Why the South Really Won the Civil War

St. John (Don) Bosco

Today is the Feast day of one of my very favorite saints: St. John Bosco (Don Bosco)
From the memorare dot com:

John Bosco lost his father at age two and saw his mother work hard in the fields to support her family. The first of his many supernatural dreams came at age nine when the Jesus and the Virgin Mary appeared to him, showing him a vision of children fighting and cursing: "This is your field: this is where you must work." He devoted his life to fulfilling that command.
Young John perfected many entertaining skills (tightrope walking, juggling, acrobat, ventriloquist) and put on shows for other children. His 'payment' was for them to attend Church or pray with him. John's training for the priesthood was difficult: a step brother objected to having to work hard while John only had to study. This foreshadowed the lifelong turbulence and trials which the Saint would face in finding a place for his Oratories, working with homeless and often troublesome young boys, establishing his Order (the Salesians named after St. Francis de Sales), in the day to day financial needs of his work, and even in physical ailments that would have stopped less determined men.The 'festive' Oratory was a place where young, poor boys could find love, wholesome recreation and sound Church teaching. In a time when social welfare organizations were virtually non-existent, Don ('don' is an Italian title of honor given to priests and nobles) Bosco filled the gap physically and spiritually. His preventative system combined teaching of catechism, frequent confession and communion with the teaching of practical trade skills and education. Holding it all together was the 'preventative system' which saw the role of the priest not just as 'teacher' but as a 'brother' and friend to the boys. Don Bosco was also instrumental later in forming a division of the Salesians to perform a similar ministry to young girls.
The supernatural followed Don Bosco all of this life: dreams guided his steps and revealed sin in the hearts of his boys. He used this to steer them to Jesus. He was seen to levitate in the air during Mass, a mysterious protective dog (Grigio) accompanied him on dangerous journeys, and communion Hosts once multiplied to meet the needs of a larger crowd.His life and work is best summed up in his own words: "Give me souls; take away the rest." Da mihi animas caetera tolle

Prayer to Saint John Bosco

O glorious Saint John Bosco, who in order to lead young people to the feet of the divine Master and to mold them in the light of faith and Christian morality didst heroically sacrifice thyself to the very end of thy life and didst set up a proper religious Institute destined to endure and to bring to the farthest boundaries of the earth thy glorious work, obtain also for us from Our Lord a holy love for young people who are exposed to so many seductions in order that we may generously spend ourselves in supporting them against the snares of the devil, in keeping them safe from the dangers of the world, and in guiding them, pure and holy, in the path that leads to God. Amen.
from Catholic dot org

Desperately Seeking God

From the Drudge Report comes this story reported on USA Today dot co: FBI: Burgeoning gangs behind up to 80% of U.S. crime I have watched from time to time a program on television called "Ganglands". It profiles gangs across the country, their origins, leaders, and how they operate. A phenomenon pretty much across the board is that these organizations all have rules that govern them, sort of codes of conduct. It is quite interesting because at first glance without knowledge of who and what they do, one would see these rules as almost Christian precepts; respect for each member, trust, honesty, loyalty, support for each etc, etc. Of course those outside of the gang are not afforded the same. Gangs offer something missing from our secular world; a sense of belonging, security, a sense of being something larger than yourself, a sense of respect. This all comes devoid of the idea of how Christ really wants us to live. In place we find violence, crime, drugs, a dark senseless world that is wreaking havoc on our society. Ideas have consequences, removing God from the public square has left us with this beast of a problem and it is getting worse. Pray for conversion of gang members, that the light of Christ will give them what they truly need.

Lift High the Cross

At the time when the Roman empire ruled the world, crucifixion was the symbol and means by which Rome exerted her power and might. Crucifixion was used for slaves, rebels, pirates and especially-despised enemies and criminals. Therefore crucifixion was considered a most shameful and disgraceful way to die. Condemned Roman citizens were usually exempt from crucifixion (like feudal nobles from hanging, dying more honorably by decapitation) except for major crimes against the state, such as high treason. The goal of Roman crucifixion was not just to kill the criminal, but also to mutilate and dishonor the body of the condemned. In ancient tradition, an honorable death required burial; leaving a body on the cross, so as to mutilate it and prevent its burial, was a grave dishonor. For many decades after Jesus was crucified Christians did not use the crucifix as a symbol, it had too much painful baggage with it. In fact because of the horror of it there has always been from the beginning of the early church some doubt as to whether God could "lower himself" to the state of man. There have been of course heresies (of which I won't go into detail) that have in some way or another deny either Christ's humanity or divinity. There are Protestant preachers today whom I have heard who whether they realize or not deny some aspects of both. St. Anselm, who lived in the 11th century, was a Benedictine monk and became the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote a dialogue on incarnation and atonement called Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man). In it he explains this dual nature of Jesus that is central to the Catholic Church's understanding of God's salvific plan. He wrote:
"They who speak thus do not understand our belief. For we affirm that the Divine nature is beyond doubt impassible, and that God cannot at all be brought down from his exaltation, nor toil in anything which he wishes to effect. But we say that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man, one person in two natures, and two natures in one person. When, therefore, we speak of God as enduring any humiliation or infirmity, we do not refer to the majesty of that nature, which cannot suffer; but to the feebleness of the human constitution which he assumed. And so there remains no ground of objection against our faith. For in this way we intend no debasement of the Divine nature, but we teach that one person is both Divine and human. In the incarnation of God there is no lowering of the Deity; but the nature of man we believe to be exalted."
Catholic Churches show Jesus in his crucified state to remind us what God was willing to do for us. Jesus felt, the scourging, he felt the nails being driven in his hands and feet, the crown of thorns, the piercing of his side. The Mass is this Paschal Mystery being brought to us through space and time. It is not Jesus being being crucified again and again as those who would argue that Jesus died once and only one time for our sins. And so the crucifixion which one was once the very symbol of arrogance and horror, fear and power, debasement, dishonor, and disgrace, is now the quite the opposite, demonstrative of God's boundless love and the only source of our hope and salvation. Those who feared the cross now lift high the Cross and as St. Louis de Montfort wrote "Love the Cross, Desire Crosses, contempt, pain, abuse, insults, disgrace, persecutions, humiliations, calumnies, illness, injuries. May Jesus prevail, May His Cross prevail!

