Feast of Our Lady Of Sorrows

One of the reasons I started this blog was so I can collect most basic useful information about life for me and those who visit this blog. It occured to me that the Church is alive and that it is working seriously for a clear and noble purpose than the average person realize. The Church is building a civilization of love. People in the Church are working in millions of ways to make the Father's Kingdom come. I figure I could participate by making their noble actions known to me and those about me.

Today (pacific time - sorry I was too late in posting this post)is the Feast Our Lady of Sorrows. Someone made a YouTube video about a rosary of the Seven Sorrows. Here it is. This is just the first part, the other parts will show up in small windows after the movie is over.

The Eucharistic Kingdom

(Edited Sept 14)

Today we are remembering 9/11! The world and especially America experienced the evil in a very unique way. It is said that many people returned to God in those days. People generally remember that God exists when they recognize the reality of the Evil One. Other people ask why would a good God allow such a thing to happen. Saints would tell us that He only allow it when He can bring a greater good out of it. Now, every 9/11 people remember..., they ask question about good and evil, why would people cultivate such a hatred?, how about God?

Even though sometimes we don't understand everything involved, Christians know that every things work for good for those who love God. God is all good and everything that happens it is for good. The greatest evil that ever happened was the Crucifixion of God's own Son Jesus Christ. If God is more loving, more perfect and perfectionist than we are, how can he make sens of what happened to his Son? How can He allow it to happen? Where is the power of God? How does He used it and in what direction?

Man makes war to protect himself, he is willing to 'kill and crucify' in order to save his temporal life and his temporal possessions. But Jesus has taught us a different way of making war against the evil one. His general commandment was "Love one an other as I have loved you". He loved us by taking risks one after an other. He came into the world as a fragile baby at our mercy, we sent him to exile, we persecuted him, and we eventually killed him. But He who is Truth can not stay in the dead, Truth is always victorious, He rose from the dead and He is alive with the Father.

He is the Way. He showed us the way to make true war against evil. We need to go to the School of the Eucharist (this link is a rap song by Fr. Stan Fortuna...see video...quite interesting:) )in order to know how to built a 'civilization of love' and bring peace in the World.




"You have to make your life essentially, totally eucharistic."
St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge, #826

This picture caught my attention few months ago. I made it my desktop picture. It helps me to meditate on the mysteries of the Cross, the Eucharist, and the Sacred Heart and our human heart. This is our King and this is how He conquers. It reminds me of the importance of the Crucifix in the Church or in our homes. It pains me when I realize where/when/how I failed, but it is also comforting because it shows the great Mercy of God. It reminds me be merciful to others, to make efforts to do God's will in all things everyday. Eucharistic life is about everyday sanctity. EWTN has an interesting show about this: Eucharistic Journey.

By looking at it I realize what true love is. How true love conquers. It reminds me that Eucharist I receive is the heart of Jesus. It reminds me to check my heart to see if I can feel any fire. The fire that Jesus brought into the world. The fire that Christians are supposed to spread around the world. Of course this is only possible when one is in a state of grace.


When Peter attempted to defend Jesus with a sword, Jesus stopped him. Pope John Paul II has asked forgiveness for sins of the crusaders. True love conquers by the cross; by sacrifice. I like to call our great saints Generals of God. They have conquered by offering their lives as sacrifices for their brothers and sisters. They did not do it their ways, but the way of Jesus. They conquered like Jesus and in Jesus. Now many Holy Orders are like armies aligned behind the Cross of Christ. It is in those Holy Orders or Movements that we are at/become our best in being Christians.

In those spiritual organization we learn more about Reality. We grow to know what real evil is. There is a very very interesting topic on CAF about spiritual warfare. Some times we seem not to be aware of the fact that we are constantly at war.

The Eucharistic Kingdom is built on self-sacrifices. It is not at all easy to sacrifice ourselves. We need to pray unceasingly in order to be able to 'believe' and to follow Jesus until the end. We need the help of each other, the help of the Church and of Angels.

