ʻOn Prayer, Fasting, and Mercyʻ - St. Peter Chrysologus

"My brothers and sisters, it is through three things that faith stands firm, that piety exists, and that virtue remains, namely, prayer, fasting, and mercy. What prayer requests through unrelenting petition, fasting obtains, and mercy accepts. Prayer, mercy, fasting: these three are one; these three invigorate one another. Fasting is the soul of prayer; mercy gives life to fasting. May no one divide these three; they are not to be separated. A person who has only one of them or does not have all three of them together has none of them. And so the person who prays is to fast. Whoever fasts is to show mercy"

- Sermon from St. Peter Chrysologus (c.380 - c.450)

 image from the 'Public domain' via wikimedia commons. St. Peter Chrysologus

Congratulations to the Newly Confirmed!

  

This past Sunday (August 18th, 2013) His Excellency Bishop Larry Silva came to administer the sacrament of Confirmation for 6 Confirmandi of our community. Congratulations to Britney, Nathan, Joseph, Gabriella, Claudia, and Sophie! 

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother

Today, August 15th, is the great feast of the Bodily Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God, Mary most holy.

 “Mary, the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven” (pronuntiamus, declaramus et definimus divinitus revelatum dogma esse: Immaculatam Deiparam semper Virginem Mariam, expleto terrestris vitae cursu, fuisse corpore et anima ad caelestem gloriam assumptam)

  - Ex Cathedra Statement of Pius XII in “Munificentissimus Deus”

 If you are interested in studying the biblical and traditional basis of the Assumption and the other beautiful Marian Dogma check out these posts from several years back:

 Mary Most Holy: ʻPotuit, decuit, ergo fecit!ʻ

 Mary Most Holy: Mother of God & Ark of the New Covenant

image from the 'Public domain' via wikimedia commons. Assumption of Mary
Magisterial excerpt from Ott, L., 1957. Fundamentals of Catholic dogma


Vicarious Suffering (Even for those in Purgatory)

It says in James that the prayer of a righteous person is extremely powerful (cf. Jas 5:16). Thats why we ask certain people or groups to pray for us. 

 We wouldnt normally, lets say, ask a random person on a street corner to prayer for us. Rather, we would ask those  which we believe actually DO pray and who we believe God will hear. 

 This is why we ask the saints to pray for us. They are at the very throne of God offering up their prayers on our behalf (Rev 5:8) Who better to ask for prayers than those who are living in eternal Glory in the presence of God! 

 In addition to prayer there are other forms of supplication that   we can offer on our own behalf and on behalf of others. Fasting and suffering are 2 most powerful forms of this. AND, since we are in communion with those in purgatory we can offer up our fasting and suffering on their behalf as well.

 Suffering on behalf of others is very scriptural:

Col 1:24 - "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church"

1 Jn 3:16 -  "In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren"

Phil 2:17 -  "Yea, and if I be made a victim upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and congratulate with you all"

2 Tim 2:10 - "Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with heavenly glory."

 We are called to imitate St. Paul in sufferings for others. 
The connection to suffering on behalf of those in purgatory is the same as it is for praying, in general, for others (even for those in purgatory) namely that

"that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:38–39)

Since WE are united as one body in Christ THROUGH the love of God . . . death does not separate our communion with another in Christ. So just as much as I can pray for you while you are alive here on earth, so too can I pray for you or suffer for you (for the quick remission of temporal punishment due to your sin) after you depart from this earthly life. 

image via creative commons license. A Procession in the Catacomb of Callistus (Prayers for the dead). Alberto Pisa. 1905

ʻOutburst from the heart!ʻ From St.Therese of Lisieux

I took a break from my normal reading of the great Catechetical and Theological Fathers of the Church to seek out spiritual wisdom from a great Saint and Doctor. Her words give me great hope for my own spiritual life that even when I have not the strength to be elaborate in prayer, my Father hears me! 

"Prayer is, for me, an outburst from the heart; it is a simple glance darted upwards to Heaven; it is a cry of gratitude and of love in the midst of trial as in the midst of joy! In a word, it is something exalted, supernatural, which dilates the soul and unites it to God. Sometimes when I find myself, spiritually, in dryness so great that I cannot produce a single good thought, I recite very slowly a Pater or an Ave Maria; these prayers alone console me, they suffice, they nourish my soul."
"I have not the courage to force myself to seek beautiful prayers in books; not knowing which to choose I act as children do who cannot read; I say quite simply to the good God what I want to tell Him, and He always understands me."
- Story of A Soul, St. Therese of Lisieux

 image via creative commons license. Thérèse de Lisieux. sconosciuto. 1895


Reaching the Multitudes (LA Congress 2016)

Reaching the Multitudes:
Viral Concepts/Effective Content
Presented by Dallas Carter, MPT
(Los Angeles Religious Education Congress 2016)

 CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

*Feel Free to Come back and visit this page by the end of the week (~ March 6th) I will have a SCREEN SHOT Video Made reviewing the powerpoint and sharing some further insights :) 

 *Please contact me to arrange a 15 minute ZOOM to go over questions you have or to arrange setting up your Virtual Classrooms! (nativecatholic@gmail.com / 808-223-3249) :)


1) Ancient and Perennial Truths in a Modern World:
‘CHRIST NEVER CHANGES (HEBREWS 13:8) AND SINCE CHRIST IS THE FULLNESS OF TRUTH, TRUTH NEVER CHANGES. WE KNOW THAT TRUTH SETS US FREE (JOHN 8:32) SO WE NATURALLY HAVE A DESIRE TO SEEK THAT TRUTH’

HOW THEN DO WE FULFILL OUR CALL IN MT 28 IN OUR MODERN WORLD?

2) Viral Concept #1: Video Blogging
* My Weight Loss Transformation Video - https://vimeo.com/14981134
* Morality Lesson Video - https://vimeo.com/19694084 (password: light)
- - - -
* Desktop Video Maker (Mac) - http://shinywhitebox.com
* Desktop Video Maker (PC) - http://techsmith.com

3) Viral Concept #2: Podcasting
 * 808FIT Business in a Bag Podcast - http://www.mediafire.com/?qd3ds3xd2v9j1l7/
* Mary Mother of God Catechetical Podcast - CLICK HERE 
* Excellent Place to host your Podcasts - https://www.buzzsprout.com

4) Viral Concept #3: Virtual Bible Studies / Conferences
 * ZOOM (My favorite!) - http://zoom.us
* Anymeeting - http://anymeeting.com
* Go To Meeting - http://www.gotomeeting.com
* Webex - https://www.webex.com

5) Viral Concept #4: The Power of Facebook

6) Viral Concept #5: Blogs as effective Websites
* Blogger (My favorite!) - https://www.blogger.com
* Wordpress - https://wordpress.com

7) Effective Content
         - Have content with a purpose!
         - Serve all learning styles
* Bear's Wave - https://vimeo.com/88719391
* The Do's and Don'ts of Evangelization - https://youtu.be/FMLYBvmMbPE

 8) Automation Tools and Sneaky Productivity Tools! 
* Evernote - https://evernote.com/ (Organization, Workspace)
* Instragress - https://instagress.com (Automate Instagram)
* Hootsuite - https://hootsuite.com (Automate Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
* PhoneTag - https://phonetag.com (Voicemails transcribed to text)
* SlyDial - http://slydial.com (Go directly to Voicemail)
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