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Friday, January 31, 2014

Read Posts About Saint John Bosco

Saint John Bosco

There are many saints that we all especially like and love. And one of those of many for this blog, is Saint John Bosco.

So, here are the main posts that we have for Saint John Bosco, and since January 31 is his Memorial, I thought it a good idea to point those out to you.

First, is the quote for “Saint Quote of the Day”, which can be read here.

Back in 2007, there was a post by former contributor Marie, a biography of this great saint on our blog “Saints of the Faith” which you may read here.

Marie also wrote the other two posts which I will link to here. Both were posted on “Approved Apparitions”. The first is “The Prophecies of St. John Bosco”, and the second is “St. John Bosco's Dog... or Angel?

I hope you enjoy these, and I hope they encourage you to visit other topics on Faith of the Fathers blogs.


May God bless you all!

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer



Monday, January 27, 2014

Teresa's March - Aleteia

The following is an article from the diary of  Teresa Graas, a 15 year old home schooled student from Kentucky, who attended the March For Life in Washington, D.C. Teresa is the daughter of my good friend and fellow Catholic blogger Lisa Graas. I am not including any excerpts, just the link that is below the photo:

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Catholic Truth from Saint Augustine of Hippo



Thursday, January 23, 2014

Former sedevacantist nuns form new religious community in California : News Headlines - Catholic Culture


The following excerpts are from Catholic World News Headlines:

  • A new women’s religious community, the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa, has taken root in northern California with the approval of Bishop Robert Vasa.
  • The community, led by a formerly sedevacantist nun, emphasizes fidelity to the papacy, Eucharistic adoration, Marian devotion, and liturgical worship in both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman liturgy. The sisters’ apostolate includes Catholic education and catechesis.

Read more by clicking below:
Former sedevacantist nuns form new religious community in California : News Headlines - Catholic Culture


Thank You!


I want to thank all of you who prayed for me, and who were so generous with your donations!

I was able to get my power bill paid, and I am greatly relieved to say the least!

God is good, and I ask His blessings for all of you!


Thank you again, so very much!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

A True Personal Story

mom
My mom, from a photo taken in 1993

This is just a personal story that I would like to share with all of you.

My mother, passed away in November of 1995, after a long 4 year battle with rectal/colon cancer. She was first diagnosed with this terrible disease in 1991. After what seemed like success against this disease, it reappeared in the spring of 1995, and became worse day by day. When my mother was told that there was nothing else the doctors could do, she asked that we get in touch with Howard Shockley, a Presbyterian minister whom we came to know during my dad's illness due to a malignant brain tumor. Howard himself had been diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was in his late teens, and he had promised God, that if He would heal him, he would go into the ministry. God heard his prayers, and Howard was healed.

So, my brothers and I contacted Howard, and being the good Christian man that he is, he came to visit my mother, and continued to do so on a regular basis, sometimes coming by as many as 5 days a week. On his first visit, he had decided that he was going to give my mother a Bible verse to memorize, and that he would give her a new one to memorize each week. That first, and as it turned out, only Bible verse, was from Philippians 4:13- "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."

You would not believe the amount of faith my mother placed in that one verse. It became her all purpose verse, if one can claim such a thing for any one Bible verse. She placed so much faith in it, that Howard later said that it became a blessing for him, and he decided there was no need to bring her any others to learn.

One of the last times that she was in the hospital, she was having a very difficult time being helped in and out of bed. She had weakened to the point, that she did not have the strength to get up without help, and she experienced a good bit of pain from being gotten up, and then helped back into bed. She would be literally exhausted afterward. I was in her room, spending the day there with her, and she knew she they would soon be coming to help her out of the chair, and back into bed. She was dreading it, because she knew how tired it made her, and how much it hurt. She looked at me, and she said, "Steve, pray for me. Pray for God to help me. Ask Him to help me, so that it doesn't hurt, and so that I won't be worn out". So, I prayed, and as I prayed, my mother's eyes were closed, her hands stretched over her face, as she repeated over and over again, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me". Just as we finished our prayer, they came to get her out of the chair, and into bed. They put a strap around her waist, to enable them to help her up. When the time to make the attempt came, she came up out of that chair as if it was nothing at all, and got into that bed with no pain or trouble at all. None! One of her nurses made a comment about how that time it had been so easy, and mom told the nurse, "it was because we prayed".

