This is not Catholic but it is from Barbados I was stationed there in the Navy from 1972-1973
FEAST OF ST. AGUSTINE OF HIPPO
Acts,
Chapter 10, verse 34-35
34 Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. 35 Rather, in every nation whoever FEARS him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.
God
shows no impartiality. This is true today as it was in the time of Peter. Rome
had no fear of God when it came to the sins of the flesh and lust of the eyes
having killed an estimated 400,000 human beings in the coliseum. Yet Rome as
terrible as it was pales in comparison to the sins of America with 58,586,256
abortions in America since Roe v. Wade in 1973. God shows no impartiality to
Nations either. Each receives their due.
God
is no respecter of rank or titles and asks us to combat the evil in our day.
Pope John Paul has proclaimed “Here is the remedy against evil. Pray, pray, and
nothing more.
Michael
Brown in his book “Prayer of the Warrior,”
reminds us that it was Luke who mentions that Jesus very frequently stated: “Unless you repent you will all perish.” (Lk. 13:3) To save us our Lord
has not abandoned us we have His church and the Virgin Mary’s apparitions
during these last days. She constantly emphasizes prayer, conversion, fasting,
penance, and faith. At Medjugorje she has stated, “Members of all faiths are
equal before God. God rules over each faith just like a sovereign over his
kingdom. In the world, all religions are not the same because all people have
not complied with the commandments of God. They reject and disparage them.”
Indeed, God shows no impartiality there are saints of God that are not
catholic. The Virgin told the seers of Medjugorje that there was a saint in the
village, and they were astonished because this person was a Muslim.
The eight
things’ Catholics and Muslims agree on[1]
Senior leaders from the Catholic
Church and the Muslim community have issued an eight-point joint statement
reflecting their shared beliefs. The document, which is the result of the
fourth Catholic-Muslim colloquium on interreligious dialogue, includes a call
for basic human rights to be protected by law, a pledge of solidarity with all
those in need, a rejection of all forms of proselytism and a focus on the right
of young people to an education that is “respectful of diversity”. At the end
of a two-day meeting at the Vatican entitled ‘Shared values in social and
political life: Christian and Muslim perspectives’. Delegates from a dozen
different countries came together, organised by the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue and Jordan’s Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies.
They were joined by Pope Francis on the concluding day. Former Canadian
ambassador to the Holy See, Anne Leahy, who currently teaches Catholic Social
Thought at McGill University in Montreal said “there was a meeting of minds” on
the important values that Muslims and Christians share in terms of being good
citizens acting together for the common good. “We hear too much about what our
differences are”, she said, so it’s important now “to witness that there are basic
values we share that can counter the negativity”. Muslims and Christians can
work with all people of good will who do not profess a religion, so
“inclusivity was a hallmark here”, she says.
However, a month earlier the Vatican’s
chief inter-faith expert, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, warned that dialogue with
Muslims had so far produced “negligible results” and failed to prevent the
threatened eradication of Christianity in the Middle East. The Cardinal said:
"We meet, we observe and listen to each other - but the problem is that
all these small achievements don't translate at all into law and
administration, or into the lives of ordinary people. The dialogue is just too
elitist".
The eight-point agreement stated:
1.
We share beliefs and moral values. Our commonalities
are much more than our particularities, and they constitute a solid basis
peacefully and fruitfully living together, also with persons of good will who
do not profess a particular religion.
2.
We believe in the humanizing and civilizing role of our
religions, when their followers adhere to their principles of worshipping God
and loving and caring for the other.
3.
We believe that God bestowed upon every person dignity
and inalienable rights. They are His gifts that should be recognized,
guaranteed and protected by law.
4.
We pledge our solidarity with our brothers and sisters
in humanity who are in any kind of need regardless of their ethnic, religious
or cultural background.
5.
Our help to the poor and the needy should be offered
out of compassion and for the sake of God's favour. It should never be used to
proselytize.
6.
We believe that the youth represent not only the future
of humanity. They are also an important part of its present. They have the
right to proper education that prepares them to be good citizens respectful of
diversity.
7.
Our world, our "common home", is going
through many complicated crises and needs the steady efforts of its inhabitants
to make it a suitable place where we can live together peacefully, sharing the
resources of the universe, mindful of future generations.
