Cardinal Edmund Szoka dies at 86

Detroit, Mich., Aug 22, 2014 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka, who had served as Archbishop of Detroit and president of the Vatican City State, died of natural causes at the age of 86 at the local Providence Park Hospital.

“We mourn the loss of a dedicated shepherd. For sixty years, Cardinal Szoka gave himself totally to his priestly service of Christ and his Church.”

“He has gone home to the Heavenly Father with our prayers. May the Lord give him the reward of his labors,” said Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, current archbishop of Detroit.

Born on Sept.14, 1927, Edmund Casimir Szoka grew up in Grand Rapids as the child of Polish immigrants. He attended St. Joseph Seminary and was ordained a priest on June 5, 1954 in Marquette. He served his first years as an assistant priest at St. Francis in Manistique, Michigan.

Cardinal Szoka attended the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Urban University at Rome from 1957-1959. After returning to the states, he served again in the diocese of Marquette until 1971.

On June 11, 1971 he became the first bishop of the newly created diocese of Gaylord in Michigan. Ten years later, in May 1981, he was named Archbishop of Detroit, where he closed and merged many parishes within the diocese.

Cardinal Szoka served on the administrative council of the provincial seminary at St. John in Plymouth, as well as St. Cyril and Methodius seminary near Orchard Lake. During this time, he was also elected president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope John Paul II appointed Archbishop Szoka as cardinal in 1988, after which he was selected to oversee the economic affairs at Vatican City State.

He was also appointed President of the Governatorate of Vatican City State and of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State by Pope John Paul II, where he served until 2006.

Just after he turned seventy-nine, Cardinal Szoka resigned and officially retired from active ministry on Sept.15, 2006 with Pope Benedict XVI’s approval. Following his retirement, he lived in Northville, Michigan until his death o n Aug. 20, 2014.

This year he celebrated the 60th anniversary of his priesthood.

Archbishop Szoka's funeral will take place at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, where mass will be celebrated on Tuesday morning at 11:00 am. He will be buried at the Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Southfield.

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Prayers urged as black mass organizer claims consecrated Host

The purported use of a consecrated Host at a planned satanic black mass at an Oklahoma City civic center would be a “terrible sacrilege” that requires a prayerful response, the local archbishop emphasized.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City in an Aug. 4 message lamented that the city-run Civic Center Music Hall was selling tickets for the event “as if it were merely some sort of dark entertainment.”

Rather, he said, the ritual was “deadly serious” and “a blasphemous and obscene inversion of the Catholic Mass.”

“Using a consecrated Host obtained illicitly from a Catholic church and desecrating it in the vilest ways imaginable, the practitioners offer it in sacrifice to Satan. This terrible sacrilege is a deliberate attack on the Catholic Mass as well as the foundational beliefs of all Christians,” the archbishop continued.

The occult group Dakhma of Angra Mainyu has scheduled a black mass at the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall Sept. 21. A black mass is a sacrilegious ceremony that invokes Satan and mocks the Mass, involving the desecration of the Eucharist, generally by stealing a consecrated Host from a Catholic church and using it in a profane sexual ritual.

The event organizer Adam Daniels said the purported Eucharistic Host was “mailed to us by (a) friend.”

“That is all I'm going to say about how it was attained,” he told the Catholic news site Aleteia Aug. 6.

“As far as I know, the host mailed to me is consecrated,” he said.

Daniels added that the event was intended “to educate the public about my religion.”

Attendance at the event is restricted to those ages 16 and over. The sponsoring group has said the event is modified to comply with laws regarding “nudity, public urination, and other sex acts.”

Daniels had attempted to hold a mock exorcism at the same music hall in 2010 as part of a different Satanist group. However, the group expelled him after learning he was a convicted sex offender.

In July, an official with the city music hall defended the decision, citing the hall’s neutrality policy. She told CNA that as long as no laws were broken during the event itself, the city hall was not concerned with whether laws may be broken in obtaining a consecrated host ahead of time. She said that similar events scheduled in previous years had poor or no attendance.

Archbishop Coakley said that there are no indications the city intends to prevent the event from taking place. He encouraged Oklahomans to contact the office of Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett.

“I am especially concerned about the dark powers that this Satanic worship invites into our community and the spiritual danger that this poses to all who are involved in it, directly or indirectly,” the archbishop said. “Since it seems this event will not be cancelled, I am calling on all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to counteract this challenge to faith and decency through prayer and penance.”

The archbishop has asked that every parish add the well-known prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at the end of every Mass from Aug. 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration, through Sept. 29, the Feast of the Archangels. He has also asked each parish to hold a Holy Hour with Benediction from Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, through Sept. 21.

The archbishop will hold a Holy Hour, an outdoor Eucharistic Procession and Benediction at Oklahoma City’s St. Francis of Assisi Church at 3 p.m. Sept. 21, the same day the satanic event is scheduled to take place.

“We will pray to avert this sacrilege and publicly manifest our faith in the Lord and our loving gratitude for the gift of the Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of our lives,” Archbishop Coakley said.

Tulsa’s Bishop Edward Slattery and Bishop Carl A. Kemme of Wichita, Kan., have also called on the faithful to respond to the threatened desecration with their prayers.

For its part, the occult group sponsoring the black mass has organized rituals it believes will counter Catholic prayers.

A controversy over another purported black mass took place in May 2014, when the Harvard Extension School’s Cultural Studies Club had planned to host a similar event on the Harvard University campus. However, that event was “postponed indefinitely” by the club amid outcry among students and member of the local community. The event reportedly took place off-campus with a small group of individuals instead.

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In Korea, Pope Francis to visit cemetery for aborted babies

Cemetery in Kkottongnae, South Korea. Credit: Andy Prima Kencana/www.andyprima.com.

During his upcoming trip to South Korea, Pope Francis will pray for the unborn at the “Cemetery for Aborted Children” as part of his visit to the Kkottoghnae Home for the sick.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi also noted in an Aug. 8 press conference that the Pope will deliver his addresses in English and will follow local customs such as removing his shoes before entering certain places.

