Maidens for Mary

Check out this Calendar/planner!   It is filled with great images of Mary and female saints, along with prayers to memorize and a quote to be inspired by!  See the link, enjoy!  http://www.sanctussimplicitus.com/1/post/2013/04/its-almost-the-end-of-the-school-year-how-about-a-planner-give-a-way.html

On-the-4th-day-of-christmas-my-true-love-gave-to-me! Enter the Drawing!

Clik the link above to enter the drawing for the 4th day of Christmas Give-a-Way!

In honour of the Holy Innocents we have a few books to give a way today that are about the great St. Anthony who held the most perfect Holy Innocent in is arms, none other than our Infant Lord.

Enter below to win one of the following: The Legend of St. Anthony, the fishes and the Mule Coloring book & The Children's Saint Anthony. Find a review of the books HERE.

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Love is a Garden!!!

                                                +JMJ+

   Fulton Sheen expresses this very well.  Love he says is born in a garden, that is marriage love with Adam and Eve, but they sinned and turned from love.  Love was then weakened, but Love Itself was crucified in a garden and poured out the Grace and Love from His Sacred Side, flowing from His Heart into ours, if we so choose.  This restores and strengthens true Love.

   Love is also like a garden because we must choose what flowers (Virtues) to grow and weed out the vices and sins.  Our garden can be most beautiful and the radiance and perfume that would come from such a loving garden, would be worth more than anything one's heart could ever desire!

I have copied the first part of the three for you to watch.  It is amazing!  May we learn to Love with a true and pure Love, tending to it and growing it everyday!  We must not wary or become negligent, love is more delicate than a red rose and many weeds try to climb up and choke it and if we are not at watch and praying, if we are not at work and praying, then our love can be lost and never grow.  Seek everyday to further your love, water it, feed it, weed it, and always keep it directed to the Source which is God.  Let us ask specifically the Holy Spirit, Who is Love to set our hearts of fire and burn them with that fire of Divine Love, so that we might with the beating Heart of the Son, Love the Father for all eternity!!!  Amen, so I hope, so may it be!

The Importance of Prayer

PRAYER

Prayer is the energy which accords with the dignity of the intellect; it is the intellect's true and highest activity (p.38 of Philokalia). In a way prayer means the shedding of thoughts and entering into desires of our hearts.

Our teacher Jesus Christ, out of pity for mankind and knowing the utter mercilessness of the demons, severely commands us: ‘Be ready at every hour, for you do not know when the thief will come; do not let him come and find you asleep’ (cf.Matt. 24:42-43). He also says: ‘Take heed, lest your hearts be overwhelmed withdebauchery and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and the hour come upon you unawares’(cf. Luke 21:34).Stand guard, then, over your heart and keep a watch on your senses;and if the remembrance of God dwells peaceably within you, you will catch the thieves when they try to deprive you of it. When a man has an exact knowledge about the nature of thoughts, he recognizes those which are about to enter and defile him, troubling the intellect with distractions and making it lazy. Those who recognize these evil thoughts for what they areremain undisturbed and continue in prayer to God.


God the Father also said: "Perfect prayer is not attained through many words but throught affection and desire, the soul raising herself to Me, with knowlledge of herself and My mercy, seasoned the one with the other." Dialogue p. 92

IF YOU FILL YOURSELF DISTANCING FROM GOD, THEN THAT IS A SIGN THAT YOU ARE NOT PRAYING ENOUGH OR AT ALL. FOR JUST AS WE CALL FRIENDS AND TALK TO THEM TO REMAIN CLOSE AND STAY IN TOUCH, WE LOSE THIS WHEN WE DO NOT. THE SAME WITH GOD.

To be Continued....

Triune Love

"DRINK, oh youth, Joy's purest Ray

From thy loved one's eyes all day"

Reflect the Image of that Divine Light!

"Better rule no lover knows,

Yet true rapture greater grows",

We are never sever'd from Their sight!

Powers eternal, distance, time,

Far beyond the might of stars sublime.

Gently rock the blood to rest,

That was disturbed and put to test

"O'er my senses softness steals,

Yet my bosom lighter feels"

And I daily am more blest,

because I within Thy Bosom rest

Though I can forget He is near,

My mind is free from care,

When I can calmly live and move;

by entrusting myself to Him

my mind, soul and every limb,

Unperceived infatuation

Longing turns to adoration,

Turns to reverence my Love.

Ne'er can cloud,  however light

Floating in the Triune regions bright.

When drawn upwards by the Sun,

As my heart in rapturous calm.

