There is no problem that cannot be solved by the Rosary

One of the most beautiful spiritual books I have ever come across is this one IN SINU JESU. The book is written by an anonymous Benedictine monk.

From the description of the book:

"In 2007, Our Lord and Our Lady began to speak to the heart of a monk in the silence of adoration. He was prompted to write down what he received, and thus was born In Sinu Jesu, whose pages shine with an intense luminosity and heart-warming fervor that speak directly to the inner and outer needs of our time with a unique power to console and challenge."

Here is the entry from Tuesday, December 2, 2014 on the Rosary. This is a private revelation where Jesus is speaking to the monk:

"There is no problem or difficulty that cannot be solved or resolved by faithful persevering recourse to My Mother's most holy Rosary. The Rosary is My Mother's gift to the poor and to the simple, to the little ones who alone are capable of hearing the Gospel in all its purity and of responding to it with a generous heart. It is to such as these - the childlike and the weak, the poor and the trusting - that the Rosary is given. It is to such as these that the Rosary belongs.

There are no sufferings that cannot be borne peacefully, so long as a soul is praying the Rosary. Through the Rosary, all the grace and power of My mysteries passes through My Mother's Immaculate Heart into the hearts of the little ones who invoke her, repeating the angel's "Ave" over and over again. There are illnesses that can be cured through the Rosary. There are clouds of darkness and confusion that only the Rosary can disperse, and this because it is My Mother's favourite prayer, a prayer that originated in the heights of heaven and was carried to earth by My Archangel, a prayer echoed and amplified in the Church through the ages, a prayer loved by all My saints, a prayer of disarming power and of immense depth.

There are those who find the Rosary difficult. The difficulty lies not in the Rosary but in the complexity of those who struggle to enter into its simplicity. Invite souls to the prayer of the Rosary; through it I will heal the sick of mind and body, through it I will give peace where there is conflict, through it I will make great saints out of great sinners, through it I will sanctify My priests, give joy to My consecrated ones, and raise up new vocations in abundance.

Listen, then, to My Mother's plea in so many places. Listen to her, take her plea to heart, pray her Rosary and, for you, as for her, My Father will do wondrous things."

This is the hopeful message Canada and the world needs right now. We need to say so many Rosaries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I was very happy to see actual evidence of the true meaning of Christmas this year. The Holy Family and the birth of Jesus. In front of people's houses. We were in Milton, Ontario. What a surprise and blessing it was. I don't think I've ever seen this in Ottawa (except for churches), or in any other place. Amazing.

Eucharistic Miracles retreat

This past Saturday Maureen and I attended a Eucharistic Miracles retreat in Ottawa at St. Mary's parish. It was given by Fr. Mark Goring of the Companions of the Cross. (Fr. Mark also does short YouTube videos everyday about the Catholic faith.)

It was an amazing retreat.

As Catholics we believe that in the Mass, transubstantiation takes place. This is when the priest consecrates the unleavened bread (host) into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. The host is then called the Consecrated Host. We believe this is literally the Body and Blood of Jesus.

The retreat described numerous miracles from over the centuries where the Consecrated Host took on the appearance of human tissue/human blood. In current times scientists have analyzed these specimens from these miracles. It makes for interesting reading, not all of which I understand as they get into the scientific results of these tests, identifying cardiac specimens of live flesh, and blood types (always AB positive), etc.The miracles that have been approved by the Church are all listed here. 

For the miracles from centuries ago, obviously there was no scientific testing done, but there were other phenomena identified. Below I include the links from the recent approved miracles which detail some of the scientific testing done on the specimens.

Poland

Sokólka, October 12, 2008 (Part 1) – (PDF: 1.41M) Sokólka, October 12, 2008 (Part 2) – (PDF: 1.31M) Sokólka, October 12, 2008 (Part 3) – (PDF: 1.41M)

Argentina Buenos Aires, 1992 - 1994 - 1996 (part 1) - (PDF: 1.46M) Buenos Aires, 1992 - 1994 - 1996 (part 2) - (PDF: 1.42M) Buenos Aires, 1992 - 1994 - 1996 (part 3) - (PDF: 1.25M)   Italy (testing was done in 1970-71 and 1981) Lanciano, 750 A.D. (part 1) – (PDF: 186k) Lanciano, 750 A.D. (part 2) – (PDF: 194k) So why is Jesus's blood always AB Positive?