The Kkttongnae Home located in the Diocese of Cheongju in South Korea was created in 1976 by Father John Oh, the founder of the Kkottongnae Brothers and Sisters of Jesus. The priest was inspired by a beggar named Choi Gwi Dong to feed 18 other sick beggars despite his own physical handicaps.

It offers assistance to the homeless, disabled individuals and alcohol addicts. Currently it can serve around 5,000 people.

The Cemetery for Aborted Children is located behind the home and includes a statue of the Holy Family surrounded by cross representing the unborn.

Announced by the Vatican in March, the Pope’s Aug. 13 – 18 trip follows an invitation from the president of the Korean Republic, Park Geun-hye, and the bishops of Korea.

Following the motto “Rise Korea, clothe yourself in light, the Lord’s glory shines upon you,” the Pope’s visit begins with his departure from Rome the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 13.

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Church of England’s Impending Ordination of Women Bishops Poses Ecumenical Challenge

The Pope and the archbishop of Canterbury emphasized areas where their churches can work together when they met last month, but progress towards future unity appears blocked.

Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury joins a crowd of hundreds of Church of England women priests on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, prior to a special service on May 3 celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women.

Meeting of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Francis

In a sign of the current good relations between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, the meeting at the Vatican on June 16 between Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was warm — but clouds still loom over the prospect of any unity between the two churches in the foreseeable future.

Pope Francis emphasized the ways in which Catholics and Anglicans can work together, highlighting “the effort to achieve greater social justice, to build an economic system that is at the service of man and promotes the common good. Among our tasks as witnesses to the love of Christ is that of giving a voice to the cry of the poor, so that they are not abandoned to the laws of an economy that seems at times to treat people as mere consumers.”

These sentiments were echoed by Archbishop Welby, who said Christians must “love, above all, those tossed aside — even whole nations — by the present crises around the world.”

Yet unspoken was a decision the Church of England is expected to take this month that would seriously damage the prospect of any future unity between the Catholic Church and the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

It is a near certainty that the Church of England’s General Synod, taking place in York July 11-15, will see the Anglicans push ahead with the creation of women bishops.

During his tenure as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper commented in 2006 that such a move would “call into question what was recognized by the Second Vatican Council (Unitatis Redintegratio, 13), that the Anglican Communion occupied ‘a special place’ among churches and ecclesial communities of the West.” Cardinal Kasper warned that “restoration of full church communion … would realistically no longer exist following the introduction of the ordination of women to episcopal office.”

Speaking to the Register, Father Tony Currer, secretary to the Anglican and Methodist dialogues at the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that while the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) has made great strides in addressing theological differences, two issues have emerged “which make progress towards full visible unity extremely difficult.”

“The first concerns the ordination of women; the second is that of human sexuality and ethical teaching,” he commented. “It has to be admitted that it is extremely difficult to see a way forward on these issues at the moment.”

Father Currer added that the Church’s dialogue is with the whole Anglican Communion, not only the Church of England. Many elements of that communion are acting similarly to the Church of England on these issues, he said, “which constitutes a very significant obstacle to the full visible unity that we continue to seek.”



Anglican Perspective

Serenhedd James, visiting tutor in ecclesiastical history at the University of Oxford’s St. Stephen’s House — an Anglican theological foundation in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England — told the Register, “The admission of women to the historic episcopate in the Church of England will, no doubt, make ecumenical conversations more difficult.”

He noted the same caveat as Father Currer: that women bishops already minister elsewhere in the Anglican Communion, but maintained that the Church of England’s move will not necessarily derail the ecumenical dialogue, “although it may make it harder to find common ground on sacramental issues, especially as those women then begin to ordain others.”

Instead, James said he saw more significant problems likely to emerge over moral issues. Although he said there is “a good deal of common ground” between Catholics and Anglicans, he commented that “it is no secret that there is dissent in the Church of England on a number of issues among members of both clergy and laity — most recently and vocally on the matter of same-sex marriage — and Rome knows this.”

He added, “Should the House of Bishops at some point in the future depart from traditional church teaching on the dignity of human life — for example on issues like abortion on demand and euthanasia — then that would no doubt be viewed as a problem.”



Areas of Shared Commitment

Nevertheless, all involved in such ecumenical discussions are keen to stress that the likely episcopal ordination of women does not mean a total breakdown in relations between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.

Professor Paul Murray, dean of Durham University’s Center for Catholic Studies, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to ARCIC and as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told the Register that Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby “share a passionate commitment to the social gospel in the face of such contemporary issues as human trafficking.”

He added, “With Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby, the Catholic and Anglican communions are both blessed with charismatic evangelists. Even recognizing the significant theological and ecclesial difficulties that continue between the traditions around such sensitive matters as ordained female ministry, this represents the most remarkable moment of opportunity for real progress in the relations between Catholicism and Anglicanism.”

James, who is also a regular contributor to the Anglican newspaper Church Times, concurred. “It’s clear that the two churches are willing to work together on domestic issues: the eradication of poverty, to take one example. The image of the cardinal-archbishop of Westminster standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the archbishop of Canterbury on social issues is a powerful one.”

Other areas where the two churches are already working together are in attempts to tackle human trafficking and campaigning for freedom of worship in the face of religious extremism.

Thus, although the ordination of women bishops in the Church of England may prove an insurmountable hurdle to full reunion, a future relationship based on practical cooperation remains. It may not be a fully corporate union, but the potential for working together as a united Christian voice in an indifferent, sometimes hostile, secular environment is significant, according to participants in the Catholic-Anglican dialogue.

Said Father Currer, “We are committed to continue to talk to one another and to explore our differences in charity. To do anything else would be to give up on Christian unity and to allow ourselves to simply grow apart. As St. Pope John Paul II taught in Ut Unum Sint, this is not a legitimate option for a Christian, because ‘to believe in Christ means to desire unity.’”

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Another Satanic Mass ! Archbishop Coakley Asks Oklahoma City Civic Center to Reconsider Black Mass

OKLAHOMA CITY — Just a few months after a black mass reenactment was planned — and then canceled — at Harvard University, another has been scheduled to take place at the Oklahoma City Civic Center on Sept. 21, prompting calls for organizers to reconsider.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City issued a statement July 1, saying that the archdiocese is “astonished and grieved that the Civic Center would promote as entertainment and sell tickets for an event that is very transparently a blasphemous mockery of the Mass.”

