He Will Bring to Light What is Hidden in Darkness

1st Corinthians 4: 1-5

Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

This reading today at Mass really spoke to my heart, especially considering my post from yesterday. My frustration was running deep, and I need to remember it is not my job to judge, but to pray and to take loving action when called by God. We must pray for our own conversion and the world's conversion.

Lord, let Your light shine through me and help me to follow Your will, not my own. Mary, I give you my will, conform it to the will of Your Son. Lord, have Mercy on us, we are all sinners. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

Seriously

Okay.....I am really frustrated right now with all the idealistic crap about how there are all these people fighting for the rights of people who are supposedly getting trampled upon by big corporate interests and political and social conservatives. I might have a little sympathy if these same people would take a look in the mirror and ask themselves, do I truly stand up for the helpless? Do I truly care about all human beings?

What about the women who are being lied to by the billion dollar business Planned Parenthood in the name of "choice"? Funny thing, it seems to me in all this battle cry about choice for women and women's rights, women are being trampled upon daily, hourly, by big corporate abortion interests feigning to be advocates for women. There is no choice at the abortion clinic. There is no informed consent. There is no doctor-patient relationship. It is all a farce, and they are convincing the average uninformed woman that they "care", that they want to "help". Lord, open our eyes as a society to the truth.

Why is there such blindness in our society to this irony? Why? Why are "pro-choice" advocates against informed consent? Against crisis pregnancy centers? Against telling the truth about the horrifically high abortion rates, particularly among black women? Against prosecutors who actually follow-up on criminal behavior at abortion clinics? Against true doctor-patient relationships? I thought the mantra was safe, legal, and rare. Safe is out the window, because I guess oversight of clinics treating women is not truly necessary, unless you are an evil crisis pregnancy center that does not perform abortions. Rare is out the window too. Apparently, it's only legal that they care about. And by legal I mean turn your eyes the other way and let them operate illegally, "legally".

Our hope is in the Lord. How much longer can this go on?

Lord, let us see the truth! Open the eyes of all the idealistic young people in our country and throughout the world to the true genocide that is happening right before us, every day, every hour. Please let us not get distracted by the lies that we are really making a difference helping people while being blinded by the horror of abortion. Lord open my eyes so that I am not blind to the plight of my neighbor. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

"Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the Holiest object presented to your senses." ~C.S. Lewis ( a quote that was on Danielle Bean this past week)

Need a Hideaway?

Too funny not to post, plus Cheap Trick!! We're only a few states away! :)



HT Allahpundit at Hotair

We are Here Because We Care

Praise God for courageous and caring people standing for women and their unborn children in Germantown, MD against notorious late term abortionist Leroy Carhart. This show of suppport and prayer has been primarily organized and promoted by 17-year old Jamie Morrison. Praise God! Lord, let these women know, let their hearts KNOW that they are cared for and loved and that they do have a choice, they can choose life. Dispel their fear and protect them and their unborn children from evil. Let these people witness to Your Love for them. In Your Holy Name, AMEN!!!





HT Eric Sammons at The Divine Life

Trust in His Will

"It is not by privileges, special graces, or mystical experiences
that souls are perfected in love;
it is by a total adhesion to my Will,
and by a real death to all that is not my Will.

This life of yours will pass quickly.
In the end, you will take comfort in one thing only:
in the "Yes" that you will have said to my Love for you,
and in your adhesion to my Will as it will have unfolded
minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day in your life.

Tell me, then, that what I will, you will.
Tell me that all that is outside of my will for you is so much rubbish.
Ask me to cleanse your life of the accumulated rubbish of so many years.
Ask me to make you clean of heart and poor in spirit.
Seek nothing apart from what my Heart desires you to have.
Ask only for what my Heart desires to give you.
Therein lies your peace.
Therein lies your joy.
Therein lies salvation and glory.

Your plans, your desires, and your anxieties
are but puffs of smoke blown away by the wind.
Only what I will endures.
Only what I will gives you happiness.
Seek then what I will, and trust me to give you what you seek.

Souls who chase after rainbows
pass by the treasures that I have laid beneath their feet,
leaving them behind to pursue a future that is not,
and that will not come to be.

This is an exhausting exercise for you
and for so many souls like you,
who, enchanted by an ideal,
fail to see my work, and the splendour of my Will for them,
revealed in the present.

Live, then, in the present moment.
Choose to be faithful to me
in the little things that I give you
and ask of you from minute to minute,
from hour to hour, and from day to day.
It is foolish to pin your hopes and to spend your energy
on an imaginary good, when the real good that I offer you is here and now.

