Sunday Meditation: Everyone Has a Heart to Love With

My spiritual reading yesterday kept leading me to the "heart" of the matter starting with the daily devotional from the SSPX which examined "purity of intention." A good question for each of us is this. Does my action come from a heart filled with love for God or other lesser motives? People can perform the same external actions with very different results in the eyes of God:

We can go to Mass out of routine or out of obligation, or else simply to see a particular person. We can also go to Mass out of love of God. Externally, the actions are the same, but in the eyes of God they are each very different. The same external act will be meritorious for some, not for others, depending on the purity of their intention. It is the same for our duty of state. We can set to work out of obligation, out of pleasure or out of love of God. The same action is meritorious for some and not for others. [Source]

Sunday Meditation: Got Gratitude?

This morning at the chapel we celebrated yesterday's Marian feast for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What a debt of gratitude we owe to the mother of God for her fiat. Take her hand and she will lead you straight to Jesus! 

Frankly I can never understand the Protestant contempt for Mary. Do Protestants love their own mothers? How can they when they expect Jesus to see His mother as a rival? She isn't and never has been. She loves Jesus more completely than any other human who has ever lived or will live. 

Bishop Schneider: Fiducia Supplicans "is an insult to reason....an abuse."

The first subject discussed in the video below is Fiducia Supplicans, the magisterial document on blessing homosexual and other "couples" in mortally sinful "unions." According to Bishop Schneider, we must protest respectfully and ask the pope to retract the document. 

The interview is amazing. I recommend it. Bishop Schneider is one of the most important and courageous voices in the Church today. He warns us that, "The enemies are not sleeping. The good ones they are sleeping and the enemies are awake and very busy to promote their agenda."

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us!

There isn't a canonized saint in heaven who did not embrace devotion to Our Lady. One of the reasons they became saints is they faithfully walked in the footsteps of Our Queen. She escorted them straight to the King and taught these humble, little followers to bow before His Majesty! Even the great ones among them, had a humble servant's heart. On this Feast of the Immaculate Conception I offer a few golden nuggets from The Imitation of Mary. She is there to help us in all circumstances:

Let's Pray Today on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary...

...in the month devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to be so united to the hearts of Jesus and Mary that we change the world by our love!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us. 

Scottish Bishops Consecrate their Country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

On Sunday Scotland's bishops gathered in the rain with thousands of their countrymen to consecrate their country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Here is the text of the consecration:

We consecrate Scotland to you: all that we have, all that we love, all that we are. To you we give our minds and hearts, our bodies and souls. We willingly place at your service our homes and our families, our parishes and schools: we desire that all that is in us and around us may belong to you, O Mary, and may share in the benefits of your motherly care.

Let us pray that all the bishops in all the nations of the world carry out such a consecration for the conversion of the world. Read more about the consecration here.

Food for Thought: The Great American Eclipse Occurs on the Eve of Mary's Feast

That's right! But not just any feast day. It's the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the traditional liturgical calendar and the feast of the Queenship of Mary in the modern calendar.

Remember what Mary told the children at Fatima? "In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph." Is her Son, the Light of the World, using this heavenly event to remind us to listen to and honor His Mother as Queen of heaven and earth?

 And consider this. August was the month the little shepherd children were kidnapped by the mayor of Ourem on the day of the scheduled apparition, August 13th. Instead of being at the Cova de Iria with the "beautiful lady" the children were being interrogated by the mayor and threatened with being boiled in oil. They experienced a virtual martyrdom. Mary appeared to them later on August 19th. These two events graphically illustrate the battle between godless secularism and the Catholic faith.

Random Thoughts for Monday

Strange isn't it? The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity says that, “Catholics are now able to hear Luther’s challenge for the Church of today, recognizing him as a ‘witness to the gospel.’” (source) But the cardinals who wrote the dubia are in hot water for daring to challenge the conclusions of Pope Francis' confusing and ambiguous exhortation, Amoris Leatitia. Soooo....the heretic takes his place of honor at the Vatican, while the orthodox get the hobnailed boot. We are truly seeing the days predicted by Christ when evil is called good and good is called evil. Pray and keep the faith.

The celebration of the vile Martin Luther makes me think of the recent celebration of the vicious tyrant Fidel Castro by so many "progressives" on the left. Fidel was so wonderful in what he did for Cuba - murdering his own people, summarily executing his enemies, impoverishing the nation, etc. Talk about rewriting history and dumping the unpleasant truth about the man down the memory hole.

Sister Lucia Didn't Think Much of the Bishops....

I continue to read Mark Fellows book on Sister Lucia and it is a real eye-opener. He quotes from some of her correspondence. In one letter she wrote:

God willing, the meeting with the Archbishop of Mitilene will have gone well, and His Excellency will not be one of the chicken-hearted...I think the best course would be that things be done with the bishops' full knowledge, but without them taking responsibility (as if they did not know), this is to say, to avoid the inconvenience of fears...Afterwards, when success comes, they can then declare that they took part in it.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, A Song for Mother

I know the lives of these two musical geniuses have not been especially edifying, but this beautiful testimony to the Blessed Virgin is still what it is. Pray for all the artistically gifted who also often fall prey to serious sins of the flesh. Oscar Wilde is a classic example. But on his deathbed he experienced conversion. Ask Mary today for the grace of final repentance and say a Hail Mary every day for that gift. She is a dear mother who wants to cradle all her children in her arms and present them to her Son.

Pray for Priests through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Today is the first day of the year dedicated by the Holy Father to priests. And what an appropriate day for it to begin, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is also the 150th anniversary of the death of St. Jean Vianney, patron saint of parish priests. Wow! What a double whammy of grace. Make that a triple whammy. St. Jean Vianney had great devotion to the Blessed Mother who has a special love for her priests. What a powerful intercessor she is and how wonderful when a priest knows it and calls on her to pray for himself and his sinful flock.

Here's what St. Jean says about her: The heart of this good Mother is all love and mercy; she desires only to see us happy. We have only to turn to her to be heard. The Son has His justice, the Mother has nothing but her love. God has loved us so much as to die for us; but in the heart of Our Lord there is justice, which is an attribute of God; in that of the most Holy Virgin there is nothing but mercy. Her Son being ready to punish a sinner, Mary interposes, checks the sword, implores pardon for the poor cviminal. "Mother," Our Lord says to her, "I can refuse you nothing. If Hell could repent, you would obtain its pardon."

...All that the Son asks of the Father is granted Him. All that the Mother asks of the Son is in like manner granted to her. When we have handled something fragrant, our hands perfume whatever they touch: let our prayers pass through the hands of the Holy Virgin; she will perfume them.

Pray every day for holy priests during this special year dedicated to them. They are under constant attack by the evil one for good reason. A holy priest can bring many souls to God. A bad priest puts his flock on the fast track to hell.