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"You are there, my God. I love You." It will take you no more time than that and all that you do will be much better done having such a help. And what help it is! Little by little, you will acquire the habit and you will finally be always aware of this sweet companion within yourself, this God of our hearts... Let us pray for each other that we may both keep this dear Guest of our souls loving company." If husband and wife were equally convinced of the living splendor their souls actually present, how the marital act, so holy to begin with, would become for them an act of divine faith, an act penetrated by the highest supernatural spirit. I want to meditate often on my baptism, and the mystery of the divine life in me. I want to become accustomed to treat myself as a living tabernacle of my Lord, to regard the companion of my life as the thrice holy shrine of the Divinity, for I know this to be a reality. The just live by faith. I want to live by faith. MARRIAGE AND THE MYSTICAL BODY CHRIST came to restore the divine life lost to us by sin. But how? He did not save us only by some act external to Himself as one might lay down a sum of money to ransom a slave but by incorporating us in Himself, by making all of us with Him a single organism. "I am the Vine, you are the branches." Christ is the Head, we the members and together we are the whole body, Christ. The aggregate of all the members, all the branches united constitutes the Church joined by an unbreakable bond to Christ, its Leader and Head. And Christian marriage will be . . . and will only be . . . but the symbol of this union of Christ with His Church, of the Church with its Head Saint. Paul at the end of his Epistle to the Christians at Ephesus gives no other rule of love and of security in their union to the married than the counsel to copy this union in their life. He says to wives. "Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord: because the husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of

Researcher says days of Catholics who 'pay, pray and obey' are gone MIAMI (CNS) -- The days of Catholics who "pay, pray and obey" are gone and likely never coming back, according to a sociologist who has studied the beliefs and practices of American Catholics for more than two decades. As a result, the church must find ways to reach new generations of Catholics who "don't think church leaders are any wiser or any holier than they are," said Purdue University's James Davidson, who spoke at the opening session of the annual gathering of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Davidson has conducted research on four generations of American Catholics, divided in relation to the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council: pre-Vatican II, those born in 1940 or earlier; Vatican II, born 1941-1960; post-Vatican II, born 1961-1982; and millennial, born since 1983. His findings set the tone for the June 5-8 conference, the theme of which was "Generations." Today's Catholics are generally better off financially, better educated and more integrated into mainstream American culture than their pre-Vatican II counterparts, Davidson said. They are no longer outsiders or victims of discrimination for whom the church was a refuge. They also grew up in a church where the emphasis shifted from the hierarchy to the people of God, from the ordained to the baptized. "These formative experiences have lasting effects on the way Catholics think and act," more so than age or any other factor, Davidson said.

Brazilian bishop says Church did not encourage missing priest to take balloon flight Rio de Janeiro, Apr 26, 2008 / 10:59 am (CNA).- Bishop Joao Alves Dos Santos of Paranagua said this week the Church warned Father Adelir de Carli, who disappeared last Sunday, against the dangers of taking a balloon flight. The 41 year-old priest was hoping to break a balloon flight record in order to raise money for a spiritual rest stop for truck drivers. Although he said he was prepared for the journey, he went missing a few hours after he began his flight and he has still not been found. Rescue efforts by the Brazilian Air Force were suspended on Thursday, but the priest's family is persisting in the search with the help of a rented twin engine plane. Bishop Dos Santos had joined in the now suspended search effort and said he is praying for the wellbeing of the priest. According to the bishop, the Church did not encourage Father De Carli to take the flight. "We respected his decision but we advised against the trip because it was dangerous," he said.

The Holy Spirit-The Paraclete Western Orthodox Church An Extra-territorial Mission Parish of the Orthodox Church of France celebrating the Divine Liturgy of Saint Germanus of Paris

Unholy mess: One of the illustrations placed by hackers on the church website.

How to have a Domestic Church part 2 - It takes 2 to tango- the importance of a faith filled, Godly Husband!