Ideas Have Consequences

I have repeatedly stated on this blog about the fact that the secular world and the liberal Protestant mindset have what I call, "smaller universes". Some people might call them worldviews. This problem of trying to communicate with individuals who have this narrow perspective frustrates me and begs the question; what other strategies are available or necessary to begin a process of change. The following article comes from Catholic Answers. It was written by Carl E. Olson back in 2005. Most Americans thought process comes from this perspective which originates from nominalism. The secular world sees everything from a physical, present point of view. The Divine view (as we know it) it is outside the realm of their world. Many of the world's ills from abortion, all the life issues, consumerism, immorality stem from the inability to comprehend virtues as being Divine.

What's in a Name?

Nominalism is an idea that has had devastating consequences for our everyday life.

By Carl E. Olson

• God could have redeemed us by becoming a donkey.
  
  
• God justifies man, but man remains as sinful inwardly as before.
  
  
• Words have no meaning but are merely text.

What do these statements have in common? Apparently little: The first was the belief of a fourteenth-century Franciscan theologian. The second captures the heart of classical Protestant soteriology (the theology of salvation; see sidebar). The last is the essential position of postmodern deconstructionists.

Yet the common intellectual source of the three statements is one of the most powerful ideas that nobody talks about. It is an idea that has had a deep influence on Western thought and has helped shape Christian theology and Western thought for six hundred years. That idea is nominalism. If there was ever a poster child for the remark that "ideas have consequences," it is nominalism.

What are universals?

In 1948, Richard M. Weaver (1910–1963), a professor of English at the University of Chicago, published Ideas Have Consequences. Decrying the modern assault on language and objective truth, Weaver laid the blame for such attacks at the foot of William of Ockham (c. 1285–1347). The English Franciscan, Weaver wrote, "propounded the fateful doctrine of nominalism, which denies that universals have a real existence. His triumph tended to leave universal terms mere names serving our convenience."

It may sound like a lot of ivory tower irrelevance, but the denial of universals has had deadly consequences in our society. So what are these "universals"?

Whereas St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) had taught that man can know the true, objective essence of things, Ockham denied it was possible. As Benjamin Wiker observed in Moral Darwinism (InterVarsity, 2002), Ockham believed that "when we use the word dog there is really no universal entity, essence, or dog-ness that we perceive. Dog is merely a name we apply to particular things that happen to look alike. Hence, the name of his system, nominalism, for the Latin nomen, ‘name.’"

In other words, nominalism is a philosophical system claiming that everything outside the mind is completely individual: Reality cannot be comprehended through the use of universal and abstract concepts but only through the empirical study of specific, individual objects. Historian and Benedictine monk David Knowles, in The Evolution of Medieval Thought, wrote that nominalism holds that "there is no such thing as a universal, and it is nonsense to speak of the thing known as present in an intelligible form in the mind of the knower."

Yes, it’s a complex idea—but the consequences are very real. By denying that there is any basis in reality for universals that every human mind can grasp, nominalism moved knowledge away from objectivity and toward subjectivity and prepared the way for further radical propositions in the realms of theology and morality.

It makes sense: If God’s acts do not possess a logical, objective nature—as Ockham and his disciples taught—then they are merely the result of a groundless divine will unconcerned with what humans call "reason" or "logic." If that is the case, obviously man cannot use his reason or logic to determine what is just or unjust. Natural law, then, is simply nonsense.

Ockham went so far as to say that the Incarnation had value only to the extent God gave it value; God could have redeemed mankind just as easily by becoming a stone, tree, or donkey. If there is no common, or universal, human nature, the Incarnation was not so much about the Logos taking on human nature as it was about God working as he wishes, in a manner unrelated to any sort of logic or reason.

Because of the arbitrary nature of reality, man cannot know the essential nature of sin and grace. Thus, he has no way of knowing his state before God—outside of intuition and inner experience. Besides, nominalism insisted, God can declare sin and grace to exist within man at the same time, regardless of man’s worthiness.

Apparently, Ockham was motivated by what he thought was proper humility before God’s greatness. He viewed Thomistic realism (and its respect for Aristotelian logic) as an arrogant approach that claimed to understand God in a systematic and supercilious fashion. Unfortunately, however good his intentions were, Ockham set the foundation for some of the most powerful and mistaken ideas of the Protestant revolt.

Mystery destroyed

Heiko A. Oberman, a leading Luther scholar (and admirer), admitted in Luther: Man between God and the Devil that "Martin Luther was a nominalist; there is no doubt about that." Rev. Louis Bouyer, a former Lutheran pastor and theologian, stated in The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism that this connection to Ockham’s nominalism is the key to the "negative elements" of the Reformation:

No phrase reveals so clearly the hidden evil that was to spoil the fruit of the Reformation than Luther’s saying that Ockham was the only scholastic who was any good. The truth is that Luther, brought up on his system, was never able to think outside the framework it imposed, while this, it is only too evident, makes the mystery that lies at the root of Christian teaching either inconceivable or absurd.

That "mystery" is divinization: the Catholic doctrine that God’s grace—his supernatural life—can infuse man and heal his wounded nature, especially through the sacraments. This belief was abhorrent to Luther, who believed such communion between God and man impossible, even blasphemous. Justification, Luther taught, was not an inner change but a juridical or forensic reality, outward only and imputed by Christ. The justified man is still as sinful as before, but he is "cloaked" in Christ’s righteousness.

