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TRÁI TIM
MẸ: NƠI CON NƯƠNG NÁU - ĐƯỜNG ĐẾN VỚI CHÚA |
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"Chúa Giêsu muốn dùng con để làm
cho Mẹ được nhận biết và yêu mến" |
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September 1/2009 - Tuesday of
22nd Week of Ordinary Time
LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION:
"His word was with authority"
UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S):
10 Episcopal Nuns to Join
Catholic Church
SAINT OF THE DAY
St. Giles
GENERAL
MARIOLOGY
Book Five - Chapter IV
THE HAPPY DEATH OF SAINT JOSEPH
DIVINE MERCY
Divine Mercy in My Soul
NOTEBOOK V
TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION:
Testimony of Nita Whitten,
former Abortion Provider
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DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION |
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Tuesday (9/1): "His word was with authority"
Scripture: Luke 4:31-37
31 And he went down to Caper'na-um, a city of Galilee. And he was
teaching them on the Sabbath; 32 and they were astonished at his
teaching, for his word was with authority. 33 And in the synagogue there
was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with
a loud voice, 34 "Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."
35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And
when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him,
having done him no harm. 36 And they were all amazed and said to one
another, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands
the unclean spirits, and they come out." 37 And reports of him went out
into every place in the surrounding region.
Meditation: When you read or hear the word of God how do you
respond to it? Do you hear it with indifference, selective submission,
or with the full assent of faith and obedience? When Jesus taught he
spoke with authority. He spoke the word of God as no one had spoken it
before. When the Rabbis taught they supported their statements with
quotes from other authorities. The prophets spoke with delegated
authority – Thus says the Lord. When Jesus spoke he needed no
authorities to back his statements. He was authority incarnate – the
Word of God made flesh. When he spoke, God spoke. When he commanded even
the demons obeyed. If demons, the fallen angels, believe in the power
and authority of the Son of God, how much more should we believe in the
power and authority of the gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ – with
the full assent of our minds and hearts and entrust our lives to the
Lord Jesus Christ? If we approach God's word submissively, with an
eagerness to do everything the Lord desires, we are in a much better
position to learn what God wants to teach us through his word. Are you
eager to be taught by the Lord and to conform your life according to his
word?
"Lord Jesus, your word is power and life. May I never doubt your
saving love and mercy, and the power of your word to bring healing,
restoration, and freedom from sin and oppression."
Psalm 145:8-14
8 The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love.
9 The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has
made.
10 All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O LORD, and all thy saints
shall bless thee!
11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and tell of thy power,
12 to make known to the sons of men thy mighty deeds, and the glorious
splendor of thy kingdom.
13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures
throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and
gracious in all his deeds.
14 The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed
down.
www.dailyscripture.net
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UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS |
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10 Episcopal Nuns to Join Catholic Church
Affirm Appreciation of Orthodoxy, Unity
BALTIMORE, Maryland, AUG. 31, 2009 ( Zenit.org).-
On Thursday, a community of Episcopal nuns and their
chaplain will be received into the Catholic Church by
the archbishop of Baltimore.
Ten sisters from the Society of All Saints' Sisters of
the Poor will be received into the Church by Archbishop
Edwin O'Brien, along with Episcopal Father Warren Tange,
the Baltimore archdiocesan newspaper reported last
Thursday.
Having spent seven years in prayer and discernment, the
sisters felt drawn to the Catholic faith due to its
orthodoxy and unity.
The superior of the community in Catonsville, Mother
Christina Christie, affirmed that after studying
Catholic teaching for two years, the sisters are "very
excited" for their upcoming reception.
In their convent chapel, the nuns will receive the
sacrament of confirmation, and will renew their vows of
poverty, chastity and obedience.
Their chaplain will also enter the Church at that time,
though he is still discerning the possibility of
becoming a Catholic priest.
Mother Christina affirmed, "We felt God was leading us
in this direction for a long time."
The communiqué noted that many of them were troubled by
recent changes in the Episcopal church, including the
approval of women's ordination, the ordination of a gay
bishop and other "lax" stances on moral issues.
Another nun, Sister Mary Joan Walker, said, "We kept
thinking we could help by being a witness for
orthodoxy."
The superior explained, however, that the effort was
"not as helpful as we had hoped it would be."
