Message to The Stressed from Covid-19

I cannot recommend more the following letter I received from our Chaplain where I am employed. It reminds me of Pope St. JPII!

April 19, 2020 Divine Mercy Sunday
Dear Marian Sisters and Brothers,

Happy Easter! I write this letter to you from our Chapel in the Rectory and am entrusting each one of you to Jesus through the intercession of His Blessed Mother. He is Risen! Today, He brings to us the fruit of His passion, death and Resurrection … Mercy. Blood and water poured forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, soak it in on this beautiful feast day.

I chose to write a letter, and not record a video because the exercise of putting thoughts to paper allows a person to really pour himself into the message. And writing a letter before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament creates an intimate space for both you and me. As I write each sentence to you, the Lord is able to interact with me and what you read reflects my own relationship with Jesus; this relationship is the foundation for my priesthood. But the context for which the relationship gets to bear fruit is with those Jesus has allowed me to serve, you. Therefore, this letter is not stagnant. It isn’t meant to be read in a vacuum. It’s an organic expression of yours and my participation in the Mystical Body of Christ that surpasses time and space. Prayer for each other is the vehicle for service. We are connected by the Holy Spirit, the Love of Jesus. So, my brother, my sister in Christ, let me serve you now.

How are you doing? I hope you are doing well and if so praise Jesus. But if you are struggling know you are not alone. Whether it be a physical, emotional or spiritual pain, I hurt with you; offer it to Jesus. What has you anxious? What robs your hope? What thoughts of fear or anger occupy your mind? What is the source of your frustration, your restlessness, your uncertainty? What makes you feel not needed, alone, loss of purpose? These questions may not have solutions until this tragic situation is resolved. Or maybe you don’t want a “fix” but rather just to express your pain and be heard. Know that Jesus hears you! And it is in His words we find comfort:
“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8
“Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.” 1Peter 5:7
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand.” Isaiah 41:10

There is definitely a great “desolation” on our community, state, country and world. St. Ignatius describes desolation as: feelings of anguish, loneliness and despair. There is a feeling that hope has been lost, God is far away, and it will never end. However, he goes onto say that feelings don’t always reflect reality. In desolation, God is very close to us, even if we can’t “feel” His presence. Hope is still rooted in Jesus and is attainable. And most importantly, St. Ignatius tells us that desolation always ends! So today be uplifted! Be filled with joy, because Jesus offers us His mercy. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes mercy as the virtue which allows us to have compassion for another and to alleviate their misfortune. Jesus’ mercy is more active in today’s world than ever before because we are in greater need of it. Jesus tells St. Faustina “proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy…My daughter, have fear of nothing; I am always with you. You are my dwelling place and constant repose”. It is so easy to be hurt with our circumstances today, but remember that God is still in control and even more so, is with us.

Right now, our boat is being tossed about by the waves of the world’s storm. The effects of the virus and the shutdown rage against our meager vessel and it seems like Jesus is asleep. We fear drowning, just as the Apostles feared it (Matthew 8: 23-27) and we cry out to Jesus to save us. “Jesus wake up…don’t you care we are drowning?” The Good Lord looks at us mercifully. He senses our fear, He knows we are empty and at our wits end. His heart feels the anguish that overwhelms ours and He is moved with compassion. With a gentle reproach He strengthens us, “Why are you afraid? Don’t you know I am with you?” His face is all tenderness. Mercy and empathy radiate out of him and we can see ourselves reflected in His eyes as He gazes on those He loves most. But then His face changes. There is resolute purpose. The tenderness in His eyes is gone and all we can see is a fire that blazes. Before we know what to think, Jesus has turned to face the raging waters assaulting our boat. He seems to have become larger than life and with a voice that could tear the sky in two, He says to the storm, “QUIET, BE STILL!” All becomes calm, all is peaceful. God’s Spirit is on us and all is in harmony. We feel joy return and we wonder how we ever could have doubted. We look at Jesus and see Him peering at us, holding us in His gaze…He says our name, and we know He will be with us always. This is the Lord of Mercy…trust in Him.
I miss you all and am looking forward to the day we can all be together again. Until then, know of my continued prayers. Please, email me or leave a voicemail if you need prayers or support. Also, keep an eye on our live streamed masses, daily email hugs and confession opportunities for support and for reception of God’s merciful grace!

May the Lord of all Consolation bless you abundantly!

Fr. Dom

Comments

Dancing With Mr. D: Grooming the Little Children

A former pro-transgender activist said she regretted her previous work in pro-transgender activism, adding she felt she was "indoctrinated" on gender ideology in an interview with Fox News Digital. "I started to realize that what I had been doing at my job at the LGBT Center, it was grooming," Kay Yang, a former employee of a location in New York, said. Grooming in this context means "to get into readiness for a specific objective." Kay works as a 'deprogrammer' to help parents and children who have been 'indoctrinated' by the 'cult-like' transgender agenda. Yang herself previously went by they/them and worked as a 'trans educator' in schools for years. Listen to her testimony.

Are We in a War?

Power Line POSTED ON NOVEMBER 22, 2020 BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN DEMOCRATS , LIBERALS , SOCIALISM FIGHTING WORDS, BY DAVID HOROWITZ Our friend David Horowitz wrote this essay, which he titled “Fighting Words.” It is a call for freedom-loving Americans to fight back against the totalitarian Left. By now it should be obvious – even to conservatives – that we are in a war. It is a conflict that began nearly fifty years ago when the street revolutionaries of the Sixties joined the Democrat Party. Their immediate goal was to help the Communist enemy win the war in Vietnam, but they stayed to expand their influence in the Democrat Party and create the radical force that confronts us today. The war that today’s Democrats are engaged in reflects the values and methods of those radicals. It is a war against us – against individual freedom, against America’s constitutional order, and against the capitalist engine of our prosperity. Democrat radi...

