Sanctus II - Libera

I found a lovely, deeply spiritually resounding hymn to our Lord sang my Libera. I was watching a youtube video with pictures of the incorrupt bodies of the saints, and this song, Sanctus II by the boy group Libera, I fell in love with, I decided to put it as my blog's song. Hope you all enjoy.

The Imitation of Mary

Recently, I bought and began reading this well known book that was inspired by another well known book. It is The Imitation of Mary, and I would leave to your guess, which book inspired me to buy this book (clue - Change of names). So far, the book does not live up to my expectations, maybe because of the style, or because I don't have confidence in the author, or maybe because I am just to critical and scrutinizing of the teaching. This mostly I feel is the cause of me not enjoying the book. All this I know very well makes what is valuable seem repulsive.

What I do like is the simplicity of the book, and I think this is what makes it stand out. It focuses on the pennies of the gospel and of the graces in the life of our Blessed Mother; and so far, it has helped my walk in imitation of her who loved god most while on earth, and who loves him most intimately in heaven. I decided to share the first chapter of the first book with you, for your edification.

Imitation Of The Virtues Of The Blessed Virgin

Blessed those who do not abandon the way I have bidden them go! Blessed those who listen to what I tell them (Prov 8:32-33) and who follow the models of virtue I offer them.

In putting these words on the lips of Mary, the Church urges us to study the life of the Queen of Saints and to imitate her splendid example. Happy the man who imitates our Lady, for in imitating her he imitates Jesus, king and incomparable model of all virtues.

The Blessed Virgin's life contains lessons for everyone. If we study it, we learn how to live in prosperity and adversity, prayer and work, honours and humiliations. We shall never attain the perfection she brought to every action; but our perfection can be measured by our closeness to her.

You claim to be the servants of Mary: do you really what to become like her in her sublime holiness? Then imitate, as far as you can, her lively faith, her prompt obedience, her deep humility, her selfless intentions, her generous love. Is there anyone of you that cannot make it your aim, with the help of God;s grace, to follow Mary's example in the practice of these virtues: Without such imitation your love for her will be a weak thing indeed, and you cannot expect to receive evident proof of her special protection.

True enough, you recite daily prayers in her honour; you give external signs of your devotion to her; your belong to a society that is especially consecrated to her. And all this binds her to ask God for the saving graces you need. But if your devotion does not take you a step further and lead you to imitatte her virtues, then your devotion will not save you. The philistines took possession of the ark of the Lord and adorned it with their gifts. But the ark did not become a source of blessing for them, because they continued to adore their idols as before.

O Queen of all the virtues, is it not fitting that one who loves you should do for you what he does for his friends in this world? We try to adapt ourselves to our friends' character and to make their likes and dislikes our own. Such adaptation leads to a union of hearts. In fact, we may say that where there is no likeness there can be on friendship. Your heart, Blessed Virgin, is utterly humble, pure, submissive to God's will, and zealous for His interests. How can itbe united in the bonds of affectin to a heart that is pleasure-seeking, proud, unresigned to God's will, and without zeal for His glory?

The Apostle rightly says: "If you love me, then imitate me as I imitate Jesus" (1 Cor 4:16). If you are really my children (Mary says), then make your mother's spirit your own: the spirit of charity, peace, self-denial, and reverent love for God. Holy Virgin, from now on I will show you my loving devotion by imitationg your virtues. THere is no greate homage, no greater proof of love, that I can give.

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St.John Gabriel Perboyre's Prayer

This prayer has been an almost daily prayer of for me since the day I found it in February? at Saint Quote of the Day's Blog. I must confess and testify that that prayer has strengthened me with the graces necessary for perseverance in self-abandonment, self-denial, and conversion of heart. It has helped re-enforce my will to speak or do the righteous word or deed.

I printed it with the martyr saint, and placed it directly above my mirror with the Divine Mercy Picture below it. Every day I would generally see it and would pray it. Today though I didn't pray it because I did not visit the mirror long enough to glance at it (Instead, I went to morning Mass).

I would like to share with all this Prayer to preserve the line of graces shared by the blog's authors. Let us also seek the intersession of that Martyr Saint, Saint John Gabriel Perboyre.

O my Divine Savior,
Transform me into Yourself.
May my hands be the hands of Jesus.
Grant that every faculty of my body
May serve only to glorify You.

Above all,
Transform my soul and all its powers
So that my memory, will and affection
May be the memory, will and affections
Of Jesus.

