Saturday, April 30, 2011

Divine Mercy presents!

As well as the Divine Mercy journal, I plan to buy these other two pieces of Divine Mercy once I get some money together! I'm going to wear the watch, and hang the blanket on a wall :-)


Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel

Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And you, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl the world for the ruin of souls. Amen. 

The Image of Divine Mercy

With a week since Easter Sunday, it is less than two weeks to Divine Mercy Sunday, a Feast of The Church on Jesus' Divine Mercy - veneration of the Image of Divine Mercy and recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. It is something I personally like because I sometimes know that I am not living life the right way, so I find comfort in Jesus' Divine Mercy and His promises. I plan to buy the Diary of Divine Mercy in about a week - a few days before Divine Mercy Sunday - which will give me a few days at least to read up a little more than I already know.

It is also a perfect example of the All Loving God we have, and especially of the Risen Christ, quite appropriate being after Easter Sunday but before Pentecost. The late Pope John-Paul II had particular devotion to the Divine Mercy, the Divine Mercy Apostle being Polish as well. He canonised her and instituted Divine Mercy Sunday. He also passed on to Heaven the day before Divine Mercy Sunday! He will be beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on Divine Mercy Sunday, making him a Blessed.

Read more about the Divine Mercy below!


Source: Divine Mercy Sydney
Divine Mercy Sunday - 1st May, 2011.

The earliest element of the Devotion to the Divine Mercy revealed to St. Faustina was the Image. On February 22nd, 1931 Jesus appeared to her with rays radiating from His heart and said,

Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world. (Diary 47)

I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory.
  
I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in You." (Diary 327)

The two rays denote Blood and Water. the pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. (Diary 299)

Not in the beauty of the colour, nor of the brush, lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace. (Diary 313)

By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works. (Diary 742)

In these texts the Church's doctrine on images, justification and grace are explained. First, by itself an image is merely a painting, no matter how beautiful and expressive. Yet, it can point us the mysteries of the faith and dispose us to grasp and receive what it represents, in this case the Divine Mercy. It is thus a vessel, not the source, a reminder, not the reality.

The reality is the merciful fountain of grace flowing from the pierced Heart of Christ on the Cross, and flowing out visibly to represent the visible, that is the sacramental, signs of grace, Baptism and Eucharist, standing for all the sacraments of the Church. Thus, St. John in his first letter insists on the presence of the invisible with the visible, the Spirit with the water and the Blood.

The image also reminds us that salvation is not just by faith, but by works of charity also. It takes faith to see and believe in what the Image signifies, Divine Mercy poured out from Christ upon the Cross, but it takes mercy, love going beyond the strict requirements of justice, in order to draw down mercy on oneself. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" (Mt 6:12) and "the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you" (Mt 7:2) The Image of the pierced side of Christ pouring out blood and water reminds us that the Cross, love in action, is the price of mercy. "As I have loved you so also should you love one another." (Jn 13:34)
1931: Our Lord appeared to St Faustina and asked her to paint His image.
Our Lord Jesus said that His gaze is that the same gaze when He was on the cross.
Our Lord Jesus described the Two Rays of Blood and Water from His pierced Heart.

His Divine Mercy

I am spiritually sick, wounded, and in need of aid, which I think I have found in the Divine Mercy. Most people who pass through here are Catholic, but there are others who pass by that aren't, so perhaps I will firstly add that Divine Mercy isn't veneration of "yet another bloody saint!" but of a very well known and someone ought to be praised - worshipped in fact - and that is The Risen Christ, with His Promises of Mercy.

I was going to buy the Divine Mercy Journal during the week, read up on it a little before Sunday, but too late now, which I am a little disappointed at. There's still next week, and the part of the year we are in, the creep up to Pentecost, Divine Mercy is even more appropriate!

On Good Friday, Jesus goes through all the pain and suffering for US! Easter Sunday He has risen, but Divine Mercy Sunday, He is wanting His children to come to known Him closer yet, by giving them mercy from their sins!

"Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of My Mercy." (Diary 965).

I must made inventory of my sins so I can take them to God - be it in prayer or if I see the need to confess them to a priest. Make more of a commitment to my prayer and spiritual life. Change things in my everyday life.

If God is Love, and Jesus is Love, then Divine Mercy is Love! Happy Easter Season!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Sunday Snippets: A Catholic Carnival #15

Sunday Snippets for the weeks of Sunday March 6 to Saturday April 23.


I have been inactive on the internet for a while, so I haven't blogged too much, but I have been getting into some other activities, notably reading and drawing!



I hope you all have a Happy and Holy Easter this 2011!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Friend and Lord Jesus Christ

This is a prayer for World Youth Day Madrid, Spain, held in August 2011. Though I will not be able to go as I barely have enough money to survive on let alone save to go overseas, I went to the last World Youth Day in 2008, Sydney. I loved it, it was great and I got quite a lot out of it, including friendships (which are mostly simply gone as I had a period of inactivity, many people I haven't managed to find again due to moving away etc;).

This is a nice prayer anyways, applicable for anytime, particularly for young people such as myself! Have a read and meditate on it, you should enjoy you as I did I trust :-)



Friend and Lord Jesus Christ, How great You are! With Your words and Works You have revealed to us Who God is, Your Father and our Father, and Who You are: our Savior. You call us to be with You.