8.
We express our proximity and solidarity with all those
who suffer, especially from violence and armed conflict. Respect for
international law, dialogue, justice, mercy, compassion are values and adequate
means to achieve peace and harmony.
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[2]
CHAPTER
V
DIES
DIERUM
Sunday:
The Primordial
Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time
CONCLUSION
86. I entrust this Apostolic
Letter to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, that it may be received and
put into practice by the Christian community. Without in any way detracting
from the centrality of Christ and his Spirit, Mary is always present in the
Church's Sunday. It is the mystery of Christ itself which demands this: indeed,
how could she who is Mater Domini and Mater Ecclesiae fail to be
uniquely present on the day which is both dies Domini and dies
Ecclesiae?
As they listen to the word proclaimed
in the Sunday assembly, the faithful look to the Virgin Mary, learning from her
to keep it and ponder it in their hearts (cf. Lk 2:19). With Mary, they
learn to stand at the foot of the Cross, offering to the Father the sacrifice
of Christ and joining to it the offering of their own lives. With Mary, they experience
the joy of the Resurrection, making their own the words of the Magnificat which
extol the inexhaustible gift of divine mercy in the inexorable flow of time:
"His mercy is from age to age upon those who fear him" (Lk
1:50). From Sunday to Sunday, the pilgrim people follow in the footsteps of
Mary, and her maternal intercession gives special power and fervour to the
prayer which rises from the Church to the Most Holy Trinity.
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost[3]
Focus: True and
laudable service as we run to attain the eternal promises and increase in
faith, hope, and love
Introit of the Mass to-day is the prayer of an
afflicted soul entreating God for assistance. “Incline to my aid, O God; O
Lord, make haste to help me; let my enemies be con founded and ashamed who seek
my soul. Let them be turned backwards, and blush for shame, who desire evils to
me.”
Prayer. O
almighty and merciful God, from Whose gift it comes that Thou art worthily and
laudably served by the faithful, grant us, we beseech Thee, to run without
offence to the attainment of Thy promises.
EPISTLE, ii. Cor. iii. 4-9.
Brethren: Such confidence we have through Christ
towards God : not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of
ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God: Who also hath made us fit ministers
of the New Testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit: for the letter
killeth: but the spirit quickeneth. Now if the ministration of death, engraven
with letters upon stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which
is made void: how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather in glory?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory: much more the ministration of
justice aboundeth in glory.
Explanation.
St. Paul here introduces a comparison between the
priest hood of the Old and that of the New Law, in order to show that the
dignity of the priesthood under the New Law (and consequently the respect and
confidence due to it) as far excels the dignity of the priesthood under the Old
as the spirit does the letter the truth the figure. For if the ministry of
Moses, which consisted in the service of the letter, and imparted no grace, was
so glorious, how much more glorious is that priest hood of the New Law, through
which is conveyed the sanctifying grace of God! And how much more veneration
and obedience should accordingly be paid to the priests of the New Law!
GOSPEL Luke x 23-37
At that
time Jesus said to His disciples: Blessed are the eyes that see the things
which you see. For I say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to
see the things that you see and have not seen them; and to hear the things that
you hear and have not heard them. And behold a certain lawyer stood up,
tempting Him, and saying: Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? But
He said to him: What is written in the law? How readest thou?
He
answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and
with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy
neighbor as thyself. And He said to him: Thou hast answered right: this do, and
thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is
my neighbor?
And
Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and
fell among robbers, who also stripped him: and, having wounded him, went away
leaving him half dead. And it chanced that a certain priest went down the same
way: and seeing him, passed by. In like manner also a Levite, when he was near
the place and saw him, passed by. But a certain Samaritan being on his journey
came near him: and seeing him, was moved with compassion. And going up to him,
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own
beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took
out two pence (worth two days wages), and gave to the host, and said: Take care
of him: and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I at my return will
repay thee. Which of these three in thy opinion was neighbor to him that fell
among the robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And Jesus said to
him: Go and do thou in like manner.
