Thank you for the lockdown
The confinement is an opportunity to advance.
From the beginning I saw it as an opportunity to practice being present.
My mind went to people that are incarcerated in prisons for years, and decades,
and amongst whom there are also many innocent people, wrongly imprisoned.
Then I thought of Marthe Robin, who was not only confined to her house,
but bound to her bed for all her adult life.
She was a young, normal, happy, outgoing young woman, who had plans,
who wanted to do things in her life, but because of a medical condition for
which there was no cure, and which also caused terrible physical suffering,
she was to stay confined to her bed until she died as an old woman in 1981,
aged 79.
Out of that hopeless situation, in this one person, has grown a world wide
association of Foyers of Charity (Charity Homes); centres for teachings of
authentic catholic doctrine.
Marthe Robin lied in her bed, unable to get up, in a house on a farm in the
middle of nowhere; even to this very day, it is a place which is not easily accessible.
She needed help with the most basic of things, which caused her additional
suffering, because she knew she was a burden to her already struggling parents.
Out of this desperate situation she drew thousands of people
to her bedroom while she was alive, an estimated 100.000; amongs them hundreds
of priests and many bishops, they flocked from all corners of France and also from
other countries, just to be able to tell her their problems and ask her for help.
Every day, there was a queue outside her bedroom, visitors gathered in the farmyard,
before they were let in to continue waiting in the kitchen, until it was their turn to be
allowed in to spend some time with her, most of the time just chatting about normal
ordinary things.
Since her death, the number of visitors to her bedroom is much higher; reaching
up to 40.000 a year.
How did this happen? What attracted these people, and what is it that continues
to attract people today?
After all, it was difficult to get there and there was no television, internet or
advertising campaign involved.
Looking at it from a worldly point of view, we would say that it is an extremely
unlikely scenario. But the facts are there, they are concrete and manifested.
The confinement as an imposed external reality produces a
feeling of being confined, so there are already at the outset at least two elements present.
As I cannot change this exterior reality, I have two choices;
I can stay with the feelings of annoyance and boredom, in other words
I can internally revolt and resist, thinking thoughts like:
"I do not like this, it deprives me of ..........and when this period is finished,
I will do such and such....." which reveals non acceptance of the situation
as it is, and which I do not have the power to change.
It means that I miss the opportunity present in the situation,
which is the gift of being present.
It is a training program, and should be taken as such.
When I fail, I do not get discouraged, because I believe that I get a little bit
better all the time, but I have to learn to be patient with myself.
Patience is something that is completely new to me,
so I have to accept that I am a beginner.
The opposition, the resistance, is INSIDE me, not outside.
Constraints, difficulties, problems, burdens, pain (crosses) are
the Tools, the Material, The Dough in the making of the bread,
given to us by Jesus to come back to God. If we accept them internally.
Jesus accepted to be chained to the pillar as he was being flogged,
and to be nailed to the cross.
My natural human nature, I recognize it, I am not in denial of it,
but instead of giving glory to it, (paganism), I go much further,
because I do not want it to end there!
I want more, I want God!
He already lives in me and in you!
Here and now.
It can only happen by going inside ourselves.
Hopefully it will produce cracks in our image of ourselves, in our defensive system,
our mentality, our perceptions, and produce true humility, which in turn produces true
love and compassion for others and ourselves.
It is an organic process, which includes every part of our lives, which is why it creates
unity within the person. Things come together.
We are in possession of freedom to choose;in any given situation. FREE WILL.
I have freedom to choose. I am free.
The Litany Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
My May Altar to Our Lady.
We ought to pray The Litany to Her every day for an end to the pandemic.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us.
God, the Son,
Redeemer of the world: Have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us. (repeat at end of each phrase.)
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of virgins,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good counsel,
Mother of our Creator, Mother of our Savior,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honor,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of Heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of angels,
Queen of patriarchs,
Queen of prophets,
Queen of apostles,
Queen of martyrs,
Queen of confessors,
Queen of virgins,
Queen of all saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Queen of peace.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Grant, O Lord God, we beseech Thee, that we Thy servants may rejoice in continual health of mind and body; and, through the glorious intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, may be freed from present sorrow, and enjoy eternal gladness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
It is good, and comforting to remember when praying the Litany to the Blessed Virgin Mary, that, as St. Bernard once put it “Mary has made herself all to all, and opens her merciful heart to all, that all may receive of her fullness: the sick, health; those in affliction, comfort; the sinner, pardon, and God, glory.”
Christ centered life
At Mass Christ nourishes us with his Word and his Body, in the sacrament of Confession
he reconciles us to Himself, in the Church community and in the community in general,
we practice, or at least we try to put into practice, what is expected of us as Catholics.
We must also read the Bible in our homes.
But as there is so much confusion, heresies, earthly views and personal opinions coming
from the heart of many catholic parishes the catholic doctrine can appear very hazy
to many people.
Well, it is not.
The catholic doctrine is spelled out clearly in the catholic catechism.
