3 posts tagged “god”

"It is the United States that is to lead the world to peace, the peace of Christ, the peace that He brought with Him from heaven," Sister Mary Ephrem quoted The Virgin as saying. "Dear children, unless the United States accepts and carries out faithfully the mandate given to it by heaven to lead the world to peace, there will come upon it and all nations a great havoc of war and incredible suffering. If, however, the United States is faithful to this mandate from heaven and yet fails in the pursuit of peace because the rest of the world will not accept or cooperate, then the United States will not be burdened with the punishment about to fall."

"What am I to do, child of my heart, when my children turn from me? The false peace of this world lures them and in the end will destroy them. They think they have done enough in consecrating themselves to my Immaculate Heart. It is not enough. That which I ask for and is most important many have not given me. What I ask, have asked, and will continue to ask is reformation of life. There must be sanctification from within. I will work my miracles of grace only in those who ask for them and empty their souls of the love and attachment to sin and all that is displeasing to my Son. Souls who cling to sin cannot have their hands free to receive the treasures of grace that I hold out to them."

Our Lady of America , Pray for us, Intercede for us, Guide us to your beloved son our Lord Jesus Christ.

"By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil.”

Our holiest season of the year has passed. The liturgical season of Easter ended on Saturday, June 2 but in our celebrations of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi (The Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ) I see a continuation if you will of the Easter manifestation of God’s love for us.

That love is difficult to comprehend and, at best, we are often reluctant to accept it on God’s terms — take the love it’s a gift, give love in return. I am as good a  witness for a reluctant lover as there could possibly be I guess.

Today’s Gospel is a wonderful lesson in the power of love and, as is often the case in the Gospels, the lesson of love is contrasted against a backdrop of haughtiness, pride, and insincerity. If, by the grace of God, we are permitted to see the depth of our sinfulness, then we will know almost with a certainty how the woman in the Gospel story felt. She knew and did what she knew she must do regardless of what others thought of her.

The Desert Fathers particularly taught that where sin existed, grace abounded still more (see Romans 5:20). One of the Tempter's greatest feats is to convince the sinner that he is unworthy or should be too ashamed to approach God. Yet, it is surely those who have sinned who most need Christ, the heavenly physician.

This is strikingly expressed by Macarius' story of a monk who could not get the better of his sensual temptations. This monk prayed:

"Lord, whether I want it or not, save me, because dust and ashes that I am, I love sin; but you are God almighty, so stop me yourself. If you have pity on the just, that is not much, nor if you save the pure, because they are worthy of your mercy. Show the full splendour of your mercy in me, reveal in me your love for men, because the poor man has no other refuge but you."

The woman in today's Gospel knew this too, and she came to Jesus, full of love, because she was full of sin.

I know too the depth of my sinfulness, not just in the major things but also in the minor, everyday things – the resentful thought, the irritation with an elderly driver, the impatience with noisy people at Mass, and on and on. It is these things so much more than the great sins, that will surely drag us slowly down if we do not attend to them by accepting God’s love for us and simply returning the love to all we meet and in all we do. Such a difficult task for most, but in the trying we will find strength, and in the strength, courage to persevere, and in the perseverance perhaps joy here in this life and even salvation in the next.

The quotes above are from a site I happened across just this morning – Godzdogz – the English Benedictine Studentate – the post is "Kiss Me with the Kisses of your mouth...". This looks to be a wonderfully spiritual blog.

any longer!

The U.S. Congress has managed to slip one under the radar and do what endless atheistic lawsuits have failed to do -- remove God from United States currency. Our newly minted $1 coin actually is supposed to have the motto "In God We Trust" on the coin, just not in the usual place on one of the faces of the coin. The motto is apparently supposed to be engraved on the edge of the coin! Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure no one is going to be able to see the motto there much less read it. And that ain't all fellow Americans

The Presidential $1 Coin Act, enacted into law in 2005 requires the government to issue $1 circulating coins featuring the images of Presidents in the order they served. The first coin released this year features the image of George Washington. Coins with images of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison will also be issued in 2007. Four Presidents will be featured on the coins every year thereafter.

The 2005 law requires the United States Mint to place "In God We Trust" and "E Pluribus Unum" on the edges of these coins. The U.S. Mint refers to this as "edge-incused inscriptions." Released photos of the edge with the motto "In God We Trust," clearly misrepresent what one actually sees. In actuality the motto "In God We Trust" appears to be merely scratches on the edge of these coins, that is, unless one looks for it with a magnifying glass.

Also missing from the new coin is the word "Liberty" which is on our other coins. Most American do not like dollar coins. Other recent attempts to mint dollar coins instead of paper currency have failed. Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea coins are stacked unused in bank vaults. This time the government is involved in a so called "outreach program" to get more people to buy into dollar coins.