"Rarity of the AB blood type among the human population
Together the AB blood type (both positive and negative) is one of the rarest of the human blood types, with only approximately 3.4 percent of the world population having AB+, and only 0.6 percent of the population with AB-.

AB blood type and its universal receptivity
What makes the AB blood type even more special is that people who have AB blood can receive blood from anyone, and are therefore known as “universal recipients”, unlike all other blood types who can only receive from other specific blood types. Therefore AB blood type is referred to as the "Universal Receiver" blood type. 

So what to make of the universal receptivity of Jesus blood type?
So this begs the question--why would Jesus’ blood be universally receptive by all the blood types of humanity? What could this signify? Well, this is where Science and Faith may very well merge. 

In the Eucharist, we often speak of “receiving” Jesus in Holy Communion.  When we consume the Eucharist, Jesus literally unites and becomes one with us, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity."

Part 1 of  Fr. Mark's retreat



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

I will not say one word on this

The Roman Catholic Church is in a mess. I am a Roman Catholic. I love my church. But I am really sad, angry and disgusted because there has been no resolution to the mess we are in.

Of course I am talking about the sex scandal in the Church, about Theodore McCarrick, and about the very credible letters written by Carlo Maria Viganò regarding the scandal.

The good news, if there can be any good news in this unprecedented failure of our church, is that there are some very good vocal lay people out there who are speaking about this diabolical, demonic train wreck. Namely Dr. Taylor Marshall and Timothy Gordon, Patrick Coffin, and the Church Militant, Michael Voris. From this vocal laity, I have learned a lot about the Vatican and clergy that I would never have known otherwise. Education is always a good thing, and believe me, I am being educated.

But nearly no clergy is speaking out. There was one courageous member of the clergy who spoke out, Fr. Mark Goring. But he has recently been shut down. All of his videos on the scandal have been removed. This made me very sad indeed. God bless you Fr. Goring for your bravery.

Bishop Robert Barron also spoke out. But since August 2018 Bishop Barron has been silent.

And what did Pope Francis say?

"I will not say one word on this". 

With all due respect to Pope Francis, this was a horrible response to a very very serious situation.

The most thanks go to Archbishop Viganò. This man is an absolute treasure and probably a saint. God protect him.

At the moment it is the laity who are keeping the story alive. I can only imagine that the Vatican isn't too happy with this fact. There is of course a solution to this. The Vatican can tell us the truth of what has been going on. They can appoint a lay team to investigate and report back to the faithful.

To all those clergy who are covering up the truth, you can't hide from God. The truth will come out eventually. It always does. In the meantime, if Pope Francis will not say a single word, the laity will go to the laity to learn. The clergy can speak up at any time. And stop Jesus from being scourged. Over and over again.

As Dr. Taylor Marshall and others have said: Pray the rosary, pray for the Pope, pray for the bishops, pray for the cardinals, live your vocation, be a holy priest or holy religious, be a holy dad or mom, be a holy kid.

Christmas Mass with an Iraqi Catholic priest

Yesterday Fred and I attended St. Joseph Portugese Roman Catholic church in Oakville. It was a beautiful Mass, church and homily. They have no website.

The priest is an Iraqi Catholic. He explained that Bethlehem is made up of two words in Aramaic. "Beth" which means house, and "lehem" which means bread. Bread is universal. Jesus was born in the house of bread for all mankind.

They have three masses in this church, one in English, one in Portugese, and one for the Chaldean people:

"Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, or simply Chaldean, is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language spoken throughout a large region stretching from the plain of Urmia, in northwestern Iran, to the Nineveh plains, in northern Iraq, together with parts of southeastern Turkey."

The priest also told us why the shepherds were chosen as the first people to greet Jesus. In those days shepherds were the lowest strata of society. They had no rights, couldn't testify in courts, etc. They were the most marginalized. And they were chosen to bear witness to Jesus's birth.

There were only a handful of people present for this most amazing Christmas Mass I have ever attended. Others have no idea what they missed.

