Bible Humour

There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country.
"Is there anything breakable in here?" asked the postal clerk.
"Only the Ten Commandments" answered the lady.

Why Does God Let Us Suffer?

A snippet from Homilies and Reflections from Australia.

Death was never God's plan for us, and neither was its prelude, suffering.
As the first reading tells us: Death was not God's doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living ... it was the devil's envy that brought death into the world ...

Both suffering and death entered the world because mankind, through the temptation of the devil, turned away from God and this turning away had dire consequences, one of the worst of which was that we refuse to take responsibility for our sin.
So we blame everyone except ourselves – [Adam] replied, 'It was the woman you put with me….' and [Eve] replied, 'The serpent tempted me …'. (Genesis 3:12)



From Most Rev. Michael Sheehan
Archbishop of Santa Fe


People often turned away from God in anger when terrible suffering comes into their lives.
How can a good God allow the innocent to suffer?
A seemingly healthy young mother is cut down by cancer.
A young child dies in an auto accident.
An honest, hardworking business man watches his business collapse.
A marriage, once considered ideal, ends in divorce; the children angry at both parents and God.
How do we make sense out of the suffering these tragedies cause?

The answer to human suffering is not an easy one.
Every person will undergo a certain amount of pain in his life.
Some more than others.
How, then are we to deal with it?
Our choices are only two: become bitter and angry, asking, "Why me?" or accept the suffering with faith, courage and dignity.

We will never fully understand the meeting of suffering in this life.
Suffering is a mystery.
We do know that God does not want us to suffer.
Rather, he allows suffering because it is a part of the material world in which we live. Christ stands ready, however, to help us cope with the pain and suffering that come our way.
The suffering of Jesus - his passion and death - was redemptive suffering.

In some mysterious way our sufferings can be seen as God's invitation to enter into communion with Christ's sufferings and, in fact, contribute to the redemption of the world.

The Catholic teaching on the paschal mystery says we should enter into the sufferings of Jesus so that we also may participate in his resurrection; gaining peace here and eternal life hereafter.
Our sufferings can have meaning if we bear them with dignity; join them to those of Christ; and, offer them for a particular intention, such as comfort for persons dying of AIDS and other terrible diseases or for people who have neither hope nor anyone to love them.

We should, obviously, use every appropriate remedy in order to find a solution for the suffering.
Modern medicine, for example, can take away much physical pain.
Ultimately, though, some suffering is inescapable; and our faith in God is essential if we are to deal with it through acceptance and courage rather than bitterness and anger.

In dealing with suffering it is important to remember that God's ways are not our ways.
He will answer our prayers for help.
Oftentimes, however, he answers in a way that is better than any solutions we may have had in mind.

For more reasons why God allows suffering, go HERE.

Please pray

My Dad's cousin passed away this morning.
Please say a quick prayer upon reading this for his soul.

Eternal rest give unto him, O Lord;
And let perpetual light shine upon him

Speaking out on Abortion

2 words

A guy joins a monastery and takes a vow of silence.
He's allowed to say two words every 7 years.
After the first 7 years, the elders bring him in and ask him for his 2 words.

"Cold floors," he says. They nod and send him away.

7 more years pass and they bring him in for his 2 words.

He clears his throat and say, "Bad food." They nod and send him away.

7 more years pass and they bring him in for his 2 words.

"I quit," he says.

"That's not surprising," the elders say. "you've done nothing but complain since you got here."

Why do you have to be like others

A great reflection video thanks to Divine Ripples.



Here's what stood out to me from the video...

"Why am I different to others?"
And he replied with - "why do you have to be like others?"

I am too blessed to be stressed

The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.

Harmony within

I was praying about whether my husband & I should leave our complete 100% trust in God to space our children for us, or to continue to use Natural Family Planning to space our children - and then I read this...

"Follow My guidance.
Be afraid to venture on your own as a child fears to leave its mother's side.
Doubt of your own wisdom, and reliance on Mine will teach you humility.
Humility is not the belittling of the self.
It is forgetting the self.
Nay, more, forgetting the self, because you are remembering Me.

You must not expect to live in a world where all is harmony.
You must not expect to live where others are in unbroken accord with you.
It is your task to maintain your own heart peace in adverse circumstances.

Doubt always your power or wisdom to put things right, ask Me to right all as you leave it to Me and go on your way loving and laughing.
I am wisdom.
Only My wisdom can rightly decide anything - settle any problem.
So rely on Me.
All is well."

It's all in the Punctuation!

An English professor wrote the words, "Woman without her man is nothing" on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly.

The men wrote:
"Women, without her man, is nothing."

The women wrote:
"Woman: Without her, man is nothing."

The miraculous medal

The Medal of the Immaculate Conception — popularly known as the Miraculous Medal — was designed by the Blessed Virgin herself!
No wonder, then that it wins such extraordinary graces for those who wear it and pray for Mary's intercession and help.
Mary spoke to St Catherine Labouré: “Have a medal struck upon this model.
Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around the neck.”

There is no superstition, nothing of magic, connected with the Miraculous Medal.
The Miraculous Medal is not a “good-luck charm”.
Rather, it is a great testimony to faith and the power of trusting prayer.
Its greatest miracles are those of patience, forgiveness, repentance, and faith.

To read how the medal came about, go HERE.



The Meaning of the Front Side of the Miraculous Medal
Mary is standing upon a globe, crushing the head of a serpent beneath her foot.
She stands upon the globe, as the Queen of Heaven and Earth.
Her feet crush the serpent to proclaim Satan and all his followers are helpless before her (Gn 3:15).
The year of 1830 on the Miraculous Medal is the year the Blessed Mother gave the design of the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine Labouré.
The reference to Mary conceived without sin supports the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary—not to be confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, and referring to Mary's sinlessness, “full of grace” and “blessed among women” (Luke 1:28)—that was proclaimed 24 years later in 1854.



The Meaning of the Back Side of the Miraculous Medal
The twelve stars can refer to the Apostles, who represent the entire Church as it surrounds Mary.
They also recall the vision of Saint John, writer of the Book of Revelation (12:1), in which “a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.”
The cross can symbolize Christ and our redemption, with the bar under the cross a sign of the earth.
The “M” stands for Mary, and the interleaving of her initial and the cross shows Mary’s close involvement with Jesus and our world.
In this we see Mary’s part in our salvation and her role as mother of the Church. The two hearts represent the love of Jesus and Mary for us. (See also Lk 2:35).


Prayer on the medal - O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Quote

"When Mary is present,
The evil one is absent."

- St Louis de Montfort