Send the Pope a Virtual Christmas Card
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 15, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican Web page Pope2you.net has made it possible this Christmas to send Benedict XVI a personalized Christmas card through e-mail or the social networking site Facebook.
Father Paolo Padrini, the project's coordinator, told ZENIT of the site's newest features for Christmas.
Upon visiting the site, launched by the Vatican Council for Social Communications in May, click on "Send the Pope your Christmas Greetings." Simply follow the instructions and a personalized, virtual card will be sent to the Holy Father. Even a picture can be included.
Pope2you.net is also offering a Facebook application that one can use to send Christmas cards to friends that feature an official picture of the Pope as taken by L'Osservatore Romano, accompanied by the Pontiff's "words of hope and peace."
The cards can be sent in English, Italian, Spanish, German and French, and there are four options to choose from.
Pope2you.net is an official site of the Vatican, and it aims to bring the words and message of Benedict XVI to the youth. In only eight months, the site has received 7 million visits.
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On the Net:
www.pope2you.net
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
On Divorce, State Coercion, and Education in the "Live Free or Die" state
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a 10-year-old home-schooled girl who critics say was ordered into a public school because of her Christian faith. The Court Order, linked in the article below, is well worth the read.
Unfortunately divorce battles, like most battles, tend to claim innocent victims. But just how much coercive power should the State have?
Daddy's Little (Christian) Girl
Unfortunately divorce battles, like most battles, tend to claim innocent victims. But just how much coercive power should the State have?
Daddy's Little (Christian) Girl
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
On Popes, Personalities, and Economics
The writings of Thomas E. Woods Jr. were a big influence on me in my journey to Catholicism. Here he takes a very interesting and critical look at "Caritas in Veritate"
Tom Woods on Caritas in Veritate
Tom Woods on Caritas in Veritate
Thursday, November 19, 2009
While We're Still at The Mount...Catholic Health Message!
Make a point of checking out CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood this Sunday November 22 at 9:00am for an interview with Fr. Leo regarding his Grace Before Meals.
Father Leo and Grace Before Meals
Father Leo (currently teaching in the Seminary at Mt. St. Mary's Seminary) and Father Brian (currently chaplain at Mt. St. Mary's University), were both priests at my local parish long before I decided to join the Catholic Church. Their homiles as well as their dedicated examples as men of God went a long way in breaking down the prejudices and misconceptions I held regarding Catholicism. This past Easter, they both came back to that parish to participate in the Easter Vigil at which I was confirmed and received the Holy Eucharist for the first time. I was blessed as they were among the priests who laid hands on me when I was confirmed.
May God continue to bless these dedicated servants as they minister to God's Church in the Holy Priesthood!
God bless all!!!
Father Leo and Grace Before Meals
Father Leo (currently teaching in the Seminary at Mt. St. Mary's Seminary) and Father Brian (currently chaplain at Mt. St. Mary's University), were both priests at my local parish long before I decided to join the Catholic Church. Their homiles as well as their dedicated examples as men of God went a long way in breaking down the prejudices and misconceptions I held regarding Catholicism. This past Easter, they both came back to that parish to participate in the Easter Vigil at which I was confirmed and received the Holy Eucharist for the first time. I was blessed as they were among the priests who laid hands on me when I was confirmed.
May God continue to bless these dedicated servants as they minister to God's Church in the Holy Priesthood!
God bless all!!!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Truely Heavenly Music!!!
The Seminarians of Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, have recorded one of the most inspirational CDs of sacred music that I have ever heard. I highly recommend it for anyone who truly loves beautiful sacred music. The music is prayerful, worshipful, and spiritually uplifting!
Check out some samples at:
Mt. Saint Mary's Seminary: Vespers Schola
Please feel free to share your thoughts here after you listen to this CD.
P.S. The young seminarian in the top row all the way to the right, now an ordained deacon, provided excellent instruction to my R.C.I.A. class this past year! Keep all these young men in your prayers as they prepare to enter the Holy Priesthood!
God bless all!!!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Where in the world...er, ummm, ...in the Sanctuary is Jesus?