She continued: "People who did not know us looked at us
as if we were in agreement with what had been going on
[in the Episcopal church]; by staying put and not doing
anything, we were sending a message which was not
correct."
They acknowledged that some friends in the Episcopal
church have been hurt by their decision to leave,
accusing them of abandoning the fight to maintain
orthodoxy.
"We're not," said Sister Emily Ann Lindsey. "We're doing
it in another realm right now."
Papal leadership
In the uneasiness with certain issues in their church,
the sisters spent time researching various Episcopal
splinter groups, as well as other Christian
denominations. Finally, they came to the realization
that they were independently feeling drawn to the
Catholic Church.
"This is very much the work of the Holy Spirit," Mother
Christina said.
Now, two years after having begun the study of the
Second Vatican Council and other Church teachings, they
affirmed that there were hardly any theological
obstacles to overcome.
The concept of papal infallibility was a difficulty at
first for some, but now the sisters affirm that the Pope
exercises an authority not found in the Episcopal
church.
"The unity that Christ called for can be found in the
Catholic Church under the leadership of the pope," they
said
"Unity is right in the midst of all this," said Sister
Catherine Grace Bowen. "That is the main thrust."
Two nuns who decided not to become Catholic will
nonetheless continue to live with the community and work
together with their religious sisters.
The nuns dedicate themselves to prayer, giving retreats,
visiting people in hospice care, and designing religious
cards.
The community, which maintains a traditional full black
habit with a white wimple, is a branch of the society
founded in England. The American branch has been in
Baltimore since 1872, working with the poor in the
region as part of their charism of hospitality.
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DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT |
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http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay
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GENERAL
MARIOLOGY |
THE DIVINE HISTORY AND
LIFE
OF THE
VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
BOOK FIVE
Concerning
the Perfection with which the most Holy Mary copied and
Imitated
the Activity of the Soul of Christ; how the Incarnate Word
Instructed
Her in the Laws of grace, the Articles of Faith, the
Sacraments, the Ten Commandments; and with what
Alacrity
and Noble Promptitude She Corresponded.
Also
concerning the Death of Saint Joseph, the
Preaching
of Saint John, the call of the
First
Disciples and the Baptism
Of the
Virgin Mary, our
Blessed
Lady
CHAPTER IV.
THE HAPPY DEATH OF SAINT
JOSEPH.
It is necessary to mention that the long sickness and
sufferings which preceded the death of saint Joseph was not the sole
cause and occasion of his passing away; for with all his infirmities he
could have extended the term of his life, if to them he had not joined
the fire of the intense love within his bosom. In order that his death
might be more the triumph of his love than of the effects of original
sin, the Lord suspended the special and miraculous assistance by which
his natural forces were enabled to withstand the violence of his love
during his lifetime. As soon as this divine assistance was withdrawn,
nature was overcome by his love and the bonds and chains, by which this
most holy soul was detained in its mortal body, were at once dissolved
and the separation of the soul from the body in which death consists
took place. Love was then the real cause of the death of saint Joseph,
as I have said above. This was at the same time the greatest and most
glorious of all his infirmities for in it death is but a sleep of the
body and the beginning of real life.
The most fortunate of men, saint Joseph reached an
age of sixty years and a few days. For at the age of thirty-three he
espoused the blessed Virgin lived with Her a little longer than
twenty-seven years as her husband. When saint Joseph died, She had
completed the half of her forty-second year; for She was espoused to
saint Joseph at the age of fourteen (as stated in the first part, book
second, chapter twenty-second). The twenty-seven years of her married
life completed her forty-first year, to which must be added the time
from the eighth of September until the death of her blessed spouse. The
Queen of heaven still remained in the same disposition of natural
perfection as in her thirty-third year; for, as already stated in the
thirteenth chapter of this book, She showed no signs of decline, or of
more advanced age, or of weakness, but always in that same most perfect
state of womanhood. She felt the natural sorrow due to the death of
saint Joseph; for She loved him as her spouse, as a man pre-eminent in
perfection and holiness, as her protector and benefactor.