Too many times we wonder why things go wrong, why even simple things seem harder to be done. We have to remember the disciples falling asleep failing to pray with Jesus at the critical point of his life.

I think demons put all their weight in preventing even a simple act from being done if it is to be done with love and in the name of Christ. He knows that that simple act can turn out to be the mustard seed. Think of how much resistance Jesus accountered. Think of his experience in the Garden of sorrow. But we know that He has conquered the world, this should be the reason for our joy, our courage, and our hope.

With the help of our allies (angels, saints,...) we should engage in a proper holy war against the right enemy: the one who is the Liar, the Murderer, and the Accuser from the Beginning!

Christus vincit,
Christus regnat,
Christus, Christus ímperat.

Christ is the victor, Christ is King,Christ is the ruler of the world.

May good times come,

May the peace of Christ come,

May the kingdom of Christ come.

.

Love on with Christopher West

I had not heard his talks or read his books, but it looks like he is making Theology of the Body and Deus Caritas Est much more easier to understand. His videos were July 30th videos of the day on Catholic Tube. By following the links, I discovered his web site with his talks and books:
Theology of the Body Explained and The Love That Satisfies.

As one of the video says, Theology of the Body was a time bomb! Beside exploding into books and talks, there is even a Theology of the Body Institute (TOBI)! They are right, it is a "Shepherd Gift"!

"The Love That Satisfies" is a reflection on Eros and Agape apparently based on our current Shepherd's "Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)" !

Pray that we may make use of all these treasures and build a civilisation of love.


At the end of the short video, more related videos are provided thanks to the new youtube features.

Grey areas and "Abandonment to Divine Providence"

- Man Must Learn to Hear Truth, Says Pope -

Growing in charity is also a matter of knowing how to make a difference between what is right and what is wrong with certainty. And also how to power ourselves up for the good action. Both of these are accomplished by abandonment of ourselves to the will of God. But how do we know the will of God? This book go throught it all. Below are few quotes. I like how it sound schoenstatt. Those quotes themselves explains something of the schoenstatt picture of grace of the MTA.

On then, my soul, on with head uplifted above earthly things, always satisfied
with God, with everything He does, or makes you do. Take good care not to
imprudently entertain a crowd of anxious reflexions which, like so many
trackless ways, carry our footsteps far and wide until we are hopelessly astray.
Let us go through that labyrinth of self-love by leaping over it, instead of
traversing its interminable windings.

On, my soul, through despondency, illness,
aridity, uncertain tempers, weakness of disposition, snares of the devil and of
men; through suspicions, jealousies, evil imaginations and prejudices. Let us
soar like the eagle above all these clouds with eyes always fixed on the sun,
and on its ways, which represent our obligations. All this we must needs feel,
but we must, at the same time, remember that ours is not a life of mere
sentiment, and that it does not depend upon us either to feel, or to be callous.

Let us live in the higher regions of the soul in which God and His will form
an eternity ever equal, ever the same, ever unchanging. In this dwelling
entirely spiritual, wherein the uncreated, immeasurable and ineffable holds the
soul at an infinite distance from all that is specific in shadows and created
atoms, it remains calm, even when the senses are tossed about by tempests. It
has become independent of the senses; their troubles and agitations and
innumerable vicissitudes no more affect it, than the clouds that obscure the sky
for a moment and then fade away, affect the sun.

On the Priest for Life show on EWTN at this moment, you can read on screen the number of abortions as they (the Show people) speak. It increases by 3-6 every second.

Abortion is one of the things that some people even some churches are still confused about their evilnes. Fr. Corapi likes to say that the Devil's favorite color is not black as we usually think: It is gray!
The Devil confuses people. In all kinds of moral situation people don't know exactly if something is bad. If they feel that it arranges them, then they conclude that it must be okay since...this and that...even God can undestand this particular situation...etc.

The good thing about being Catholic is that our Church is not one of those ones who are confused about 'gray' issues. Dispite the largeness, or how many traditions, spiritualities, etc, the entire universal Church knows exactly what it wrong what is right in matters of morals and faiths. Jesus is with us. And He would never fail to answer you question cleary and to find a solution for it.

