Thursday, July 23, 2009

How do I stop?












Another question from Pure Love Club.

Q. I have formed a real habit of masturbation and don't know how to stop.
What's the best way to overcome this?


A. Prayer and patient perseverance. As you begin the battle, know that God is pleased with your desire for holiness and that his grace is working in your life. He will complete the good work he has begun in you (Phil. 1:6). Come to him in prayer and ask him often for the grace to be pure, and specifically to overcome this habit. The number one prayer you can offer is the holy sacrifice of the Mass. There is enough grace in one Communion to make you a saint. Tap into that fountain of purity!

Spend an increased amount of time in personal prayer as well, and speak openly to Jesus about your struggles.
Also:
* Pray the Hail Mary three times each day for purity of mind, body, and heart;
* Frequent the sacrament of reconciliation;
* Read Scripture;
* Pray the rosary;
* Make the Stations of the Cross;
* And develop a devotion to St. Joseph.
These form an arsenal of weapons against any sin. Use them often, and you will eventually be able to overcome any vice.

If you need to confess the same sin repeatedly, do so. The devil will try to discourage you, saying, "Hey, you've been back in the confessional so many times with this sin. Why don't you give up? You can't win." Recognize these thoughts as a temptation and turn immediately to prayer. Know that the patient is healed who shows his wound to the physician. The confessional is the medicine box, Christ in the priest is the doctor, and that is the last place the devil wants you to be. You are on the winning team, and the Lord will not let you be snatched from his hand. You can not do it alone, but you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Phil. 4:13).

Certainly, if you own any pornography, swimsuit posters, vulgar music, and such, get rid of them immediately. For the sake of love, guard yourself against such contamination. Replace these things with good Christian music and put holy images in your room, especially where you usually fall into the sin. If you have a habit of watching a lot of television, find something else to do, such as exercise. This helps release tension and makes the body easier to master. Television is idleness filled with temptation, and that is kindling for the fires of lust.

To help you grow in discipline, set reachable goals. For example, make a commitment not to masturbate for three days, a week, a month, or whatever you feel is a reasonable time. When you have made it to that point, you will have an increased sense of confidence that you do have control over your body. Then, bump up the time and abstain for a longer period. Keep this up until the vice is overcome, and it ceases to be an option.

During this time of discipline, give up tiny things. For example, skip salt on your fries, or skip seconds at a meal. These small sacrifices will help you grow in self-mastery, so that you gain self-control. After all, we are slaves to whatever rules us. The difference is like that between a jockey who has no control over his horse which gallops wildly through gardens and living rooms, and a jockey who has control and can win races and stop on a dime. That is a person fully alive. This kind of self-control is impossible alone, but with the grace of God, all things are possible. If you ask for purity, not one grace will be lacking. Be patient with yourself and do not give in to discouragement. The prize of true love awaits those that are truly free, because they are the ones capable of giving and receiving.

Growing through Temptation












Chastity question from Pure Love Club.

Q. What's wrong with masturbation?
I think of it as getting rid of your temptations without leading anyone into sin.


A. Masturbation doesn't get rid of temptations any more than a prostitute does. Both may temporarily relieve sexual desires, but our goal as Christians is not simply to get rid of temptations. Our goal is to glorify God with our bodies. The idea that masturbation can be used to decrease sexual desires is like saying that lighter fluid can be used to extinguish a fire. If anything, masturbation incites lustful thoughts and teaches a person that he or she deserves--and needs--sexual gratification whenever the desire arises.

To understand why masturbation is wrong, we need to step back from the world's constant clamoring for sexual "needs" and go back to God's plan for sex. Sexuality is meant to be a gift between a husband and wife for the purpose of babies and bonding. When it is taken out of that context the gift is degraded--and in the case of masturbation, altogether ceases being a gift. The purpose of sexuality is abandoned, because the center of the sexual act becomes "me" instead of "we" and the person is trained to look to himself for sexual fulfillment. The gift of one's sexuality is misused for the sake of lifeless pleasure. Only selfless giving will fulfill you.

