“If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.” ~ Mother Teresa
“John Paul II changed my life when I met him”
Pope’s book, Jesus of Nazareth, has reached the #5 New York Times best selling list
Prayer for our Priests
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host –
by the Divine Power of God –
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
The Catholic View for Women pilot airing
New series, The Catholic View for Women, offers a Catholic alternative to “The View,” and explores the adventure of living as a Catholic woman today. The first of six pilot episodes aired on Friday, March 11.
You can view this first episode on their website at www.TheCatholicViewForWomen.com or on the EWTN YouTube Channel.
Blessings by Laura Story
Laura Story almost lost her husband to brain cancer in 2006. Her newest song “Blessings” was written as a reminder that God remains faithful even when things don’t turn out the way we expect them to. It was written as a redefining of the word ‘blessing’. Laura shares her heart behind her new song, “Can God be blessing us through not giving us the things we are praying for? There is a blessedness that comes through waiting for the Lord. There is an intimacy in our walk with the Lord that comes through working through that valley. There is a reliance on His word that we only know when everything fades away. So in that sense I truly feel blessed.”
Blessings by Laura Story
from the album Blessings
Lyrics:
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things
‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if the thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if the thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if the thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise
Jesus is the person of God and that is why he can save us
Excerpt from Catholicism Project Episode I
Trust God
The Secret
One day, one friend asked another,
‘ How is it that you are always so happy?
You have so much energy,
And you never seem to get down.. ‘
With her eyes smiling, she said,
‘ I know the Secret! ‘
‘ What secret is that? ‘
To which she replied,
I’ll tell you all about it,
But you have to promise to
Share the Secret with others. ‘
The Secret is this:
I have learned there is little I can do
In my life that will make me truly happy.
I must depend on God to make
Me happy and to meet my needs.
When a need arises in my life,
I have to trust God to supply
According to His riches.
I have learned most of the time
I don’t need half of what I think I do.
He has never let me down.
Since I learned that ‘Secret ‘, I am happy. ‘
The questioner’s first thought was,
‘ That’s too simple!’
But upon reflecting over her own life
She recalled how she thought a bigger house
Would make her happy, but it didn’t!
She thought a better paying job
Would make her happy, but it hadn’t.
When did she realize her greatest happiness?
Sitting on the floor with her grandchildren,
Playing games, eating pizza or reading a story,
A simple gift from God.
Now you know it too!
We can’t depend on people to make us happy.
Only God in His infinite wisdom can do that.
Trust Him!
And now I pass the Secret on to you!
You have to tell someone the Secret, too!
That God in His wisdom will take care of You!
But it’s not really a secret…
We just have to believe it and do it..
Really trust God!
~anonymous
Lil’ Mike raps about God
Lil’ Mike reaches out to this generation in a way that is culturally relevant, while not compromising the truth. Enjoy his new hit, ‘Can’t back down’ featuring Anna. New album comes out in May 2011.
Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord. Nine months from now we’ll commemorate Jesus’s birth. Today we commemorate the conception of Jesus. We also celebrate Mary’s “yes” to the Angel Gabriel, despite her confusion and uncertainty of the angel’s prediction that she would bare a child that would be called the son of the Most High. Together with Jesus, Mary is the link between heaven and earth. She is the human being who best, after Jesus, exemplifies the possibilities of human existence. She shows how an ordinary human being can reflect God in the ordinary circumstances of life. She exemplifies what the Church and every member of the Church is meant to become. She is the ultimate product of the creative and redemptive power of God. She manifests what the Incarnation is meant to accomplish for all of us. Today’s feast reminds us of the wonder of God’s freely given love and God’s design for each of us.
The biblical account of the Annunciation is in the first chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke, 26-56. Here is recorded the “angelic salutation” of Gabriel to Mary, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Lk 1:28), and Mary’s response to God’s will, “Let it be done to me according to thy word”.
This “angelic salutation” is the origin of the “Hail Mary” prayer of the Rosary and the Angelus (the second part of the prayer comes from the words of salutation of Elizabeth to Mary at the Visitation).