained of it, the more does he suffer.

It was said by Sister Margaret of St. Anne, a very holy Discalced Carmelite, and daughter of the Emperor Rudolph II: "What profit is a kingdom at the hour of death?". Oh, how many worldly persons are there to whom, at the very moment when they are busy in seeking for gain, power, and office, the message of death comes: "Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live." (Isaias 37:1). Why, O man, hast thou neglected to make thy will till the hour when thou art in sickness? O my God, what pain is suffered by him who is on the point of gaining some lawsuit, or of taking possession of some palace or property, who hears it said by the priest who has come to pray for his soul: Depart, Christian soul, from this world. Depart from this world, and render thy account to Jesus Christ. "But," he cries, "I am not now well prepared." What matters that? Thou must now depart.

O my God, give me light, give me strength to spend the rest of my life in serving and loving Thee. If now I should die, I should not die content; I should die disturbed. What, then, do I wait for? That death should seize me at a moment of the greatest peril to my soul? O Lord, if I have been foolish in the past, I will not be so for the time to come. Now I give myself wholly to Thee; receive me and help me with Thy grace.

In a word, to every one the end comes, and with the end comes that decisive moment on which depends a happy or wretched eternity. Oh, what a moment, on which Eternity depends! Oh, that all would think upon that moment, and the account they must give to their Judge of their whole life! Truly, they would not then devote themselves to amassing riches, nor labor to become great in this perishable world; they would think how to become Saints, and to be great in that life which never ends. If, then, we have Faith, let us believe that there is a Death, a Judgment, an Eternity, and labour for the rest of our life to live only for God. And, therefore, let us take care to live as pilgrims on this earth, remembering that we must speedily leave it. Let us live ever with death before our eyes; and, in all the affairs of life, let us take care to act precisely as we should act at the point of death.

All things upon earth either leave us or we leave them. Let us hear Jesus Christ, Who says: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither the rust nor moth doth consume." (Matthew 6:20). Let us despise the treasures of earth, which cannot content us, and speedily end; and let us gain those heavenly treasures which will make us happy and will never end.

Miserable I am, O Lord, in that I have so often, for the sake of the goods of this life, turned my back upon Thee Who art the Infinite Good! I see my folly in having sought for a great name, and for making my fortune in the world. I see what my true happiness is: it is henceforth to love Thee, and in everything to fulfill Thy Will. O my Jesus, take from me the desire of gain; make me love neglect and a humble life. Give me strength to deny myself in everything that displeases Thee. Make me embrace, with a calm mind, infirmities, persecutions, desolations, and all the crosses that Thou mayst send me. Oh, that I could die for the love of Thee, abandoned by all, as Thou didst die for me!

Holy Virgin, Thy prayers can enable me to find my true happiness, which is earnestly to love Thy Son. Oh, pray for me; in Thee I put my trust.

SAINT ALPHONSUS MARIA DE LIGUORI
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Monday, February 24, 2020

FOLLOW HIS LAW, AND TRUST HIM



 The Blessed Virgin said in Cana: "Do whatever He tells you." Today she tells us the same thing. Trust God and follow his commandments and teachings. 

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Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Saint Bernadette



 Let us remember Saint Bernardette Soubirous (1879), the visionary of Our Lady in Lourdes-France, whose body has been preserved incorrupt by Our Lord until His Second Coming, for devotion of the faithful.

 Bernadette Soubirous was born in Lourdes (France) in 1844, being the daughter of extremely poor parents. On the day of her baptism they named her María Bernarda (name she would use later when she became a religious) but everyone called her Bernadette. 

 She was the eldest of several brothers. His parents lived in a damp and poor basement, and her father worked as a garbage man for the hospital. The girl was always very weak in health because of the lack of food, and the unfortunately poor state of the room where she lived. In her first years, she suffered from cholera disease that left her extremely weakened. Because of the terribly cold weather in winter, in that region, Bernadette also suffered from asthma since she was ten, which when compressing the bronchial tubes produces continuous drowning and shortness of breath.

This disease tormented her all her life. At the end of her existence she also suffered from tuberculosis. In her, the words of Our Lord were fulfilled: "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, my Father will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it (through sufferings), that it may bring forth more fruit” (Jn. 15:2). 

 In Bernadette, the words of Saint Paul were fulfilled: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." 

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Friday, February 14, 2020

IF YOU...

"If you change from inhumanity to alms-giving, you have stretched forth the hand that was withered. If you withdraw from theaters and go to church, you have cure the lame foot. If you draw back your eyes from a harlot... you have opened them when they were blind... These are the greatest miracles."

Saint John Chrysostom


Wednesday, February 12, 2020

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST: RESURRECTION, THE NEW FILM OF MEL GIBSON 



After the wonderful film "The Passion of the Christ", Mel Gibson’s new film is about the event that changed history and is the foundation of our faith: the Resurrection!

 A film that meticulously describes the anguish felt by the disciples of Christ during the three days from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. "The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection", is a sequel of "The Passion of the Christ", and it will be screened in cinemas only during Holy Week 2020. 

The previous film also premiered during Holy Week 2004, grossing $611,899,420. For this reason, the director decided to do the same with the new movie.

Some of the same actors that were part of the cast of The Passion of the Christ will appear in the new film, namely: Jim Caviezel (in the role of Jesus), Maia Morgenstern, Christo Jivkov and Francesco De Vito. 

For the first time in the history of cinema, the three days after the death of Christ will be portrayed. The new episode begins where the first one ended, with the burial of Christ, thus narrating moment by moment the three days after Christ's death. 

Among the other episodes narrated are the intrigues of Herod's palace and Resurrection Sunday in Jerusalem. In addition, the director has not forgotten to include important issues such as: the power, greed and ambition of some of the characters involved in the crucifixion like Pontius Pilate, Caiphas and Judas. 

Source: messainlatino
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Sunday, February 9, 2020

ENEMIES OF CIVILIZATION AND FAMILY 



"The enemies of life know that to destroy Christian civilization, they must first destroy the family at its weakest point – the child. And among the weakest, they must choose the least protected of all – the child who has never been seen; the child who is not yet known or loved in the usual meaning of the word; who has not yet seen the light of day; who cannot even cry out in distress."

 Dr. Jerome Lejeune French Genetic Scientist. He discovered, among other things, that Down syndrome is due to the presence of an extra chromosome.
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Friday, February 7, 2020

DEVOTION TO MARY WITH A DETERMINATION TO AMEND OUR LIVES IS A SIGN OF SALVATION



"If all sinners had recourse to Mary, with a determination to amend their lives, who shuld ever be lost? Only they that have not recourse to Mary are lost." 

 Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori 

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Monday, February 3, 2020

GO TO MARY 


"Preach to all, young and old alike, that they must remember they are children of Mary Help of Christians. Tell them she has gathered them here to take them away from the dangers of the world, so that they may love one another as brothers and give glory to God and to her by their good behaviour. Remind them that with her help that barrier of mistrust will fall which has been raised by the devil, who knows how to use it to ruin certain souls." 

 Saint John Bosco 

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