When people misuse their sexuality in this way, they begin to use pleasure to change their mood, release tension, or forget their loneliness. Masturbation becomes an escape. It may pacify them, but it will never satisfy them, because they'll always want more. They use the fantasies of their mind and the pleasures of their body to flee from reality and the call to love. Their goal in sexual activity has been reduced to merely receiving pleasure instead of showing love. If men and women have trained themselves to use their sexuality in this way, why would this suddenly change once they're married? The husband or wife will simply be a substitute for the fantasies, to be used in place of self. They may even imagine the fantasies while with their spouse. The problem is that the lust will be transferred to the other, not healed within.

Worse yet, merely getting married will not cure their problem with masturbation. Because masturbation has trained disordered impulses in them, the true pleasures of marriage--though far superior--may not appease their warped attachments. Where will they turn to find those pleasures within marriage? Often, they'll continue to struggle with masturbation, to the sorrow and distress of their spouse, and to the detriment of their marriage. A person who does not preserve his own purity when alone will have a difficult time remaining pure with another. If he lacks self-control when alone, he will be unable to properly give himself to his spouse when the time comes. You can not give what you do not control. No self-control equals no gift of self. To the extent that there is no gift of self, there is no love. If you want to be able to genuinely love your spouse, you must build self-mastery.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Spiritual Rest = Leisure













Sunday is meant to be our day of rest - leisure time.

Weekly detox programme for the soul:


Step 1) Attend Sunday Mass
Step 2) Re-create time
Step 3) Avoid materialism
Step 4) Contemplate eternity

High Five for Sunday Mass!









5 Reasons why we need to go to Mass:

1) We creatures owe JESUS worship
2) We need to worship Him EVERY week
3) It is a mortal SIN to miss Sunday Mass
4) We gradually slip UNDER the guise of deceit
5) At death it will console our SOUL

Monday, July 20, 2009

Priest blesses Horse

At the local horse races, Monsignor O'Ryan was well known for his punting skills.

One day a Baptist followed the Priest and noted that he often visited the horses before each race and sometimes secretly blessed one.

That horse would then win the race.

Ringing his wife he told her that he was on a sure thing and that he wanted to bet all their money on the last race.

Watching Monsignor carefully he noted which horse was blessed and placed his bet.

The race began, the gates opened, and the horses were off.

Suddenly at the first corner his horse stumbled, fell and died on the track.

At the end of the race, stunned and in shock, he confronts the Priest and says; "Now what will the wife say, I've lost it all, all our savings! That horse should have won - what happened?"

Knowing his religion, the Priest said: "That's the problem with you protestants, you can't tell the difference between a blessing and the last rites!"

Forgiveness - Healing of the heart



Forgiveness is a three step programme;

1) God forgives me

2) I forgive others

3) I forgive myself

Friday, July 17, 2009

Good deed beads

















Each of these 'good deed beads' has 10 beads on it.
You can call them whatever you like.
I don't even know if they have a particular name.
You might like to call them 'cross chains' or 'bead chains'...?

















Just enough beads to do 10 good deeds for Jesus every day.
If you click on the pictures, they become enlarged so you can get a better look.

















Each time you do something good, you pull a bead down (towards the cross), just as Ruby demonstrates in this picture.













A lady made them for us at the prayer group my husband attends.
I'd love to learn how to make them.
They are a great idea, especially for children.
And I tell my kids, that when they do something bad, they have to pull a bead back up.
So it motivates them to do good things so they can reach all the beads down to the cross.
They would be a great idea during Lent too.

















I just found THIS WEBSITE!
These are great!
Maybe I'm the only one who hasn't heard of these 'good deed beads'!
I even got the name right!
These bracelets are gorgeous - I might have to buy one.

And HERE is a website on how to make them!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Why did God make me?










