Author: Facing Our Immortality

Signs Of The Times: Spiritual Exercise 10/12/20

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Facing Our Immortality Support Group Call Monday 10/12/20 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EDT) Call Uber Conference at 720-735-7025 or Online at uberconference.com/facingourimmortality Opening Prayer: REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.  Amen. Signs Of The Times Cultural upheaval comes to every society as each generation strives to leave its mark, for better or worse.  Pope St. John Paul II has called contemporary western culture a culture of death.  What we may be watching with the current riots and civil unrest is something that can be likened to a kind of terminal restlessness. Anyone who has attended the dying knows what terminal restlessness is:  It describes the end-of-life …

The Measure That You Measure With: Spiritual Exercise 09/14/20

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Facing Our Immortality Support Group Call Monday 09/14/20 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EDT) Call Uber Conference at 720-735-7025 or Online at uberconference.com/facingourimmortality Opening Prayer: REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.  Amen. The Measure That You Measure With    It is an observable fact that when judging, many of us apply the justice of God to others and the mercy of God to ourselves.  The very things we become indignant about or scandalized by in others, we often dismiss in ourselves with excuses we do not grant to others.  Jesus plainly tells us the measure we measure with will be measured back to us. (Mt. 7:2) That is most …

Marginalizing God: Spiritual Exercise 08/10/20

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Facing Our Immortality Support Group Call Time: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EDT) Call Uber Conference at 720-735-7025 or Online at uberconference.com/facingourimmortality Opening Prayer: REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. Marginalizing God    The marginalization of peoples has been a social justice concern for decades now.  Sometimes the lightning rod is women, sometimes immigrants, sometimes black or brown or minority peoples, as is currently the case, sometimes the working class, sometimes the poor. These issues evoke strong reactions in people, but not always in a right order that is constructive. Cardinal Robert Sarah points out we can quickly multiply sin when we succumb to the temptation to satisfy …

Garments Of Grace: Spiritual Exercise 07/20/20

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Facing Our Immortality Support Group Call Time: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EDT) Call Uber Conference at 720-735-7025 or Online at uberconference.com/facingourimmortality Opening Prayer: REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. Garments of Grace    In the classic fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a vain ruler is tricked by two weavers into believing he has a set of new clothes.  He parades before the people for their admiration.  The people are afraid to say anything until a child blurts out: “But he’s naked!” There is a similar deceptive force at work that tries to reclothe believers, and therefore the Church, in unbecoming ways.  Here is one example: Some …

IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

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IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Source: iBreviary The attention of Christians was early attracted by the love and virtues of the Heart of Mary. The Gospel itself invited this attention with exquisite discretion and delicacy. What was first excited was compassion for the Virgin Mother. It was, so to speak, at the foot of the Cross that the Christian heart first made the acquaintance of the Heart of Mary. Simeon’s prophecy paved the way and furnished the devotion with one of its favourite formulae and most popular representations: the heart pierced with a sword. But Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the Cross; “she cooperated through charity”, as St. Augustine says, “in the work of our redemption”. It is only in the twelfth, or towards the end of the eleventh century, that slight indications of a regular devotion are perceived in a sermon by St. Bernard (De duodecim stellis). Stronger evidences are discernible in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to St. …

Finding Answers: Spiritual Exercise 06/08/20

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Facing Our Immortality Support Group Call Time: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EDT) Call Uber Conference at 720-735-7025 or Online at uberconference.com/facingourimmortality Opening Prayer: REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. Finding Answers    Men and women with brilliant minds have peopled the ranks of science for centuries.  It is rarely mentioned that many of them have steadfastly acknowledged God as the source of the mysteries and marvels of creation they study.  One wonders why the false dichotomy between science and faith persists.  Science explores many things. But it is not the origin of its discoveries. Little Jacinta Marto, one of the newly canonized shepherd children who received the visitations …

The Spiritual Contest And The Mind: Spiritual Exercise 05/11/20

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Facing Our Immortality Support Group Call Time: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm MDT (8:30 pm to 10:00 pm EDT) Call Uber Conference at 720-735-7025 or Online at uberconference.com/facingourimmortality Opening Prayer: REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. The Spiritual Contest And The Mind The first, and undoubtedly the worst, bad decision ever made, was made in a battle between two superior intelligences before historical time began. Though we image the conflict with St. Michael dressed in armor and wielding a spear over Lucifer, the most beautiful of the angels now turned into a writhing, contorted, dragon-like creature, the battle was not physical but rather intellectual in nature. The arrogant supposition on the part of …

Our New Book “Gathering The Light: Treasures Out Of The Darkness”

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Announcing a new book by Sr. Anne Marie Walsh, Society of Our Lady Of The Most Holy Trinity (SOLT). These thoughtful reflections have been most helpful to our cherished monthly support group participants. Now these reflections, along with other treasures, are all together in one book to help you on your spiritual journey. “Gathering The Light” is a collection of articles, reflections and poetry. Many of the articles have appeared in various Catholic publications. It is set up in such a way that it can be used for personal reflection, book studies and support groups. We have been using a reflection from this collection every time we meet as the “Facing Our Immortality” cancer support group. In the midst of serious illness, or perhaps because of it, the desire to know the deep things of God becomes even more active and especially efficacious. The format of “Gathering The Light” offers focal points of light meant to help us see what perhaps we have not seen before. Each article, with a few exceptions, hovers around one-thousand …