I perceive a certain difference in the graces given
to this great Patriarch and those vouchsafed to other saints; for many
saints were endowed with graces and gifts that are intended not for the
increase of their own sanctity, but for the advance of the service of
the Most High in other souls; they were, so to say, gifts and graces
freely given and not dependent upon the holiness of the receiver. But in
our blessed Patriarch all the divine favors were productive of personal
virtue perfection; for the mysterious purpose, toward which they tended
and helped along, was closely connected with the holiness of his own
life. The more angelic and holy he grew to be, so much the more worthy
was he to be the spouse of most holy Mary, the depository and
treasure-house of heavenly sacraments. He was to be a miracle of
holiness, as he really was. This marvelous holiness commenced with the
formation of his body in the womb of his Mother. In this the providence
of God himself interfered, regulating the composition of the four
radical humors of his body with extreme nicety of proportion and
securing for him that evenly tempered disposition which made his body a
blessed earth fit for the abode of an exquisite soul and well-balanced
mind (Wisdom 8, 19). He was sanctified in the womb of his mother seven
months after his conception, and the leaven of sin was destroyed in him
for the whole course of life, never having felt any impure or disorderly
movement. Although he did not receive the use of his reason together
with this first sanctification, which consisted principally in
justification from original sin, yet his mother at the time felt a
wonderful joy of the Holy Ghost. Without understanding entirely the
mystery she elicited great acts of virtue and believed that her Son, or
whomever she bore in her womb, would be wonderful in the sight of God
and men.
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DIVINE MERCY
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Divine Mercy In my soul
The Mercy of the Lord I will sing Forever.
Divine Mercy in my soul.
Sr. Faustina, Diary
NOTEBOOK V
Conversation of the
Merciful God with a Perfect Soul.
Soul: My Lord and Master, I desire to converse with You.
Jesus: Speak, My beloved child, for I am always
listening. I wait for you. What do you desire to say?
Soul: Lord, first let me pour out my heart at
Your feet in a fragrant anointing of gratitude for the many blessings which
You lavish upon me; even if I wanted to, I could not count them. I only
recall that there has never been a moment in my life in which I have not
experienced Your protection and goodness.
Jesus: Your words please Me, and your
thanksgiving opens up new treasures of graces. But, My child, we should talk
in more detail about the things that lie in your heart. Let us talk
confidentially and frankly, as two hearts that love one another do.
Soul: O my merciful Lord, there are secrets in
my heart which no one knows or will ever know except You because, even if I
wanted to reveal them, no one would understand me. Your minister knows some
because I confess to him, but he knows only the bit of these mysteries that
I am capable of revealing; the rest remains between us for eternity, O My
Lord! You have covered me with the cloak of Your mercy, pardoning my sins.
Not once did You refuse Your pardon; You always had pity on me, giving me a
new life of grace. To prevent doubts, You have entrusted me to the loving
care of Your Church, that tender mother, who in Your name assures me of the
truths of faith and watches lest I wander. Especially in the tribunal of
Your mercy does my soul meet an ocean of favors, although You did not give
the fallen Angels time to repent or prolong their time of mercy. O my Lord,
You have provided saintly priests to show me the sure way..
Jesus, there is one more secret in my life, the deepest and dearest to my
heart: it is You yourself when You come to my heart under the appearance of
bread. Herein lies the whole secret of my sanctity. Here my heart is so
united with Yours as to be but one. There are no more secrets because all
that is Yours is mine, and all that is mine is Yours. Such is the
omnipotence and the miracle of Your mercy. All the tongues of men and of
angels united could not find words adequate to this mystery to this mystery
of Your love and mercy.
When I contemplate this mystery, my heart falls into a new ecstasy. In
silence I tell You everything, Lord, because the language of love is without
words, not a single stirring of my heart escapes You. O Lord, the extent of
Your great condescension has awakened in my soul an even greater love for
You, the sole object of my love. The life of union manifests itself in
perfect purity, deep humility, gentle silence, and great zeal for the
salvation of souls.
O my sweetest Lord, You watch over me each moment and inspire me as to how I
should act in a precise situation, when my heart wavers between two things.
You Yourself frequently intervened in the resolution of a difficulty.
Countless times, by means of a sudden enlightment. You have given me to know
what is the more pleasing to You.
Oh, how numerous are the instances of forgiveness about which no one knows!
How often You have poured into my soul courage and perseverance to go
forward. It is You yourself who removed obstacles from my road, intervening
directly in the actions of people. O Jesus, everything I have said to You is
but a pale shadow of what is taking place in my heart. O my Jesus, how
ardently I desire the conversion of sinners! You know what I am doing for
them to win them for You. Every offense against You wounds me deeply. I
spare neither strength nor health, nor life itself in defense of Your
kingdom. Although my efforts may remain invisible on earth, they are no less
valuable in Your eyes.
