All glory alone belongs to Jesus Christ our savior, our heavenly Father, Creator, and the Holy Spirit, sanctifier: the Holy Trinity and undivided unity, our beloved Lord!
God fulfilled his promise to Adam and Eve (see Gen. 3:15)! Through the offspring of the "Woman," Jesus Christ, Son of Mary, Satan , death and hell have all been defeated! Turn to Jesus Christ our Lord, through Mary, the "New Eve" and be transformed!
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Catholic Evangelization Society
michaelr
Catholic Thoughts
this Month:
Glorious Are the Holy Angels
"How wonderful is life in heaven amid the angelic choirs, where uncreated love has crowned his first created fires, and oh how lovely they must be whom God has glorified, yet one of them oh sweetest thought is ever at my side."
-Fr. Faber
Exalted Humanity
Privileged, I listened in awe one morning to several of Ludwig Van Beethoven's musical compositions over breakfast. After being enchanted by his "Piano Concerto #20, the Emperor," I was suddenly struck by a verse from the offertory of the Tridentine Mass (the most eloquent liturgical expression of the Universal Church): "Oh God, Who in creating man didst exalt his nature very wonderfully and yet more wonderfully didst establish it anew, by the mystery of this water and wine, grant us to have part in the Godhead of Him who hath deigned to become partaker of our humanity, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord."
God's grace heals, restores, perfects us and enables us to do exceedingly well in our vocation!
- Michael J. Ruggiero, M.A.
The Basic Condition For Love of Neighbor
"The commandments thus represent the basic condition for love of neighbor; at the same time they are proof of that love. They are the first necessary step on the journey towards freedom, its starting-point. "The beginning of freedom," Saint Augustine writes, "is to be free from crimes...such as murder, adultery, fornication, theft, sacrilege and so forth. Once one is without these crimes (and every Christian should be without them), one begins to lift up one's head toward freedom. But this is only the beginning of freedom, not perfect freedom..."
- John Paul II, "Veritatis Splendor," n. 13.
Choose Life!
Don't Choose Deadly
(Mortal) Sin
(See 1John 5:16)
While evangelizing in Florida, Director Michael J. Ruggiero, M.A., had his picture taken with Albert the Macaw ("who was playing dead").
"Having met Albert, I'm sure he would want every human person to shun mortal sin and choose life: to do God's will and not our own every time we're tempted to commit mortal sin, " asserted Ruggiero.
Albert belongs to a Key West resident and trainer named Jim, who daily allows members of the Casa Marina Hotel to have their picture taken with Albert.
"Both Albert and Jim were a pleasure to meet," noted Ruggiero.
Copyright 2009 CES
Man's Choice to Serve God is Linked to his Personal Choices
"By his fundamental choice,(formal choice to serve God) man is capable of giving his life direction and of progressing, with the help of grace, towards his end, following God's call. But this capacity is actually exercised in the particular choices of specific actions, through which man deliberately conforms himself to God's will, wisdom, and law. It thus needs to be stated that the so-called fundamental option...is always brought into play through conscious and free decisions."
Pope John Paul II, "Veritatis Splendor," n. 67.
Moral Practice is the Foundation of A Just Society
"Perhaps now more than ever civil society (should) understand that only with styles of life inspired in sobriety, in solidarity and in responsibility, is it possible to construct a more just society and a better future for everyone."
-His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2009 "Beginning of the Year Address," to elected representatives of Rome.
NEVER DESPAIR
Your life was given to you so that you may gain eternal life...transforming union with God!
Put your heart not on the things of this world but on Jesus Christ and growing in greater union with Him...remember life is never as bad as it seems!
Wise Souls "Go To Joseph"
Do you have pressing needs or concerns? If so, why not bring them to the "righteous man" mentioned in the first Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew - the foster Father of the only begotten Son of the Living God?