Why does Jesus call His disciples
blessed? Because
they had the happiness which so many kings, patriarchs, and prophets had
desired in vain of seeing the Savior of the world, and of hearing His teaching.
What is it to love God? To acknowledge God as the highest
and most perfect good; to desire that He should be known, honored, loved, by
all men; that His will should be fulfilled by all; and so zealously to observe
His commandments that we would lose all the goods of life, and even life
itself, rather than transgress these commands and be separated from God.
What does it mean to love God with
the whole heart, etc.? “With
thy whole heart”, signifies with all the motions and inclinations of the heart
“with thy whole soul”, with all the thoughts, conceptions of the soul, “with
thy whole mind”, with all the desires, wishes, and determination of the will;
“with all thy strength”, with all the powers and faculties of body and soul
with all the acts and motions of the senses. All these should be directed to
God alone, as the last object and end of man.
How can this be done? By doing whatever we do, whether
it be mental or manual labor, eating, drinking, or recreation, with the
intention of doing the will of God and what is pleasing to Him. By this it is
understood that idle talk, intemperance in meat and drink, and in general all
sinful works, cannot be offered to God, because they are contrary to His will
and therefore deserve punishment.
Is that true love which loves God
because He does us good?
That love is truly good and praiseworthy, but not perfect, for self-interest
creeps in with it.
What, then, is the perfect love of
God? When we love
God only because He is in Himself the highest good and most worthy of love. In
such manner must we endeavor to love God; not out of self-interest, not from
the expectation of reward, nor yet from fear of punishment.
Can everyone thus love God? Yes, for there is no state of life
in which we cannot refer everything to God. Love does not require great deeds,
but that we should avoid evil, and refer everything to God; and all can do
this.
Aspiration. O Jesus, rich in love, Who hast so
earnestly exhorted us to the love of God and of our neighbor, engrave deep in
our hearts, we pray Thee, this commandment of love, that whatever we do or
leave undone, all our thoughts, words, and works, may begin and end in love of
Thee; and that no tribulation, temptation, or danger, nor even death itself,
may ever separate us from Thee. Grant, also, that out of love to Thee we may
love our neighbor, whether friend or enemy, as ourselves, and by this love may
deserve to have Thee as a Savior and merciful Judge.
Who is our neighbor? Every man be he a foreigner or a
fellow-countryman, poor or rich, of our own religion or of any other, a friend
or an enemy.
How are we to love our
neighbor? We must
love our neighbor as ourselves; that is, we must wish for him and do for him
what in similar circumstances we should desire for ourselves, and not wish for
him or do to him what we would not wish done to ourselves (Matt. vii. 12).
In what way are we
particularly to practice the love of our neighbor?
1.
By heartily rejoicing over the gifts and graces which our neighbor has received
from God, and by sympathizing with him in misfortune.
2.
By praying God to grant to our neighbor such gifts as St. Paul, on his knees,
besought for the Ephesians, the fulness of the knowledge of God, and of all
perfection.
3.
By overlooking and patiently bearing our neighbor’s faults, disorders, and
infirmities of every kind, as St. Paul says: “Bear ye one another’s burdens and
so you shall fulfil the law of Christ”.
4.
In general, by both the spiritual and the corporal works of mercy.
With what intention
should we love our neighbor?
We must love our neighbor in God, and for God’s sake, because He commands it,
and because such love is pleasing to Him.
Feast
of St. Augustine of Hippo[4]
St.
Augustine (354-430) was born at Tagaste, Africa, and died in Hippo. His father,
Patricius, was a pagan, his mother, Monica, a devout Christian. He received a
good Christian education. As a law student in Carthage, however, he gave
himself to all kinds of excesses and finally joined the Manichean sect. He then
taught rhetoric at Milan where he was converted by St. Ambrose. Returning to
Tagaste, he distributed his goods to the poor, and was ordained a priest. He
was made bishop of Hippo at the age of 41 and became a great luminary of the
African Church, one of the four great founders of religious orders, and a
Doctor of the universal Church.
"Though I am but dust and ashes, suffer
me to utter my plea to Thy mercy; suffer me to speak, since it is to God's
mercy that I speak and not to man's scorn. From Thee too I might have scorn,
but Thou wilt return and have compassion on me. ... I only know that the gifts
Thy mercy had provided sustained me from the first moment. ... All my hope is
naught save in Thy great mercy. Grant what Thou dost command, and command what
Thou wilt" (St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions,
6, 19).