We wish to follow You wherever You go. We thank You for Your Incarnation. You are the Eternal Son of God, but You humbled Yourself and became man. We thank You for Your Death and Resurrection. You obeyed the Father's will to the extreme
and for this reason You are the Lord of all persons and things. We thank You for having remained amongst us in the Eucharist. Your Presence, Your Sacrifice, Your Banquet
Invite us to remain always united to You. You Call us to work with You. We wish to go wherever You send us: to announce Your name, to heal in Your Name, to bring all of our brothers to You.

Grant us Your Holy Spirit, to enlighten and strengthen us. The Virgin Mary, the Mother You gave us on the cross, always encourages us to do what You say. You are our Life. May our thoughts,
our love and our actions always be rooted in You! You are our Rock. May our faith in You always be the solid foundation of our life!

We pray for Pope Benedict XVI, for the Bishops and for all those who are preparing the next World Youth Dayin Madrid. We pray for our family and friends and especially for all the young people who will get to know you in this encounter, thanks to the firm and joyful testimony of the faith.

Confession

As with every Holy Week, I get more involved in the Church, trying to revitalise my faith. Confession is on tonight, then not much until Holy Thursday, then two things on Good Friday - Ecumenical Station of The Cross, then later in the day, Good Friday Mass. Saturday is of course the Easter Vigils, and Sunday is Easter Sunday Mass. Back to Confession...


I'm not sure what type of Confession it is, which Rite - One, Two or Three. One of them is one-on-one in the Confessional Booth, another is personal but in the Church with several priests, people just lining up, and the other is a general absolution, not actually confessing to anyone but God - I think they are in that order, One, Two, Three, I'm not sure though! Let me know LOL.

So I am a little nervous, I haven't gone in a while, and I have done some bad things to myself and to others... perhaps that is why I didn't get too involved in Adoration when I FINALLY got to it, after planning to go for two or three weeks but never getting off my butt to go!!! Hmm... a good thing they stress Confession during Lent, especially Holy Week, by Good Friday!

Sola Fide: By Faith Alone

This is another reason why I am Catholic...

Sola Fide - By Faith Alone - a teaching the Protestant Churches adhere to, meaning that they receive guaranteed salvation by faith alone, not through good works as well, such as the Catholic Church teach. I believe that you must do good works as well as have a good spiritual life in order to get salvation.

Think of it this way... you may have strong faith in Christ, yet a strong animalistic instinct to murder or torture or rape - anything that is morally wrong - yet because of "Sola Fide" and your strong faith, you still have salvation, even though you do nasty things, and don't do anything such as Confession and Penance!

That's my two-cents worth!!!

Christus Rex

A picture I drew a few weeks ago, "Christus Rex", or "Christ the King".

Catholic: Here to stay!

There are a many things about the Catholic Faith that I still do not understand fully, some not at all, so I have decided I need to learn more about MY faith before I look at other faiths - which is out of mere boredom and curiosity... to start with!!!

I plan on buying the Divine Mercy Diary of St. Faustina on Wednesday week, give me time to start reading it before Divine Mercy Sunday!

This being Holy Week will be pretty full on. I'm going to Thursday Mass in town then have coffee, then I'm going to the Lords Supper at 7pm across the road. I'm thinking of doing the Eccumenical Way of The Cross - between Anglican, Uniting, Salvo's and Catholic Church - on Friday, then a Catholic Mass at 3pm. Then there's the Vigil on Saturday. Oh I think there is a Rite of Confession tomorrow which I might go to. Not sure which Rite, I hope it is the one which is either general absolution communally, or a number of priests... I still don't feel 100% comfortable confessing to priests I know well, like Fr. Flanagan! So, a busy week, as Holy Week usually is. Hopefully this revitalises my passion for the Lord!

Catholic... but why?

Since my "spiritual awakening" of 2005, I have dibbled and dabbled with a few other religious-denominations... it never lasted though. After going to the Catholic Church which I was comfortable with, I started going to different places, starting with the Pentecostal Church in Wodonga, Faith City. I met nice people there, who were very happy to meet me I may add, odd I thought, but anyway. I didn't go there many times, I found the people TOO eager and happy, besides I guess I didn't know too much about the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism, such as the views on Saints, the Virgin Mary etc;.

I since learnt, but before long I was caught up with the Jehovah's Witnesses. At first it was to look at certain Bible passages and how the Bible predicted things etc;. I was looking at it from my own New Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic one, so sometimes it was right, such as the world being round (I cannot remember the scriptural reference here, someone comment it if they can help!). After a while though, I started using their "New World Translation" and went to one of their meetings. Still, not for me.

Finally, Mormon Missionaries came around. I ordered a "Book of Mormon" several years back, but didn't have much to do with them - I was constantly intoxicated and always smokings, two things that are banned in their Church, smoking and drinking. Anywho, this time I met them on a number of occasions and attended their Church a number of times. I suppose they appealed to me because they were so happy all the time, yet not too eager to know you either! I eventually worked them out to be a lie... still I am somewhat drawn to them. Anyways...

The Mormon Angel Moroni which adorns most LDS Temples.

So the Catholic Church have many things that I don't agree with, however, as a lay-person, does it matter when there are priests out there who engage in this behaviour anyway, it is just "hush hush" or when there are Cardinals out there who are more on the Liberal-left in Catholic politics?

Besides, on a whole, there are many reasons I like to remain Catholic.

Number one, ("And I say to thee; That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church" - Matt 16:18).
Number two, we are the only church who believe in Mary as the Mother of God.
And three, there was always going to be uprise against His True Church, which is happening now more than ever! Many Fundamentalist, and mainstream-Protestants, liken His Church to "The Whore of Babylon!"