If you are confused about any matter you can be sure to get an answer. Here in the internet Catholic Answers' people can clear any doubt you may have.

On this blog, Theology of the Body, and Gospel of Life are themselves great moral resources left to us by our beloved pope John Paul II. They propose a deep and genuine undestanding of life, love, and truth based on the Bible, Reason and Faith .

An other kind of 'grey' area we often experience is about understandig the will of God at any moment of our lives. At work, and real life I always get confused on how to testify for truth without sounding judgemental, or feeling prideful.

There is a schoenstatt song we used to sing in Africa. It said:
" If Mother send you to (complete here with any charitable deed you can do for your neighbor)
Will you go right away?
Ans: Yes, I will go, of course I will go right away...

Now, some case are very easy. However, others are just 'grey'. You can feel her sending you, but you just can't figure out which way to proceed. Or, you are not well disposed to act. In either case, if something goes wrong later, you can really fell hurt. Mother sent you to her child and you failed her. You can fell the sadness. If this happened to you, this is one of the things you can do (you probably know others :)).

But it is bette to find avoid it from happening in the first place. We are told that we need to arm ourselves because the devil is always 'closer than we think'. The commandement of the King is to love. But love can be sometime very confusing. It is amazing how some acts that we may think are out of love may be precisely the opposite. From keeping silence out of 'respect' to a mother aborting her child because she is not ready (so it is good for both of them), all kind of acts and decisions may seem to be out of love. So how do we tell real love? How do we tell the reel will of God? and How do we find enough strength to do it?

In my previous post I provided links about "crashing the head of the Old Dragon". Remember that this dragon is mostly preocupied by our Mother and us who try to keep the commendements. Well, we are the strategic 'points'. We should always remember that we are in dangereous positions of the front. We are not in the occupied area, nor on the unoccupied area. We are on the frontline. Fr. Corapi has a great series on his web site about this spiritual warfare: Surrender is Not an Option. I think it is probably still running on EWTN (saturday and sundays).

Again this is the wonderfull document about Divine Providence. Read it and don't loose your blessings or miss to deliver God's blessings to others.

It is great for any christian, specially for Schoenstatters. I am not sure but it must have been written by a schoenstatter. I saw it few years ago in french but its font was not attractive and I was not in mood to read, so I missed the treasure. When I realised that I saw it, I had a feeling which might be similar to that of St. Peter after denying Jesus. The remorse of taking yourself more serious than God.

Fire up your heart for WYD 2008

August is approching, as wyd2008.org metre indicates already, only 360 days left. One Year left. Here are some videos to help you taste the fire of the Spirit. Don't let it cool down. And pray that we may all make it to Sydney. Yes, please pray!

Theme Song RECEIVE THE POWER (International version)



Cross and Icon of WYD:
They have been almost everywhere in the world. In my home countries Burundi and Rwanda. On the war between the two Corea, and many other areas where Christ is deepley needed.





WYD 2008 - Sydney - Austraria



Dare you to move



Testimonies from previous WYD-2008

Love and Divine Justice

EWTN is broadcasting about Hell at the moment. It inspired me to write something about judgment.

To measure whether we are progressing toward Hell or Heaven, we have to somehow sens our hearts and check how much love for others we have and how much it grows or decreases in time.

We always have to remember that we are always judged on love. The temporal judgement as well as the last one. They are all based on the commandement of the Judge: "Love God with all your mind, heart, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself".

We should take God seriously about the matter of love, sin, and judgement. It is not for nothing that Jesus suffered and kept talking about Hell throught all his teachings.

About judgment, here is The Visions of Sadhu Sundar Singh of India. It is important to understand this kind of reading in light of the teachings of the Church.

Finally, we have to remember that Jesus gave his disciples power to forgive sins. Priests in the confessional are judges of mercy and we are both the accuser and the accused.


Schoenstatt prayer of contrition:

Father, may the Savior's Precious Blood
atone for everything
which grieved your fatherly heart
because we did not love you enough.