As a young man, Augustine prepared for
a career as a teacher of Rhetoric and subsequently taught in Carthage and Rome.
Unfortunately, despite having a saint for a mother, as his career progressed,
he wandered far from his Christian upbringing, and his life sank into an abyss
of pride and lust. Like many young pagan men of his time, he lived with a
mistress and conceived a child with her out of wedlock. However, the Lord did
not want to lose hold of this lost sheep altogether: thus, inspired by the
writings of the Roman philosopher Cicero (and, no doubt, prompted by the Holy
Spirit), Augustine began what would prove to be a lifelong search for wisdom.
This search took him first to the religious cult called the
"Manichees," a strange sect that believed the material world is the
product of the powers of "darkness," while the spiritual realm is the
realm of "light." After becoming disillusioned with the bizarre theories
of the Manichees, Augustine adopted the philosophy of the Neo-Platonists. This
was a school of philosophy centered on the writings of the ancient philosopher
Plotinus, who described the mystical journey that all people ought to undertake
as "the flight of the alone to the Alone," in other words, as a
mystical, solitary search for the ineffable Source of all things. In 386,
Augustine moved to Milan to a new teaching post, and there, by divine
providence, he encountered the preaching of the archbishop of the city, the
great theologian St. Ambrose. As a result of the example and preaching of this
great saint, as well as the prayers and tears of his saintly mother, Augustine
was quickly plunged into a profound inner struggle, wrestling with his sins of
the flesh and with temptations to intellectual pride. The turning point of this
struggle came in the summer of 386 when Augustine was sitting in a garden,
recollecting his past life and gazing into the depths of his own soul. He
describes what happened next in his autobiographical Confessions
(written in 397)[5]:
Such things I said, weeping in the most
bitter sorrow of my heart. And suddenly, I heard a voice from some nearby
house, a boy's voice or a girl's voice, I do not know but it was a sort of
sing-song repeated again and again, "Take and read, take and read." I
ceased weeping and immediately began to search my mind most carefully as to
whether children were accustomed to chant these words in any kind of game, and
I could not remember that I had ever heard any such thing. Damming back the
flood of my tears I arose, interpreting the incident as quite certainly a
divine command to open my book of Scripture and read the passage at which I
should open. ... I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the passage
upon which my eyes first fell: "Not
in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention
and envy, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the
flesh in its concupiscence’s" (Rom 13:13). I had no wish to read
further, and no need. For in that instant, with the very ending of the
sentence, it was as though a light of utter confidence shone in my heart, and
all the darkness of uncertainty vanished away.
Then we [Augustine and his friend Alypius] went in to my mother and told her,
to her great joy. We related how it had come about: she was filled with
triumphant exultation and praised You who are mighty beyond what we ask or
conceive: for she saw that You had given her more than with all her pitiful
weeping she had ever asked. For You converted me to Yourself ... (Confessions, 8.11-12).
A prayer by St. Augustine
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that
my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, That I
love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to
defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, That
I always may be holy. Amen.[6]
Things to Do:
- Read
more about St. Augustine at CatholicIreland.net and at CatholicSaints.Info
- Go
here
for links to the writings of St. Augustine
- Also
learn more here, St. Augustine of Hippo
- See
St
Augustine, the Holy Trinity, the Child and the SeaShell
- Visit
Anastpaul for more info including many images
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
I. Its
Foundations in the Economy of Salvation
Illness in human life
1500 Illness
and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human
life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his
finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death.
1501 Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes
even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature,
helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn
toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return
to him.
The sick person before God
1502 The man of the Old Testament lives his sickness in the
presence of God. It is before God that he laments his illness, and it is of
God, Master of life and death, that he implores healing. Illness becomes a
way to conversion; God's forgiveness initiates the healing. It is the
experience of Israel that illness is mysteriously linked to sin and evil, and
that faithfulness to God according to his law restores life: "For I am the
Lord, your healer." The prophet intuits that suffering can also have
a redemptive meaning for the sins of others. Finally Isaiah announces that
God will usher in a time for Zion when he will pardon every offense and heal
every illness.