“For more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide and more than 200,000 Catholics in Oklahoma, the Mass is the most sacred of religious rituals,” the archbishop said.

“It is the center of Catholic worship and celebrates Jesus Christ’s redemption of the world by his death and resurrection. In particular, the Eucharist — which we believe to be the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ — is the source and summit of our faith.”

Connected to witchcraft and demonic worship, a black mass is a sacrilegious ceremony structured as a parody of the Catholic Mass. Invoking Satan, the ritual is centered around the desecration of the Eucharist, which is generally done by stealing a consecrated host from a Catholic church and using it in a profane sexual ritual or defecating and urinating on it.

The black mass is offensive to more than just Catholics, Archbishop Coakley noted. It is “a Satanic inversion and distortion of the most sacred beliefs not only of Catholics, but of all Christians.”

He called on community leaders and Civic Center event planners in “a spirit of hope,” asking them to “reconsider whether this is an appropriate use of public space.”

“We trust that community leaders — and, in particular, the board members of the Oklahoma City Civic Center — do not actually wish to enable or encourage such a flagrantly inflammatory event and can surely remedy this situation,” he said.

In May, a student group at Harvard attempted to host a black mass re-enactment, to be carried out by the Satanic Temple of New York. However, the event was canceled at the last minute amid a huge outcry from the Archdiocese of Boston and the Harvard community. A petition against the black mass drew 60,000 signatures, and some 2,000 people attended a Eucharistic procession and Holy Hour on the night that the event had been scheduled.

Notably, the Satanic Temple of New York has submitted plans to Oklahoma City for a public monument of an enthroned Satan surrounded by two children to counter a monument of the Ten Commandments on the statehouse lawn.

The local archdiocese plans to respond in peaceful, prayerful and respectful protest to the black mass scheduled in September, should plans continue to move forward, Archbishop Coakley said.

“In the meantime, I call on all Catholics in central and western Oklahoma — as well as all men and women of goodwill — to pray for a renewed sense of the sacred and, in particular, to pray that the Lord might change the hearts and minds of the organizers of this event.”

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Sex, Sex and More Sex, can one be free?

An old friend of mine could not understand how a human being can survive without sex. Considering i was undergoing my first process of initial conversion he said "I really want to change for good, but the problem is, i cannot stop sex"

My words prove little help to him as in his heart he believed it was impossible to break free.

Years into my formation, i began speaking with people who had similar belief and i discovered that majority of the youth with ample sexual engagement had the same belief.

Then i realized the trick of the enemy : he makes people depend so much on sin that it seems impossible to live without it. But really, is it possible that YOU, yes, YOU can give up a sin you are so attached to? Be it sex, stealing, lying, drug, or any other sin?

YES, YOU CAN. However, you must first believe in the power of God; you must trust in God's ability to free you. I too was delivered from a life of sinful addictions. Indeed, i still sin, but i no longer relax in sin, i have begun the bloody unending war against all sins without any exceptions. You can also begin yours, it could take time before you begin to see victory, but to me, beginning this war is victory since it meant throwing the devil away from one's life. He will make noise, fight back and threaten, but at least, he will do that from outside your life.

Chastity isn't an outdated virtue, it hold all other virtues together, carefully rooted in humility. I pray for all youth, to learn to live properly, however you need to work your way out of sexual sins, or work hard to remain chaste if you have no attachment to this sin already.

THEN A FOLLOWUP ARTICLE:

After my previous writeup on sex, i have gathered that its very important to give a followup on how to actually quit the life of sexual immorality; keeping oneself until marriage, or at least how to begin to fight the sin. I have prepared a few tips/guidelines for those who are in need of practical steps to quitting sex.

1. The first thing to do is breakup with your partner: Many people who have complained of this sin, and who have failed to become free from it have agreed that one of the reasons is they they fail to breakup with their illicit sexual partner. This is where violence comes in. When it is about your soul and your salvation, its not so bad to hurt someone (as long as you are breaking up to be with Jesus). You cannot keep pitying someone who leads you to sin or who poses great temptation to you. No matter how hard its going to be upon someone, just break free and run. The devil shall use this fake sympathy to keep some people "Chained" to their sexual partners one way or another.

When you have broken free, STAY AWAY ! Sometimes the temptation might come to have a chit chat with him/her, from there you might find yourself becoming weak in your heart again and going back to a life you have left off.

The Devil can also tell you "Just one visit" "Just one phone call" etc. That "One" can ruin everything you have struggled to build in a long time. The reason why you MUST FIGHT this person's image as violently as possible is because you have had a certain "bond" with him/her. Once you are around, your body must respond from your heart at least, this is nature, this is unavoidable chemistry; this could mean serious emotional drive to go back.

2. FILL YOURSELF WITH SOMEONE NEW ! When you have cast out the lover from your heart, you cannot leave it empty, Jesus has to come in and fill that void. If no one fills this void, its hardly possible for it to stay empty for long. Build strong bonds with Jesus and his Mother through prayer and good works. Join pious societies that will help you, have quality friends who will support you in this journey.

3. STAY AWAY FROM BAD FRIENDS: When i say "Bad" i do not mean you should think anyone literally bad. What i mean here is to avoid all those who might influence you to the life you have abandoned. Sometimes their influence over you might be stronger than you can notice, this is why you need to cut off or curtail your relationships with them. Make new and positive friends who discuss God and other positive circular topics.

4. FOR FIANCES: all the advice given above to "quit" and "cut" are mainly for relationships with people who are either not old enough for marriage or who are not ready for it for other reasons. As for those who are already engaged, or men who are seeking a wife: you will not drop dead if your relationship is kept clean. You will be guaranteeing the place of God in your relationship if you let him guide your hearts towards each other for his sake. Reforming a premarital courtship already tainted with sexual habits can be daunting, however it is not impossible. For this is suggest the person talks it over with the partner, let them decide on how to see each other from then on, in public places where they will not be tempted, let them involve God in their chats, in their lives. If the partner agrees, thanks to God, if not, the person in question should weigh his/her options critically, and apply a little more pressure. I strongly advice that when this becomes even harder, the person should meet his/her spiritual guide or confessor or a good Priest.