Total depravity

Neither Luther nor John Calvin could conceive of man as somehow sharing in God’s divine nature, because man, in their estimation, was totally depraved and incapable of any good. The nominalism of Ockham and his disciples congealed in the teachings of these Protestant fathers, resulting in a skewed understanding of God and his relationship with man.

"What, in fact, is the essential characteristic of Ockham’s thought, and of nominalism in general," Bouyer asked, "but a radical empiricism, reducing all being to what is perceived, which empties out, with the idea of substance, all possibility of real relations between beings, as well as the stable subsistence of any of them, and ends by denying to the real any intelligibility, conceiving God himself only as a Protean figure impossible to apprehend?"

The nominalist fragmentation between substance and nature became the cornerstone for two principles of classical Protestant theology: total depravity and sola fide.

Man, being totally depraved, lacks any free will and the ability to know what is right. For Luther, looking through nominalist-colored lenses, grace was a quality external to man and therefore unknowable in any objective way. Grace is God’s divine favor and belongs to God alone. Luther believed that if God did infuse man with his divine life, then God would be joined to man and obligated to him in a manner incompatible with his sovereignty and omnipotence. Man can have no part in grace except in an outward manner—imputed righteousness—in which no real communication of the divine life occurs.

So sola fide—faith alone—became the means of salvation because faith, for the Protestant fathers, is an inner quality, knowable through experience and intuition; it is not a sharing in God’s divine life.

"Similarly, and as radically," wrote Bouyer, "it follows that grace, to remain such, that is the pure gift of God—must always be absolutely extrinsic to us; also, faith, to remain ours, so as not to fall into that externalism that would deprive man of all that is real in religion, must remain shut up within us."

Radical individualism

This prepared the way for the radical individualism—what French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain called "the advent of the self"—that became a distinguishing feature of Protestantism. In the moral realm this radical separation of faith and grace meant a severing of the moral act from its actual value. If God can impose any value he desires upon a moral act arbitrarily, then it follows that man’s actions cannot possess any objective value relating to grace or the meriting of eternal life. Protestant theologian Alister McGrath summarized the Reformers’ view in his volume on justification, Iustitia Dei (Cambridge University Press, 1998):

There is a fundamental discontinuity between the moral value of an act—i.e., the act, considered in itself—and the meritorious value of an act—i.e., the value that God chooses to impose upon the act. Moral virtue imposes no obligation upon God, and where such obligation may be conceded, it exists as the purely contingent outcome of a prior uncoerced divine decision.

Calvin systematized this discontinuity by basing his Institutes of the Christian Religion around the central theological theme of predestination. Calvin made it clear that God can be sovereign only if man is nothing, that is, totally depraved and lacking any free will.

It has been said that for the Protestant fathers justification was the article of faith upon which the Church either "stand or falls." But their denial of free will is actually the key article of faith, as it informed their position on justification as well as that of Scripture, Church authority, and the sacraments. Without free will, man’s moral actions mean nothing, so justification becomes a legal fiction, not a lifetime of growth in God’s divine life.

The Reformer from Geneva also took up Ockham’s view of the Incarnation, as McGrath noted in A Life of John Calvin (Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1990). Calvin "makes it clear that the basis of Christ’s merit is not located in Christ’s offering of himself," McGrath wrote, "but in the divine decision to accept such an offering as of sufficient merit for the redemption of mankind (which corresponds to the voluntarist [nominalist] approach). For Calvin, ‘apart from God’s good pleasure, Christ could not merit anything’ [Institutes, II.xvii.i-iv]." McGrath also noted that "Calvin’s continuity appears to be with the late medieval voluntarist tradition, deriving from Ockham of Ockham and Gregory of Rimini."

The crucial break between each moral act (known by revelation) and its meritorious value (unknown and reliant on God’s arbitrary will) is evident. So Calvin taught a distinct break between justification and sanctification. The former is external, imputed, and eternal; the latter is internal and pertains to salvation as an evidence only shown by good works, a sign of perseverance, which the truly predestined saint will possess. Believers can know they are saved by the signs of their works, all the while knowing that those works possess little, if any, actual value in the eyes of God.

Seeds of skepticism

Like a stream growing as it flows from a mountain into a valley, nominalism has helped shape modernity’s view of God, man, and reality. Ockham’s focus on empirical knowledge played a vital role in Luther and Calvin looking inwardly in search of faith. But it was not long before Enlightenment thinkers would cast aside the tenuous reality of self-enclosed faith and begin searching for data and evidence in a new way.

Instead of looking to the detached and unknowable God of nominalism, intellectuals and theologians began looking to the immediate, concrete world around them. After all, if God does not want to have communion with man but only desires to show his sovereignty, what keeps man from turning his back on God and demonstrating his own power and autonomy? While God, for the Protestant fathers, is free from any obligation to man, in the Enlightenment era man became equally autonomous, free from any obligation to God and his natural law.

What the Protestant revolt and later modernity had in common was that a subjective, individualistic view of reality turned into the essential basis of knowledge. The difference was in the object of focus. The Reformers looked to God, relying on intuitive, subjective experience. Later thinkers, relying on their own intuitive experiences, concluded that man is autonomous and God is unnecessary. The former resulted in Lutheranism, Calvinism and a host of splintering groups. The latter resulted in all sorts of nasty "isms": empiricism, positivism, moral relativism, and deconstructionism.

Summarized, the move toward subjective and intuitive knowledge, opposed to abstract and universal knowledge, led to increasingly radical philosophical propositions. G. W. F. Hegel, Immanuel Kant, and Karl Marx pushed the envelope of nominalist-indebted thought. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) wrote, "There are no facts, only interpretations"—a sentiment echoed in the common contemporary refrain: "There is no truth, only opinions."