NOVENA in HONOR of OUR LADY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT FIRST DAY THE TITLE OF OUR LADY OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine Blessed be the holy and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God! O Virgin Immaculate, Mother of Jesus and our tender Mother, we invoke thee under the title of Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, because thou art the Mother of the Savior who lives in the Eucharist, and because it was from thee that He took the Flesh and Blood with which He there feeds us! We invoke thee under that title because, again, thou art the sovereign dispensatrix of all graces and, consequently, of those contained in the august Eucharist, also, because thou didst first fulfill the duties of the Eucharistic life, teaching us by thy example how to assist properly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, how to communicate worthily, and how to visit frequently and piously the Most Blessed Sacrament. V. Pray for us, O Virgin Immaculate, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament. R. That the Eucharistic Kingdom of Jesus Christ may come among us! Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, our King and our God, who having become Man to make us sharers in The Divinity, art truly our Bread in the adorable Eucharist, grant, we beseech Thee, that in venerating so great a Mystery, we may be mindful of the most sweet Virgin Mary, of whom Thou didst will to be conceived by the operation of the Holy Ghost! Grant, also that we may imitate the worship that she rendered while on earth to this most august Sacrament, so we may behold Thy Eucharistic Kingdom spread and flourish throughout the whole world! O Thou who livest and reignest forever and ever! Amen. PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the glory of Christians, the joy of the universal Church, and the hope of the world, pray for us. Kindle in all

Ruth Kolpack was fired from her position as pastoral associate at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Beloit over a thesis she wrote that was harshly critical of church doctrine regarding male-only ordination

An international Catholic charity dependent on the Holy See, providing pastoral relief to needy and oppressed churches.

Here's a link that shows how new churches and monastery can still be built with an inspirational fling.

Is the pope Catholic? 20 Comments Written by Tony Woodlief December 22, 9:49 AM John Allen, senior correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter, offered in Friday's New York Times a moderating interpretation of the Vatican's recent statement, "Dignity of a Person." Allen's concern is that conservative Catholics will view the statement, which condemns embryonic stem cell research among other scientific tinkerings with human life, as a call to arms against a decidedly pro-abortion incoming American president. "Call to arms" is hyperbole, but it pales in comparison to Allen's rhetoric, which claims that Pope Benedict XVI's latest document on life "risks being read as encouragement for the most ardent pro-life forces in America to let slip the dogs of war." He also frets that the pope's document "may be the political equivalent of shouting 'Fire!' in a crowded theater." To counteract all this dog unleashing and theater shouting, Allen counsels the pope to find some way to "mobilize those Catholics who hope to build bridges." He doesn't want "strategic silence" on abortion, he says, but this rings a bit hollow after extended hand-wringing at the damage done by vocally Catholic pro-life leaders. Perhaps Allen isn't advocating strategic silence, but he does seem to call for less forceful talk. After all, if the pope says something that convinces Catholics that abortion is truly evil, we might "unleash the dogs of war." By all means, Pope Benedict, don't be strategically silent, but on the other hand, would you mind toning it down a bit? It's the kind of false verbal parsing one expects out of a congressional office. In effect, what Allen is asking is for the pope not to be Catholic. Or at least that he be less conspicuously so out of consideration for the tender American situation, which is fascinating insofar as Allen begins his essay by noting that Americans comprise only 6 percent of the global Catholic populat

Dan - condemned as heretical.

Pope John Paul II beatified a biblical the scholar (apparently the only one), Father Gabriel Allegra who was into Valtorta's writings. If this Pope's canonization of Sister Faustina is intented as an implicit approval of her writings then we should be not be able to apply the same principle to Father Gabriel's recent beatification? http://www.bardstown.com/~brchrys/Gablegra/Alegintr.html

Dan, I can't offer an opinion on this that would have any merit. I'm not a theological scholar - simply an apostolate administrator. Having said that, it seems to me that a determination on this matter would be a bit more involved than that. Blessings, Sue