O Jesus, I want to bring souls to the fount of Your mercy to draw the
reviving water of life with the vessel of trust. The soul desirous of more
of God's mercy should approach God with greater trust; and if her trust in
God is unlimited, then the mercy of God toward it will be likewise
limitless. O my God, Who know every beat of my heart, You know how eagerly I
desire that all hearts would beat for You alone, that every soul glorify the
greatness of Your mercy.
Jesus: My beloved child, delight of My Heart,
your words are dearer and more pleasing to me than the angelic chorus. All
the treasures of My Heart are open to you. Take from this Heart all that you
need for yourself and for the whole world. For the sake of your love, I
withhold the just chastisements, which mankind has deserved. A single act of
pure love pleases Me more than a thousand imperfect prayers. One of your
sighs of love atones for many offenses with which the godless overwhelms Me.
The smallest act of virtue has unlimited value in My eyes because of your
great love for Me. In a soul that lives on My love alone, I reign as in
heaven. I watch over it day and night. In it I find My happiness; My ear is
attentive to each request of its heart; often I anticipate its requests. O
child, especially beloved by Me, apple of My eye, rest a moment near My
Heart and taste of the love in which you will delight for all eternity.
But child, you are not yet in your homeland; so go fortified by My grace,
and fight for My kingdom in human souls; fight as a king's child would; and
remember that the days of your exile will pass quickly, and with them the
possibility of earning merit for heaven. I expect from you, My child, a
great number of souls who will glorify My mercy for all eternity. My child,
that you may answer My call worthily, receive Me daily in Holy Communion. It
will give you strength....
Jesus, do not leave me alone in suffering. You
know Lord, how weak I am. I am an abyss of wretchedness, I am nothingness
itself; so what will be so strange if You leave me alone and I fail? I am an
infant Lord, so I cannot get along by myself. However, beyond all
abandonment I trust, and in spite of what I feel. Do not lesson any of my
sufferings, only give me strength to bear them. Do with me as You please,
Lord, only give me the grace to be able to love You in every event and
circumstance. Lord, do not lesson my cup of bitterness, only give me
strength that I may be able to drink it all.
O Lord, sometimes You lift me up to the brightness of visions, and then
again You plunge me into the darkness of night and the abyss of my
nothingness, and my soul feels as if it were alone in the wilderness. Yet,
above all things, I trust in You, Jesus, for You are unchangeable. My moods
change, but You are always the same, full of mercy.
Jesus, source of life, sanctify me. O my strength, fortify me. my Commander,
fight for me. Only light of my soul, enlighten me. My Master, guide me. I
entrust myself to You as a little child does to its mother's love. Even if
all things were to conspire against me, and even if the ground were to give
way under my feet, I would be at peace close to Your Heart. You are always a
most tender mother to me, and You surpass all mothers. I will sing of my
pain to You by my silence, and You will understand me beyond any
utterance...
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CATHOLIC TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY |
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Remarks by Joe
Scheidler
Something that Nita mentioned was about
the pornography in the pro-abortion movement. In 1976, about 12 of us
attended the first National Association of Abortion Facilities, then
called NAAF. It's now changed to the National Abortion Federation (NAF).
They were holding their first national convention in Rosemont, so a
group of us came out to attend. We weren't well known, so we found some
badges and put our names on them and we attended. During one of the
breaks we went into the exhibition hall. At the end of the hall was a
large, white wall. Being shown on that wall were the most obscene,
triple X-rated color films with sound tracks that you could imagine.
Every form of sexual perversion was being shown in these films. It was
hard to be in the room with this film going on, but I was doing stories
for the National Right-to-Life Committee newspaper at that time, believe
it or not. At that time, I did four stories that came out of that
convention, and one of them, by Tom Roeser, was an explanation of why
the abortionists are involved in pornography and perversions, and the
idea was there is nothing wrong with any kind of sexual aberration at
all, except venereal disease and pregnancy. And both of those diseases
can now be handled by the abortionists. The idea was to break down all
of your resistance, all of your hang-ups that would prevent you from
having a total liberal sexual life. They run hand-in-hand. I found that
frequently at the abortion conventions that there are all kind of weird
things going on. I just mention that because it supports what Nita said
and explains part of this whole evil that abortion is part of. Abortion
is a mop-up for lives without control, without respect, without
responsibility. It's all part of a big picture in which absolutely we
are fighting principalities and powers.