Answer:

"God made me to know Him,
love Him,
and serve Him here on earth
and to be happy with Him for ever in Heaven".

A good reminder from Homilies and Reflections from Australia.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A tribute to our Priests















Here is a post from A tribute to our Priests on my Uncle, a Catholic Priest in Australia.

He too has a blog full of great homilies, check it out HERE.

The picture is of him at my parent's farm feeding some birds.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Seminarians



From Coo-ees' Priory

"I do know!"















A father was approached by his small son who told him proudly, "I know what the Bible means!"

His father smiled and replied, "What do you mean, you 'know' what the Bible means?"

The son replied, "I do know!"

"Okay," said his father, "What does the Bible mean?"

"That's easy, Daddy" the young boy replied excitedly:

"It stands for Basic Information Before Leaving Earth."

Free Will













Human Soul - Spiritual Soul: gives us a dignity with human rights for we are made in the image of God.
That is, our soul possesses two spiritual powers;
1) Intellect to know the truth.
2) And the will to choose what is good.

FREE WILL is the ability to make a choice.

Any choice or decision implies a variety of options of which one wins out.
Daily we make hundreds of decisions, actual choices, that form the fabric of our life against the backdrop of eternity.


* Only humans have spiritual souls and thus are able to make decisions.

* Every choice requires knowledge beforehand.
The better the knowledge the better the choice!
Hence the need for prophets who teach us God's truths.

* Nobody has a 'right' to choose evil, while there is an obligation to choose good.

One thing that DOESN'T belong to God, is 'sin'.
Choose right from wrong!

Friday, July 10, 2009

3 Conditions



Three conditions for Holy Communion:


1) Be a baptized Catholic who believes.

2) Be free of mortal/serious sin.

3) Be fasting for 1 hour beforehand.



"I am the bread of life...and my flesh is real" says Jesus.

Betting



A Scotsman was at McCafe one Friday evening and sat down next to an Irishman.

When the news came on it featured the story of a suicidal man on top of a tall building who was about to jump.

The Scot, being a betting man, said to the other, "I'll bet you $50 that that man on the roof actually jumps."

The Irishman said: "Fine, I bet you he won't."

Some minutes later, the man does jump and dies.

The Scot collects his money and adds: "Let me buy you a Big Mac, since you lost the bet - and to be honest, I had seen the early version of the news and saw him jump then!"

The Irishman replied: "Well, now that you mention it, I saw that too...but I didn't think he would do it a second time!"

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Mass = Sacrifice of Christ






The great Sacrament of the Eucharist was:

- foretold in the past

- promised by Christ

- fulfilled in our parishes.




Sacrifice requires 3 elements:

1. Priest = Jesus (ordained Priests)
2. Altar = Calvary (my Lavington parish)
3. Victim = Christ (host)

In the Mass the Liturgy of the Eucharist consists of Three distinct phases:

1) Offertory: we offer ourselves with Christ to God the Father.
2) Consecration: we relive the death of Christ on Calvary now sacramentally re-presented on the altar
3) Communion: we draw spiritual life for the soul from the glorious Body of Christ - a foretaste of and preparation for our own resurrection.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Something to think about




“I prefer to be in disagreement with men than, agreeing with them, to be in disagreement with God.”

St Anslem

From Into the Deep

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Love

















Our human nature indicates to us that love is nothing more than an emotion.

We make decisions based on our emotions, and some even get married because we feel "in love."

The Bible teaches us that true love is not an emotion that can come or go, but a decision.

We are not just to love those who love us, but we should even love those who hate us, the same way that Christ loves the unlovable (Luke 6:35)

For more go HERE.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Trusting God


















When you "cast your bread upon the waters," you never know how it will be returned to you.

God is so big He can cover the whole world with his Love
And so small He can curl up inside your heart...

When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go.

Only 1 of 2 things will happen, either He'll catch you when you fall, or...
He'll teach you how to fly!