Our Lady of Fatima

Nativity scene. St. Francis if Assissi said we need to become part of the Nativity scene. You can see that sentiment in this amazing scene.

A beautiful mural of the three seers of Fatima and St. John the baptist to the right

St. Michael the Archangel crushing the head of the serpent. The Church really needs that in these days.

False gods are alive and well

A lot of celebrities died in 2016. People get all weird about these deaths, of people they don't even know.

Then there are sports people. People get all weird about them too. Games have throngs of screaming fans who go crazy over their favourite team and or sports person.

Sports people and celebrities--these are the new gods of the 21st century. People are looking for some kind of transcendent meaning to their lives but can't find it. They don't believe in God anymore, or if they do, God doesn't play an active role in their lives. Their search finds what they are looking for in the hero worship of humans, humans they look up to, humans who are famous, humans who are fallible, humans they don't even know.

And then these fallible imperfect human celebrities die, and those who don't know them, mourn them. It's all so weird.

St. Augustine of Hippo famously said in his book Confessions

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

If Jesus Christ appeared at a hockey rink instead of the usual hockey players, I wonder how the crowd would react to him. Would they cheer him? Would they give him a standing ovation? Would they adore him? If Jesus was tortured, humiliated, spat upon, nailed to a tree to and died, would they mourn his death? Would they even know who he was?

Maybe I'm the weird one. Maybe everyone else knows something that I don't know.

Macleans and Jesus doubt: Just trying to sell magazines

This poor sod in Macleans magazine, Brian Bethune, questions whether or not Jesus ever existed.

And here we have John Tors, who basically refutes everything Bethune says.

Kind of like a big "Ouch".

I sometimes wonder, and I'm pretty sure I know the answer, if such articles as Bethune's are written for the simple reason that the media loves to tear apart Christianity. Sort of like a blood sport.

You should just read both articles to see for yourself how poorly researched Bethune's article is researched.

The most glaring problem with Bethune's piece is that he posits that the Gospels were written four decades after Jesus died; that the Gospels were written based on oral remembrances; and that these oral memories are unreliable. False, false and false.

Tors:

"In fact, the Gospel books comprise two direct eyewitness testimonies by two apostles, Matthew and John, and apostles were the people best placed to know the facts about Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection.  A third, Mark, would be accepted in a US. Court of Law as the direct eyewitness testimony of the apostle Peter.[6]  Luke, the author of the remaining Gospel book, tells us that his account is based on data “just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us” (Luke 1:2) 

Nor were these Gospel books “written decades after [Jesus’] death,” as Bethune blithely asserts.  A careful examination of the evidence reveals that Matthew was published around AD 40-41, eight years after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, not “decades.”  Mark was published two years later, in AD 43-44 (and not later than AD 45), and Luke probably five years after that, in AD 48 (and not later than the early 50s).  Only John’s was written “decades after,” in AD 64-65 (though not in the 90s, as is often asserted).[7] 

In sum, then, we have three eyewitness accounts (and a fourth based on eyewitness testimony) of the life, ministry, miracles, and death and resurrection of Jesus written at early dates by men who emphasized that they were writing what they had personally seen[8] and who were writing “that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed” (Luke 1:4).  This constitutes better and more certain documentation for the events of the career of Jesus than there is for any other ancient personage, including Alexander the Great (whose earliest surviving biography, by Diodorus Siculus, dates to more than 300 years after his death) and for the two emperors who ruled Rome during the life of Jesus, Caesar Augustus and Tiberius.[9] 

It should be understood, therefore, that there is absolutely no possible justification for any of the assertions made in Bethune’s article, viz. that “the truth of the son of God lies beneath the surface of Gospel accounts written decades after his death”[10] and that it is necessary to “separate the historical wheat from the theological chaff in the Gospels.”[11]  This sort of claim is manifestly absurd and, inasmuch as these same historians accept the accounts of Alexander, August, Tiberius, and others with little question, it is also special pleading of the first water.   And the subheading to the article, which states that there are only a “few things we knew about Jesus”[12] is utter nonsense.  With this in mind, let us continue on to examine the claims detailed in Bethune’s article."