Questions Addressed to Nita Whitten
Q. With all the money that you handled in
cash, were there ever any attempted robberies?
A. I never personally experienced that,
but I always was in fear of it because I was the one who took the money
to the bank every day, and I was always afraid of that. I always took a
different route to the bank. No, there weren't, but we were in an
unusual area of time where I don't think that a robber would be welcome
because it was over in sort of a "hotsy-totsy" section.
Q. What was the largest deposit?
A. I don't remember. It was somewhere
between $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 a day, depending on how many we saw
that day and whether or not they were big abortions. It wasn't unusual
at all for me to take $10,000 or $15,000 a day to the bank in cash, by
myself, without a gun.
Q. How long did you work at the clinic?
Is he still going strong?
A. I only worked at the clinic for one
year. I believe that he is still going strong, yes. Sadly.
Q. Earlier you mentioned about the
telephone. How did they teach you to sell abortion over the phone? How
did you deal with the question of picketers outside the clinic?
A. The only picketers that I experienced
were at the National Abortion Federation meeting. They were there and I
thought it was real funny. It didn't really change things for me. It
didn't make me uncomfortable. We were concerned about the press because
Curtis and Glenna had this thing about not wanting bad press. There was
a priest, however, who walked up and down in front of the clinic
regularly. We never bothered with him because he didn't do anything. But
I am firmly convinced that he prayed a lot of prayers, and perhaps one
of his prayers was what saved me and got me delivered.
Q. What illegal things might they be involved in?
A. Obviously, there are many things. They
did abortions at clinic I worked at that were way over 24 weeks, and I
believe that they took money and didn't report it. I believe that it
would be well-worth the effort of the IRS to get involved in that.
That's an area where we have some clout because the IRS is supposed to
be no respecter of persons.
Q. How was fetal disposal handled?
A. They basically put them down their
garbage disposal if they were small enough. We hardly ever sent anything
to the laboratory for pathology unless there was something weird going
on and the doctor wanted to make sure he wouldn't get sued. That was the
only reason he would send it, to keep from getting sued. Then, of
course, we started giving them the larger babies to the University of
Texas Health Science Center. There were clinics in Dallas, however, that
sold their fetal tissue for cosmetics. Pay attention to what you buy.
Q. Do you know of any mafia involvement?
A. I don't know about that sort of thing, but I can tell you that all
the people who were associated with the clinic that I worked at, and
with Curtis, were really weird. We're not talking about normal people at
all. I even thought they were weird when I worked there. There was one
doctor who worked there that was working illegally. He wasn't supposed
to be working for us. He was a resident and was only supposed to be
working at the hospital that he was at, and he worked on Saturdays and
made a lot of money. We weren't supposed to tell. There were a lot of
things that we weren't supposed to tell, and that was one of them. He
now is a licensed physician and he does work for the clinic full-time, I
understand.
Q. Are you saying that every transaction
has to be in cash?
A. Every single transaction that we did
was in cash money. We wouldn't take a check; we wouldn't take a credit
card. Now there were times when we tried accepting checks, but we kept
losing money. And there were times when they did the Medicare and those
kinds of abortions. But after I went to work there, we eliminated all of
that and it was a cash only deal. I mean it was cash only. If you didn't
have the money, forget it.
Q. Did you receive any sort of government
funding?
A. When I first started working there they
were phasing that out because they decided it wasn't profitable. But
they did do Medicare patients earlier. In Texas the Medicare program is
so messed up that they felt that they were wasting their money.
Q. If a girl had a problem and came back what would happen?
A. That's the
saddest thing you could have asked. Basically, if there was something
really serious they sent them to the little doctor on call. But other
than that, they didn't do anything, and they certainly didn't do
anything to help her emotionally or mentally. There weren't many cases
of that happening because most of the women, like has been said, wanted
to forget it. They didn't want you to know that they had had an
abortion, and they weren't about to do anything about it. I believe
Curtis was involved in some sort of litigation where he was being sued
for some sort of malpractice deal. I don't know whatever came of that,
but I do remember filing the papers for it. There were always instances
where something could happen because it was bad medical care, especially
at that clinic. It was pretty pathetic.
(to be continued)
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