January 9-12 Consumer Electronics Show NV
·
Start January 9 to end on February 11, the feast
of the Apparition at Lourdes the Total Concentration to the Virgin Mary.
Tuesday
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Psalm 55, Verse 20
God, who sits enthroned forever, will hear me and
afflict them. Selah. For they will not mend their ways; they have no FEAR of God.
The psalmist, betrayed by intimate friends, prays that God punish those oath breakers and thus be acknowledged as the protector of the wronged. The sufferings of the psalmist include both ostracism and mental turmoil, culminating in the wish to flee society. The psalmist, confident of vindication, exhorts others to a like trust in the God of justice. The Psalm is not so much for personal vengeance as for a public vindication of God’s righteousness now. There was no belief in an afterlife where such vindication could take place.[1]
Nobody can hurt us more than those with whom we have kinship. One of the hardest things to see is those whom you care about go down the road to perdition knowing that they will not mend their ways. Yet, there is always hope, continue in prayer. Look at the accomplishment of St. Monica.
Forgiveness will unleash a power in your life that is underrated and
often ignored. It is underrated mainly because it is underused. We
fail to capture the power of forgiveness because we are afraid of it, because we have grown comfortable in our familiar
wounds, or because we are sinfully stubborn. But the power is there waiting for
us. The lesson is simple: Give forgiveness and you will unleash a flood of
grace on yourself and on those around you. When you clench your fists and grit
your teeth in anger toward someone, you have no room in your heart for God to
place His hand in yours.
Replace your clenched fist with an open hand and watch as
God fills your soul to overflowing. Pray that those whom you forgive may be protected
from wicked spirits.
Wicked
Spirits[2]
Great courage is required in spiritual warfare. Our enemies are
terrible in strength and numerous beyond count. They are ever active, ever
alert to our destruction. Yet only one angel of God is able to defeat the devil
and all the demons. God never permits us to be tempted beyond our strength. By
God’s grace we can resist them and advance the work of our sanctification. Know
that the devil fears no person and would destroy us if not for the limits God
puts on him and the protection provided by our guardian angels and the other
eight choirs of angels. Let ourselves be guided by the grace which the precious
blood provides and call upon the intersession of Mary Queen of Heaven. Resist
the devil and he will flee from you. (He will go on to easier pickings like any
criminal) When tempted call upon the Blood of Christ to give you courage and
strength to fight the enemy.
Wicked Spirits and Wicca[3]
·
There
are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. The
Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the
Spirit: "Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger,
selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not
inherit the Kingdom of God." (CCC 1852)
·
God
can reveal the
future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude
consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for
whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it.
Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility. (CCC 2115)
·
All
forms of divination
are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other
practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting
horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the
phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for
power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as
well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect,
and loving fear that we owe to God alone. (CCC 2116)
·
All
practices of magic or
sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at
one’s service and have a supernatural power over others—even if this were for
the sake of restoring their health—are gravely contrary to the virtue of
religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the
intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of
demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies
divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful
against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the
invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity. (CCC
2117)
Prayer
to St. Michael the Archangel
St.
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the
wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do
thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell
Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Law Enforcement
Appreciation Day[4]
Law Enforcement Appreciation Day was created to celebrate police officers. It's a day to thank them for the public service they provide and to show support. It is also a time to commemorate the officers that have died in the line of duty.
Law
Enforcement Appreciation Day Facts
- As
of 2018, there are over 900,000 sworn police officers serving in the
United States. Approximately 12% are female.
- According
to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), for the
ten-year period of 2008-2017, the main cause of death of police officers
was gunshots. The second one was auto crashes. 1511 police officers died
in the line of duty during said period.
- The
Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor is the highest honor that can be
awarded to a public safety officer in the United States. The awardees are
posted here.