Just 3 weeks later, my mom had gone into a coma at home, and my two younger brothers, Mike and Randy, were staying at home with us. We would be taking mom to the Solace Center at Mountain Area Hospice the next day, and none of us was looking forward to it as you can imagine, because we all knew mom would be leaving home for the last time.

We had been sitting up talking, sitting up late, in fact. I guess we thought we could ward that time off , keep it from coming too quickly, if we stayed awake rather than sleep. Mike decided he wanted something to read, and he found a book, called “The Bible In My Everyday Life”. It had not been taken down off the bookshelf in many years.

Now, that old book had belonged to an aunt who had died at a very young age. It was written in 1932. She had used it somewhat like a Family Bible, recording births, deaths, and other events in it. Mike handed it to me to show me something that was written in it. After looking at what he wanted me to see, I noticed that in the back of the book, it listed every day of the year, and that it gave a Bible verse for each day. I looked at the Bible verse for each of our family's birthdays, and then decided to look at the verse for the next day, which was November 7. Do you know what that verse was? "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me".

Now, I was a little bit surprised to say the least. I showed it to Mike, and he had a total look of shock on his face as well. I now know, I should not have been surprised. I know that Mike being led to choose this book was no accident, even though some narrow minded people might think it purely coincidence, I know it was purely a blessing. For when we were at a point, when we were sure that all was lost, that it was just us alone, facing this hard time, God was telling us, "I am here. I have not forsaken you. I will be with you, and I will be with your mother".

So, no matter what happens to you, to your loved ones, or to anyone else that you know, remember, God is with us always in everything, and in every way. And remember this verse, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me". I know He strengthened us.





Another Problem


Once again, I find myself in a most embarrassing situation, and I am in quite a quandary.

As you know, I hurt my back at work due to a ladder falling....while I was on it. I twisted my back in the fall, and have a "slight compression fracture". It is still bothering me somewhat, but is slowly improving.

Because of the back injury, I missed over a week of work, and there is no such thing as any insurance where I work. Plus, my employer had already started cutting our hours a good month before my fall. I have a power bill that is overdue, for $444.89. I have until January 22 to pay it, or my power will be turned off. If the power is turned off, I will have no water, as well as no heat, and no lights.

I am fortunate that my landlady, allows me to access her internet service with my wireless adapter. (I mention this for those who wonder why I still have internet.)

I don't have cable or satellite TV, or even over the air TV. I have not had TV service in fact, for almost 8 years.

I would be very, very grateful for any donations you might be able and willing to make. We are having a colder winter this year than we have had in several years, and electric heat is my only source of heat.

If you can't make a donation prayers are greatly appreciated as always.

Thank you, and God bless you all!




Tuesday, January 07, 2014

The Diocesan Support Appeal of the Diocese of Charlotte, NC. English.

The Diocesan Support Appeal of the Diocese of Charlotte, NC. English. Funds collected through this annual appeal to Catholics for financial support is used to fund 31 ministries and offices of the Diocese of Charlotte.




La Apelación Diocesana de Apoyo de la Diócesis de Charlotte, Carolina del Norte. En español

La Apelación Diocesana de Apoyo de la Diócesis de Charlotte, Carolina del Norte. En español. Los fondos recaudados a través de este llamamiento anual a los católicos de apoyo financiero se utiliza para financiar los 31 ministerios y las oficinas de la Diócesis de Charlotte.



Thursday, January 02, 2014

Australia's Dr Death Philip Nitschke Importing Suicide Kits Into the United States | LifeNews.com

The following excerpts are from LifeNews.com (emphases are mine):

