Category Archives: Family

Remembering Those Who Sacrificed for Our Freedom

24 Sunday May 2020

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Arlington Cemetary

This weekend in the United States we honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives in the defense of freedom around the world. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was first observed on May 30, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. This was in the aftermath of the Civil War when many thousands lost their lives fighting for what they believed. It has taken a long time for our nation to heal from this devastating division and massive loss of life. Memorial Day is not about division. Rather, it is about reconciliation, coming together as a nation to honor those who gave their all for their country.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865

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Love One Another

17 Sunday May 2020

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Love One Another_Jn 15 12

This past week, the Gospel readings for Mass were taken from the 14th and 15th chapters of John. These chapters are part of Jesus’ farewell discourse (13:31-16:33) to His disciples during the Last Supper. In addition to words of consolation, Jesus gives instructions for the time when He will be physically absent from them. First and foremost, Jesus commands the disciples – and us – to love one another!

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” (Jn 15:9-12 emphasis added)

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Thank God for Mothers!

10 Sunday May 2020

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Mother's Day 2020

Today is Mother’s Day. We encourage all husbands to pray Psalm 103 in thanksgiving to God for His unmerited blessings, especially for your wife and the mother of your children. If you do not have children, husbands still pray this for your wife, honoring her as a great gift from God.

It is very simple, just insert your wife’s name in the designated places below and pray this to your wife. Thank God for His wonderful blessings!

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The Most Intimate Act in Marriage

03 Sunday May 2020

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Prayer_Mother Teresa

A cord of three strands is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12

Last week, we highlighted several date night ideas to help you grow closer together as a couple. This week, we strongly urge you to take advantage of a unique online opportunity to strengthen your marriage. It is a three-part webinar series on couple prayer. And the best part, there is no charge to participate!

It has been said that prayer is the most intimate act in marriage. It is more intimate than the marital embrace. In prayer, we bear our inner most feelings to God and our spouse. There is nothing more powerful in binding a couple together in a life-long marital bond. Find that hard to believe? Let’s look at a couple of research studies on the efficacy of praying together as a couple.

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There’s No Place Like Home

26 Sunday Apr 2020

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shutterstock_Online Date Night

“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” In the classic movie, The Wizard of OZ, these magical words transported Dorothy back to her home in Kansas.

If you are like us, sheltering in place for the past several weeks may have left you muttering something like “Any place but home. Any place but home!”

So, if you are feeling stressed, anxious, worried, short on patience or frustrated with your spouse and children, we recommend going on a date with your spouse! That’s right going on a date with your spouse can actually help you de-stress and strengthen your marriage.

A report entitled The Date Night Opportunity[1], concluded that there are at least five ways date nights may foster stronger marriages: communication, novelty, eros, commitment, and de-stress. Here is a quick summary of those benefits:

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An Ocean of Mercy

19 Sunday Apr 2020

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Divine Mercy mosaic

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.[1]

We are living in unprecedented times. We are faced with a global pandemic the likes of which the world has not experienced in a century. Stay-in-place orders are common in most areas of the United States. Schools and businesses are closed. Parents are struggling with schooling children while working from home themselves. Tensions are rising and patience is wearing thin. Despair and hopelessness are at all-time highs. And with churches unable to celebrate Mass, the domestic church has become the norm for families.

In the midst of all this, today the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday. St. Maria Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who experienced apparitions of Jesus. She recorded these apparitions and messages from Jesus in a detailed diary. Her diary records 14 occasions when Jesus requested that a Feast of Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday) be observed. Here is one of those messages…

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Confronting Gluttony

12 Sunday Apr 2020

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Blessed are the Persecuted

Praised be Jesus Christ! He is risen! Jesus has conquered sin and death so that we may have abundant life with Him in heaven for all eternity. Thanks be to God for this most wonderful gift!

This Lent we have taken a journey through the Cardinal Virtues, the Seven Deadly Sins, and the Seven Beatitudes. Today we will look at the last Deadly Sin of gluttony.

Gluttony consumes an excessive amount of worldly goods, be it food or alcohol. Contrast this with being persecuted which is being deprived of even basic necessities to sustain life. While gluttony is certainly not the greatest of the deadly sins, when combined with avarice and lust, it perpetuates the illusion that our emptiness can be filled with things of the world.[1]

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Confronting Lust

10 Friday Apr 2020

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Pure in Heart

On this Good Friday, we are nearing the end of our journey through The Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Beatitudes. On this day, Jesus bore excruciating pain and death on the Cross to free us from slavery to sin. Thank Him today for the free gift of salvation. Isaiah prophesied about the Suffering Servant, Jesus, whose mission was to free us from sin and death…

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

We have discussed the Deadly Sins of pride, avarice, envy, anger, and sloth. Today we will look at the Deadly Sin of lust and on Easter Sunday, we will conclude this study with the Deadly Sin of gluttony.

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Confronting Sloth

05 Sunday Apr 2020

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Righteousness

Previously, we have addressed the Deadly Sins of pride, avarice, envy, and anger. This week, we will look at the antidote to the Deadly Sin of sloth. We are not talking about the slow-moving mammals which spend their days hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rain forests of South and Central America. Sloth is defined by St. Thomas Aquinas as “‘sorrow about spiritual good’, or joylessness when faced with God as our supreme joy.”[1]

Sloth is a sin against charity, one of the three theological virtues, which directs our hearts toward God. “Faith, hope, and charity are our spiritual glue,” says Peter Kreeft. “Whatever dissolves this glue is mortally sinful; whatever can remove faith, hope, and charity can kill God’s life in our soul. And sloth does just that.”[2] Sloth robs us of our thirst for God, our desire for Him as our ultimate good. A slothful person stops seeking God, complacent in the matters of the faith. In response to God’s offer of eternal salvation and friendship with Him, sloth says, “I’m good. Thanks, but no thanks.”

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Confronting Anger

29 Sunday Mar 2020

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Blessed are the Peacemakers

He that is angry without cause, shall be in danger; but he that is angry with cause, shall not be in danger.[1] St. John Chrysostom

Anger is one of the Seven Deadly Sins but not all anger is a sin. Anger is an emotion and emotions by themselves are not sinful or virtuous. An emotion will cease or flourish only at the discretion of the will. Peter Kreeft in his book Growing in Virtue offers this distinction between the two…

The commonest way in which the will comes in to make an emotion sinful or virtuous is by consent, which is basically the will’s approval or go-ahead to an emotion…What makes the emotion of anger into the sin of anger are two things. First, as we have seen, there must be the involvement of the will. Second, the anger must be inordinate, this is, wrong, irrational, too strong for the occasion or the person we are angry at.[2]

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