Christ the physician
1503 Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings
of every kind of infirmity are a resplendent sign that "God has visited
his people" and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has
the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins; he has come to heal
the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of. His
compassion toward all who suffer goes so far that he identifies himself with
them: "I was sick and you visited me." His preferential love for
the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special
attention of Christians toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the
source of tireless efforts to comfort them.
1504 Often Jesus asks the sick to believe. He makes use of
signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands, mud and washing. The
sick try to touch him, "for power came forth from him and healed them
all." and so in the sacraments Christ continues to "touch"
us in order to heal us.
1505 Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows himself
to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own: "He took
our infirmities and bore our diseases." But he did not heal all the
sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They
announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his
Passover. On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and
took away the "sin of the world," of which illness is only a
consequence. By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new
meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with
his redemptive Passion.
"Heal the sick . . ."
1506 Christ invites his disciples to follow him by taking up
their cross in their turn. By following him they acquire a new outlook on
illness and the sick. Jesus associates them with his own life of poverty and
service. He makes them share in his ministry of compassion and healing:
"So they went out and preached that men should repent. and they cast out
many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them."
1507 The risen Lord renews this mission ("In my name . . .
they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.") and
confirms it through the signs that the Church performs by invoking his name. These
signs demonstrate in a special way that Jesus is truly "God who
saves."
1508 The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing so
as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord. But even the most
intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses. Thus St.
Paul must learn from the Lord that "my grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness," and that the sufferings to be endured
can mean that "in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's
afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church."
1509 "Heal the sick!" The Church has received
this charge from the Lord and strives to carry it out by taking care of the
sick as well as by accompanying them with her prayer of intercession. She
believes in the life-giving presence of Christ, the physician of souls and
bodies. This presence is particularly active through the sacraments, and in an
altogether special way through the Eucharist, the bread that gives eternal life
and that St. Paul suggests is connected with bodily health.
1510 However, the apostolic Church has its own rite for the
sick, attested to by St. James: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for
the elders [presbyters] of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick
man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be
forgiven." Tradition has recognized in this rite one of the seven
sacraments.
A sacrament of the sick
1511 The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments
there is one especially intended to strengthen those who are being tried by
illness, the Anointing of the Sick:
This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ
our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to
indeed by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by James the
apostle and brother of the Lord.
1512 From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both
East and West, we have testimonies to the practice of anointings of the sick
with blessed oil. Over the centuries the Anointing of the Sick was conferred
more and more exclusively on those at the point of death. Because of this it
received the name "Extreme Unction." Notwithstanding this evolution
the liturgy has never failed to beg the Lord that the sick person may recover
his health if it would be conducive to his salvation.
1513 The Apostolic Constitution Sacram unctionem infirmorum, following
upon the Second Vatican Council, established that henceforth, in the Roman
Rite, the following be observed:
The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given to those
who are seriously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with duly
blessed oil - pressed from olives or from other plants - saying, only once:
"Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you
with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you
and raise you up."
MTV Video Music Awards[7]
Today is MTV music awards; sadly,
most of the music awarded much like the academy awards promote evil and the
ways of the world; the degradation of the flesh and the promotion of the New
World Order.
My advice is to avoid, the MTV,
and have a Wiener Schnitzel instead. Whether breaded or in the bun, because
today is also Wiener
Schnitzel day.
A breaded cutlet that is deep-fried in
oil, Wiener Schnitzel is traditionally made from veal, but also can be made
from pork. In Australia, it might even be found made out of chicken or beef.
This dish is actually named after the
city where it was invented, as “Wien” is the way Vienna is written in German.
Week
Ahead
·
August 29-Passion of St John the Baptist
·
September 2, First Friday
·
September 3, First Saturday
·
September 4, Thirtieth Sunday after Pentecost
Daily
Devotions
·
30 DAY TRIBUTE TO MARY 14th ROSE:
o
30
Days of Women and Herbs – Frauendreissiger
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Binding
and suppressing the Devils Evil Works
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[3]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[6]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1116
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