Heed the pleas of our Mother
and let her be our advocate.
Kindly accept her merits
and look on us with a father's mercy.

Our hearts were often obstinate
when the world enticed us.
We were often inattentive
when you expressed your wishes.

Many hidden reservations
made our hearts tired and cold,
while many evil passions
diminished the strength of our love

Often our deeds angered you
and destroyed
what our preaching and words
had continuously proclaimed.

Often we misused our time
and missed opportunity to do good.
Our omissions weigh heavily upon us
for they have deprived us of your grace.

Our ideal was therefore darkened
and caused you anguish
the day's struggle was uninspired
because spirit was lacking and deeds were few.

(examination of conscience)

Faith in the Triune God

On the occasion of the Feast of Most Holy Trinity I would like to propose this reflection given about the Triune God in 2004. It concludes with a point on Lublev Icon:

God is One and Three: he is not an eternal solitude; rather, he is an
eternal love that is based on the reciprocity of the Persons, a love that is the
first cause, the origin, and the foundation of all being and of every form of
life. Unity engendered by love, trinitarian unity, is a unity infinitely more profound
than the unity of a building stone, indivisible as that may be from a material
perspective.This supreme unity is not rigidly static; it is love. The most
beautiful artistic depiction of this mystery was left to us by Andrei Rublev in
the fifteenth century: the world-renowned icon of the Trinity. Of course, it
does not portray the eternal mystery of God in himself, who would dare to do
that? It attempts, rather, to represent this mystery as it is reflected in the
gift of itself in history, as in the visit of the three men to Abraham by the
oaks of Mamre (Gen 18:1-33). Abraham immediately recognized that they were not
just like any other men, but that God himself was coming to him through them.In
Rublev's icon, the mystery of this event is made visible, presented as an event
that can be contemplated in its many dimensions: thus the mystery as such is
respected. The artistic richness of this icon allows me to underscore another
characteristic: the natural surroundings of this event, which express the
mystery of the Persons. We are near the oaks of Mamre, which Rublev depicts in
stylized form as a single tree representing the tree of life; and this tree of
life is none other than the trinitarian love that created the world, sustains
it, saves it, and is the source of all life. We see also the tent, the dwelling
of Abraham, which recalls the Prologue of John's Gospel: "And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14).The body of the incarnate Word of God became
itself the tent, the place where God dwells: God becomes our refuge and our
dwelling place. Finally, the gift that Abraham offers, "a calf, tender and
good", is replaced, in the icon, with a cup, a symbol of the Eucharist, a sign
of the gift in which God gives himself: "Love, sacrifice, and self-immolation
preceded the act by which the world was created and are the source of that
creation." [1] The tree, the tent, and the cup: these elements show us the
mystery of God, allow us to immerse ourselves in the contemplation of its
intimate depths, in his trinitarian love. This is the God that we celebrate.
This is the God who gives us joy. He is the true hope of our world. Amen.

A reminder

Pray for us Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Just Stop and Think!

That is the actual title of this short video.

A beautiful reflection on the Creator and the Creation. Beauty and Love.





Just to complete the message, I think it was yesterday when I heard Fr. Groeshel on EWTN saying that different kind of people should be able to pray. "Even an atheist", he said, can address a message "to Whom it May Concern".

Faith of Abraham!

The Hospitality of Abraham Icon while expressing his hospitality to the three men who visited him, it also express the sacrifice of Abraham. With this sacrifice Abraham was blessed to be the Father of all believers. I was pondering what does it mean to be a 'believer'. What does it mean to have reel Faith? And what is its basis not true Love?

The sacrifice of Abraham was really great, that was a strong Faith. He believed in the God who didn't have a name yet - Israelites had not yet existed, and they had not yet asked his name-. To me it seems that Abraham did believe what christians to day believe that God is Love. After all it would be foolishness to sacrifice your most beloved unless you know that you are sacrificing him to Love itself. I think this is where the confidence and trust of Abraham came from. He knew God would not abandon him or his son. Even though he may have not known what happens after death, he new that the Creator is Love itself and would take care even where human understanding can not reach. This is to me the only way the sacrifice of Abraham can make sens. And surely enough God who is love intervened to return the love to Abraham by giving him back his son.