When you ask our Heavenly Father for something in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ's name he hears you! When you ask through the intercession of St. Joseph, our universal patron, in Jesus' name to the Father, the great merits of the one who cared for our savior while he was on earth are considered by our Heavenly Father as he hears you!
Wise souls go to Joseph!
"Go to Joseph in every need and the light of the Savior's radiant smile will rest on you. Let us pray at the side of the Saint who inspires us all to give thanks to our Loving Redeemer, for the hidden miracles of grace in our lives and for every blessing of His love."
-Abbess Maria Cecilia Baij, OSB
*We recommend this month that you read "Redemptoris Custos" (Guardian of the Redeemer), the Apostolic Exhortation by Pope John Paull II on St. Joseph and his relation to us! Simply click on the link below to access this document!
When We Make God's Will Ours, We Experience Joy
"Acknowledgment of the living God is one path toward love, and the "yes" of our will to his will unites our intellect, will, and sentiments in the all embracing act of love...The love story between God and man consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment and thus our will and God's will increasingly coincide: God's will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself. Then self-abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy."
His Holiness, Benedict XVI"Deus Caritas Est" (God Is Love) n. 17
The Consoling Presence of Jesus Christ
"When our Lord Jesus is present, all things are pleasing, and nothing seems hard to do for His love. But when He is absent, all things done for his love are painful and hard. When Jesus speaks NOT to the soul, there is no steadfast consolation. But if He speaks only one word, the soul feels great inward comfort."
-Thomas a' Kempis,
"The Imitation of Christ"
edited by Harold C. Gardiner, S.J., New York: Doubleday, 1955, p. 85.
On the Ordination of Women:
"I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."
Pope John Paul II -
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis
Note: Only a man can truly act "en persona Christie," in the person of Christ, for upon ordination a priest inherits a key relational identity1 - the earthly identity manifested by Jesus Christ in relation to all others - firstborn Son in Jewish tradition, Priest, Everlasting Father, Brother. Hence, a priest acts as a loving Father, giving Fatherly service to the faithful in the person of Jesus Christ and as a brother! Women have the wonderful role of acting as Mothers and sisters, "helpmates" (see Gen. 2:18; 1Tim. 2: 8-13). Those who believe women can act in the role of a Father, as another Christ the way men can, are blinded by their ambition and misguided in their thinking. Men and women were made equal in dignity and also, metaphysically speaking, for the roles they were given by God, to compliment - not oppose -each other! Men were given the role of Fatherly service and women Motherly service or helpmates. To attempt to undo these roles causes a rupture in the order, form and due measure given to creation by God and this disruption in order, form and due measure is St. Thomas Aquinas' very definition of evil.
We must pray for our Church leaders! Let us pray that their decisions follow the order, form, and due measure God intended for creation.
- Michael J. Ruggiero, M.A.
Director
_____________________
1 Gadenz, Pablo. The Priest as First-Born Son, Elder Brother and Father: A Biblical Theological Study of the Relational Identity of the Priest, 1996. self-published.
John Paul II, Patores Dabo Vobis n. 12.
God Is Love
"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1John 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us."
-His Holiness, Benedict XVI
"Deus Caritas Est"
What Virtue Is...
"Virtue is not the tame 'respectability' and 'uprightness' of the philistine, but the enhancement of the human person in a way befitting his nature. Virtue is the ultimum potentiae, the most a man can be. It is the realization of man's potentiality for being. Virtue is the perfecting of man for an activity by which he achieves his beatitude. Virtue means the steadfastness of man's orientation toward the realization of his nature, that is, toward good."
- Josef Pieper, "On Hope"
Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 1986.
Honor the
Divine Infant
CES reminds all Catholics this month that our beloved savior, Jesus Christ, is always there for us in times of trial. Consider, this month, honoring the Divine Infant Jesus of Prague with a 9 day Novena! No-one loves you more than our timeless savior, the Divine Infant Jesus of Prague! NEVER despair, turn to the Divine Infant Jesus and cast your cares upon Him.
Catholic Evangelization Society
michaelr
