Suffering

What does it mean to suffer? Can anything good come of one who suffers? Are there really people who ask God to grant them suffering?


Over the past several months I have found much suffering in my life. I began a self-renewal in my faith, renouncing my past sins and fully dedicating myself to Christ. I felt so much suffering. I began to despair, feeling as if I would never be worthy enough to be accepted or even loved none-the-less.

After about 4 months of pure misery, I was introduced to St. Faustina's Diary; Divine Mercy in My Soul. Looking back on these months I can say that this was nothing short of a gift from God. I quickly engulfed myself in this diary. I found myself captivated by Jesus' message of Mercy for the whole world. This message was so simple. For the first time I felt that there was something that I could relate to. Jesus tells us, "The greater the sinner, the greater his right to my mercy." After reading this message, I began to find peace in my new endeavors. I was beginning to find myself dealing with suffering better. Don't get me wrong, suffering is still suffering, regardless of the form it takes. The only difference is I began to seek the beauty that comes from this. 

In her diary, St. Faustina says, “Suffering is a great grace; through suffering; the soul becomes like the Savior; in suffering love becomes crystallized; the greater the suffering the purer the love.” In this state, the soul becomes close to Christ. One can even argue that the soul is reunited (for a period of time) with its Maker. I find this quote to be quite impacting. Lets think about this for a moment. At various times in our lives, when do we EVER feel as if we are close to God? When do we ever stop our busy lives long enough to ask Christ for his help? Maybe in drastic situations? A death of a family member maybe? Struggles with friends, and even relationships? When do we ever look at the suffering we are given and thank Christ for the opportunity to grow closer to him? This, in my opinion, is where the true beauty lies. In times of trials, we must look at these sufferings and push for growth. Accept these sufferings openly. Most importantly, we must offer up these sufferings. Hard times will come our way regardless. We must strive to accept suffering willingly. Although it might not be enjoyable, it will carry a lasting affect on one's soul. The outcome becomes our decision. Do we thrive under hardships, or buckle when everyone else waits for us to fail? The answer seems pretty simple to me...

Most recently I have found a new struggle of suffering; humiliation. This form of suffering is often very tough to swallow. Nobody wants to be humiliated. The thing we fear the most is to be "called out", or "put on the spot" in the most in-opportune times. I have found over the last few weeks that my purest intentions, and actions have been easily misconstrued or taken out of context. My first want is to correct the adversary, or explain the situation. In the Diary of St. Faustina she explains the following. “Without humility, we cannot be pleasing to God…not only must one refrain from explaining and defending oneself when reproached with something, but one should rejoice at the humiliation.” I can say this is the hardest of all things; sucking up my own pride in order to humble myself. While this is a lesson that I have not yet mastered, I assure you I will work towards holding my tongue in these situations.

Keep in mind suffering can be offered up for the conversion of sinners, your own sins, and those within your family.

So you may be asking yourself, what is the moral of the story? If anything else, realize that suffering is not meant to be horrific. Through suffering we are brought to our creator; fighting to be made pure and obedient. Continue to remain strong, fight for what is meek and humble. It is through this that we find our greatest happiness.

I leave you with this final thought:
“True works of God always meet opposition and are marked by suffering.” - St. Faustina

Totus Tuus!
Anthony

Traveling Our Lady of Sorrows Statue

Recently I decided to partake in a beautiful devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows with 2 very good friends of mine. After acquiring 2 beautiful 24 inch statues, it was decided to take these statues and allow them to travel throughout people's homes so that they could honor such a timeless depiction of Our Blessed Mother. These statues are to be found in the Little Rock, and Northwest Arkansas area.

Here's how it works:

• A family or individual that is interested in taking Our Lady of Sorrows into their home agrees to take her for 7 days.
• In those 7 days the individual agrees to pray the Chaplet to Our Lady of Sorrows daily, meditating on the 7 sorrows felt by the Blessed Mother.
• Along with the statue comes a journal, which can be used to write prayer intentions, miracles, and experiences during your time with the Blessed Mother.
• After these 7 days you pass the statue on to the next family.

Devotion to the 7 Sorrows of the Blessed Mother is said to be the most powerful devotion one can have in honor of her. 

Along with praying the Chaplet to Our Lady of Sorrows, comes 7 promises:
  1. I will grant peace to their families.
  2.They will be enlightened about the Divine mysteries.
  3. I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
  4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the      adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
  5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
  6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.
  7. I have obtained this Grace from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

As the weeks have passed, I have seen the impact this devotion has had on those who have taken Our Lady into their homes and ultimately their hearts. I encourage you to take some time to learn about all of the graces that come from this most beautiful and powerful devotion. Just think, there is no better person to bring you to Christ then his very Mother who sacrificed everything for him and humanity. Lets face it, we are in the end times, we need all the graces we can get. This is a sure way to take on the Blessed Mother as your friend and advocate. Lastly, I encourage you to obtain a picture or statue of Our Lady of Sorrows and have her displayed in you home. The amount of graces and love is felt by this devotion are unexplainable.

