LOVE

FROM THE WRITINGS OF ST JOSEPH BENEDICT LABRE

1. By the grace of God we can do everything. We can remain unhurt in the midst of the fire, like the three holy youths in the furnace of Babylon.
2. Everything may be done by the help of God, provided we have a sincere goodwill.
3. To communicate through obedience is better and more pleasing to God, than to abstain from it through humility.
4. It is never allowable to use or keep anything when we know it has been stolen.
5. It is never lawful to tell a lie; we ought always to speak the truth, whatever it may cost us.

HIS GREAT TRUE LOVE

2ND SUNDAY AFTER EATER YEAR A (MERCY SUNDAY)

“As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear, the Risen Lord offers His love that pardons, reconciles, and reopens hearts to love. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy!”

—Pope John Paul II

THE WORD OF GOD

WHAT A SICK SOUL COST OUR SAVIOUR

I don’t know how Jesus could stand up under its weight. He had my sin, your sin, our sin. He allowed it to be placed upon him so that we would not have to bear the consequences of it all. But in that sacrifice, as horrible as it was, we find ourselves healed — cured of the most awful disease a person can have, a sin-sick soul. He was pierced, crushed, and punished for our sins. In their place, he has left us his transforming peace and a place to belong.

TRUTH

ON THE OCCASION OF THE CANONIZATION OF JOHN PAUL II

21 Awesome Facts You Didn’t Know About JP2

APRIL 19, 2014

in JOE HOUDE,STAFF POSTS,TRENDING

1. Back in his theater days, he literally saved the show with his phenomenal memory

We all know JPII had a passion for drama and literature, even as a young teenager.  But what I didn’t know was that he saved the show once with his incredible memory.

One of the cast members in his production dropped out 2 days before opening night.  And I guess they didn’t have understudies in those days?

But no sweat – young Karol’s absorbent mind had essentially understudied each and every person’s lines from the rehearsals, and he offered to take on an extra role.  The show must go on!

2. On his camping trips with the youth group, he read The Screwtape Letters around the campfire.

Many of us know that Fr. Wojtyla loved spending time outdoors with the youth, while he was a parish priest in Poland and even later as a cardinal.  The trips had to be covert since such outings were forbidden by the communist powers.  They would go kayaking, canoeing, hiking, sometimes celebrating Mass on an overturned canoe.

And apparently, around the campfire at night, they would sing a little P&W and read from books, including C.S. Lewis’ classic The Screwtape Letters(which was published in 1942).

3. The Communists ironically wanted him to become archbishop of Krakow

While the communist government still allowed the Church in Poland to nominate its own candidates to replace the vacancy, they asserted the right to reject any candidates they didn’t like.

They continued to veto until they got their top pick: Karol Wojtyla

That awkward moment when the man you selected later becomes pope and then comes back to Poland to topple communism.  Probably the worst underestimation in history ever.

4. He shoveled frozen crap.

JPII was never afraid to do the dirty work, or lower himself to the most humbling of tasks.

Shortly after the power shift in Poland from the Nazis to the Communists, Karol and his fellow seminarians were able to return to their seminary, which had fallen into an awful state of disrepair.   Pipes were frozen, and the latrines were an absolute mess.  Heaps of frozen excrement needed to be chopped up with shovels and wheeled away.

So next time you have a disgusting chore to take care of, just remember JPII has been there too.

5. He continued skiing until he was 73 years old

One of my favorite stories is of the 8-year old boy who happened to see JPII out on the slopes.  They did a couple runs together, and the boy’s mom wouldn’t believe that her imaginative son had actually been skiing with the Pope – until he introduced himself to her.

6. He went to the moon and back 3 times during his lifetime

Well, the same distance anyway: 775,000 miles!

The man was on a mission, and he felt that his call as shepherd to a universal Church meant that he really needed to get out there and meet the universal flock.

“Aren’t I supposed to be pope for all the world?” he said.

7. What was the “happiest day of his life”?

According to himself, it was the day that he canonized Sister Faustina as the first saint of the new millennium.

His devotion to the Divine Mercy was one of the central themes of his life, something very near and dear to his heart, especially as a Pole.

“There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy”

8. He wrote this deep piece of poetry

During the Nazi invasion when Karol had to work in a quarry in subzero conditions (and walk a 30 minute commute at the crack of dawn), he witnessed the death of a fellow worker from a dynamite explosion.  He later wrote this poem:

They laid him down, his back on a sheet of gravel

The wife came, worn out with worry; his son returned from school…

The stones on the move again: a wagon bruising the flowers.

Again the electric current cuts deep into the walls.
But the man has taken with him the world’s inner structure,

Where the greater the anger, the higher the explosion of love.

