A little Gratitude for His Gifts, Grace, and Guidance.

Thanks is such a little word for all Your gifts of grace
For all your guidance dear Lord
No words will ever embrace
Your Fatherly love cradles me each day
Molds me into the soul
that you intended me to be
What else could I ever want dear Lord?
except Your perpetual gift of love
For anything I could ever want
was paid for in Your blood my Lord
So why do we not thank You more?
Is it because we know your Mercy's endless?
or because we are thankless?
Either way my God my heart swells with love
when I think of Your bitter agony on the cross
My words and feelings are at a loss
For I know my debt of love is endless
but please continue to look on me with tenderness
Because I love you so much my Lord
but please help me to love you more
because it seems you only made one flaw
and it was You made my heart too small
for how could I ever love you as I should
with such a tiny vessel misunderstood?
So help me sweet Jesus with everlasting grace
So I may one day repay my debt and see Your loving face.

A little late but worth the wait!?!?

A little late for St. Augustine's Feast Day today but I had to post it anyway~EVER ANCIENT, EVER NEW

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

~ From The Confessions of St. Augustine


PRAYERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.


"O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams."

Thank you Maryann for sending this to me!

Words of Fr. Corapi...Gotta love him!

Words of Father Corapi...
for all my politician friends and relatives and those who vote for them

"Catholic office holders, whether presidents, senators, congress men or women, or judges at any level must adhere to Catholic teaching or run the risk of separating themselves from the Body of Christ.

In such egregious and chronic cases of gross moral evil such as instituting and perpetuating abortion and the structures of sin that surround it, it is quite probable that such Catholic officials are excommunicated in virtue of the acts themselves.

A latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication is likely triggered when they vote for laws, funding, and structures that enable and perpetuate such obvious and egregious evil (Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canons 1364,1398; Canon 1329, par. #2).

They are in turn forbidden from approaching the sacraments as the result (Cf. Catechism of Catholic Church #1463)."

"It is not morally possible for any Catholic to support abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, or same-sex marriage. There are no ways around this, no justifications whatever.

Why? For the simple reason that the Church holds these things to be intrinsically evil. They are evil in themselves, and no circumstances or subjective conditions can ever change that."

~Enough said, Thank you Fr. Corapi you always know how to get straight to the point and the heart of the matter!

Fr. Donald's Sermon

The following is from one of Fr. Donald's sermons and was printed on the invitation to his 50th anniversary as a priest. I came across it in my bible the other day and I'm not sure why, but I feel the need to share it with you.

For those that do not know me, Fr. Donald is first-cousins to my grandfather and is very dear to me having baptized and married my parents and also my husband and I. His wisdom alsways astounds me.

"On earth we are wayfarers, always on the go. This means that we have to keep moving forward. Therefore be always unhappy about where you are if you want to reach what you are not.

If you are pleased with what you are, you have stopped already. If you say, It is enough, you are lost. Keep on walking, moving forward, trying for the goal. Don't try to stop on the way or to go back, or to deviate from it."- Sermon 169,18

Prayer:

"Lord, guard us from all danger and carry us to Yourself. And you will be our strong support from childhood to old age; for when our strength is Yours, we are strong."

Confessions 4,16

St. Augustine of Hippo