What does the Holy Spirit do, anyway?

So today is Pentecost and I, like your average, less than knowledgeable- Catholic, found myself wondering "What does the Holy Spirit really do, anyway?"  I prayed and found the answer on - where else - EWTN TV.  Here is a prayer to the Holy Spirit that St John Paul prayed daily... enjoy!

Oh Holy Spirit,

I ask You for the Gift of Wisdom, that I may know You and Your Divine Perfection better

...for the Gift of Understanding that I may understand better the mysteries of the Holy Faith

...for the gift of knowledge that I might be guided in life by the principles,of our Faith,

...for the gift of Counsel that I may seek and find your counsel in all things

...for the Gift of Fortitude to keep me inseparably with you undaunted by fear or worldly attachment

...for the gift of piety that I may always serve Your Majesty with a son's love

...for the gift of Fear of the Lord that I may dread sin which offends You, O my God

All these through Christ our Lord...Amen

(St Pope John Paul)

Out of Context?

I have a Bible calendar which provides verses daily.  It's generally very nice but today's verse confused me.  It was Luke 5:39: which reads "[And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.'"

I kept looking at that, wondering what it meant.  Did it mean the old is better than the new and then, what old was it talking about?  

I finally researched it i.e. read it in context with a Bible Commentary.  Turns out in context, it was referring to the fact that 1. What Jesus preached wasn't a combination of the old and the new but something completely new and 2. People are not comfortable changing from the old to the new i.e. in this case which was following Jesus.

Most of the verses on the calendar one can read and get the meaning but in this case, the context said something very different from what the verse seemed to mean out of context.

Just another reason, reading the Bible in context is a good idea! :)

The astounding facts of Planned Parenthood spending

Planned Parenthood reported 127 million dollars in revenue profits over their expenses last year... Cecile Richards, the CEO of Planned Parenthood, admitted her annual salary was over a half million dollars.  Congressional investigators discovered that Planned Parenthood diverted 22 million dollars into their lobbying arm, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and that their annual budget is over 3 billion bucks!  

So it's a puzzlement why our government is contributing 1/2 a billion dollars of our tax money, to this extremely profitable company!

One of the Republicans said he counted 151 times, that Cecile Richards and her team visited the White House in the past six years...Ms Richards called the producer of the underground videos a coward for not attending those meetings but the Congressman said that the producer of the videos was not invited... These several videos exposed how Planned Parenthood is increasing their profits by selling fetal body parts to medical research 

Some folks have questions about defunding Planned Parenthood and Margery Dannenfelter answered a few of these......

Question: Will women who cannot afford health care suffer if Planned Parenthood is defunded?

Dannenfelter answered, "For every Planned Parenthood clinic, there are 20 federally qualified community health centers, so if Planned Parenthood loses its tax money, that tax money will go those centers where women will get more comprehensive health care...the change that will be made is that the federal government will be no longer involved in the abortion business which is at the heart of the Planned Parenthood business model"

Question, will the federally funded community health centers be overwhelmed if this happens?

Dannenfelter answered, "no, because if this change occurs, every health center that receives this money will only have to see 2 women per week extra....that's not a heavy lift and those two women per week will be far more conveniently and far more comprehensively cared for because they will not be going to Planned Parenthood anymore..."

Question, why is the federal government funding this wealthy organization (Planned Parenthood) that gets millions from wealthy donors?

Dannenfelter answered "Well, this is the big question! Planned Parenthood runs a surplus every year... they don't need our money...they are the largest abortion provider in the nation...and our tax dollars fund that big abortion business while they run a surplus... they simply don't need the cash..."

She added that Planned Parenthood's pre-natal care, is 1 to 2 percent while their abortion care is 98% of what they do...

Fr Steve Imbarrato of Priests for life, was a party to two abortions, twins of a girl he got pregnant.before he was in the seminary. (abortion creates many victims besides the unborn child.) Now, he is involved in protesting abortion ...doing sidewalk counseling and also,  prayers of exorcism outside Planned Parenthood clinics. The Pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Albuquerque, NM,  he was a late life vocation and has a business background.... he tells us, "Protest abortion!"


In the 20 minutes of the "Defending life" program on EWTN, there were over 900 abortions, worldwide...

Pope inspires more Mass attendance

Today, the church was filled and I figured it must be Pope Francis, who has charmed everyone. (above pictured celebrating Mass)

Then, just before the Mass had ended, one of the guys from St Vincent dePaul's got up and asked for donations - everyone knows St Vincent's helps a lot of people (even Time magazine admitted that the Catholic church feeds 3/4 of the hungry).  And yet, people started getting up and leaving.

