Friday, July 19, 2024
July 19 or May 8
Saint of the day:
NIC’s
Corner-Don’t be a miser
· Let Freedom Ring Day 13 Freedom from Stinginess/Miserliness
Scrooge
changed because the three ghosts forced him to examine his life. Let us force
ourselves to do the same. After all, that is the whole point of the Examination
of Conscience we are supposed to do before entering into the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. In that examination, let us ask ourselves if we truly love God
above all things, or whether we are stingy and miserly with any or many of the
gifts God has given us, especially the gift of time. Let us not fear such an
examination, but rather revel in the fact that we know transformative Grace
will come to us through the Sacrament. Let us pray that through this
transformation it may be said of us as it was said of Scrooge in some
concluding words of A Christmas Carol: "And it was always said of him, that
he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
May that be truly said of us, and all of us!'
Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your
staff comfort me.
Psalm 23:4
JULY 19 Friday
Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 14
You shall not insult the deaf, or
put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall FEAR your God. I am the LORD.
Be
like your Heavenly Father; God is not a bully. Christ was often confronted by
the bullies of his time. When the
Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and
one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, “Teacher,
which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You
shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second
is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law
and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Mt. 22:34-40)
The
modern world attempts to bully the faithful into abandoning their relationship
with the Lord. Saint Pope Pius X was a pope, who resisted the bullying of the
modern world by establishing an oath against modernism[1].
The crux of this oath has five main points:
1.
I
profess that God is the origin and end of all things.
2.
I
accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts
and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin
of the Christian religion.
3.
I
believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of
the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ.
4.
I
sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the
apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in
the same purport.
5.
I
hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment
of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of
the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine
assent of the intellect to truth.
Another way the
world and the modernist clerics are attempting to put blinders on us is to
bully us into being okay with transgenderism. By the way today is International Transgender Day
of Visibility.
This is what the catechism of the church states on this subject.[2]
Note as of this date the USCCB has made no statement on the Transgender shooter in Tennessee. One wonders—maybe they are into National Tater Day or Cesar Chavez Day.
Sexual
Identity
(No.
2333) “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual
identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are
oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The
harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the
complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”
(No.
2393) “By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity
equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should
acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.”
Body and
Soul
(No. 364)
“The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a
human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the
whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple
of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very
bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world.
Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise
their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason, man may not
despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to
hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last
day.”
Modesty
(No.
2521) “Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty
protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what
should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears
witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in
conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.”
(No.
2522) “Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love… Modesty is
decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve
where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.”
(No.
2523) “There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests,
for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain
advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far
in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which
makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of
prevailing ideologies.” Updated August 7, 2019 2
Privacy
(No.
1907) “First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In
the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the
fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit
each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good
resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedom’s
indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to
act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and
rightful freedom also in matters of religion.’”
Mutilation
(No.
2297) “Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly
intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent
persons are against the moral law.”
Novena of St. Ann[3]
Daily Prayer to Saint Ann
O
glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and
with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my
troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present
intention which I recommend to you in your special care.
Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it
before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue
to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me
the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the
saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .
O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at
the hour of my death. Good St. Ann, intercede for me.
THIRD
DAY
Hail, good St. Ann, who first responded to the
needs of Mary, Mother of our Savior and Queen of Angels. Hail to you and to
your husband St. Joachim, who watched over her infancy, presented her to the
Lord in the temple and, according to your promise, consecrated her to the
service of God.
Hail St. Ann, good mother! I rejoice in the
marvels you continually perform, because they encourage all to seek your
intercession.
Good St. Ann, by the great power that God has
given you, show yourself my mother, my consoler, my advocate. Reconcile me to
the God I have so deeply offended. Console me in my trials; strengthen me in my
struggles. Deliver me from danger in my time of need. Help me at the hour of
death and open to me the gates of paradise.
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
Day 35
III. THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE TEACHING OF THE FAITH
The formation of the
Trinitarian dogma
249 From the beginning, the
revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the Church's
living faith, principally by means of Baptism. It finds its expression in the
rule of baptismal faith, formulated in the preaching, catechesis and prayer of
the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such
as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: "The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be
with you all."
250 During the first centuries
the Church sought to clarify her Trinitarian faith, both to deepen her own
understanding of the faith and to defend it against the errors that were
deforming it. This clarification was the work of the early councils, aided by
the theological work of the Church Fathers and sustained by the Christian
people's sense of the faith.
251 In order to articulate the
dogma of the Trinity, the Church had to develop her own terminology with the
help of certain notions of philosophical origin: "substance",
"person" or "hypostasis", "relation" and so on.
In doing this, she did not submit the faith to human wisdom, but gave a new and
unprecedented meaning to these terms, which from then on would be used to
signify an ineffable mystery, "infinitely beyond all that we can humanly
understand".
252 The Church uses (I) the
term "substance" (rendered also at times by "essence" or
"nature") to designate the divine being in its unity, (II) the term
"person" or "hypostasis" to designate the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit in the real distinction among them, and (III) the term
"relation" to designate the fact that their distinction lies in the
relationship of each to the others.
Fitness
Friday-The 5 Switches of Manliness: Challenge[4]
The Vital Need for Challenge in a
Man’s Life
So, despite these obstacles and
knowing that daring greatly may result in failure, should a man seek to turn
the switch of challenge, or should he simply opt-out in favor of a life of
safety and convenience? Because sure, striving for greatness benefits society,
but nobody wants to feel like they’re being used in a sucker’s game.