In the twentieth century, Jacques Derrida’s work in deconstruction—which asserts that truth cannot be known and words lack real meaning—was a type of hyper-nominalism. Derrida’s famous statement that "there is nothing outside the text" was a denial that words refer to a reality beyond them.

Like a constantly mutating virus, nominalism lives on. Yes, ideas do have consequences. And bad ideas, no matter how well-intentioned, have bad consequences.

---

Carl E. Olson is the editor of IgnatiusInsight.com, the co-author, with Sandra Miesel, of The Da Vinci Hoax (Ignatius, 2004), and the author of Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? (Ignatius, 2003). From 2002 to 2004 he was the editor of the award-winning Envoy magazine. He and his wife Heather have one daughter, Felicity. Their conversion story appears in Surprised by Truth 3.

Psalm 37

Commit your life to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light,
your cause like the noon day sun.

Be still before the Lord and wait in patience;
do not fret at the man who prospers;
a man who makes evil plots
to bring down the needy and the poor.

Calm your anger and forget your rage;
do not fret, it only leads to evil.
For those who do evil shall perish;
the patient shall inherit the land.


A little longer - and the wicked shall have gone.
Look at his place, he is not there
But the humble shall own the land
and enjoy the fullness of peace

Bene Scripsisti de Me Thomma

Today we honor one of the Doctors of the Church and arguably the Catholic Church's greatest theologian and philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas. He has been given the title "Angelic Doctor" He was known by another nickname while studying at the cathedral school in Cologne. St. Thomas was very stout in physical stature and understood things very easily. He was thus quiet and reserved and his classmates nicknamed him the "Dumb Ox". His genius however was not missed on by St. Albert the Great, a Doctor of the Church himself, whom he studied under. While speaking in class he bellowed out "one day this Dumb Ox will be heard all over the world" St. Thomas Aquinas wrote of the nature of God, the nature of the Trinity, and the nature of Jesus Christ. He believed in the Natural Law and the "first principles" "this is the first precept of the law, that good is to be done and promoted, and evil is to be avoided. All other precepts of the natural law are based on this ..." He defined the four cardinal virtues as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. The cardinal virtues are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. There are, however, three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. These are supernatural and are distinct from other virtues in their object, namely, God: "Now the object of the theological virtues is God Himself, Who is the last end of all, as surpassing the knowledge of our reason. On the other hand, the object of the intellectual and moral virtues is something comprehensible to human reason. Wherefore the theological virtues are specifically distinct from the moral and intellectual virtues." His greatest work Summa Theologica is a systematic summary for most of Christian theology. In it he gives his Five Ways for the existence of God. He left it unfinished however, for on his way to the second Council of Lyons, ordered there by Gregory X, he fell sick and died at the Cistercian monastery of Fossa Nuova in 1274. The Catholic Church has produce a myriad of great saints each doing God's work in their own humble way. In G.K. Chesterton's book on St. Thomas Aquinas, chapter one Chesterton writes in paralleling St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas " You can make a sketch of St. Francis: you could only make a plan of St. Thomas, like the plan of a labyrinthe city" His works have a had profound effect on Christianity and philosophy. "Bene Scripsisti de Me Thomma" "You have written well of me Thomas." The words of Christ to St. Thomas while he contemplated the crucifix in prayer.

The Truth is A Person

The Truth is a person. Everybody at some point in their lives, and usually at several different points asks themselves these simple questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I going to do with my life? Is my life meaningful? This inquisition begins most of the time in adolescence when a young man or woman begins to develop a sense of personhood, that they are more than just their parents' child. Most people as they grow up begin to identify their self worth by their occupation or profession, how attractive they are, their sexual prowess, how much money they make, and their physical possessions. These are the identifiers by which the world measures human beings. A deficit in any of those of those identifiers and you will have a deficit in your self worth. The world will tell you that. Am I wrong here? Now if you choose to take another avenue in determining what is your self worth the world will tell you that it can't be true for there are no absolute truths. (My question to them is "Are you absolutely sure?) Many people live trapped in this world, believing that they have to be prettier, wealthier, have a bigger house, better clothes, a newer purse, a better body, a better boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, a better job, a more powerful position, and on and on. Why? Because the world has determined those identifiers that determine your self worth. The framework of this belief is so evident in high school adolescence. If you don't measure up you will be ostracized in some fashion or another, limited in the circle of friends, limited in your accessibility, or even worse considered an outcast, weird or whatever. Here is the secret to life and happiness: those things that the world says define you is a big lie! It is not necessary to stay on the conveyor belt of unhappiness, trapped in a world where for the most part you never measure up, or your never satisfied. If you are a slave to drugs, alcohol, pornography, the pursuit of money, the pursuit of sex, and if you don't measure up because of your physical limitations - your too short, too heavy, too ethnic, not good looking enough, or your wardrobe stinks, your car is too old, your house is too small, and you truly believe that "this is all there is". I've got great news for you. The Truth is you were never meant for such a tiny universe. The Truth is a Person. The Truth will set you free bringing you true joy, true satisfaction, true dignity, true love, true happiness. The Truth is a person . The Truth is Jesus Christ! "For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting." Let me warn you though. There are what I call "feel good" churches that will tell you "that you deserve to live abundantly" because that's what God wants. That is true but God's way is not man's way and this abundance that they speak of is strickly material abundance. Again this is limiting yourself, and for many a temporary fix. People will wander from church to church seeking the answer. They will become despondent that this miniature version of Christ is not much more than the world has to offer. Check out the Catholic Church, it offers the fullness of Truth. Founded by Christ, the deposit of Faith given to the Apostles has been transmitted from day to day, decade to decade, century to century. Jesus says the Truth will set you free, start living!

