Tag Archives: peace

Remedy for Fear and Anxiety During the Lockdown

08 Sunday Nov 2020

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st-dymphnaLast week we discussed finding peace in the midst of the pandemic lockdown. Are you feeling anxious and overwhelmed? Are your days filled with fear and worry? In prison, Paul wrote to the young church at Philippi, exhorting them to follow his remedy for anxiety, fear, and worry.

Philippians 4:4-7 (RSV)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

5 Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.

6 Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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Finding Peace in the Midst of the Lockdown

01 Sunday Nov 2020

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COVID Window

He has said, “I will never fail you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Our country is nearly nine months into a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents are forced to work from home while schooling their children via remote learning. Tensions are running high. Patience is wearing thin. Tempers are growing short and anger levels are escalating. Both parents and children miss socializing with family and friends. Many are fearful of catching COVID and transmitting it to the vulnerable. Many are isolated and alone.

We are made for community! Long-term isolation is leading to increased levels of anxiety, depression, and despair for many. Similar to wearing a mask, family life has become suffocating and you feel helpless to stop it. You are desperate for anything that will give you a glimmer of hope.

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Making Room for Jesus

22 Sunday Dec 2019

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And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Christmas is only a few days away. During these weeks of Advent, we have been emphasizing the importance of slowing down to spend time with Jesus instead of getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of the secular holiday season. Have you made time in your schedule to spend time with Jesus, contemplating His love, mercy, and forgiveness?

Thankfully, it is not too late. During the next couple of days, block out some time to quiet your heart and fix your eyes on Jesus, so that you can experience the wonder and awe of Christmas like never before.

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Fixing the Root Cause of Violent Crime: Healthy and Holy Marriages and Families

10 Saturday Aug 2019

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St Josemaria on Marriage

The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family.[1]

These prophetic words were penned by St. John Paul II in 1982 in his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (The Christian Family in the Modern World). Society and the Church are built on the foundation of strong marriage and family life.

The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family.[2]

These equally prophetic words were written in 1965 by Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II document, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). It was a time when traditional values were being questioned and often jettisoned as being “old fashioned.” Divorce was rapidly rising, the number of children born out of wedlock was increasing and traditional family life and moral values were under attack.

Our society today is suffering the ills of the breakup of marriages and families. Continue reading →

Lord, Heal Our Land

06 Saturday Jul 2019

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United we stand

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

As we just celebrated the 243rd birthday of our nation, our country is fraught with division and strife. We are in a cultural battle between good and evil. Our only hope is to turn to God to heal our land.

On January 22, 1999, when St. John Paul II named Our Lady of Guadalupe patron of the Americas, he asked her to intercede for peace, justice and respect:

Holy Virgin of Guadalupe, Queen of Peace! Save the nations and peoples of this continent. Teach everyone, political leaders and citizens, to live in true freedom and to act according to the requirements of justice and respect for human rights, so that peace may thus be established once and for all.[1]

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The Rosary: A Prayer for Peace in the Family and the World

18 Saturday May 2019

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Rosary and Bible_01

In the Catholic Church, May is a month devoted to honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are many Marian devotions, the most popular and well-known is the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary, a prayer that St. John Paul II called “a compendium of the Gospel.”

At the beginning of the third millennium, “which witnesses every day in numerous parts of the world fresh scenes of bloodshed and violence,” St. John Paul II issued Rosarium Virginis Mariae, an Apostolic Letter on the Rosary.

In this letter, he urged the faithful to pray the Rosary for peace. He said the Rosary is a “means to immerse oneself in contemplation of the mystery of Christ who ‘is our peace’, since he made ‘the two of us one, and broke down the dividing wall of hostility’ (Eph 2:14).” The Pope stressed that “one cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught up in a clear commitment to advancing peace.”[1]

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Love, Mercy, and Forgiveness

28 Sunday Apr 2019

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Divine Mercy Mary JPII (2)

Today, on this the last day of the Octave of Easter, the readings for the Mass focus on the mercy of God. Pope John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina in 2000, declared that the “Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’”[1] The feast is based on the private revelations of St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun, who recommended a particular devotion to the Divine Mercy.

In his homily on the first celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, St. John Paul II stressed that love is the foundation of mercy, both in God’s mercy to us, His creatures and in our relationships with others:

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The Mystery of Christmas

24 Monday Dec 2018

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Adoration of the Shepherds by Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1646

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

The following is an excerpt from St. John Paul II’s Urbi Et Orbi Message, Christmas 2002.[1]

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The Rosary: A Powerful Weapon to Protect Families

14 Sunday Oct 2018

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Two of the Three Fatima Children, Jacinta Marto and Lúcia dos Santos

The Church dedicates the entire month of October to Our Lady of the Rosary. It was during October, 1917 that the last of six apparitions of Our Blessed Mother to three shepherd children occurred at Fátima, Portugal. In her appearances to the children – Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta – the Virgin Mary requested conversion, prayer, particularly the recitation of the Rosary, and sacrifices on behalf of sinners.

Ralph Martin, president of Renewal Ministries discussed the urgent message of Fatima during a recent episode of the EWTN TV series The Choices We Face. The TV series began in 1985 and is currently the longest running Catholic television program in the world. We highly recommend that you watch this important message:

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Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – Family Consecration

08 Friday Jun 2018

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Sacred Heart_02A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), was a French Visitation nun and mystic, who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart. As a young girl, she had apparitions of Jesus Christ, which she thought were a normal part of human experience. After receiving her first Holy Communion at age nine, she suffered four years with rheumatic fever, which confined her to bed. After making a vow to the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to religious life, she was instantly restored to perfect health.

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