Catholic Fire

Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps." (Luke 9:23) Reflection: "Our Lord sometimes makes you feel the weight of the cross. This weight seems unbearable but you carry it because in His love and mercy, the Lord helps you and gives you strength." "Imagine Jesus crucified in your arms and on your chest, and say a hundred times as you kiss His chest, "This is my hope, the living source of my happiness; this is the heart of my soul; nothing will ever separate me from His love." ~ St. Pio of Pietrelcina Action: Today, I will carry the crosses the Lord chooses to give me, as I surrender my heart to Him, opening it up to all His life-strengthening graces. I will give up discouragement, and accept the hope that He desires to give me. For, nothing can separate me from His love. ~ copyright February 7, 2008, Jean M. Heimann

I love this reflection on Lent by Our Holy Father that I found over at Eagle and Elephant - it's just beautiful! The desert is the place of silence, of solitude; it is the absence of the exchanges of daily life, its noise and its superficiality. The desert is the place of the absolute, the place of freedom, which sets us before the ultimate demands. Not by chance is the desert the place where monotheism began. In that sense it is a place of grace. In putting aside all preoccupations we encounter our Creator. Great things have their beginnings in the desert, in silence, in poverty. It is not possible to share in the mission of Jesus, in the mission of the Gospel, without sharing in the desert experience, its poverty, its hunger. [Go here to read the rest .]

Many people think that sinners get more, not less. One imagines that the thief, for example, receives more when he steals. But the thief in fact loses the the good of a determined social order without which human life falls apart. Another supposes that the more sexual pleasure a person procures, the more he will experience personal happiness. But the truth is that the unchaste person gets less of the good that sexual pleasure is meant to promote, that is, wedded friendship, the only sanctifiable context within which sexual pleasure unites man and woman. Still another argues that the destruction of inconvenient human life results in acquiring more liberty for individuals and society. But the reality is that the killing of the innocent forfeits a respect for the Creator that no creature can afford to live without. So Jesus admonishes us: "Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34). The only remedy for sin is developing a strong filial rela...

Lenten Reflection for Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent Today's Mass Readings and Homily Today in Catholic History 1378 Gregory XI , the last French (Avignonese) pope, died (b. ca. 1336).

Lenten Reflection for the 4th Friday in Lent Scripture Readings for today Homily of the Day Catholic History on this day 752 - Stephen is elected Pope. He died three days later, before being ordained bishop, and is not considered a legitimate pope. 1966 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Arthur Michael Ramsey visited Rome and met with Pope Paul VI . This was the first such meeting between the heads of these two churches since Henry VIII broke from Rome to form the Church of England over four hundred years before.