I pray You
To destroy in me all that is not of You.
Grant that I may live but in You, by You and for You,
So that I may truly say, with Saint Paul,
"I live - now not I - But Christ lives in me.

--Saint John Gabriel Perboyre

The psalm that speaks to my soul

From the Instruction of my priest, I have to obey and pray my morning prayer for at least twenty minutes before I begin my day. Today It began with a rough start. I prayed it. But on my way to work. It therefore took the usual place of my rosary time. In our Morning and Evening Prayer Book which the Catholic Church gives us for each day of the week and church seasons of the year, Today's Liturgy captivated my attention. For the lenght of the day I carried this scripture in my mind and heart pondering it there like Mary for the rest of the day. Consciously or Sub-Consciously. This scripture - Why are you cast down, my soul, why groan within me? Hope in God; I will praise him still, my saviour and my God - Spoke to me. I guess the Psalm was telling me persevere and be full of cheer. Purifying my soul is a cross that must be carried, so keep at it Matthew.

Psalm 41

Like the deer that yearns

for running streams,

so my sou is yearning

for you my God.

My soul s thirsting for God,

the god of my life;

when can I enter and see

the face of God?

My tears have become my bread,

by night, by day,

as I hear it said all the day long:

'Where is your God?'

These things will I remember

as I pour out my soul:

how I would lead the rejoicing crowd

into the house of the God,

amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,

the throng wild with joy.

Why are you cast down, my soul,

why groan within me?

Hope in God; I will praise him still,

my saviour and my God.

My soul is cast down within me

as I think of you,

from the country of Jordan and Mount Hermon,

from the Hill of Mizar.

Deep is calling on deep,

in the roar of waters:

your torrents and all your waves

swept over me.

By day the Lord will send

his loving kindness;

by night I will sing to him,

praise the god of my life.

I will say to god, my rock:

'Why have you forgotten me:

Why do I go mourning

oppressed by the foe?'

With cries that pierce me to the heart,

my enemies revile me,

saying to me all the day long:

'Where is your God?'

Why are you cast down, my soul,

why groan within me?

Hope in god; I will praise him still,

My saviour and my God.

Searching for God and Self

My soul feeds off of today's word which the church so wisely designates for us. Today for me is a continuation of my struggles to know myself and to conform my will and live for god.

This particular sin of mine has burdened me to the point of me just screaming. I feel like not crying out for help to god or to any man because I constantly allow myself to fall. I feel like i can't help myself because I continually seek after what is wrong and malign in my thoughts. I am saddened by this greatly though i am without despair. Anxiety finally takes hold of me. What crushes me mostly is the fact that i don't care as much as i had done before. That I am desensitized to evil and wrong doing, and i have little remorse for sin. I am losing uprightness because of the absences of grace and fear of the lord. my weaknesses and lackings makes itself known. And as a man I dislike being weak and lacking.

My day began with this wrong doing. For me, when I do not give my first hour to god, It is like an offense. I was trying to, for this lent, begin my day with god. I wondered to myself: should i call on god's help? God's mercy?

While travelling to work, I didn't even pray my rosary as usual but began to think. my physical outlook was sad. "I will go to my mother" I said, and i took out the Marian book i had and read this -

Mediatrix of Graces

"Beloved children, I am the Mediatrix of graces. grace is the very life of god which is communicated to you. it springs from the bosom of the father and is merited for you by the word who in my virginal womb, became man to share with you that same divine life, and for this he offered himself as a ransom for you, becoming thus the one and only mediator between god and all humanity.

From the bosom of the father, grace, in order to reach you must therefore pass through the divine heart of the Son, who communicates it to you in his Spirit of love. Just as a ray of light, which passes through a window, assumes its shape, color and design, so too divine grace, merited by Jesus, can come to you only through Him and it is for this reason that it reproduces in you his own image, the very same image which shapes you ever more and more to his own person.

Divine life can reach you only in the form of Jesus, and the more this increases in you, the more you are assimilated to Him, in such a way that you can really grow as his little brothers.

By means of grace, the Father communicates himself to you ever more and more, the Son assimilates you, the Holy Spirit transforms you, bringing about a relationship of life with the Most Holy Trinity, which becomes ever increasingly strong and active. Within souls who are in grace, it is the Most Holy Trinity itself which takes up its dwelling place there.

This Life of grace has also a relationship with your heavenly Mother. As i am truly the Mother of Jesus and your Mother, my mediation is exercised between you and my Son Jesus. This is the natural consequence of my divine motherhood. As the Mother of Jesus, I am the means chosen by God by which my Son can reach you. IN my virginal womb this first act of mediation of mine is carried out. As your Mother, I was the means chosen by Jesus that through me all of you may reach Him.

