Friday, March 22, 2013

Bl. Anne Catherine's Visions of the Passion of Christ

Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824)

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Pope Francis on Defending the Unborn

Pope's Lung(s) & the Two Lungs of the Church

Pope Francis had most of a lung removed when he was a teenager. It had an infection.

The Pope is not just literally breathing with one full lung, but he is spiritually breathing with one full lung, too....since 1054, that is.

The Church must breathe with two lungs again: the East and the West.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit for unity according to the mind of Christ. Let us pray that it will be during this papacy that Christ's prayer be fulfill in the two lungs of the Church: East-West.

In John 17:20, Our Lord prayed that his followers would be one as He and the Father were one. Ut unum sint!

But what is really noteworthy in Jesus' prayer is that He also said at the end, "...that the world may believe that you sent me." The evangelization of the world is connected with the mystery of the Church's unity, with the Church's communio ecclesiology.

Of course, the Church is one already, as we profess in the Nicene Creed. There are also many Eastern Catholic Churches that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome.

The spiritual head of the Orthodox Churches (which is different than the Eastern Catholic Churches) attended Francis' installation on March 19, 2013. What a gift from the Holy Spirit! And it happened on the Solemnity of St. Joseph.

At the time of this blog in 2013, almost 959 years has past since the Great Schism of 1054. It is reported that the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople, the spiritual head of the Orthodox Churches, will travel to the Holy Land together.

Come Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love!

Lord Jesus, protect the Pope you have appointed for us. And breathe on your Church your Spirit, so that she may breath once again with two lungs.

In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Fed by the Successor of Peter's First Homily

On Thursday morning, March 14, I read a short piece of Pope Francis' first homily that he delivered in the Sistine Chapel.

In it, Francis preached, "When one does not profess Jesus Christ—I recall the phrase of Leon Bloy—'Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil.' When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil." See here for full text.

WOW!

The translation I read was along the lines of "When we do not preach Christ, we preach the devil. And when we preach worldliness, we preach the devil."

This message fed my soul that morning. With all the many tasks I had to complete in the day, the contrast between Jesus and devil fed something in my soul that needed nourishment. Something in me was lacking that this satisfied, like water on a dried mouth.

I think it was more that the new Pope talked about the devil. The devil is real. I needed to hear this from the pulpit.

I think I was also amazed because there was such a sharp contrast. It made me not want to be worldly. I wanted to only preach Jesus in my life, even if I didn't use words.

The point is: I felt nourished. I was fed.

I don't really recall hearing many homilies on the devil. Jesus, yes, but not so much on the enemy of souls.

This nourishment inspired me to blog (after a long hiatus, I know) this profound experience where I was burning on fire for the Gospel the whole day. The Gospel passage "Feed my sheep" has been on my heart since that morning when the Holy Father, the new Pope, spoke of the non-coexistence of preaching Jesus v. preaching the worldliness of the devil. It is one or the other: an either-or moment.

I have to confess: I've been pretty worldly in my own teaching of the Faith. I get too bogged down with the affairs of the world and lose sight of the simplicity of the Gospel. The Pope's gentle words brought me back to the purity and basics of the Word of God.

AMDG

Feed My Sheep

Mr. P.'s Classroom

A blog where the world is my classroom, Jesus is the Master Teacher & the Catholic Church is His Beloved Bride

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The title above was the title of this blog until today. With the election of Pope Francis a fe days ago, I'm going to now subtitle this:

Mr. P.'s Classroom

“Feed my sheep.”

This is in reference to Jn. 21:17 where Jesus says for a third time to Peter, “Feed my sheep.”

More specifically, there was something that Petrus said in his first homily that fed my soul. I hope to blog this later.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The Divine Praises

Most of the time that Hollywood movies mention the name of God or Jesus, the name "God" and "Jesus" are sadly used as cuss words. Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. I'm attaching the "Divine Praises" for you to consider memorizing.

One of my Catholic friends from India said that as her mother lay dying, her mother was whispering something. When they put their ear to hear what she was saying, she was blessing God even as she lay dying.

The next time you hear someone use God's name in vain or Jesus's name in vain, consider saying either in your heart or out loud: "Blessed be God!" or "Blessed be the Name of Jesus!" :)

THE DIVINE PRAISES

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints. Amen.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Come Holy Spirit!

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your love!