It is not forbidden you to dream dreams
or to imagine a future that you think will make you happy --
I give you your imagination and I am not offended when you use it.
The imagined good becomes an evil, however,
when it saps you of your energy;
drains you of the vitality
that I would have you offer me in sacrifice
by being faithful to the reality that is here and now;
and when you use your imagination
to flee from obedience and submission to me
in the circumstances
and in the places where I have placed you at this time.

Plan for the future by living in the present.
Open your heart to my voice each day,
and cling to the smallest manifestations of my Will.
Renounce all that springs from your own desires and imaginings,
and say "Yes" to all that springs from my most loving and merciful Heart.
Therein lies your peace, your joy, and your salvation."

From In Sinu Iesu, The Journal of A Priest

HT Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner and Fr. Mark at Vultus Christi

Image: The Anointing by Stephen St. Claire

"The Divine Will is a deep abyss of which the present moment is the entrance" ~Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Pray for Christians in the Middle East

Rich Lowry wrote a great article at National Review Online about the plight of Christians in the Middle East, and particularly in Iraq and in Egypt. Do go read it, it is an excellent article, and a good reminder to us here in the U.S. to pray for our Christian brethren living under intense persecution in the Middle East.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.


HT Kirsten Powers via Twitter

Fatima for Today by Fr. Andrew Apostoli

Just started reading a great book, Fatima for Today by Fr. Andrew Apostoli. The message from Fatima is so relevant to what is happening today. I am only just beginning this book but have already recieved many graces just in the first several chapters. Fr. Apostoli does an excellent job of describing historical events leading up to the apparitions of Our Lady to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta and putting it all into perspective for a message of hope for what we are facing in our world today. I am thankful that God led me to reading this book because it is helping me to trust in Him and in Our Lady's guidance during these troubled times. One of the ways that God prepared Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta was to send an angel ahead of time to teach them how to pray. The first time the Angel of Peace appeared, they were taught The Pardon Prayer:

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope
and I love You! I ask pardon of You
for those who do not believe, do not
adore, do not hope and do not love You.

The children were taught to trust in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and to pray for a renewal of faith, hope and charity in the world, which is needed just as urgently now as it was in 1917. The second time the angel appeared, the children were asked to pray the Pardon Prayer even more frequently and to offer sacrifices. The Angel of Peace told the children:

Make of everything you can a
sacrifice, and offer it to God as an
act of reparation for the sins by
which He is offended, and in
supplication for the conversion of
sinners. You will thus draw down
peace upon your country. I am its
Angel Guardian, the Angel of
Portugal. Above all, accept and bear
with submission, the suffering
which the Lord will send you.

The third time the Angel of Peace appeared, He taught them a prayer to pray before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament:

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly,
and I offer You the most precious
Body,Blood, Soul and Divinity of
Jesus Christ, present in all the
tabernacles of the world, in
reparation for the outrages,
sacrileges and indifference with
which He Himself is offended. And
through the infinite merits of His
most Sacred Heart, and the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of
You the conversion of poor sinners.

Fr. Apostoli reveals in great detail the meaning ofeach visit and has helped me to learn how to apply the angel's instructions to the children at Fatima in my own daily life. Fr. Apostoli says:

"Through the angel's three visits, the children were instructed in the ways of prayer; the importance of reparation, intercession and suffering; and the beauty and power of the Eucharist. Over the course of the next six months, the children put into practice all the angel had taught them. They were then ready to receive the first visit of their Blessed Mother."

I am so thankful that God has provided Fr. Apostoli's wise words in this book to help us as Catholics today find hope and solace in Our Lady and her messages to the children at Fatima. Read this book, you will be so thankful!! Another benefit of this book is to learn more about the fascinating history of Portugal and the Catholic Church's role in their history. Thank you Fr. Apostoli.

Celebrate Life articles!

This morning, I was so excited to see a blog post by Leticia at Cause for Our Joy about an article she has written as a tribute to her mom and how her "mother's example as a woman of prayer and pro-life action led to [her] activism and prayer, and that of her grandaughters" for the magazine Celebrate Life. This article is only available in the print edition of the magazine. Hmmmm....may have to think about subscribing to American Life League's Celebrate Life!

On the cover of this issue is Dr. Mildred Jefferson!! And in this issue is a beautiful tribute to Dr. Jefferson by Judie Brown.

Considering I did not know anything about Dr. Jefferson until just a few days ago and wrote a short post about it, I am excited to see this. Thanks Leticia!

Litany of Humility

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.

From the desire of bring esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase,
and I may decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should.
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.