What A Price We Pay

Jenny @ The Great Deception has a piece on that 22 year old San Diego woman who has auctioned off her virginity. I have been preaching for years on how the secular world has devalued the dignity of human beings for so long that it is the accepted belief."Catholicism as GK Chesterton points out is "the only thing that ever founded a civilization on first love, on the single and romantic view of sex; we have the only scheme that believes in chivalry; we alone serve both St. George and St. Valentine. We alone among the great religions of the world have a creed that interprets mystically these physical things; we alone believe in the resurrection of the body."
My other point is that we are producing testosterone deficit males today. Chivalry is long gone, men don't want to die for women, they want to be the low bidder for her services. Woman don't want be fought over and protected, they want to sell their services. That sale might not be in dollars but in many cases it is over nothing. Thank God for Jenny and more woman like her.

Pelosi Believes Birth Control Will Stimulate Economy!

When people ask me why I don't have any faith whatsoever in our politicians and government. All I have to do is point to Nancy Pelosi. Another one of our famous Catholics who disregards the Church's teachings. PELOSI SAYS BIRTH CONTROL WILL HELP ECONOMY

Feasts of St. Timothy & St. Titus

Today the Church looks at the two saints who were followers of St. Paul. Disciples who worked in different ways to grow and nourish the fledgling Church under the guidance of Paul.
From the Magnificat we read "Timothy was the inseparable companion of the work and sufferings of the apostle. He was his confidant at all times."
"If Timothy was his confidant Titus was the negotiator, the one Paul sent to clear up misunderstandings, reconcile differences; the one too on whom the apostle could count to organize a new Church. It was in this capacity that Titus became the apostle of Crete."




Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother named Eunice. Being the product of a “mixed” marriage, he was considered illegitimate by the Jews. It was his grandmother, Lois, who first became Christian. Timothy was a convert of Paul around the year 47 and later joined him in his apostolic work. He was with Paul at the founding of the Church in Corinth. During the 15 years he worked with Paul, he became one of his most faithful and trusted friends. He was sent on difficult missions by Paul—often in the face of great disturbance in local Churches which Paul had founded.

Timothy was with Paul in Rome during the latter’s house arrest. At some period Timothy himself was in prison (Hebrews 13:23). Paul installed him as his representative at the Church of Ephesus.

Timothy was comparatively young for the work he was doing. (“Let no one have contempt for your youth,” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:12a.) Several references seem to indicate that he was timid. And one of Paul’s most frequently quoted lines was addressed to him: “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Timothy 5:23).

Titus has the distinction of being a close friend and disciple of Paul as well as a fellow missionary. He was Greek, apparently from Antioch. Even though Titus was a Gentile, Paul would not let him be forced to undergo circumcision at Jerusalem. Titus is seen as a peacemaker, administrator, great friend. Paul’s second letter to Corinth affords an insight into the depth of his friendship with Titus, and the great fellowship they had in preaching the gospel: “When I went to Troas...I had no relief in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.... For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—external conflicts, internal fears. But God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus...” (2 Corinthians 2:12a, 13; 7:5-6).

When Paul was having trouble with the community at Corinth, Titus was the bearer of Paul’s severe letter and was successful in smoothing things out. Paul writes he was strengthened not only by the arrival of Titus but also “by the encouragement with which he was encouraged in regard to you, as he told us of your yearning, your lament, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.... And his heart goes out to you all the more, as he remembers the obedience of all of you, when you received him with fear and trembling” (2 Corinthians 7:7a, 15).

The Letter to Titus addresses him as the administrator of the Christian community on the island of Crete, charged with organizing it, correcting abuses and appointing presbyter-bishops.

from American Catholic dot org

Prayer for the Dignity of Human Life

Lord and giver of all life, help us to value each person, created in love by you.

In your mercy, guide and assist our efforts to promote the dignity and value of all human life, born and unborn. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen. from www.catholic dot org

On The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

YEAR OF ST. PAUL
June 28, 2008 - June 29, 2009

Much has been written by more scholarly people than myself about St. Paul and his life. He is my patron saint, who besides his tireless work in bringing Jesus to the Gentiles, wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful writings. His words resonate with me and often bring me to tears. Here are just a few:

Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ Philippians 3:8

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:10-15

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me Philippians 4:13

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

PRAYER

Loving Father, Christian conversion calls for going beyond self-reliance and for entrusting ourselves to the Mystery. Those who want to find you need, again and again, an inner conversion, a new direction. Conversion is first and foremost your gift that opens a heart to your infinite goodness. Give me the grace to turn around inside, to be won over by Jesus, and so to live always for you. We asked this united withe the intercession of the great Apostle Paul through Christ our Lord.

Amen

Composed by Father Peter John cameron, O.P.

Feast of St. Francis de Sales

Today is the Feast day of St. Francis de Sales. There are two items that I wish to mention regarding him. He compiled sermons, teachings, and letters he had written into what is a masterpiece on spiritual direction and guidance called "Introduction to the Devout Life". If you have never read this book, go on Amazon dot com and order it today. This man was brilliant and truly knew the nuts and bolts of living as a Christian should. The second item I will take directly from Catholic Online regarding his attempt to convert Catholics who had fallen over to Calvinism. This account is astounding: Then Francis had a bad idea - at least that's what everyone else thought. This was during the time of the Protestant reformation and just over the mountains from where Francis lived was Switzerland- Calvinist territory. Francis decided that he should lead an expedition to convert the 60,000 Calvinists back to Catholicism. But by the time he left his expedition consisted of himself and his cousin. His father refused to give him any aid for this crazy plan and the diocese was too poor to support him.

For three years, he trudged through the countryside, had doors slammed in his face and rocks thrown at him. In the bitter winters, his feet froze so badly they bled as he tramped through the snow. He slept in haylofts if he could, but once he slept in a tree to avoid wolves. He tied himself to a branch to keep from falling out and was so frozen the next morning he had to be cut down. And after three years, his cousin had left him alone and he had not made one convert.