May the Lord set us free from Sin and show us the beauty there is in holiness. Amen !

Add more practical ways to quit sex if you know any other means, help those who are in need.

WE CAN BE CHASTE !!! YES WE CAN !!!

SHARE !

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Pope Francis Announces He May Renounce the Papacy One Day: 6 Things to Know and Share

1) Where did Pope Francis make his remarks?

In an interview with the Spanish-language newspaper La Vanguardia.

2) How did the subject come up?

The reporter asked Pope Francis about what he thought of Pope Benedict’s resignation, as follows:

What do you think of the renunciation of Benedict XVI?

Pope Benedict has made a very significant act. He has opened the door, has created an institution, that of the eventual popes emeritus. 70 years ago, there were no emeritus bishops. Today how many are there? Well, as we live longer, we arrive to an age where we cannot go on with things.

Pope Francis thus sees Benedict XVI’s act as setting a precedent for future popes that mirrors the way in which bishops have similarly begun to have retirements in recent decades. Note that Francis refers to Benedict having “created an institution.”

Francis’s use of the plural (“eventual popes emeritus”) may even envision the idea of more than one former pope being alive at the same time. Indeed, in light of what he says next, he may be thinking of himself and Benedict XVI sharing this status at some point.



3) What does he say next?

He announces he may also renounce the papacy one day:

I will do the same as him, asking the Lord to enlighten me when the time comes and that he tell me what I have to do, and he will tell me for sure.

Pope Francis is thus not at the point of resigning, but he anticipates doing so “when the time comes,” if the Lord makes this clear to him.



4) Does he have plans for what to do in retirement?

Apparently so. Benedict XVI has chosen to live in seclusion at the Vatican, though there was initially some discussion of his returning to Germany. Benedict’s eventual decision to remain at the Vatican is apparently motivated by a desire not to cause problems for his successor by remaining out of the public eye.

This is not the only possible choice, though, and Pope Francis seems to envision a different retirement. The interview continues:

You have a room reserved in a retirement home in Buenos Aires.

Yes, it’s a retirement house for elderly priests. I was leaving the archdiocese at the end of last year and had already submitted my resignation to Benedict XVI when I turned 75. I chose a room and said, “I want to come to live here.” I will work as a priest, helping the parishes. This is what was going to be my future before being Pope.  

Pope Francis thus appears intent on returning as pope emeritus to the same form of pastoral service that he was planning to undertake as a bishop emeritus.



5) When will this happen?

That cannot be known. It depends on how much time and strength God gives Pope Francis.

It cannot even be known that it will happen, for events could overtake these plans and he might, like most popes historically, end up remaining in office until his passing.



6) How will Pope Benedict be remembered for his act of renouncing the papacy?

Barring anything unforeseen, he will one day be declared a saint, and the grounds for sainthood will include the heroic virtue of being the first pope in centuries to renounce the papacy. Many recent popes have considered resignation, but Benedict XVI was the first one in centuries to actually do it.

A previous pope to resign—Celestine V—is also a saint, and for the same reason. He was canonized in 1313—17 years after his death—by his successor, Clement V, and in that case also his humility in walking away from the office of pope for the good of the Church played a prominent role in the decision to canonize. Indeed, Celestine V is the only 13th century pope who is a saint.

We’ve had more sainted popes recently. In the 20th century, we had St.s Pius X, John XXIII, and John Paul II—who may soon be joined by Pius XII and Paul VI.

This is in part due to the fact that the popes we’ve had recently have been much holier than many of those in the Middle Ages (Benedict IX, anyone?).

However, it is very likely that Benedict XVI—who had the courage and humility to walk away from the office of pope for what he perceived to be the good of the Church—is likely to be the first sainted pope of the 21st century.

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authored by Jimmy Akins (www.secretinfoclub.com)

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Unpardonable Sins (sins against the Holy Spirit)

Aggie Mnene asked : Are there sins that cannot be pardoned?

ANSWER: "but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences." Mark 3:29.

IMPLICATION: The above text are words of Christ on this subject, showing that there are "Unpardonable sins", which are sins against the Holy Spirit. Sometime ago i asked a priest "Does this mean that God REFUSES to forgive this sin" ?

The priest could not give a satisfactory conclusive reply, until one day after years of research and prayer, i stumbled upon an explanation.

HERE IS WHAT I LEARNT: God does not REFUSE forgiveness. Rather, when one sins against the Spirit of God, he CASTS GOD OUT of himself and SHUTS THE HEART TO HIS LIGHT. So that such a person is UNABLE TO ASK for mercy anymore. The "Unpardonable" does not mean God changes from "Forgiving Father" to an "Unforgiving Judge", so that he turns his face from someone weeping and begging for mercy, NO !!!. He is Always FORGIVING. Even those who are in Hell cannot ask for pardon, that is why they cannot be forgiven.

The GRACE of remorse/contrition is very expensive gift of the Holy Spirit, given unto the sincerely repentant ones. I tell you, there are many Catholics today who have shut their hearts to God's grace by continuous abuse of Sacraments for instance and other sins; they personally kill the voice of their consciences by refusing God's light/call to repentance so many times, that those sins become "Normal" and even "A way of life" to them.

For this grace is meant to rise our sensitivity to sin and make us weep for our sins, but for someone who is dead in sin, he cannot possibly weep or feel really sorry for his sin. He may even boast about his sins to his friends and feel like a "big Shot".

This is what it means to commit an "Unpardonable" sin. Whenever such a sinner opens his heart to God's light, he sees his sorry state, and confesses with all his heart, God Forgives him for sure, for he promised "Even if your sins be as red as scarlet, i shall make you as white as wool".

God bless you all. I hope we understood this one.

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ITS THE WORK OF THE DEVIL

Many of us run from things we're responsible for, we attribute a lot to "the handwork of the devil" indeed sometimes Satan can turn at our accusations and scream "Oh Lord, I'm innocent"

Like Eve we say " the serpent made me eat it" and like Adam we indirectly blame God sometimes "the woman, whom YOU GAVE ME, handed me some and I ate".