Bishops Bishoping!

I view of the Federal Disctict Judge's ruling on same-sex "marriage" in Michigan, and the Circuit Court's stay : Marriage is and can only ever be a unique relationship solely between one man and one woman, regardless of the decision of a judge or future electoral vote. Nature itself, not society, religion or government, created marriage. Nature, the very essence of humanity as understood through historical experience and reason, is the arbiter of marriage, and we uphold this truth for the sake of the common good. The biological realities of male and female and the complementarity they each bring to marriage uniquely allows for the procreation of children. Every child has the right to both a mother and a father and, indeed, every child does have lineage to both. We recognize not every child has the opportunity to grow in this environment, and we pray for those single mothers and fathers who labor each day to care for their children at times amid great challe...

The 21st Century Must Come Into the Church

Continued from September 14.... T hrough the Church’s teachings, God has also revealed his truth on how humanity can live happily. What is so little understood by Catholics and Christians is that doctrinal revelations that come through the Church come out of God’s very Self. They are not tied to culturally constructed norms! Read Vatican II’s Dei Verbum : “by divine revelation God wished to manifest and communicate both himself and the eternal decrees of his will concerning the salvation of humankind.” Our Lord’s Church derives its basic vision not from mere human speculation, which would be tentative and uncertain, but from God’s own testimony—from a historically given divine revelation. Thus Catholics believe that just as God himself is immutable, so, too, are His teachings as revealed through the Church because they come from him. As I discuss in my book, although the Church does not change its central teachings, we do see the theological principle of “devel...

What God Hath Joined Together...

A recent 2016 study of suicide risk from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a 24% increase in suicides in the United States over the 15-year period between 1999 and 2014, including a tripling of the suicide rate for females 10-14, this in a culture that posits that all family structures are the same. Research on the children of divorce provides overwhelming evidence to disprove the myth that divorce does not harm children. In fact, the divorce epidemic has contributed to the serious and growing psychopathology in American youth. One example is the 2010 study of American adolescent psychopathology published in 2010: 49 percent of the 10,000 teenagers studied met the criteria for one psychiatric disorder and 40 percent met the criteria for two disorders. Research by Penn State sociologist Paul Amato (2005) on the long-term damage to children from divorce demonstrated that, if the United States enjoyed the same level of famil...

On Marriage and Family

Today should one attend a wedding, it is quite possible that the parents of either the bride or groom in attendance will be married, either in the Catholic Church or outside it, to someone other than the one they were first married to. In such a case, one would find oneself praying that the offspring of said marriage will not meet with the same fate. The state of marriage today is what it is in part due to poor sacramental preparation in the years immediately following Vatican II for reasons I take up in my book, another fruit of the “sexual revolution” . Sad, but as is well-known, many young Catholics these days are delaying marriage, hooking up, practicing birth control, and cohabiting before getting married. Traditional marriage is under assault, and many baptized Catholics are joining in the attack, especially in favoring “same-sex marriage.” Thus it is inspiring to see the shepherds of the flocks gathering in synod to discuss “the pastoral challenges o...

“the very smoke of Satan” within the Temple of God....

Recently Professor Martin of Franciscan University wrote: ....when preparing their homilies, priests and pastors mustn’t forget the long shadow cast by sin. Nor, while they’re at it, the devil himself, who was the first to live in love’s shadow, and has been wandering about the world ever since trying mightily to put out the lights. I mean, who else besides all those fallen and corrupt angels deserve the first word in a sermon on sin? .... Ah, but Satan, we are told, achieved his master-stroke sometime in the nineteenth century when he managed to persuade huge numbers of people to stop believing in him. Once that ruse got around—and, as always, educated opinion was sinfully eager to help it along—the devil was at liberty to do his worst. What then becomes of sin in a world more and more divested of belief in an Evil Intelligence bent on bedeviling us with its false attractions? It doesn’t just go poof, does it? Leaving us wi...

This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News

DANCING WITH MR. D: This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News : 'via Blog this'

Marquette: Jesuit But not Catholic

In the fall of 2014, a graduate student instructor of a philosophy course , Cheryl Abbate told a student at Marquette University, which claims to continue “the tradition of Catholic, Jesuit education” who secretly recorded the exchange, that his defense of man-woman marriage was an unacceptable topic in her ethics class and compared his views to racism. Abate said, "You can have whatever opinions you want but I can tell you right now , in this class homophobic comments, racist comments, and sexist comments will not be tolerated." And then she told the student he should drop the class. Now, for Marquette to be truly Catholic, a defense of a Cathodic understanding of marriage must not only be tolerated, but promulgated. Marquette Professor McAdams blogged on the incident and charged the teaching assistant with "using a tactic typical among liberals now. Opinions with which they disagree are not merely wrong, and are not to be argued against on their merit...

What the F?

A certain person very dear to me watches too much of the Soprano reruns, and thus I too get caught up in it (to my shame--this HBO show and reality TV shows in general will make adjectival use of the F-bomb routine if we do not repent....) Thus it piqued my interest to run across this video of the Pope, who in the past has said, "Who am I to judge?" This video is heartening, for though we are not allowed to judge people, we are allowed to, even have a responsibility to, judge behavior . Nice going, Holiness!

Search This Blog