And this:

"It should be noted that, inasmuch as the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus are the best attested facts of ancient history, as we have seen, if these claims about the untrustworthiness of memories were true, we would have to throw out everything we know about ancient history.  Naturally, mythicists never suggest doing that; such claims are wielded as weapons solely against the historic truth of Jesus, not against anything else (though it is hard to quell the suspicion that if turning all of ancient history into a black hole is the price of discarding the truth about Jesus, it is a price mythicists would be willing to pay). 

Fortunately, most people already know that these claims against the trustworthiness of memories are nonsense.  The studies do show that with a maximum of effort to mislead subjects, including lying to them, you can under certain circumstances get a small fraction to have faulty memories about unimportant things; that does not change the fact that memories are generally reliable."

And this:

"Not surprisingly, Bethune offers not the slightest shred of evidence either for the late dates he assigns to the Gospel books or that Mark was the first one written or that there was a period of oral transmission between the events and the writing of the Gospel books.  We should not be surprised, as there is no such evidence and never was.  Liberal scholars proclaimed the date of AD 70 as the earliest possible date for a Gospel book for one reason and one reason only:  Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:1-2/Mark 13:1-2, an event that came to pass in AD 70, and since liberal scholars dismiss the possibility that Jesus could foretell the future, AD 70 became the terminus post quem for the writing of the first Gospel book, as the “predictions” about the destruction of the temple could only have been written after the fact.[30]  Needless to say, this is not evidence; it is metaphysical bias."

Finally this:

"...the skeptics and the mythicists absolutely require that there be a lengthy period (“decades”) of oral transmission between the events of Jesus’ life and the writing of the first Gospel book.  Without such a gap, the case of the skeptics and of the mythicists collapses.  And, as we have seen, the evidence shows that there was no such gap; the Gospel books were written early (the Synoptic Gospel books between eight and fifteen years after Jesus’ ascension) and by eyewitnesses directly writing their own testimony (in the case of Matthew and John) or an agent writing the direct eyewitness testimony of Peter (in the case of Mark), or a man writing down what he heard directly from eyewitnesses (in the case of Luke).  Not one of the Gospel writers was writing down “oral tradition” handed down through decades.  Game over for the skeptics and the mythicists."

Tors total refutation is long but is worth the read.

Evangelizing at Tim Hortons

He is risen

Merry Christmas

The second greatest story ever told

It's a Charlie Brown Christmas of course. Make sure you check out Snoopy.

What's so awesome about this Christmas story, besides the fact that it's Charlie Brown of course, is that it actually includes the real Christmas story. Not some politically correct, new age rendition of the Birth of Jesus Christ.

How lovely.

He is risen

Fr. Yves homily from Easter Sunday

Easter Version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' by Kelley Moone

Evangelism of the trenches

Here is Peter Kreeft's conversion story from Protestantism to a Catholicism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO2NGGmWBQo

He tells us that since converting, he has felt it to be his vocation to build bridges between Catholics and non-Catholics. He was also a signer to the Evangelicals and Catholic Together Statement and supports it very strongly. (I'd never heard of this stattement before. Here it is: Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium)

This is some of what Kreeft says on this.

"The divisions that exist now are very different than they were 50 years ago when I became a Catholic. The divisions now are far less important now, even though they still exist. That's because we face a common enemy. A culture of death. A society that is becoming increasingly anti-Christian. Whether Mary was assumed into Heaven is pretty important but what's really important is whether Jesus rose from the dead.

The common enemy that we face is doing exactly the opposite of what the devil wants us to do, namely dividing us. They are uniting us, in profound ways sometimes. Common action against a common evil like abortion has united Protestants and Catholics in their hearts and in their works even though not in their heads."

Kreeft tells of a story that he's not sure is literally true or not.

"In the early days of the pro-life movement The Catholics and southern Baptists were protesting at an abortion clinic. They went into the bubble zone and were all thrown into jail together for not observing the bubble zone. They shared a common jail cell. 24 of them. That night they didn't sleep. They prayed and sang hymns together all night. In the morning when they were released, the Baptists went home and asked their families why don’t we love Mary like the Catholics do? And the Catholics went home and asked their families if they accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior?"

Now that's Evangelism of the trenches."