  • In his most recent newsletter, Philip Nitschke, Australia’s Dr Death, claims to have found a way to import suicide kits into the United States, starting in January 2014, under the cover of his Max Dog Brewing kit.
  • Nitschke admitted that his Max Dog Brewing kits are in fact Suicide kits that he sends to people who pay by credit card for the kit that is used for an “undetectable” death.
  • A 2010 report demonstrated that coroners were aware of 51 Australians who had died from an overdose of Nembutal, a lethal barbiturate that Nitschke has promoted since the late 1990’s as ‘a peaceful way to die’.
  • Of the 38 cases fully investigated by coroners, only 11 people were known to have suffered chronic physical pain or a terminal illness before their deaths. Of the 51, 14 were Australians in their 20’s and 30’s.
  • Journalist Michael Cook put it to Nitschke in 2011 that ‘nearly two-thirds of the Australians who died after quaffing Nembutal… were under 60, and quite a few were in their 20s and 30s… [suggesting that] that mental illness or depression, not unbearable pain, was the reason for the suicide.
  • Nitschke responded:
  • ‘There will be some casualties… but this has to be balanced with the growing pool of older people who feel immense well-being from having access to this information, [about suicide drugs].’
  • American authorities need to confiscate Max Dog Brewing suicide devices while they are being imported or distributed throughout the United States.
  • If you are experiencing suicidal feelings and you are reading this article, please contact a suicide hotline.  In the United States contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Link). In Canada contact Your Life Counts (Link).

Read more by clicking below:
Australia's Dr Death Philip Nitschke Importing Suicide Kits Into the United States | LifeNews.com

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Ex-Catholics....


Did They Ever Know The Faith?

Being a person who works in retail with the public, you meet all kinds of people. Some, who are regular customers even become good friends/ Some are just people you see every day.

Inevitably, among the people you meet, something or another will lead to a talk about faith, and I am not shy about telling folks I am a convert to Catholicism. Some see all Christians as brothers in Christ, and some see Catholics and Protestants in a state of constant opposition as to what is the truth. (To those I say, Jesus Christ is the Truth, and that is all the Truth any of us should be concerning ourselves with.)

Some Protestants are taken aback, when I suggest that they visit a Catholic Church, and find out for themselves if what they have been told by their pastors, neighbors or friends about the Catholic Church is factual. Many, if not most, act as if I had suggested they walk barefoot across a bed of hot coals.

I have heard several ideas of what Catholics believe, where I have had to restrain myself from smirking, if not laughing out loud. For instance, one man, in all seriousness and with sincerity, asked me if I belonged to the branch of Catholics that believes in Jesus Christ, or to the branch of Catholics that doesn't.

So, I try to explain things, and hopefully help them to better understand.

Then on occasion, I come across, someone who will boldly proclaim to me (as well as to others whom I know) that they are an "ex-Catholic" who found a church that believes in the Bible, and where they also found Jesus Christ as their "personal Lord and Savior" at some denomination or another, and then proceed to tell me what is "wrong" with the Catholic Church.

Every time one of the ex-Catholics starts telling me what is "wrong" with the Church, I consistently find that there is not something "wrong" with the Church, but there is something wrong with their understanding of what the Church is, and what she teaches.

One of these is, that they don't “need to confess my sins to a man” but that they confess to Jesus through prayer, and receive forgiveness from Him.

I tell them that Catholics also ask for forgiveness in prayer, and that when we go to confession, we are confessing to Jesus through the priest who is physically before us in Christ's place. Christ hears our confession through the priest, and when the priest gives us absolution, he is following the teaching of Christ from Holy Scripture: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." -- John 20,23.

They will usually follow this with, we just don't need to confess to men. I then tell them that since their church follows the Bible so closely, then they confess their sins to each other? I'll get a strange look usually and I quote James 5,16:"Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much."

The worst one I have ever heard though, was where a self described ex-Catholic told a friend of mine that he stopped being Catholic because “Catholics believe that the Pope is Jesus Christ on earth”. I couldn't keep quiet, and told him no, he had it wrong. Catholics believe that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, he is the visible head of Christ's Church on earth, who acts for and in the place of Christ.

Any way, the thing I keep seeing again and again, seems to answer my question, i.e., “did they ever know the faith?” It is all too apparent that these people were just nominal Catholic's and never understood, nor ever bothered to try to learn about the Church and it's teaching.

I don't want to sound as all knowing, or as “another knows it all convert”, but I am thinking, shouldn't catechesis be a continual, ongoing part of our faith? Not just in the parish, where this should be happening, but, also ideally in the home, and within the community of the faithful as well.

Teaching the faith is like growing a garden. We don't plant the seeds, and then think the job is finished, complete. We plant the seeds, and then we water, fertilize, hoe, weed, and prune, so that we have a garden that grows, becomes stronger, and is fruitful.

After all, we are all called to share the faith, and we all can learn something new as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit as we mature in our faith, and help others to mature in theirs.