9. He pulled a couple James Bond moves to evade the secret police

When he was a bishop in Poland during the communist reign, the secret police were constantly keeping tabs on him and trying to study him (by the time he became pope, they had amassed 18 cartons of reports on him.)

Once, when the archbishop needed to have a secret meeting with Karol, Karol’s chauffeur pulled a little traffic weaving stunt which cut off their pursuer’s line of sight; Karol swapped cars without them knowing, and was able to meet with the archbishop in peace.

The government also bugged the bishops’ residence with listening devices, which Karol knew about and so he played off of it.  He would talk extra loud when he wanted them to hear something, and would save the private conversations for his secret wilderness excursions.

Jokes on you, commies.

10. His book royalties built churches in Yugoslavia

Pope John Paul II throughout his entire life was a giver.  He made a gift of himself, and a gift of his time and talent.

Just as one example, after publishing “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” – which sold millions by the way – he used the first royalty payments to rebuild churches that had been destroyed from the conflict in Yugoslavia.

He was also known to give away the new clothes purchased for him, and keep on wearing his old ones.

11. He received the sacrament of Reconciliation from Padre Pio

In 1947, Fr. Wojtyla visited Padre Pio who heard his confession.

Pope John Paul II would canonize him 55 years later.

12. His predecessor Pope John Paul I said this…

“My name is John Paul the first.  I will be here only a short time.  The second is coming.”

13. He was the king of multitasking

John Paul II had an incredible work ethic, and was described by one of his secretaries as a “volcano of energy.”    It wasn’t unusual for him to work 12-16 hours a day.

He had a gift of “split concentration”, and many people recounted how he could have a full-on conversation with you while he was reading – and still be present to you.  He would sometimes get tired at meetings if he wasn’t working on something else at the same time.  In fact, during Vatican II, he was reading and writing all sorts of books and poetry.

14. He read Marx in the Papal Conclave

In fact, so powerful was his urge to constantly be multitasking, constantly be feeding his intellect, that he even brought reading material into the Papal Conclave shortly before his own election.  And of all the books to have… he was reading Marxist literature.

As he told his friend, “if you want to understand the enemy, you have to know what he has written.”

15. An audience of 300,000 wouldn’t stop their applause for 14 minutes

During his watershed trip back to Poland as Pope in June 1979, JPII celebrated Pentecost Mass in Victory Square to a crowd of 300,000 people.  At one point, their wild applause wouldn’t stop for 14 minutes straight.

Take a moment to imagine that.

A people, a culture, repressed by a communism that denied their human dignity as persons.  And now one of their own, a Polish boy from Wadowice comes back, as Pope, to his homeland, with a message of freedom and hope.

“Send down your Spirit!  Send down your Spirit!  And renew the face of the Earth!  Of his land!”

16. If you put together everything he wrote, it would equal the length of 20 Bibles

He averaged more than 3,000 pages a year during his pontificate alone.

17. He was the first pope to set foot in a mosque

His love for the human person extended far outside the confines of the Catholic Church, to all religions, all races, all languages.

18. He made the Swiss Guards earn their keep

Picture this: a black-hooded, cloaked form sneaking out the back door of the Vatican.

JPII was one of those leaders, who would sneak out so as not to be noticed by his own security guards.  Often these excursions were to get a little recreation in the mountains or go skiing.  As busy as the man was, he also understood the need for balance and fun.

19. He enjoyed a little self-deprecating humor

On one occasion, a conversation went something like this:

JPII: “Music is extremely helpful for prayer.  As St Augustine said, ‘He who sings, prays twice.’”

Friend: “Were you a good singer, Holy Father?”

JPII: “When I sang, it was more like I was praying only once.”

20. He knew all 2,000+ bishops of the world by name.

He kept a map in which he marked every diocese in the world, and knew each bishop by heart.

His memory wasn’t confined to Church leadership either.  Swiss guards, seminarians, and random acquaintances he had barely met were astonished by the random details he remembered about them years later.

21. More people saw him than any other person in human history

Well, that’s what they say anyway.  And with a count of a half billion people, are there any other contenders out there?

——————

What do all of these facts have in common?  I read them in Jason Evert’s new book “Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves”.   And I’m not even halfway through yet.

Seriously, this book is amazing.

A few weeks back, a generous donor anonymously gifted copies of his book to every student and staff at John Paul the Great Catholic University, and I’ve been slowly savoring my way through it since then.  This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of the gems you’ll find within.

The book is not only inspiring, it’s also extremely entertaining and accessible.  It’s filled with a continual stream of anecdotes and stories that I somehow never knew.  And whether John Paul II already holds a special place in your heart, or you are just discovering him, Evert draws you in with a moving and powerful journey through this saint’s incredible life and into his heart.

I highly recommend you pick it up and read it to celebrate the canonization.