Christmas Nativity sets

My sister Paula makes these adorable, hand-made clay Nativity Set Miniatures and sells them.

They can be purchased here. Each one is unique and are made with coloured clay. They are very beautiful and quite small (fit in your hand). Dimensions are given at the link.

Following the Good Shepherd

Father Jerry's Homily given today on Good Shepherd Sunday is below. He speaks about vocations, not only for Priests, but for all of us.

Fr. Jerry gives us the beautiful example of Catherine Doherty and her vocation to open Friendship House and Madonna House. He reads excerpts from her biography Victorious Exile and tells us how her vocation was not always easy. She and her husband Eddie were sometimes tempted to give it all up. They never did.

Jesus said:
"My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them Eternal Life and they shall never perish."

What is a priest?

This post is a bit late. It took me a while to figure out how to make a movie out of my audio file of the homily Fr. Jerry gave on Holy Thursday.

Fr. Jerry talks about the institution of Holy Orders and priests, which was started on that first Holy Thursday over two thousand years ago.

He apologizes for those priests who have victimized others.

He talks about Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict, and Pope Francis who represent Faith, Hope and Charity respectively.

He also talks about the true vocation of priests and quotes this poem by Catherine Doherty.

WHAT IS A PRIEST?
By Catherine Doherty - foundress of Madonna House,
Combermere, Ontario, Canada

A PRIEST is a lover of God,
a priest is a lover of men,
a priest is a holy man
because he walks before the face of the All-Holy.

A priest understands all things,
a priest forgives all things,
a priest encompasses all things.

The heart of a priest is pierced, like Christ's
with the lance of love.

The heart of a priest is open, like Christ's
for the whole world to walk through.

The heart of a priest is a vessel of compassion,
the heart of a priest is a chalice of love,
the heart of a priest is the trysting place
of human and divine love.

A priest is a man whose goal is to be another Christ;
a priest is a man who lives to serve.
A priest is a man who has crucified himself
so that he too may be lifted up
and draw all things to Christ.

A priest is a man in love with God.
A priest is the gift of God to man
and of man to God.

A priest is the symbol of the word made flesh,
a priest is the naked sword of God's justice,
a priest is the hand of God's mercy,
a priest is the reflection of God's love.

Nothing can be greater in this world than a priest,
nothing but God Himself.

Our greatest treasure is Jesus in the Eucharist

Last night was the third and final talk given by Father Terry Donahue for our Lenten Mission.

Fr. Terry spoke about the Eucharist. How the transformation of the bread into Our Lord's Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, is called Transubstantiation. The Host only looks like bread. It becomes the Body of Christ in fact.

How do we draw strength from Jesus? By the Eucharist which is our greatest treasure: Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus is wholly present in the Eucharist, spiritually and bodily.

Why would Jesus give himself to us in this way? Because of Love. Love adapts itself to the beloved`s needs, always putting others first.

Pictures taken from the three nights of the Mission

Lenten Mission (Part 2)

Below is part two of our Lenten Mission at the Annunciation of Our Lord Parish in Ottawa. Father Terry below speaks to a parishioner after his talk. The audio is below that. 

In last night's segment, Fr. Terry talks about Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and her Little Way and about God's love for us.

Thanks to Maureen Ward for the audio below and yesterday's audio as well. We will post tonight's talk tomorrow.

The Existence of God

 Fr. Terry Donohue is giving our Parish a Lenten mission for three nights.

Last night Father Terry explained the intellectual reasons for believing God's existence, and for believing that Jesus is, who he says he is. His talk last night, was "from the head" approach as he said.

He uses physics and philosophy in this part one of his talks.

Tonight and tomorrow night he'll speak to the Faith aspect for the existence of God.

Here are his five reasons for the Existence of God that he goes into detail on:

- The need for an uncaused cause

- The universe had a beginning

- The fine-tuning of the laws of nature

- Modern day miracles

- Moral obligation

It's a great talk and it leaves me with two questions I'd love to ask Richard Dawkins.

1) How does Dawkins explain the origin of life (I think even Dawkins admits he can't answer this question)?

2) How does Dawkins explain bone fide modern day miracles?

Fr. Terry also does a great job in discussing the Resurrection.