**If you are interested in taking on Our Lady of Sorrows for a period of time, feel free to contact me and I will get you in touch with the proper channels. 

The Chaplet is as follows:
1) Act of Contrition
2) Announce the First Sorrow. Our Father... then pray Seven Hail Marys while meditating on the Sorrow
3) Announce each respective Sorrow, pray the Our Father, then pray Seven Hail Marys while meditating on the Sorrow.
4) Finish with three Hail Marys for the Tears of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
5) Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for the intentions of the Holy Father 6) Final prayer is: ' Virgin Most Sorrowful, Pray for Us' three times. 

Communion in the Hand

This is a topic widely controversial in the Church today. Many feel as if they can not only distribute communion to the congregation, but feels they have a right to receive it in the hand. You may be asking yourself, whats the big deal? Who Cares? Why does it matter? In order to fully understand this lets start from the beginning, once you enter the church.

What is the first thing you do before sitting in the pew? The correct answer is.....you GENUFLECT to Our Lord in the Tabernacle. As the Mass approaches Communion, you watch as lay people (usually women), head to the front of the church in order to receive communion. Next they take Our Lord with their UN consecrated hands consuming him; usually chewing on him like a stick of Double Bubble Gum) before then doing the same to the majority of the parish. We must recognize the importance of the priest. His hands are consecrated and are the ONLY hands that should be touching this Sacred Host. By allowing anyone to receive communion in the hand we discredit the sacrifice the priest has made for us. We down play the importance of receiving Christ all the while risking dropping particles of Our Lord on the ground.

You must realize that by receiving communion in the hand, once the Host leaves the priest's hand you become fully responsible for what happens. This means that all of those tiny pieces of Our Lord that drop to the ground, causing other to walk all over become YOUR responsibility. 

Communion in the hand is an utter abomination and must be stopped.At the Council of Saragossa in (380) - "It was decided to punish with EXCOMMUNICATION anyone who dared to continue the practice of Holy Communion in the hand."

For all of you Pope John Paul lovers reading this, maybe this will help you. "To touch the sacred species and distribute them with their own hands, is a privilege of the ordained." (Dominicae Cenae, sec.11)

These are just a few statements from our church leaders who state the problem with communion being distributed in this manner. How many times must they say this?

In my opinion, I feel as if the true celebration of the Mass has been defaced. We have made this holy, most sacred offering about ourselves. We feel as if we are entitiled to everything. This Mass is reserved soley for Our Lord. Why must we feel the need to take this from him? We talk in Mass, we half way genuflect to Christ, due to our own laziness, and when we receive communion we chomp down on this most beautiful gift as if it is a Cheez-it. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this?

This brings me back to the original question that led into Communion in the Hand. If you genuflect to Christ before you sit in the pew, in order to show reverence, why cant you do the same when his living, beautiful body is right in front of you? Sounds like a little bit of a double standard to me. Sometimes doing what is right is not always easy. I understand that changing this mindset and those of those around you may be a little awkward but I guarentee you that the outcome is so beautiful.

I recently moved to North Little Rock where I found myself being the only one in Mass kneeling for Communion. After just over 2 months, a little confidence in Our Lord, and the courage to continue kneeling for Communion, I witnessed more that 6 people kneeling to receive Christ this Sunday at Mass. This goes to show that people know what is right. Sometimes they are just waiting on that one person to initiate the practice.

In 1984, during one of the Blessed Mother's Apparitions, she said this, ""My Son is not pleased with the manner in which His Body and Blood is being given to all of the humans upon earth. "Communion in the hand has not been, and will not be accepted by Heaven. This is a sacrilege in the eyes of the Eternal Father, and must not be continued, for you only add to your punishment when you continue on in the ways that have been found to be unpleasing to the Eternal Father." 

In conclusion, I ask that you truly think about how you act in Mass, and reevaluate whether you are contributing to the abomination that is floating throughout our Catholic Church. It is our obligation to bring back Tradition, restoring what it means to be Catholic inside and outside of Mass.

Welcome Catholics- Purpose for this Blog

Hello!
For some time now, I have felt the need to start a blog soley for Catholics. When I say Catholics I don't mean our present day "Catholics", but those who have a true passion and a desire for tradition. This is for those who want to bring others back to the roots of our faith. I hope to bring to light the idea of Tradition. To accomplish this, we must stand together fighting the abominations that have been allowed to take place in the last several years. Please feel free to post on this blog and invite others. If there is a particual topic you wish to discuss, please let me know! Hope you enjoy

Totus Tuus!!!
Anthony