If only we can learn to sincerely say "forgive me Lord, I have sinned, through my fault". Forgiveness and healing would've been easier.

Let us not blame others for our faults. Let us own up whenever we make a mistake and ask for pardon. We'll become better that way. Leave the devil alone and he'll leave you.

Who loves the devil anyway? Then stop calling him every time, focus on Jesus.

Or is Christ not enough for you?
He is enough for me !

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LOVE; WHAT IT IS, WHAT IT IS NOT

Love is transformational, its intense heat is geared towards Change and Union. The force that comes from God BINDS; calls together, causes a "Communio" a "Koinonia" a "Communion" of persons with persons, of persons with God.

This is what Love is: The giving of self, the 'loss' of an identity; the entire submission to another, the rediscovery and newness of identity in/with another.

Love is not just possessing but being possessed. That One is possessed by another, and the other by the One; that in possessing they actually aren't possessive, but most humbly submit themselves to be melted and remoulded regularly into One Body, and One Spirit.

This is what love is: Humility and service, forgetfulness and docility, purity of intention and generosity, faith and trust, and finally childlike trust and something of (not literally) risky "stupidity"; one of trusting entirely and without reserve. This is what love is.

Love is not a mere feeling meant to be played with by the young and inexperienced, the fire burns !

Love is not possession as though one is a commodity.
Love is not lies and deceit, love is not fear of being lied to/cheated.
Love is not distrust and fear of loss.
Love is not impurity and covetous selfishness.
Love is not material things or qualities in a person.
Love is not for a while; a trial run; a momentary stuff meant to be discarded later.

Love is powerful flames, it burns, transforms, and illumines
Love is eternal union, nothing quenches it
Love is purity, no ill can taint it
Love is above the lovers, cannot be controlled at will by each; a law they both submit to !

Indeed what 90% (or just to be fair 70%) of people have is either lust or childish infatuation, if people knew how sacred love is, they'd recognize that Only the Almighty can confer the gift of perfect/selfless Self-giving. Which is a grace that comes ONLY FROM GOD, and is an INDISPENSABLE sign of love; of true love.

Show me where two people love themselves thus, and i will point you where the Seraphim* camp beside them !

Just thinking:)

_______________________________________________________________________
*The Seraphim (or singular : Seraph) is the highest of the Nine Choirs of Angels. According to tradition, they are the ones who stand closest to God's throne, they have been described by Pseudo Dionysius as "Fiery" since they BURN WITH THE LOVE OF GOD.


I wish that all men may be set ablaze with true Love of God and neighbor, what a world we'd have !, where all are but a single Flame, directed upwards !

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WITCHES AND WIZARDS; DO NOT PASS WITHOUT READING AND SHARING !

Sometimes i wonder what people think prayer is. Someone prays for 2 hours, and more than 90% of his/her words is directed TO SATAN "I come against you, i bind you, holy Ghost fire".

I have not written to condemn it, i have only written to give something of a food for thought.

1. Jesus said "Pray thus 'Our Father'" and inferring from this, ALL our prayers are to be directed HEAVENWARD not to HELL.

2. When you talk to the devil, God is no longer in the picture.

3. The devil is not interested whether you have accidents or not, so casting him from the road isn't ideal, he is interested in advising you to sin against God, so if causing accident will make you lose faith in God, maybe he will have reasons to do that then. He is interested in YOUR SOUL, not your material problems. He only will use your bad situations to encourage you to lose faith in God.

4. Some people who believe in witches and wizards find it hard to sleep, whilst their neighbors who are not as superstitious sleep soundly. WHY?

5. The battle you engage in belongs to God, Only He can actually defeat the enemy in such a combat, not you. Many people who have seen the devil himself DID NOT SURVIVE. I assure you, were the devil to appear, you will not stand a chance before him. You may either collapse or lose sanity. The attention is to be on God, and on heaven. You may say "God protect me from Satan" and not "Satan i come against you", the first one is speaking to God, the second one is directed to the devil.

6. When some people say "Satan Holy Ghost fire", he is probably laughing at their faces. God is not at war with the devil, God is at war with sin. When you refuse to repent, you are making yourself God's enemy and this is what the devil wants. So scream all the "Die Satan die" or "holy Ghost fire" Satan will not die. He will always be near you to tempt you to sin. If you doubt, then i wonder why you still get tempted even WHILE YOU PRAY. This is because a demon who is not somewhere HE SHOULD NOT BE, cannot leave for you. Meaning: When a demon possesses a person, he is where he is not supposed to be, when someone with the gift of exorcism gives the command in God's name, they flee. But you cannot tell the devil, who "goes around seeking for people to devour" to stop working. What then do you want him to do? To lie down and sleep in hell? HE WILL KEEP WORKING no matter how many times you shout. The better thing to do is to be sure you have no ties with him, that your relationship is with God. The Devil then will have no hold on your life, you will be free !

I too have had my share of superstition, i too know what it feels like calling the devil. I suffered grievously for it, God taught me a lesson i cannot forget. Then i thought i was praying, i did not know i was offending God by being proud. Right now my prayer is "Lord i love you, make me love you more, protect me from THINGS I DO NOT KNOW, for i TRUST IN YOUR LOVE FOR ME".

And i assure you, since then, i have not been carried by any witch, i am still alive !

Remember that such fear is from the devil.

May the Lord protect his people. Amen.

SHARE AND SHARE AND SHARE.

This is not condemnation, only giving my view. God bless you !

After this was published on Facebook and criticized by some of our followers, the following reply was published:

WITCHES AND WIZARDS; MY GENERAL RESPONSE

I am indeed amazed that some people are unable to read well and judge objectively. I separate personal views from official Catholic Teachings, for this reason i said I DO NOT CONDEMN BUT GIVE AN OPINION. Some people jumped upon it and said I MISLEAD. Well, what can i say than hope they are wrong?