Francis' unusual patience kept him working. No one would listen to him, no one would even open their door. So Francis found a way to get under the door. He wrote out his sermons, copied them by hand, and slipped them under the doors. This is the first record we have of religious tracts being used to communicate with people.

The parents wouldn't come to him out of fear. So Francis went to the children. When the parents saw how kind he was as he played with the children, they began to talk to him.

By the time, Francis left to go home he is said to have converted 40,000 people back to Catholicism.

St. John Bosco (Don Bosco) so loved and admired St. Francis de Sales that he founded the Salesian Society dedicated to "the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood." here is the Prayer of St. Francis de Sales:

Be at Peace

Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life;

rather look to them with full hope as they arise.

God, whose very own you are,

will deliver you from out of them.

He has kept you hitherto,

and He will lead you safely through all things;

and when you cannot stand it,

God will bury you in his arms.

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;

the same everlasting Father who cares for you today

will take care of you then and everyday.

He will either shield you from suffering,

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace,

and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.

St. Francis de Sales 1567-1622

My Response to Astonished, Yet at Home!

There is nothing like a reformed individual. A former alcoholic will tell you of the horror of living that lifestyle. He knows the evil of it and has no problem relating that to you. A reformed sinner like myself knows the consequences of turning from God. I can unequivocally tell you what it means to be a friend of Satan. I tell you what else I am. I am a reformed Northeast Democrat. I know exactly how those people think, exactly! I have lived on both sides, had the vantage point of knowing my enemies. I will address some of the issues in this piece by Astonished, Yet at Home. But first, I will say that I am a Catholic first, and everything else is secondary. I believe in all of the Church's teachings without exception. Jesus Christ is the very center of my life. Here we go. Point# 2. Agree with you on most of this but would add this: I am assuming when you say Pro-Life leaders you are talking about some organizations that support political candidates. The issue that they are proposing is a stop to abortion. It is hard to latch on with any liberal Democratic candidate when their party platform states: the right to choose even if the mother can't pay, choice is a fundamental constitutional right, pursue embryonic stem cell research at all costs, support cloning, support any type of birth control, and now it's leader is ready remove all and any barriers to abortions. The political battlefield is imperfect, we cannot find the candidate that meets all the requirements. Some Republicans work for the poor, are against the war, against pornography and indecency, but not all. The Democrats have on their camp the Hollywood leftists who desire to break down all morals, destroy the family, and yes destroy the Catholic Church. They hate the Catholic Church. Point 3. is irrelevant, its politics, Protestant Christian leaders are just that, Protestant. Point 4. Justice Scalia not an ally to end abortion? Point 5. Again the political arena makes that necessary. Point 6. Anybody who believes that Obama is going to reduce abortions is an idiot. Point 7. We got John McCain for our choice what the hell else are we suppose to do. Obama will prove to be Satan's right hand man after all is said and done. Point 8. See Point 6 rebuttal. Point 9. I am not a big fan of Sarah Palin after all she left the Catholic Church, she can't be that smart. Please name me this idyllic candidate you want because I don't see him or her out there. Point 10. Bush was an idiot for starting this war but Bush stood his ground when it came to embryonic stem cell and other pro life issues. Point 11-15 .The Democrat Party is pro-abortion and there ain't nobody gonna change that! Point 16. We need better candidates but a. our system of election politics prevents that and b. trying to run on a platform where a small majority is your constituency is a losing proposition. 18 -20. Agree We have to change minds, hearts and souls by being an example of Jesus Christ, who by the way didn't lobby the Roman government to put an end to crucifixions. He did however reach out to anybody no matter their status in life to bring his message of love and hope. God Bless

Way to Go Mr. President

We live in a society that is very ignorant, very shallow, self absorbed, materialistic, unrepentant, and in some cases outright evil. The current president of the United States, who during his candidacy, stated that he did not know when life begins, has decide after only a couple days on the job, and one day after the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, to lift the ban on federal funding for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on them. This takes tax dollars from Americans like yourself and sends it to the furthest corners of the earth to kill innocent children. This is an insidious evil, because the abortionists prey on the uneducated poor throughout many third world countries. He has surrounded himself with people who have the most pro-abortionist agenda, including representatives of organizations such as NARAL, Emily’s List, and Planned Parenthood. He has put these appointees in charge of his Domestic Policy Council, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Communications Office. He is in essence ramping up the culture of death. The Vatican has responded to this act by highly criticizing the president "Vatican criticizes Obama on abortion Issue" While searching for this article on the Vatican's response on the president I came across this page from the Warning*** Democratic Underground dot com. Warning*** this link contains some of the most vile and blasphemous responses. This speaks to the ignorance and self absorption that I mentioned. I know they are radical but I dare say that this pathetic display is for the most part the way a lot of Americans think. This is where our society is in the 21st Century. This is the type and character of human being our fine education system is producing. This is what our culture, churches, parents and grandparents are producing. This is America my friends. Don't kid yourself, many people including many so called "Catholics" believe this way. They sound like a bunch of drunken idiots who are fat, happy and ignorant of what life is. They sound exactly like mouth pieces for Satan himself. They, and our current president believe they can "stick it" to anybody they desire, "because might makes right" but they have forgotten the one thing that we the faithful know. You can't stick it to God! Jesus Christ emphatically stated "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light" He is Son of the Living God. In 2 Peter 2:9 we are reminded that "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented." You, who think you can "stick it to God", your punishment awaits you. Here, if you have the courage to look at these pictures and tell me that there are no consequences. Or watch this video and tell me that God doesn't care about those, the very least of his brethern. You are spineless, cowardly advocates for Satan himself and he has a spot reserved for you. We pray that your hearts are changed:

Prayer for the Unborn

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.

Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life.

Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother can give.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer form EWTN Pro Life Resourc

Our Hope & Salvation

Save me, O God for the waters have come up to my neck
I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
what I did not steal.
Psalm 69 1-5
But I pray to you, O Lord
in the time of your favor;
in your great love O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
Rescue me from the mire
do not let me sink.
Psalm 69 13-14
Today's economic times are troubling for so many. It is impossible to endure the day to day stresses of everyday life without anchoring ourselves to someone who will be there for us. The psalmist cry is one of desperation. Yet he recognizes that God is his hope and salvation. Do not despair no matter what lies ahead for you. Trust in God, knowing that he has a plan for you. His promise of hope and salvation will become clear to you at the appointed time. We cannot control some things that happen to us and we may experience pain. Trust that God hears your prayers and knows you and loves you. God Bless

By What Do We Merit This?

"Because we all deserve a lifetime". Those words echoed in my mind last night while I lay awake. You see earlier that evening I had watched a commercial it was about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Rally for the Cure. This is major fundraiser for the cure of breast cancer. I have had friends and family members who have overcome cancer, died from cancer, and have battled cancer. I visit a hospital once a week and meet people who are suffering from it. I am by no means insensitive to those who have experienced it,and the physical, emotional and psychological ordeal that goes with it. Organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure are raising money and doing good things. I am strictly dealing on a philosophical level here. "Because we all deserve a lifetime" Why? I ask. Give me an answer to that question. I am not looking for answers like, you want to live to see your daughter married or your son graduate from college. Those are personal reasons. I want a universal, global and philosophical answer. I am not being flippant here. Tell me who deserves a lifetime and give me a valid reason. What merits one to deserve this gift of life? Why is the gift so precious even to those who have lived a great deal of years. What is a lifetime anyway? 20 years, 30, 60, 80? I can't come up with an answer as to why I, or anyone deserves a lifetime. I mean that. I believe this in my heart of hearts, I deserve whatever God gives me. I can't see a distinction between a long life and a short life in those terms. I can't find anything in my logical universe that merits me a so called "lifetime". As near as I can see the only qualification for warranting a lifetime is that you exist. Breast cancer is primarily a women's disease ( some men have it), women feel strongly about it, it is devastating. Women's rights and particularly what is called "the right to choose" (but the choice they want is not my choice), is perhaps the most prevalent argument for the abortionists. Medical science has pretty much proven what we already know, that life begins at conception, most people understand that, unless of course you are the current president of the USA. Women have a right to choose. That's the battle cry. My question to you is this. If we all deserve a lifetime, then don't we at least deserve to be born? Who is the arbiter of a life? Who gets to decide that a baby lives or dies,and on what merit do they deserve it one way or another. You see you can't answer this question without saying it is God, and only God who should decide, and at the same time march for a cure to breast cancer. Think seriously about this. How do you merit deserving a lifetime and a child in a woman's womb does not deserve to be born?

Prayer for the Unborn

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.

Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life.

Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother can give.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer form EWTN Pro Life Resources

Feast of St. Agnes

Today is the feast day of St. Agnes. There is not much known about her other than she was an early Church martyr. Saint Ambrose mentioned her as a virgin martyr who died by the sword, as well as Pope Damascus, and the poet Prudentius. She was revered as early as the 4th century and has been honored in many early church writings. Since the Middle Ages St. Agnes has been represented with a lamb, the symbol of her virginal innocence. On her feast two lambs are solemnly blessed, and from their wool are made the palliums sent by the Pope to the archbishops. On this day where we recognize St. Agnes may we be reminded to be pure and pious surrendering to Christ only and not to the false promises of the world. We are reminded that conversion is a daily action.

United in the mystery of the conversion of Paul, we pray for the grace of conversion in our own life:
R. Lord, Give me the Grace of Conversion

Lord Jesus,

When I look at my life from the starting point of my own insufficiences, instead of from the fact of your compassion, grace, and love for me. R.

When I would prefer to live by my own thoughts and my own understanding instead of by your Truth which alone can set me free. R.

When I would rather brood over what annoys me than turn myself over to you always invite me to come to you. R.

When I obsess over self-absorption, complacency, and self-assertiveness. R.

When I get dejected about my sin, not because it offends you, but because it prevents me from being able to take delight in myself. R.

Whenever I live in a dualistic way, as if my faith and "my real life" are two separate things, R.

When I am deceived into thinking that my happiness depends on something in the future instead of what you give me in the present moment, R.

When discouragement and shame make hard for me to be faithful, R.

When I become distraught over the evil I would commit if left to myself, forgetting that I do not live according to myself but that I live in you, R.

When self-doubt and fear seem to have the last say, R.

When I miss the point of my fragility, a gift you give me so that I will always be prompted to rely on you, R.

When I am inclined to interpret my problems as punishments and my miseries as being abandoned by God, R.

When impenetrability takes over my life, making me resistant to your beauty and all the little ways you ordain yourself to me, R.

When I get distracted by my feelings, my emotions, my passions, my regrets, R.
When I get duped into thinking that I must fix myself up in order to have a relationship with you, forgetting that you come to me with your love just the way I am, R.

When I treat my faith like some abstract answer to be sought instead of as a loving Presence to be affirmed, R.

When I get discouraged by chronic or recurring sins in my life, R.

When I would attempt to earn you favor by achievements, forgetting that I did not choose you, but it is you who chose me, R.

When scandalized by my own selfishness and self assertion, R.

When the oppressive nihilism of life makes me ignore or reduce the desires of my heart that lead me to you, R.

When independence and self-sufficiency make me resist the companionship with others through which you will give me your friendship and tenderness, R.

Whenever I treaty my preconceptions like idols that drain my life of wonder and simplicity, R.

When the evidence of all that is wrong with my life leads me to become paralyzed, indifferent or lax, R.