Free from envy and alarm,

Oh run run to the Son!

Ever love I The Triune Love alone!

In Their intimate Bosom I am blest

and only there do I find rest.

There I am protected and undefiled

There conceived and loved as a new born Child!

Written by Alexandra Clark

'Caritas in Veritate': Love in Truth

        God is Love, God is Truth, we cannot have one without the other, for God is both. Our

human intellects are hungry, seeking for knowledge and our hearts thirst for His Love. We seek truth

and are satisfied only by Truth. Now, God not only is true and possesses all truths, but is the

uncreated Truth itself.  Moreover, God being infinitely desirable and all good, is also infinitely

loving and lovable, and as St. John says:

                       "He who does not love does not know God: for God is Love."

Why then do we need to have a courageous witness to the truth as we exercise charity? It’s simple,

just as God is both Love and Truth, we must be of both and act using both.



        In these days to be charitable, is to do something and expect something back

in return. Only doing it for profit in this world.  That profit could be from just receiving a 'thank you'

to receiving a payment or even earning respect.  One needs to understand the truth and stand up

for the truth, especially when one is told that they are not "politically correct" or when one is

told that doing that certain thing is just a waste of time. Everyone needs to have great courage

for the truth, especially when it comes down to the true meaning of Charity. As Pope Benedict

XVI says " Love without truth or vice versa is nothing".  God planted in us Charity and Truth

and to act with just one or just the other is to be severing the gifts God has given to us that are

supposed to be used together. Metaphorically speaking, it’s like a bike, God gave us a back

wheel and a front wheel and if one is without the other it does not work and it certainly won’t

drive on that narrow road we need to follow. We need both and have to use both charity and

truth.


         In today's society when you are doing some act of charity, say for example sending a get

well card to someone in the hospital, you are told by the hospital or even sometimes by your

friends, not to include anything so called "religious" in it. They say it might offend them or

something and it’s none of our business what they believe. I say that’s total nonsense, one

must be a Light and a courageous witness to the Truth. No matter if it is offensive or not. If you

truly have Charity then you must always be standing for the Truth and want to bring others to the

Truth, because you love them. Especially if they are on their death bed and you really care for

their soul. You have to be courageous and declare the Truth within the balm of charity.　


This diabolical disorientation of the truth and charity has been all mixed up. What used to

be charity , love of neighbor and love of God, has been turned into an emotional carousal and a

sentimentality jollification. The word love is abused and degraded. Doing good for others only if

it is profitable for you, just doing it for the "feeling" (As thought that is all what Love is, just a

 feeling) and all the other distortions of charity without the truth, without God.

Truth gives value and meaning to charity. Only in Truth does Charity shine forth.  From the

womb to the tomb let us be valorous and brave, loving one another, helping one another, in and

to the Truth, with humble Charity to God.


          True happiness and true development can only come to us if we have True Charity which

is grounded in the Truth. As Pope Benedict as said "Truth filled love is from which true

development and progress in society proceeds." If we truly want to make progress in our country,

then we must do it with Love in Truth, 'Caritas in Veritate'. Environmentalists say we must

 protect our water, natural resources, trees, animals, etc., that is fine, we should take care of the

gifts that are given to us by God, but what about the most important gift He has given us, our

soul?  What of that the most precious gift of all, the one gift that will last through all eternity,

whether in Heaven or in Hell?  Pope Benedict XVI says "The way humanity treats the

environment influence the way it treats itself and vice versa." and "She must above all protect

mankind from self-destruction." How can we stop this self destruction, this loss of countless

souls into the deep abyss, if we are charitable, loving , and kind to our neighbor, but not care to

teach them or show them the truth and lead them to their eternal home, where true Love abides?



           All our kindness and respect we showed them will be of no profit, for after days, after

years, we shown not, nor told no one the truth, through the love we have for them, what will we

have gained by our loving them if we are deliberately letting them walk into that never ending

darkness of hell?  Never let manners rule over morals, let this be thy maxim: morals over manners.

God cannot be put down for the sake of human respect. That is a maxim of this world. We must

courageously be a Light for the Truth and proclaim it with ardent Love.



Today it is more needed than in St. Thomas More’s or St. Joan de Arc’s time, to stand for

the Truth, in the home and most especially in the public, in society. Where the Truth is being

twisted around, now these days what used to be right and just is now bad and evil, and what used to

be evil and bad are now good and right. Thus, this diabolical disorientation needs to be

confronted with undiminished bravery and valor, in solemn Truth, with deep heartfelt Charity. 

"Caritas in Veritate"!!!

Holy Love