I sincerely hope that by directly condemning my opinion, and accusing me of misleading people that you are actually being mature, and leading people to God through your uncharitable and hurtful comments. (i.e. for some of the comments not all)

LET ME ADDRESS SOMETHING FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO LEARN

Our misunderstanding stems from the fact that some of us DO NOT KNOW CATECHISM the same way. It is not my level of Doctrinal knowledge that the other person has, and it is not his own understanding that i too possess.

After some time of reflection on the replies given by people, with all the quality contrary views (Which i honestly respect), and other heartbreaking comments (Which honestly makes me doubt if some of us here are Catholics at all), i have discovered that our problem is understanding basic Catechism.

LET ME TALK ON BAPTISM.

"But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God" (Jn 1:12), older scripts render the word "power" as "grace", pointing directly to BAPTISM, not some kind of 'authority' per se.

WHAT BAPTISM IS; HOW IT MATTERS IN THE TOPIC

Baptism washes Original sin, makes us Members of the Church. But the most miraculous part is that IT INFUSES DIVINE LIFE in our souls, making us Children of God. This "life" is called "grace". So that when you lose it to mortal sin (AND ONLY MORTAL SIN), you are no longer in the "state of GRACE", and you are no longer worthy of eternal life. However, when you fall sick, have accident, lose your job, this "Divine Life" is still there until you COMMIT A MORTAL SIN. What i was saying all along is simple:

What the devil wants is for you to lose this LIFE OF CHRIST IN YOU, the IDENTITY THAT MAKES YOU REALLY DIVINE, which is GRACE. Without this identity, you are nothing; you will not go to heaven. YOU CAN STILL BIND AND CAST AND DEMONS OBEY,  “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, CAST OUT DEMONS in Your name, and done many WONDERS in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW you; depart from Me, you who practice LAWLESSNESS!’” (Matthew 7:22-23).

Simply put : A Christian who does not really obey God well can command the devil and he obeys, but someone who knows God does not necessarily need to command the devil, but to "OBEY THE WORDS OF MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN" (Mt 7:21). This "Life" is ALL the devil wants, he wants you to lose it, he wants you to believe whatever you think "works for you" and go to hell after. He can go any length to make you believe something you should not, to make you remove your attention from the real treasure which is this LIFE.

UNION WITH GOD IS GOAL OF CHRISTIANITY

The real reason we are Christians is because Christ Came. The reason Christ came is to save us from sin; by conferring upon us his mercy and grace; purchasing our freedom, and conferring upon us his own Nature, which is DIVINE LIFE OF GRACE. When the Christian is in UNION WITH CHRIST, the battle is OVER !

When he is separated, come thunder come fire, he is not God's property.

Prayer means RAISING OUR HEARTS AND MINDS TO GOD, i.e. Loving communion with Him.

Let me provide a help, PICTURE yourself in front of God's throne, with the devil beside you, who do you turn and speak to, God who shines in great light and power? or the devil who tries to get your attention by making noise? IF your answer is that when you see God very close to your face, you'd still lift your voice to shout at Lucifer than have a Love Talk with God, then continue doing what you do, But if your answer is that his beauty will attract you, his loving face lure you to come closer to him, your mouth moving with words of admiration of his love, his glory, his beauty and splendor, moving with words of forgiveness and mercy, with sighs of joy and love. If this is your attitude in such an occasion, an attitude which means that you SPEAK TO GOD, even in sighs and silence, and almost forget the noise the devil makes in the background, trusting that "My Lover belongs to me, and I belong to my Beloved" Songs of Solomon 6:3, trusting that if the devil comes behind with a 'knife', that God will protect you, trusting that even before the devil attempts anything God already knows, and will keep you from harm, trusting like a little Child NOT MEASURING THE OUTCOME OF THIS TOTAL SURRENDER. This is what a mature faith will do, a faith rooted deeply in a LOVE AFFAIR with God, not just a person who still considers himself a WARRIOR, but the one who considers himself a LOVER.

If you agree with the above attitude, and still shout at the devil it means you have little or no faith in God's protection and jealous love. You think God will let him take you away even though you have been faithful in LOVE.  You still PICTURE God as being far off, and you are left to battle "Principalities and powers" (Which battle actually means REMAINING IN GRACE).

Faith makes us "see" God close to us, makes us see Christ IN US and love makes us see him IN OTHERS, when the three Theological Virtues are present in your soul, you are invincible to the enemy. The Devil can use NATURAL occurrences to tempt you, but he cannot do you real harm. ALL TIES WITH THE DEVIL BEGINS BY COMMITTING SIN, and BEING DISOBEDIENT, and ALL TIES WITH GOD IS KEPT BY FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. When you are tied to God, you need not fight, you only need to LOVE MORE, since the more you love (As St John says) the more you resemble God, and the more you resemble God, the more you are shielded in his great light, away from the reach of the enemy's darkness, the more you are transformed into LIGHT ITSELF. If you doubt this, then keep doing what you wish, however, i am speaking to people who are willing to have an attitude of the Church Fathers and Saints, who have ALL TAUGHT THE SAME thing about prayer and being in union with Christ. The Mystics say that when you have loved God (and i believe this too), you are transformed into a FIRE OF LOVE, into God who is CONSUMING FIRE. This FIRE is LOVE, for GOD IS LOVE. If you want to be free from the devil, then LOVE, LOVE AND LOVE. Say prayers that foster this love, spend all your time professing this love to Jesus, that profession is enough to gain you both eternal and temporal salvation. This is what True Catholic Faith teaches. When i was still in the monastery, we'd pray seven times everyday, waking up at 2:30am, just to sing praises to God, confess our Love in "Prayer of the Heart", in order to live throughout the day in service and love. We'd study in order to pray better, work better, but most importantly LOVE MORE !

So when an average Christian stands, commanding the devil, and a holy man who LOVES kneels and simply sighs lovingly to God, the Lover's sigh reaches heaven 100X faster, and puts the devil into confusion more. Because this sigh is ENTIRELY FROM LOVE, the only language the devil does not know since he himself CANNOT LOVE. This is the type of prayer that Mary herself would pray, St Padre Pio, Bernard of Clairvaux, Lawrence, Gregory the Great, ALL DOCTORS, ALL FATHERS OF OLD, ALL SAINTS !