When I get preoccupied with my self-justifications trying to convince myself that I am loveable, R.

When I would rather live my life in a safe or sheltered way instead of living my life as a risk, putting your will first in all things, R.

When the daily inner rebellion makes me cynical and negative about what really matters, R.

When my misgivings keep me from receiving the fresh embrace of love you offer me at every moment, R.


Composed by Father Peter John Cameron, O.P. editor Magnificat

Pray It Forward

"Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good" Romans 12:21.
God is optimally good. In our journey here, we are to do our very best in living and modeling our actions so that we emulate "our Father who is perfect in heaven". Some of the building blocks towards that kind of behavior is courtesy, politeness, manners, civility, kindness, and hospitality. When we display these attributes we are beginning to touch the surface in relating to one another in environment of love. Our eyes are opened to the reality of the person we are relating to. Behavior to the contrary is relating to the idea of that person. It is reacting to the negativity, faults, weaknesses, imperfections and disregards their humanity. As a society we have moved some degrees away from what were common practices by all civil peoples. The message that I give to myself and those who know me will attest I fail quite routinely is to be nice to others. Be good to another, sounds alright doesn't it? Something that I have been doing for a while now is to pray for strangers. Here is my pray-it-forward idea. While you are shopping, or eating out, in church, getting gas, etc. and you come across someone in a brief uneventful moment make note of that person and at the opportune time pray for them. Since you don't have a specific request you can ask God to protect them, guide them, give them abundance, touch them, be there for them in their time of need. If I see a young family in church, I may ask God that their faith strengthens and that their children grow up to know and love Him. I may ask that the waitress we met who just started her job does well and that good things happen for her. There are literally countless blessings you can request and our optimally loving Heavenly Father will hear your prayers and you will be doing good for someone else, they without your knowledge and you without knowing what good you've done, but God will know. Try it sometime.

Litany of Coversion - He Loves Righteousness

Jesus had warned his disciples "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." The secular world today, especially in America, will love you if you subscribe to its standards of belief. Stray beyond them and you will shunned, ridiculed, ostracized, belittled, and otherwise ignored. We must not be deceived into membership into that "world", God's universe is much larger. I believe and have professed here that we are about to engage in an era where the Church and our faith is going to be actively pursued by government and forces in the secular world. The pendulum has swung. I believe that many Americans will be shocked by the changes that are about to occur. There is an underlying attitude behind this hysteria that seeks revenge and there is an "activists" mentality that will cross beyond previous borders. America in its ignorance has given the okay to do so. Hold on for the ride because it is going to get bumpy. Jesus' life is the model to follow. At the time He was preaching, the Roman Empire was flexing its muscles and persecuting those who did not fall lockstep with it. Jesus recognized and understood them. He was not however in active opposition to them. This does not mean that we are to be silent when these evils rear their ugly head. We must always and everywhere support the sanctity and dignity of all human life. We must defend our right to practice our faith and not be compromised. First and foremost we must place our trust in God. No matter what anybody does, says, thinks, God always stands for righteousness and truth. We must find courage to stay faithful to Him when threatened. Satan has thrown a veil over the secular world causing it to live in darkness. If anything we can learn from the long history of our Church it is that "the gates of hell will not prevail against it". We must live our lives in ways that Christ can be a Light to the world piercing the darkness.

United in the mystery of the conversion of Paul, we pray for the grace of conversion in our own life:
R. Lord, Give me the Grace of Conversion

Lord Jesus,

When I look at my life from the starting point of my own insufficiences, instead of from the fact of your compassion, grace, and love for me. R.

When I would prefer to live by my own thoughts and my own understanding instead of by your Truth which alone can set me free. R.

When I would rather brood over what annoys me than turn myself over to you always invite me to come to you. R.

When I obsess over self-absorption, complacency, and self-assertiveness. R.

When I get dejected about my sin, not because it offends you, but because it prevents me from being able to take delight in myself. R.

Whenever I live in a dualistic way, as if my faith and "my real life" are two separate things, R.

When I am deceived into thinking that my happiness depends on something in the future instead of what you give me in the present moment, R.

When discouragement and shame make hard for me to be faithful, R.

When I become distraught over the evil I would commit if left to myself, forgetting that I do not live according to myself but that I live in you, R.

When self-doubt and fear seem to have the last say, R.

When I miss the point of my fragility, a gift you give me so that I will always be prompted to rely on you, R.

When I am inclined to interpret my problems as punishments and my miseries as being abandoned by God, R.

When impenetrability takes over my life, making me resistant to your beauty and all the little ways you ordain yourself to me, R.

When I get distracted by my feelings, my emotions, my passions, my regrets, R.
When I get duped into thinking that I must fix myself up in order to have a relationship with you, forgetting that you come to me with your love just the way I am, R.

When I treat my faith like some abstract answer to be sought instead of as a loving Presence to be affirmed, R.

When I get discouraged by chronic or recurring sins in my life, R.

When I would attempt to earn you favor by achievements, forgetting that I did not choose you, but it is you who chose me, R.

When scandalized by my own selfishness and self assertion, R.

When the oppressive nihilism of life makes me ignore or reduce the desires of my heart that lead me to you, R.

When independence and self-sufficiency make me resist the companionship with others through which you will give me your friendship and tenderness, R.

Whenever I treaty my preconceptions like idols that drain my life of wonder and simplicity, R.

When the evidence of all that is wrong with my life leads me to become paralyzed, indifferent or lax, R.

When I get preoccupied with my self-justifications trying to convince myself that I am loveable, R.

When I would rather live my life in a safe or sheltered way instead of living my life as a risk, putting your will first in all things, R.

When the daily inner rebellion makes me cynical and negative about what really matters, R.

When my misgivings keep me from receiving the fresh embrace of love you offer me at every moment, R.


Composed by Father Peter John Cameron, O.P. editor Magnificat