After the Mass exodus (pun intended), what was left in church, was the usual group we see at Sunday Mass.

Like Pope Benedict said, there will be a smaller but more ardent group who continue to be Catholic.

Touchy-feel-y is nice but that's not what Christianity is all about - it's sacrificing for others (which the Pope has emphasized in a few of his homilies) and eventually or not so eventually, embracing the Cross in our own lives.  Like Jesus says "Unless you pick up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of Me".

Too bad, God couldn't design an easier way but then, He came to be one of us - which must have been horrendous - think what it would be like to be a cockroach and still retain our human brains - well we are much closer to cockroaches than God is to us, but and I guess this all, will make sense when we get to Heaven.  And whatever He would plan for me, I'd love Him anyway because what's not to love about God?

What's wrong with Assisted Suicide?

There are assisted suicide "bills" pending in several states. Oregon has had this law in effect for several years now and a while ago, a young lady who found out she had brain cancer, made headlines by going to Oregon so she could have a doctor prescribe her a lethal dose of medication.  And we all watched as a judge allowed the estranged husband (who was living with his girlfriend) carry out his wishes of putting his wife, Terry Schiavo, who was sentient but severely brain damaged, out of her "misery" by starving her to death.  It took her several days to die and the judge ignored that her family wanted to take her home and care for her.  (A Jewish neurologist who had studied the case, wrote me that her death was shameful - she could swallow liquids and could have been fed jello etc even if they removed the feeding tube.  What I didn't know at the time was that Fr Pavone who had witnessed this death, said, they stationed several police officers around Terry's bed to prevent anyone from relieving her pain of starving to death by wetting her lips or even feeding her some jello!).  Shame on Americans for letting this happen.

For being a society who wants to avoid death at all costs, we seem to be rather anxious to cause the death of others considered a "burden" or too expensive or ?  For example Planned Parenthood has terminated the lives of 7 million unborn babies and since abortion was legalized in the USA (also a decision from "the bench" rather than the legislature), 53 million unborn babies have lost their lives to abortion.

Part of the problem with "assisted suicide" is wrong thinking - the prevalent idea is that in a suicide, the person takes a large dose of pills, goes to sleep and never wakes up.

WRONG!  When the person starts to go into respiratory failure, he/she DOES wake up but is unable to cry for help and suffers for a while.  The so called death penalty where they give a lethal injection is also not instantaneous - the victim takes a couple of hours to die, and is in pain throughout the process.

I watched a lady die - I actually gave her Viaticum ("food for the journey" or last Communion). She writhed in agony.  I think most of us die painfully just as it was painful to enter this earth (why a new born baby screams after birth).

Also not only was I the victim of a loved one committing suicide (our Mother took her own life) but also have witnessed the effects of a suicide on loved ones.  It took me two years of counseling to get over my mother's suicide.  And young people suffer even worse - a young friend of ours whose mother took her own life - she was perhaps 5 or 6 when that happened, still suffers depression and more, even today as a teenager.

That is, if you don't care about yourself, at least realize that if you choose that way to death, it will really hurt those around you (not withstanding what God might have to say about it all when you stand before the Throne of the Lamb).

St John Paul II showed the world many things (and wrote one of the best encyclicals on the evils of abortion) but most important, he showed us how to die with dignity - he, ill and totally disabled with Parkinson's disease, waited on God to take him.  Let's pray that all will follow his inspiring example and choose life!

A Prayer to Receive the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

A prayer to Receive the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom - that I may not be attached to the perishable things of this world, but aspire only after the things that are eternal.

The Spirit of Understanding - to enlighten my mind with the light of Your Divine Truth.

The Spirit of Counsel - that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven.

The Spirit of Fortitude - that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation.

The Spirit of Knowledge - that I may know God and know myself, and grow perfect in the science of the saints.

The Spirit of Piety - that I may find the service of God, sweet and amiable.

The Spirit of Fear of the Lord - that I may be filled with a loving reverence toward God and may avoid anything that may displease Him.

(from Mary's Call, Salisbury, MO)

Great movie on TV!

This Saturday, they are showing one of my favorite movies... on EWTN... if you do not get the station, you can watch it live at http://www.ewtn.com

The Way To Life

07/25 at 4:00 PM ET

God calls men to follow Him in mysterious ways. The story of a young man who travels the road of Saint James and his zeal to learn about religious life.

the young man meets a priest who changes his life!

I have watched this movie many times and always catch it again when it comes around - it's just a beautiful story of a young man and how God calls him.   I would really recommend it!