I am truly the mediatrix of grace between you and my Son Jesus. My task is that of distributing to my little children that grace which flows out from the bosom of the Father, is merited for you by the Son and is given to you by the Holy Spirit. My task is that of distributing it to all my children, according to the particular needs of each one, which the Mother is very good at knowing. I am ever carrying out this duty of mine. However I can carry it out fully only in the case of those children who entrust themselves to me with perfect abandonment. I am above all able to carry it out in respect to you, my favorite sons who, by your consecration, have entrusted yourselves completely to me.

I am the way which leads you to Jesus. I am the safest and shortest way, the necessary way for each one of you. If you refuse to go along this way, you run the danger of being lost in the course of your journey. Today many have wished to put me aside, considering me an obstacle in reaching Jesus, because they have not understood my function as mediatrix between you and my Son. And so, never before as in these present times, are so many of my children running the risk of not being able to reach Him. The Jesus whom they meet is often only the result of their human research, and corresponds to their aspirations and desires; He is a Jesus formed according to their measure: he is not Jesus, the Christ, the true Son of God and of your Immaculate Mother.

Entrust yourselves to me with confidence and you will remain faithful, because I will be able to carry out fully my work as mediatrix of graces. I will take you each day along the way of my Son, in such a way that He may increase in you to his fullness.
This is my great Work, which I am still carrying out in silence and in the desert. Under my powerful action as mediatrix of graces, you are ever more transformed into Christ, that you may become fit for the task which awaits you. Forward then, with courage, along the way traced out by your heavenly Mother"

With yet still a downcast appearance, I pondered on these words and won some hope and strength to continue. When I came to work now, I read the reading for the day and I ATE that Gospel up. I CONSUMED him who was the word. because Jesus was questioned about himself and in god he found himself. That is what i want. I do not know exactly how this word affects me but i feel like I gained some peace and grace to carry on.

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Allah's Wicked, Warlike and Pretensive Children

This is an article i found on Agnus daily and would like to get some feedback. Is this true? If it is, then the pope was right to quote the Byzantine emperor -

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”


"Muslims train special forces ninjas in response to Catholic aggression

In response to Catholic aggression and proselytizing, Muslim countries have begun to train ninja-like special forces units that are designed to inhibit the spread of Christianity. The units are to be strategically placed throughout Europe, and will be used to secretly collect information on local Churches and Church officials that seek to promote Christian moral values, and theology. Muslim leaders admit that there are only a handful of Churches in Europe that these units will be assigned to, but it is seen as a necessary pre-emptive measure in order to maintain the stable growth of Islam.

Posted March 25, 2007@12:01 by Dean Soto"

What is this Catholic Aggression and Proselytizing they are talking about. All the Church has done is respect their religion and show truth through Faith and Reasoning. not through violence.

If this is True then the Emperor of Old and the Modern Pope was Accurate in their Observations and Judgements!

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Protestant Joke

This post I like. It is from another blog 'Veritatis Visio' and it made me chuckle alittle. I like the point which it was making.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he said.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Well ... are you religious or atheist?"

"Religious."

"Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?"

"Christian."

"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant." "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.

The Immaculate Conception

Ok. this link is very very long but i promise you it is worthwhile to read. it is about the extreme holiness of the blessed virgin mary, and the thoughts and the will of god when making her. It is all recorded in the book which i am reading right now, and which i am totally absorbed in its writings. the book - The Mystical City of God. by Venerable Mary of Agreda Spain. It was written in the early 17th century. It is an account of the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Chapter VI.
The Immaculate Conception

But If you choose not to read it i would just like to share this from that chapter :-

As the opportune and preordained time had arrived, the three divine Persons conferred with each other saying: "Now is the time to begin the work of our pleasure and to call into existence that pure Creature and that soul, which is to find grace in our eyes above all the rest. Let Us furnish Her with richest gifts and let Us deposit in Her the great treasures of our grace. Since all others, whom We called into existence, have turned out ungrateful and rebellious to our wishes, frustrating our intention and impeding by their own fault our purpose, namely, that they conserve themselves in the happy state of their first parents, and since it is not proper, that our will should be entirely frustrated, let Us therefore create this being in entire sanctity and perfection, so that the disorder of the first sin shall have no part in Her.