Abraham could not have worked toward the unknown land by Faith alone if he did not know that God is Love itself, and that whatever was going to happen was going to happen out of love of/from God and that would be most glorious and worth it if it was really a sacrifice out of love. So I think this is the reel meaning Faith. St. Paul confirmed this when he said that faith without charity is dead. True Faith is shown by the way of living which is filled with charity.

Anyone who decide to 'believe' in the God of Abraham, in a sens, he takes the same Abraham journey to the unknown. He walks more and more "by faith not by sight". It is a life which seems to approch more and more into eternity, into the house of Love. And the words of Jesus gets more and more accomplished:

If any one love me, he
will keep my word. And my Father will love him and we will come to him and will
make our abode with him. John XIV 14:23

Jesus commandements was to love God above all and to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. Even though this commandement was not formulated yet, Abraham surely lived it. And this is illustrated most when he received a visit from the three 'men' that he called 'Lord'. While the situation is surely confusing, it surely shows how much devotion Abraham had for Love. One can say that he always did the Will of Love.

When Jesus told us that he always does the will of the Father, and that him and the father are One, I think he was slowly formulating a new revelation of God to us: the Trinity. Jesus sacrificed himself and called all who are baptised in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit to do the same. Why? Because, like him, now they are of the house of Love. They participate in the life of the Trinity. This how a christian can be a co-redemptor like Mary:
"In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the Church." Colossians 1:24

So our sacrifices whether perfect or way less, can be useful to us and to others when we offer them up to God.

When we truly love, we can make mistakes because we are not perfect, but Love can help us fix those same mistakes and do even more virtuous deeds.

Love is still a mystery. Even though some christians think that one have to be christians in order to be saved. The Catholic Church believes that salvation is possible to some non-christians. How? Mark Shea reminds us of an important fact:

It is worth noting that the description of judgment in the parable of the Sheep
and the Goats says nothing about having figured out correct doctrine. It
is all about people responding as best they can to the light they have.
Indeed, the mark of the saved sheep in that parable is surprise. By Jesus'
account, none of his followers among the "nations" (those outside the visible
covenant community) had the slightest idea they were serving him: "Then the
righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome
you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit
you?'" (Matthew 25:37-39).

It is interesting to note those judgement words (Matthew 25:32-46). As Mark Shea, I can conclude that: "We know where the Church is. We do not know where it is not."

The Origin of Love

Hmm. It can be a serious problem for a person like me to decide on which should be the first post, on my first blog. So looking at the name, and thinking about what inspired me in the first place to create the blog, I think I should start with a small word about the Catholic Church.

The more I discover my catholic faith, the more I discover that it is itsself at the core of this civilization. I am not saying that people never loved before the Church come to be, or that people who never new about it never knew love. I am referring to the founder of the Church.

Jesus once said that before Abraham was, He is. And we christians take from this statement to nourish our faith in divinity of Jesus Christ. So it is true; all mankind from the beginning knew love. That is because, the Creator God himself is God. This is my faith. This is the faith of the Church. And this notion is best understood by a meditation about the Blessed Trinity. If God is Love, he was Love and loved even before He created anything.

I have heard that God is a community of three divine persons who love each other so much that they are one God. They are actually different in their personalities and yet one in their divine nature, and loving is natural activity as Love is in their essence. This explains the reality well know to us that love can not truly be present without at least three persons. Yes three, not two:). Christians would count at least two persons and God. The third necessary person can be seen as some kind of witness who testify for each of the two lovers. The person who can be the 'advisor', the 'councelor', the 'witness', etc, for each person to always give more and more strength to the relationship.

So, I am discovering that anything that happens in life, and question can be answered by a simple meditation on the above picture created by Andre Rubrev. It explains everything in the human civilization, the History of Salvation, and this Civilization of Love I will be talking about on this blog.

Love is from God and in humanity it starts from marriage! More insight on this article were the icon was taken from.