From the Fundamental Beliefs section on the official Seventh-day Adventist website Official SDA Website:
24. Christ's Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary:
There is a sanctuary in heaven, the true tabernacle which the Lord set up and not man. In it Christ ministers on our behalf, making available to believers the benefits of His atoning sacrifice offered once for all on the cross. He was inaugurated as our great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry at the time of His ascension. In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry. It is a work of investigative judgment which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. In that typical service the sanctuary was cleansed with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the heavenly things are purified with the perfect sacrifice of the blood of Jesus. The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection. It also makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in Him, therefore, are ready for translation into His everlasting kingdom. This judgment vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus. It declares that those who have remained loyal to God shall receive the kingdom. The completion of this ministry of Christ will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent. (Heb. 8:1-5; 4:14-16; 9:11-28; 10:19-22; 1:3; 2:16, 17; Dan. 7:9-27; 8:13, 14; 9:24-27; Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6; Lev. 16; Rev. 14:6, 7; 20:12; 14:12; 22:12.)
When I was an Adventist we were taught that in 1844, as mentioned above, Jesus moved into The Holy of Holies behind the veil, from the Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary.
A couple of questions:
1. Do Adventists still believe that Jesus moved, in the heavenly sanctuary, into The Holy of Holies, from the Holy Place, in 1844 at the end of the 2300 day prophetic period?
2. If so, which I believe they do, how do they explain the following assertion of the apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews:
Hebrews 6:19 This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
It seems that Paul wrote this quite a few years, hundreds of years...over a thousand years, before 1844, and either Paul was confused or lying, or the Adventists' sanctuary teaching is in error, and completly falls apart.
Who is correct? Paul and the Holy Scriptures...or the SDA denomination?
God bless all!!!
24. Christ's Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary:
There is a sanctuary in heaven, the true tabernacle which the Lord set up and not man. In it Christ ministers on our behalf, making available to believers the benefits of His atoning sacrifice offered once for all on the cross. He was inaugurated as our great High Priest and began His intercessory ministry at the time of His ascension. In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry. It is a work of investigative judgment which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement. In that typical service the sanctuary was cleansed with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the heavenly things are purified with the perfect sacrifice of the blood of Jesus. The investigative judgment reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ and therefore, in Him, are deemed worthy to have part in the first resurrection. It also makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in Him, therefore, are ready for translation into His everlasting kingdom. This judgment vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus. It declares that those who have remained loyal to God shall receive the kingdom. The completion of this ministry of Christ will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent. (Heb. 8:1-5; 4:14-16; 9:11-28; 10:19-22; 1:3; 2:16, 17; Dan. 7:9-27; 8:13, 14; 9:24-27; Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6; Lev. 16; Rev. 14:6, 7; 20:12; 14:12; 22:12.)
When I was an Adventist we were taught that in 1844, as mentioned above, Jesus moved into The Holy of Holies behind the veil, from the Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary.
A couple of questions:
1. Do Adventists still believe that Jesus moved, in the heavenly sanctuary, into The Holy of Holies, from the Holy Place, in 1844 at the end of the 2300 day prophetic period?
2. If so, which I believe they do, how do they explain the following assertion of the apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews:
Hebrews 6:19 This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
It seems that Paul wrote this quite a few years, hundreds of years...over a thousand years, before 1844, and either Paul was confused or lying, or the Adventists' sanctuary teaching is in error, and completly falls apart.
Who is correct? Paul and the Holy Scriptures...or the SDA denomination?
God bless all!!!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
On Spreading Democracy, "Fixing" the Vatican, and Moral Dilemmas
The U.S. Invasion of the Vatican
A short thought provoking essay by Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, posted on LewRockwell.com today.
A short thought provoking essay by Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, posted on LewRockwell.com today.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Bread of Heaven/The Bread of Life
As I grow, or descend, deeper in the world of blogging by creating a post for the first time, I would like to share a prayer that sings and expresses my love of, and devotion to, Jesus in The Eucharist. Sensitive seems to be the appropriate way to begin for me. There will be plenty of time and subjects for irritablity and sharp tonguedness...but for now...
I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
ADORO TE DEVOTE
by
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at Thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.
On the cross Thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here Thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.
I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.
O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.
Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what Thy bosom ran
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with Thy glory's sight.
Amen.
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