The truth is, what’s good for society
as a whole is also good for the individual man. When you pursue a challenge, it
is true that sometimes you will fail, but the real value is simply found in the
striving. Whatever blood, sweat, and tears you expend in the pursuit of
greatness, whether you ever reach your goal or not, will be returned to you in
the form of greater strength, virtue, and deep satisfaction.
When NASA first sent astronauts up
into space, they thought perhaps the zero-gravity atmosphere would do great
things for the astronauts’ bodies–that their vitality might increase once they
were released from having to contend with all that gravitational pressure. Of
course, what they found instead was that without the pressure, their bodies
deteriorated, and their muscles atrophied.
The lesson can very easily be applied
here: you can try to float through life by shunning challenge and minimizing
resistance, but you’ll end up as a soft shell of a man.
Obviously, most men these days don’t
want to have 100 children. Some may not even want one. Of course, nature does
not distinguish between the drive for progeny and the drive for sex, and plenty
of men still want to have as much of the latter as possible. But whether you’re
an unabashed lothario or no-sex-before-marriage man, our primal drive for
challenge cannot be denied and left unsatisfied.
The Warrior Dash, a race in which
participants run, climb over obstacles, crawl through the mud, and sprint
through fire, has more than 650,000 fans on Facebook. Whereas men used to get
in the dirt to get paid, men now pay to get in the dirt. This is truly
extraordinary. Clearly, the need for challenge cannot simply be rationalized
away.
How to Turn the Challenge Switch
in Your Life
Truly, the biggest challenge for
modern men is motivating ourselves to embrace little challenges in a time of
peace and prosperity, in order to be ready for a great challenge, if, perhaps
simply when, it arises. In a time where there are not too many external
challenges that are thrust upon us, a man must motivate himself to utilize
every bit of his potential internally, to purposefully challenge himself.
Decades ago, psychologist Abraham
Maslow came up with his famous “hierarchy of needs,” which described the
ascending level of human needs. Once humans have taken care of their basic
needs, like food and shelter, they have the freedom to seek even more from
life, working their way to the peak of the pyramid, which is
self-actualization.
Self-actualization sounds a little
hokey, but it simply means this: “What a man can be, he must be.” In other
words, a man at his peak utilizes all of his potential and becomes all he is
capable of becoming. So, the pursuit of greatness and each man’s peak will look
different for each individual man, according to his particular talents,
abilities, and desires.
But for every man, it can only be
attained by creating challenges for himself whenever possible. It sounds
complicated and daunting but remember the mantra of the switches of manliness
theory: it’s all about doing small and simple things.
I love what Steve Kamb from Nerd Fitness has to say about finding a
challenge in your life. Simply do sh** that
scares you. Find whatever makes you uncomfortable and do it.
If that bit of advice is still too vague for you and you’re still looking for
some specific ways to incorporate the switch of challenge in your life, we
provide the following suggestions.
Mental Challenges
·
If you’re in high school or college, don’t take
the easy classes just so you can get the easy A. Take classes that will
challenge and stretch you intellectually.
·
Read books and articles that challenge your
point of view.
·
Make it a goal to read the Great Books
of the Western World. I’ve been doing this for two years now, with
numerous starts and stops. Some of the reading is dense and challenging, but
the effort has been worthwhile.
·
Take up meditation. Learning how to quiet the
distracted mind requires discipline and dedication.
·
If you’ve never been a math guy like me, take
free online math classes at Khan Academy.
I freaking love this site. I’m in the middle of reviewing basic arithmetic
but am looking forward to getting started with the calculus stuff.
·
Ask for assignments at work that challenge you.
Don’t be the guy who plays it safe and stays ducked under his desk all the
time.
Spiritual/Moral
·
Make it a goal to pray or meditate every morning
and evening.
·
Challenge yourself to read your scriptures for
10 minutes or more a day.
· Commit to doing several hours of community service each month.
·
Start tithing 10% of your income to your church
or to a charitable organization.
·
Take Ben
Franklin’s 13 Virtues Challenge
·
Join the Catholic Church in Afghanistan.
Physical
·
Take up a combat sport like boxing or MMA. Go and train
in Thailand. And don’t just do it recreationally, actually sign up for
an amateur fight.
·
Sign up for a Warrior Dash or Tough Mudder
event.
·
Do some gut busting
football conditioning drills.
·
Take up intermittent fasting.
·
Do the Universal
Man Plan
Social/Emotional Challenges
·
Reconcile with somebody you’ve been estranged
with for a long time.
·
Have that difficult conversation you’ve been
putting off.
·
Travel to a place that’s way off the map.
·
If public speaking scares the crap out of you,
join Toast Masters. You’ll get plenty of opportunities to speak in public.
·
That woman you’ve been wanting to ask out on a
date? Do it. Today.
·
Stop seeking
for the approval of others.
·
Find your true
vocation.
·
Quit “shoulding”
all over yourself. Deciding to do what I chose to do in life instead
of doing what I thought I should do was one the biggest challenges I’ve
overcome.
· Do you have any suggestions on how to flip the switch of challenge in a man’s life? What sort of challenges have you overcome that have made you feel more like a man? Share them with us in the comments.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Conversion of Sinners
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[1]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=5732
[2]https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/promotion-and-defense-of-marriage/upload/Gender-Ideology-Select-Teaching-Resources.pdf
[3]Blessed Sacrament Fathers, ST. ANN’S SHRINE, Cleveland, Ohio
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