Saint John Paul the Great, pray for us!

Joe Houde studied business and media at Franciscan University of Steubenville.  He currently works in Admissions at John Paul the Great Catholic University.

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TRUST IN GOD

I AM A CHRISTIAN......WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

I am Christian

When I say that ‘I am a Christian,’ I am not shouting that ‘I am clean living.’ I’m whispering 'I was lost, but now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I don’t speak of this with pride. I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide. 

When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I am not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on. 

When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I am not bragging of success. I’m admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess. 

When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I am not claiming to be perfect. My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it. 

When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name. 

When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not holier than thou. I’m just a simple sinner who received God’s good grace somehow.

EASTER SUNDAY

Christ has risen from death. Alleluia.

He has brought victory over sin. Alleluia.

It is only through his merits that we overcome sin and walk all the way to God His Father and Our Father.

Jesus’ cross is an example of painful toil. His resurrection is the reward of painful toil. In the cross He showed us how we are to bear suffering. In His resurrection He showed us what we are to hope for.

—Saint Augustine of Hippo
May his resurrection brings happiness to us.

TO ALL WHO READ THIS POST I WISH A HAPPY EASTER.

SUFFERINGS LEAD TO REWARD

Sufferings and all that is contrary to what man yearns for, is part and parcel of our life.

Let us bear them for the love of God.

Finally we will get our reward, for there is no reward with sufferings.

GOOD FRIDAY

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

MAUNDY THURSDAY

I am the living Bread, which came down from Heaven.

Jesus revealed to Bl. Dina Belanger the power of the holy hour in making reparation. One form of reparation is the ability to make up for what is lacking in the life of another. One day before her holy hour, Jesus showed Dina a multitude of souls on the precipice of hell.

 After her holy hour, Jesus showed the same souls in the hands of God. He told her that through holy hours of prayer a multitude of souls go to heaven who otherwise would have gone to hell as one person can make up for what is lacking in the lives of others by winning precious efficacious graces for their salvation.

Why not pass an hour before the Holy Sacrament in the evening of Maundy Thursday when Christ is exposed for our adoration?

The chaplet of the Divine Mercy starts on Good Friday and continues till Saturday of the following week.  

RECITE IT WITH THE UTMOST DEVOTION.

On Sunday, the first one after Easter, the whole Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Divine Mercy.

KEEP IT IN YOU DAIRY.

YOU SAY.........BUT GOD SAYS

SEEKING GOD

IS FEAR TO OFFEND GOD STILL STRONG?

PALM SUNDAY

In today's liturgy, the church invites us to hear the reading on the Passion of our Lord.

The Sufferings of Our Lord provide us with innumerable reflections, salutary for our spiritual life.

I just want to share one with you.

God so loved man that He sent his Son so that with his sufferings we are redeemed. Yet we are not so grateful for his love. We often transgress his commandments and wishes. Let us make amends to our mistakes and repeat often this short prayer:

Jesus suffered and died for me and I had the courage to offend him. My Lord accept my sincere sorrow and embrace me once more.

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

CHANGE OF HEART

HABITS

MY BELIEF IN GOD

5TH SUNDAY LENT YEAR A

Lord, if only you had been here?

How often have we, like Martha and Mary, blurted out those same words of pain and despair: "Lord, if only you had been here such and such an incident would not have happened to me?

Where is God in the midst of human tragedies? God is there in the midst of it all, weeping. This is our God who stands in deep, human solidarity with us, and through the glory of the Incarnation, embracing fully our human condition.

The story of the raising of Lazarus also speaks to us about another kind of death. We can be dead, even before we die, while we are still in this life. This is not only the death of the soul caused by sin but also rather a death that manifests itself through the absence of energy, hope, a desire to fight and to continue to life.

Words of encouragement often fail to effect any change. Many times people in these situations are not able to do anything, not even pray. They are like Lazarus in the tomb. They need others to do something for them.

Jesus once spoke these words to his disciples: "Heal the sick, raise the dead" (Matthew 10:8). Among the corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry; giving drink to the thirsty; clothing the naked; sheltering the homeless; visiting the sick; visiting prisoners, the last one is burying the dead. Today's Gospel tells us that in addition to this corporal work of mercy, we must also "raise the dead."

Only the One who has entered death's realm and engaged death itself in battle can give life to those who have died. John recounts the raising of Lazarus as a sign that transforms the tragedy into hope. Lazarus' illness and death are the occasion for the manifestation of God's glory. As Christians we do not expect to escape death; but we approach it with faith in the resurrection. 

GIVE GOD HIS DUE

GOD'S LOVE FOR US ALL

“I have given God countless reasons not to love me. None of them has been strong enough to change Him.”

GOD'S WORK

PRAYER

EASY ;LIFE