Let Us create a soul according to our pleasure, a fruit of our attributes, a marvel of our infinite power, without touch or blemish of the sin of Adam. Let Us perfect a work which is the object of our Omnipotence and a pattern of the perfection intended for our children, and the finishing crown of creation. All have sinned in the free will and resolve of the first man (Rom. 5, 12); let Her be the sole creature in whom We restore and execute that which they in their aberration have lost. Let Her be a most special image and likeness of our Divinity and let Her be in our presence for all eternity the culmination of our goodwill and pleasure. In Her We deposit all the prerogatives and graces which in our first and conditional resolve We had destined for the angels and men, if they had remained in their first estate. What they have lost We renew in that Creature and We will add to these gifts many others. Thus our first decree shall not be frustrated, but it shall be fulfilled in a higher manner through this our first and chosen One (Cant. 6, 8). And since We assigned and prepared the most perfect and estimable of our gifts for the creatures who have lost them, We will divert the stream of our bounty to our Well-beloved. We will set Her apart from the ordinary law, by which the rest of the mortals are brought into existence, for in Her the seed of the serpent shall have no part. I will descend from heaven into her womb and in it vest Myself from her substance with human nature."

"It is befitting and due to the infinite goodness of our Divinity, that It be founded and enclosed in the most pure matter, untouched and unstained by fault. Nor is it proper that our equity and providence overlook what is most apt, perfect and holy, and choose that which is inferior, since nothing can resist our will (Esther 13, 9). The Word, which is to become man, being the Redeemer and Teacher of men, must lay the foundation of the most perfect law of grace, and must teach through it, that the father and mother are to be obeyed and honored as the secondary causes of the natural existence of man. The law is first to be fulfilled by the divine Word by honoring Her as his chosen Mother, by exalting Her with a powerful arm, and lavishing upon Her the most admirable, most holy and most excellent of all graces and gifts. Among these shall be that most singular honor and blessing of not subjecting Her to our enemy, nor to his malice; and therefore She shall be free from the death of sin."

"Now the time has arrived," added his Majesty, "which was resolved upon by our Providence for bringing to light the Creature most pleasing and acceptable to our eyes. That Creature, in whom the human nature is freed from its first sin, who is to crush the head of the dragon, who was typified by that singular sign, the Woman that appeared in the heavens in our presence, and who is to clothe the eternal Word with human flesh. The hour is at hand, so blessed for mortals, in which the treasures of our Divinity are to be opened and the gates of heaven to be unlocked. Let the rigor of our justice be softened by the chastisements, which we have until now executed upon the mortals; let the attribute of our mercy become manifest; let the creatures be enriched, and let the divine Word merit for them the treasures of grace and of eternal glory."

The other virtues which adorn and perfect the rational part of the creature, She possessed in a proportion corresponding to the theological virtues. The moral and natural virtues were hers in a miraculous and supernatural measure, and in a still more exalted manner was She possessed of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost in the order of grace. She had an infused knowledge and habit of all these virtues and of all the natural arts, so that She knew and was conversant with the whole natural and supernatural order of things, in accordance with the grandeur of God. Hence from her first instant in the womb of her mother, She was wiser, more prudent, more enlightened, and more capable of comprehending God and all his works, than all the creatures have been or ever will be in eternity, excepting of course her most holy Son.

Words of The Queen

It is an act of justice due to the eternal God that the creature coming to the use of reason, direct its very first movement toward God. By knowing, it should begin to love Him, reverence Him and adore Him as its Creator and only true Lord. The parents are naturally bound to instruct their children from their infancy in this knowledge of God and to direct them with solicitous care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end and seek it in their first acts of the intellect and will. They should with great watchfulness withdraw them from the childishness and puerile trickishness to which depraved nature will incline them if left without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to prevent these vanities and perverted habits of their children and would instruct them from their infancy in the knowledge of their God and Creator, then they would afterwards easily accustom them to know and adore Him. My holy mother, who knew not of my wisdom and real condition, was most solicitously beforehand in this matter, for when She bore me in her womb, she adored in my name the Creator and offered worship and thanks for his having created me, beseeching Him to defend me and bring me forth to the light of day from the condition in which I then was. So also parents should pray with fervor to God, that the souls of their children, through his Providence, may obtain Baptism and be freed from the servitude of original sin.

And if the rational creature has not known and adored the Creator from the first dawn of reason, it should do this as soon as it obtains knowledge of the essential God by the light of faith. From that very moment the soul must exert itself never to lose Him from her sight, always fearing Him, loving Him, and reverencing Him.