Read their lives, books etc, your sense of Faith will change for the better. When you have understood how their lives were transformed by this Flame of Love (Which St John of the Cross wrote about), your life will be set ablaze with this Love, when you have kept in touch with Papal Encyclicals, Exhortations and other Documents of the Church, you will then know HOW THE CHURCH PRAYS. Not when you simply learn from just one priest or just one brother, ITS BETTER TO GO TO THE FOUNTAIN DIRECTLY, letting the Church herself teach you, rather than draw conclusions on your own. Your conclusions can be good and can lead to God, but the Church's directive leads you 100X faster.

This is what i conclude with. Let everyone believe what he can understand, i am not condemning anything or anyone AT ALL, but let those who understand what this means learn something new. And those who even though they do not like me or my thoughts, but have come to see i speak maturely, let them drop their prides, and acknowledge that all precious stones may be precious, but DIAMONDS LAST FOREVER !

ALL PRAYERS ARE PRECIOUS, but the one that flames from the heart of a lover is usually simple, less theatrical , but MOST POWERFUL !

Therefore FIRE PRAYERS may be Gold, but LOVE-TALK  / LOVE-UNION with God is DIAMOND!

Wake me up from sleep @ Midnight, all i can think of is JESUS MY LOVE, call me a child, call me a novice, i agree, i may be worse. Only that I am not just a Christian, i am A LOVER drunk with the FINEST WINE OF GOD'S LOVE !


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Freedom and Fear; breaking free from sin

One of the things that eat deep into our hearts is FEAR. We are scared of very many things; even things that do not exist. One of the major obstacles to the spiritual life is this vice's second face:Cowardice.

So many Christians are afraid of changing their lives, they do not know what life will be like if they were to live without being attached to certain things, including sins.

At one time in our lives, the Holy Spirit offers us a chance to run away from the bondage of sin, but due to this crippling fear of the "Unknown" we choose to remain in the "known" even though we are not perfectly happy in it; we choose to remain in the sin toward which we have formed strong love for. We dread the thought of living without telling a lie; how can i succeed in my business without cheating? we ask ourselves. We cannot think of the possibility of surviving a day/week without sex; we cannot imagine life without an illegitimate sex partner, we believe we might drop dead if we denied ourselves the deadly pleasure of illegitimate sexual intercourse.

However, since the mind is prone to exaggeration, this in turn affects the way we evaluate things. We believe lots of things to be this way whilst they are that way; we ascribe qualities to things we have not even seen. We decide even God's nature, crafting our own gods in our little heads. We imagine that the spiritual life is going to be dreary, unadventurous, sad, annoying and extremely depressing. Worst of all, we reject any truth that tries to correct our many lies.

As a living testimony, i say, i have never been happier in my life than when i quit my active attachment to sin, and began a sincere journey into the Mystery of God; Jesus let me into his heart and i realized how foolish i have been all along. I believed the pleasures i enjoyed could never be equaled with anything, i believed my heart could not survive without the companionship of a lover. But then, immediately after my initial conversion, i couldn't imagine being with any other lover but the Lord and his Mother.

Then i began to understand how impossible it is to repent, exactly because we humans DO NOT WANT TO LET GO, not because God does not grant the grace needed. We are scared to come out in the Light, preferring to hide in our darkness; the shadow of this light is mostly as far as we can go. We prefer to remain locked in a city we ourselves have built, rejecting the possibility of having any better city, even the one built by God himself is to us tiring and depressing. We run to seek out happiness, to suck it from every empty container, to scrape if from every little waste we find, feeding from every refuse dump just to sap even rotten/wasted happiness. We have been invited to soar up high like the eagle, gaining interior peace, becoming free as the children of God should be, we choose rather to remain in our own yokes; to remain slaves to our own passions, we loathe anything or anyone that advices us to change, we threaten anything that disturbs our ears with the Lord's message to repentance, we eliminate anything that troubles our consciences;  anything that threatens our little world of clay. We may accept his promises of blessings and protection, we may listen to his consoling words, but never to his summons to a true change of heart.


Catholics ARISE !! STAND FROM YOUR SINS !!! Jesus is calling you today, Jesus loves you. Come on into this love union with Jesus, nothing can be sweeter than it ! Every other thing shall begin to make more sense when you are in God. The whole of creation will serve to bring his word to your soul. Then you shall taste a love so powerful you can never sleep at night in sorrow or pain, a love so powerful you can never be afraid of even the Lord's anger anymore since you have great confidence in his love and mercy upon you, a love so powerful you will be lost in God, lost in his immensity, become just like Jesus, and confuse even the devil himself with this new identity. A love so powerful that you will be transformed into the Living Flame of the Lord's light, you will begin to breathe the fire of his love, spiting tiny little fires of love everywhere you go, caring for all of creation as the Lord intended, bringing light to those in darkness, announcing the message of freedom to all in captivity, raising those who have fallen asleep in sin, and bringing all men who encounter you to the God of your heart; setting all things ablaze ! Since you are already aflame with God's Spirit, you cannot help but set everything you touch on fire with God.

YOU, yes YOU can become like Jesus. Only start right now. Not tomorrow, HERE and NOW, part ways with your sins, throw the devil away from your house, give him all his property and he will depart, but if you keep as little as a pin that belongs to him, he will always have the right into your heart.

Brethren i really wish i can make you understand the urgency of this message. I wish you can see through my heart right now, these words have made me feel like a woman in labour, i wish that in giving it out, it might be born in Your HEART; that in your heart may dwell these and similar words of God, drawing all men to salvation through repentance and adherence to God in his Church.

HELP US SHARE AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN. CALL OTHERS TO REPENTANCE !

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LOVERS WILL ALWAYS LIE, THIS IS WHY !

Now that you are alive, you have friends for whom you live, friends who you consider soul mates. You have family for whom you live, who have shared your life; in whose life you share as well.

You, like every normal human being crave company. WE all want to be loved, we crave to love even more. We want to be valued, we also want to pour our lives on someone or on people. The Love we experience here is very powerful, so much so that in marriage its act of consummation (Conjugal Union) gives life to another Living person.