Law
Enforcement Appreciation Day Top Events and Things to Do
- In
1989, during the holiday season, Dolly Craig put two blue candles in her
living room window. The purpose was to commemorate her son-in-law, Daniel
Gleason, who died in the line of duty, and her daughter, Daniel's wife,
who died in a car accident in 1989. The idea was adopted by C.O.P.S
(Concerns of Police Survivors) under the name Project Blue Light. You can
take part by placing a blue light on your window during the holiday season
to commemorate fallen officers.
- Watch
a police movie. From infiltration films like Donnie Brasco
(1997) and The Departed (2006), to detective films like Se7en
(1995) and comedies like Hot Fuzz (2007).
- Wear
blue.
- If
you see a law enforcement officer, thank them for their service.
- If
you have a positive story involving law enforcement, share it on social
media.
Thomas
Paine’s “Common Sense” Published 1776[5]
Key Points Made in 'Common Sense'
Here
are some of Paine’s key points:
The government’s purpose was to serve the
people. Paine described government as a “necessary evil,” which existed to give
people a structure so they could work together to solve problems and prosper.
But to do that, it had to be responsive to people’s needs. The British system,
Paine argued, failed at that, because it gave the monarchy and nobles in
Parliament too much power to thwart the people’s elected representatives. “The
constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer
for years together without being able to discover in which part the fault lies,
some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will
advise a different medicine,” Paine wrote.
Having a king was a bad idea. Paine didn't
just find fault with British rule of the colonies. He ridiculed the very idea
of having a hereditary monarch at all. "In England a king hath little more
to do than to make war and give away places, which in plain terms, is to
impoverish the nation and set it together by the ears," Paine wrote.
"A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand
sterling a year for and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one
honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians
that ever lived."
America
as the home of the free. Paine refuted the notion that Americans should be
loyal to a mother country that he considered a bad parent. “Even brutes do not
devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families,” he wrote.
Besides, he argued, America’s real connection was to people everywhere who
yearned to escape oppression. "This new world hath been the asylum for the
persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of
Europe," Paine proclaimed. "Hither have they fled, not from the
tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is
so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants
from home, pursues their descendants still."
America
had a rare opportunity to create a new nation based on self-rule. As Paine saw
it, both Americans and the British knew it was inevitable that the colonies
would break free. "I have never met with a man, either in England or
America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the
countries, would take place one time or other." And that time had come.
America had raw materials, from timber and hemp to iron, and the skills that it
needed to build and equip an army and navy for its defense. Just as important,
the individual colonies had the potential to put aside differences and form a
powerful nation. But they needed to do it quickly, before the population grew
to a point where new divisions might develop. The moment in history was
"that peculiar time, which never happens to a nation but once," he
wrote.
A strong central government was needed. Paine
envisioned that the new nation would have a strong central government, with a
constitution that protected individual rights, including freedom of religion.
"A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends," he argued.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION ONE-MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE
SPIRIT
CHAPTER
ONE-THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Article 8-SIN
IN BRIEF
1870 "God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may
have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32).
1871 Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the
eternal law (St. Augustine, Faust 22: PL 42, 418). It is an offense against
God. It rises up against God in a disobedience contrary to the obedience of
Christ.
1872 Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and
injures human solidarity.
1873 The root of all sins lies in man's heart. The kinds and the
gravity of sins are determined principally by their objects.
1874 To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing
it - something gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of
man is to commit a mortal sin. This destroys in us the charity without which
eternal beatitude is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death.
1875 Venial sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reparable by
charity, which it allows to subsist in us.
1876 The repetition of sins - even venial ones - engenders vices,
among which are the capital sins.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Restoring the Constitution.
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face-Tuesday
Devotion
·
Pray Day 7 of
the Novena for our Pope and Bishops
·
Tuesday:
Litany of St. Michael the Archangel
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: January
·
Carnival
Time begins in Catholic Countries.
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Recipe-Coq
au Vin
·
Rosary
[2] St. Michael and the Angels, Tan
Books, 1983.
[4]https://www.wincalendar.com/Law-Enforcement-Appreciation-Day
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