In our extremely secularized world we also need to stimulate our intellect by reading
takes and views on current events, coming from a catholic point of view.
We need information and clearance, from Catholics who are not afraid to speak the truth
regarding authentic teaching.
Top 100 Catholic Blogs
https://blog.feedspot.com/catholic_blogs/
we find Catholic News Agency, National Catholic Register, EWTN News on top of the list.
Good reading!
The Way of the Cross
Jesus, our Saviour did not rebel, oppose or justify himself, to the false
accusations, torture and death on a cross that his tormentors and enemies
subjected Him to.
When I meditate on the 14 Stations on the Cross every Friday these facts
becomes alive in a here-and-now personal way that opens me up.
To not react when we are being verbally attacked; to not enter into and
participe in a false world of lies that we are so often invited into;
that is really difficult.
To accept that this is the way it is, not to shy away from it, and at the same
time not to participate and fight back, seems impossible, but it isn't.
To not say anything, to keep and remain in the peace of God, seems out of
the reach of human possibility, but it is possible.
In order to unite ourselves with the One who made us, the One who died
for us, it is essential to pray and meditate The Way of the Cross.
We come to realize in a deep and personal way, that this really happened,
and how it came to happen.
We have something to do with it, we are involved.
It is not a commemorative piece, it is active.
It is hard to do, it causes pain. But it liberates, it stabilizes.
To put it into practice in our daily lives is the biggest difficulty, but Jesus
was clear:
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
(Matthew 16, 24)
To be so close to Jesus that we do not forget this instruction in all
those moments
when we are being falsely accused, verbally attacked , scorned, rejected,
lied to, when we are betrayed by disloyal behaviour, when the one closest
to us unites with our enemies against us, when we realize that we were conned,
when people do all this in an effort to"kill" us, that is what is important.
Even the pain of the confinement, because we are, generally speaking, starting
to rebel now, feeling that "enough is enough, we cant take any more".....
Embrace your cross, relax with it, welcome it, surrender to it.
The ruler of this world
The culture we live in is one of death.
The attitudes to abortion, which is seen as a human right; it is called
health care, and also to euthanasia, are two examples.
Two categories of human beings who are not able to defend themselves.
These two things alone are enough to make me suspicious about the world
wide effort to "save lives" regarding the universal house confinement situation
linked to Covid 19.
How is it that, all of a sudden, most of the world's governments takes severe
measures that causes great damage to their own economy, because they want
to protect lives?
I just do not get it, it does not add up, because most people that catches the
virus, recovers. Yes, people die from it too, but regarding the number of deaths
that they keep churning out, there is something twisted here.
What about the context?
Is it not a reality that people die every day; due to weakness in their
immune system, due to sickness or old age?
I know that many people that has died from this virus falls outside of that
category, but I still think there is something about the way the statistics are
presented to us that is crooked.
Before the Covid 19, the situation was, and has been for as long as I have lived;
that new people come into the world on a daily basis, and thousands of people
also die every single day, even apparently young and healthy people.
How many people die from the flu every year, for the same reasons; because
they are in risk categories due to preexisting conditions?
If the governments were really concerned about protecting the people
most at risk; the old people in nursing homes, they would have assured that
the protective measures would have been put in place there first of all,
but they did not.
Instead they tell the whole world to stay at home, and the majority of
people that die, are the old.
What about all the people that commit suicide,
what are the statistics on that?
Is there even any? Do the governments care?
Because THERE we are DEFINITELY talking about an epidemic.
We are living in a culture of death; it is the intelligence that is affected.
The ability to reason, to come to conclusions from a process of personal
reflection, seems to be severely affected.
The brain washing that has been going on for years which tells people what they
must think, believe and feel about a range of subjects, what has now become the
new correct, and of which there is consequences of non compliance with, is the
reason.
People have become robots, but not completely. There is tremendous fear as well.
The same sex marriage that was forced on almost every nation on earth, how did
that happen? And we have to condone this "marriage", even though it defies the
definition of marriage itself.
Also two people of the same gender demands it as their civil right to have
children, even if it defies the nature of biology, in the same way as women
demands it as their right to kill their unborn babies, although it defies even
civil law, which forbids killing.
If one says anything at all on these subjects, one is assailed with accusations
of being homophobic and extremist. You risk being attacked.
And if you say that you believe in a Loving, Powerful God who sent
His Only Son into the world in order for the human race to be saved
and reconciled to Him, and that this God gives light to the intelligence
and strenght to the people that believe in Him, and
LIFE; LIFE EVERLASTING, they
think that you are stupid or maybe crazy..........
We are confined to our homes, peoples lives are not only being put on hold;
for many people this confinement means an end to their livelihood.
It seems like this crisis is going to last for some time.
Maybe time will tell the whole truth about it, but I would not bank on it.
Life is going to be more difficult for many people.
Prayer really makes a difference, even if you do not believe at the outset.
There is something happening in the world
Christianity is not about tradition for the sake of tradition.