However, in the midst of all the company, beneath all that love lies a certain kind of necessary, unavoidable betrayal. Far from the normal interpretation of betrayal, this one is even more devastating, since at one time, we feel so alone and so abandoned. That moment it death. When we die, we feel detached, torn from all the things we once enjoyed, torn from family, friends, torn from a marital partner whom we love dearly. We feel "Alone", the more we have been pledged eternal "Unending love", the more the pain we shall experience. This pain will be there if we have no friend to walk with us, no hand to hold us, no lips to speak words of love and comfort to us, no shoulder to lean upon when we are weary on our eternal journey. These earthly friends become separated from us in a certain sense. We can no longer share their lives like we used to.

In the midst of all these confusion is a friend whose hands is long enough to reach us even in the underworld, whose feet has walked those paths, whose power conquered the darkness therein, Jesus is his name. If our lives have been one of friendship and service to the Lord, we shall be sure his power and mercy will lead us to our homeland. No friend is more important than Jesus, for at last, when our feet are prepared to walk the longest distance of all, he will be there to walk each step with us.

Why then would someone ever replace pleasing Jesus with pleasing men who have no true love for us? Men who would lie to take advantage of us, men who even though they are faithful to us are unable to keep their promise of "loving you forever" of "always being there" since if we do not die and leave they die and abandon us. Men who would only weep, wipe their eyes and quickly replace us with someone probably better than us.

What a friend we have in Jesus !!!

JESUS COME IN TO STAY, COME INTO MY LIFE LORD JESUS !

SHARE, TOUCH SOMEONE'S HEART TODAY !

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Pope Francis: 'Person of the Year'

2013-12-11 Vatican Radio

Pope Francis has been named Time Magazine's ‘Person of the Year’ for 2013. He is the third Roman Pontiff to receive this honour after John XXIII in 1962 and John Paul II in 1994.

The Head of the Holy See’s Press Office, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, issued the following statement:

“The decision didn’t come as a surprise given the great resonance and attention surrounding the election of Pope Francis right from the start of the new pontificate. The fact that one of the most prestigious awards to be attributed by the international press should go to someone who promotes spiritual, religious and moral values as well as call for peace and greater justice in an incisive manner is a positive sign. As for the Pope himself, he’s not someone who seeks fame and success, because he has put his life at the service of announcing the Gospel of the love of God for mankind. It is pleasing to the Pope that this service should appeal and give hope to women and men. And if this choice of ‘Person of the Year’ should mean that many people have understood this message - at least implicitly - the Pope is really happy about this."

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Pope Francis: Friday homily focuses on scandal of preaching

Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican this Friday morning, focusing his remarks on the attitude of some Christians who seem to be “allergic” to preachers and overly critical of those who proclaim the Gospel, suggesting that they are often afraid of letting the Holy Spirit into their lives and are therefore prone to profound sadness.

In his remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day, Pope Francis focused on the day's Gospel, drawn from that according to St Matthew (11:16-19). There, Jesus compares the generation of his time to always unhappy children, explaining that they were, “not open to the Word of God.” Their refusal, he explained, was not of the message, but of the messenger. “They reject John the Baptist,” he said, who came, “neither eating nor drinking ,” saying of him that he was “a man possessed.” They reject Jesus because they say, “He is a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners.” They always have a reason to criticize the preacher:

“The people of that time preferred to take refuge in a more elaborate religion: in the moral precepts, such as the group of Pharisees; in political compromise, as the Sadducees; in social revolution, as the zealots; in gnostic spirituality, such as Essenes. They were [happy] with their clean, well-polished system. The preacher, however, was not [so pleased]. Jesus reminded them: ‘Your fathers did the same with the prophets.’ The people of God have a certain allergy to the preachers of the Word: they persecuted the prophets, [even] killed them.”

The Pope went on to say that these people claimed to accept the truth of revelation, “but the preacher, preaching, no. They prefer a life caged in their precepts, in their compromises, in their revolutionary plans or in their [disembodied] spirituality.” They are those Christians, who are always discontented with what preachers say:

"These Christians are closed, they are trapped, sad ... these Christians are not free. Why? Because they are afraid of the freedom of the Holy Spirit, which comes through preaching. This, then, is the scandal of preaching, of which St. Paul spoke: the scandal of preaching that ends in the scandal of the Cross. That God should speak to us through men with limits , sinful men, scandalizes: and what scandalizes even more is that that God should speak to us and save us by way of a man who says he is the Son of God but ends [his life] as a criminal. That scandalizes.”

“These sad Christians,” said Pope Francis, “do not believe in the Holy Spirit , do not believe in the freedom that comes from preaching, which admonishes you, teaches you – slaps you , as well – but it is the very freedom that makes the Church grow.”:

“Seeing these children who are afraid to dance, to cry, [who are] afraid of everything, who ask for certainty in all things, I think of these sad Christians, who always criticize the preachers of the Truth, because they are afraid to open the door to the Holy Spirit. Let us pray for them, and pray also for ourselves, that we do not become sad Christians, cutting off the freedom of the Holy Spirit to come to us through the scandal of preaching.”

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Communion of Saints; Praying through Mary

Praying through Mary is not expressly written in the Bible, it is rather an outcome of a mature understanding of the "Communion of Saints". We the Church believe, as taught by St Paul, that "we are one body, one Spirit in Christ". To the mind of the Church, this has a certain literalness in terms of religious actions. So that when you do good, the entire body is healthy and is affected and when you sin, you affect the entire body. When you pray as well the other members (parts) of this body is equally affected.

Christ came to the world as man and God, establishing his authority and dominion as Lord of the Living, both because he lived, died and resurrected. But also Lord of the dead because through this resurrection he conquered death. Since life springs from him only, and since he has walked the roads of the underworld, he himself has power that penetrates the grave.

This power is also inherited by his Body the Church, so that she is never torn apart or broken by death. NO ! She is actually strengthened by the death of a faithful since her glory shines as more members are glorified.

These glorified members since they are still attached to Christ's body also help in its nourishment. So that when they praise God by chants, or pray to Him, the effects reach the entire body; the effect reach you and me. So even without asking for it, the saints pray for us. And we can raise our hearts to them since we're bound; one body and spirit in Christ to aid us in our needs.

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