It is about a meeting with a living Person called Jesus,
which enables us to see the Truth.
My generation has been about becoming conscious, looking for peace
and healing, but we looked in all the wrong places.
Only Jesus can heal, and He can heal everything;
He can heal the wounds of our heart, He forgives us,
and He gives light to the intelligence.
Jesus is King of Kings. He is the only one that can save us.
He is Divine Mercy, which we celebrate today.
He is the only One we should put all our trust in,
He will never let us down.
The intellectual snobbery which blinded us before,
is disappearing, the world is waking up.
He is Alive!
Jesus, I surrender myself to you, you hold my life in your hands.
The perfect beauty of the Catholic Faith
The reason why Saint Teresa of Avila founded her first Reformed
Carmelite convent was to minimize the ravages wrought by protestantism
in France, and elsewhere, and to check the passion of a so called "freedom".
She lived in the 16th century.
I have seen for myself that today, in the 21th century, in France,
the infiltration of protestantism and "liberalism" has wreaked havoc
in some parishes.
Even the 10 Commandments seems to be forgotten.
To make matters worse, many masquerades as Catholics; they are active
participants in the Church, while they are in truth fully fledged protestants
in their hearts. This is sad, and very damaging to the Church.
But thankfully, alongside of that, the true Catholic Church is still
alive in France. The priests are good, and many really good prayer
groups provide spiritual nourishment and strength in a community setting.
The french woman Marthe Robin; who was sick and bedridden all her adult
life, and who died in 1981, is still an "active" member of the Catholic Church.
Anyone who has ever been to Châteauneuf-de-Galaure on a silent retreat
can testify to that.
There, the priests and the other members of the Foyers of Charity delivers
conferences and a full week's program with Mass, Confession, and prayers,
which allows the light of perfect intelligence and coherence to penetrate
deeply into the soul of the participants.
Marthe Robin loved her country, her Church, and she lived her life united
to Christ. I pray that she will be canonized soon, and join the long list of
French Saints.
May France be reconverted to the One True Catholic Faith.
The moment is Now
The "COVID" lockdowns provided a perfect opportunity for change.
There was anxiety, stress, frustration, confusion.
Many people lost their livelihood, or risked losing it.
So many catholics have walked away from their faith,
acting as if God does not exist.
Today is Holy Saturday, where we commemorate Jesus buried in the
tomb. Tomorrow we celebrate His resurrection from the tomb.
As Easter is the most important time for us Catholics,
where we enter into the mystery of when the world sentenced God
to death by crucifixion and where He resurrected 3 days after.
To prove that Love cannot die, that no matter how narrow minded
and ignorant we are, no matter how hateful and full of ourselves we are,
Our Creator, The same Creator that created everything in this universe and
all the universes will never change.
He is alive.
I pray that the heavy stone that is closing the opening to the tomb of our dead
souls, will be rolled away, to set us free, and to resurrect us to eternal life.
We have now entered into a new time, it has been forced upon us because
humans refused to listen; because this virus is more than likely linked to
global warming, and it is unlikely to be a once off episode.
The economy itself, despite all the world's governments hard work
at saving it as it is, will change, and
there has never, in my lifetime, been a more favourable moment than now
for the whole world to come back to
The One True, Living, Powerful, Loving Creator.
Time is running out.
"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to
our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
(Isaiah 55:6-7 King James Version (KJV))and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to
our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
To help us, Top 100 Catholic Blogs
https://blog.feedspot.com/catholic_blogs/
provides blogs that will orient us and put us on the right track.
I wish all my readers a holy and joyful Easter!
Faithfulness
Betrayal is something that we are unlikely to forget, it leaves strong
feelings and psychic energy that can determine our future decisions and
install in us the same behaviour of what has been done to us, so that we
will potentially do the same to anyone that comes our way in the future.
You that has been married in a christian church has decided to remain
faithful to each other in all things, big and small.
Nothing was to be hidden from each other, no hidden agenda or ulterior
motives.
The sexual faithfulness is just one aspect of faithfulness,
the deep dark recesses of the human mind and soul has a capacity to hide and
trick other people on a daily basis, that might feel completely normal, we live like
that, "all the others are doing it" and we think that we are well balanced.
Until something happens that reveals what was hidden, to the people around us or
the people affected.
To adhere to the promise you made before God and continue to be faithful
with all your being to you spouse, under all circumstances, can seem
unreasonable and unnatural, a bit like the requirement of catholic priests to be
celibate.
How can a normal man or a normal woman for that matter, be celibate, it seems
ludicrous.
In a marriage, to decide to continue to love someone who mistreats you, and who's
behaviour does not show love, seems ludicrous to most people too, a "waste of time".
But that is what we signed up for the day we got married. "In good times and in
bad" because to continue to trust in the goodness and love of God in those times
when you cannot see it or feel it, that is what the catholic faith is demanding us to
do. Our human nature do not understand it, but our divine nature does.
That is why divorce is not allowed for catholics and why priests are celibate.
There is a good reason.
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