Author: olacatholic416

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Minute Meditation – God Appreciates Our Prayers

Whatever struggles you may face with the rosary, never walk away feeling discouraged. If your mind wanders, if you don’t feel the fervor, or if you’re very sleepy while praying, remember that the words you are reciting are biblical and holy. Simply pulling out your beads and saying the sacred words is giving something beautiful to God, even if your heart or mind is not as into it as you’d like.

Moreover, as St. Thomas Aquinas taught, the intention to pray is itself the beginning of prayer. In fact, he wrote in his Summa Theologiae, “It is not necessary that prayer should be attentive throughout; because the force of the original intention with which one sets about praying renders the whole prayer meritorious.” If we sincerely desire to give God our best in the rosary, but we lose attention and fervor, that foundational good intention is still a beautiful gift to God. So even if our performance of the rosary is not as great as we’d like it to be, that doesn’t wipe out the foundation of a good intention.

—from the book Praying the Rosary Like Never Before: Encounter the Wonder of Heaven and Earth
by Edward Sri

//Franciscan Media – Facebook – 5/28/2024//

God Appreciates Our Prayers | Franciscan Media

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Minute Meditation – Love Conquers Sin

It was because Christ was the perfect adorer of God, the perfect bridge between creatures and the Creator, that he could bridge the gap created by sin. Sin was not first in God’s intentions; but because we sinned, when God does come among us as Jesus Christ, his perfect adoration ends up being his perfect sacrifice.

He didn’t come to repair sin, he came to be the firstborn perfect creature; but because we sinned, he showed us just how great is God’s love: God not only becomes one of us, but he dies with and for us and made peace “through the blood of his cross.”

—from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM

Love Conquers Sin | Franciscan Media

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Minute Meditation – God’s Playful Spirit

What if our relationship with God is as simple but as joyful and sweet as spending the day playing with our grandchildren? We are delighted with their every tentative move, questioning eyes, captivating smiles, out-of-left-field antics, half-blurted syllables. Before someone hauls me before the Inquisition for heretical ideas, may I offer the scenario of the third joyful mystery, the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ? The three Wise Men traveled from afar, guided by the bright star, anticipating the once-in-a-lifetime meeting with the promised Messiah.

At the end of their long and harrowing journey, there was Jesus, asleep in the manger—a beautiful, gentle, innocent baby.

Our loving God will do anything to gladden our hearts. Anything to make our day. Surely, God will happily play with us, as Christ did with his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. Can we open our hearts, “become like children” (Mt 18:3), and allow God to play with us?

—from the blog “At Play in the Fields of the Lord“
by Ed Gamboa, MD

God’s Playful Spirit | Franciscan Media

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Theology of the Body – Session One – From the Beginning

This video is one installment of a 4-part series on the Theology of the Body presented by Fr. Mike. For free access to the entire series, please visit https://www.ascensionpress.com/tobtalk/

If the deepest secret of God is that God is love, and he made you in his image and likeness, then what’s the deepest secret about you? You are made for love. What does it mean to be human? What was God’s original plan for humanity? For relationships? For marriage? For sex? Why is the body important? In these four lessons, Fr. Mike leans into the teachings of St. John Paul II and Christopher West, unpacking the mysteries of the human heart, the human body, and relationships. In this first lesson, we learn about the origins of the Theology of the Body, what it means, and why what we do with our bodies matters. We are taken back to the beginning in Genesis Chapters 1-3, the creation of Adam and Eve. Despite their differences as male and female, we discover how they were equal in terms of dignity yet complementary in their differences.

This series is brought to you for free by Fr. Mike’s local ministry, bulldogCatholic. This series is worth more than $80, but bulldogCatholic is providing it free of cost to you. Please donate to support their mission! https://bulldogcatholic.org/seeds-of-…

If this information is as fascinating to you as it is to us, you can dive deeper with Christopher West and the @TheologyoftheBodyInstitute

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Theology of the Body – Session Two – Adultery in the Heart

This video is one installment of a 4-part series on the Theology of the Body presented by Fr. Mike. For free access to the entire series, please visit https://www.ascensionpress.com/tobtalk/

“But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:28

Sin has broken the world for men and women. Because of sin, our relationships with God, with each other, and even in our own hearts are broken. But as Fr. Mike encourages us during this second lesson, Jesus is on our side. He came to redeem our ethos and give us a new heart. The Theology of the Body highlights the fact that in the beginning, a broken world did not exist. In the beginning, we were free to love and be loved fully. But now, for men and women, that freedom has often become twisted in our hearts. We can find ourselves desiring to use another person. If you find yourself in circumstances where you have fallen in these areas, remember that it’s not just about discipline or grit. Above all, it’s about grace. If you fall, just keep praying. If you fall, fall into the confessional. And if you feel empty, fill yourself with Jesus in the Eucharist.

This series is brought to you for free by Fr. Mike’s local ministry, bulldogCatholic. This series is worth more than $80, but bulldogCatholic is providing it free of cost to you. Please donate to support their mission! https://bulldogcatholic.org/seeds-of-…

If this information is as fascinating to you as it is to us, you can dive deeper with Christopher West and the @TheologyoftheBodyInstitute

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Theology of the Body – Session Three – Language of the Body 

This video is one installment of a 4-part series on the Theology of the Body presented by Fr. Mike. For free access to the entire series, please visit https://www.ascensionpress.com/tobtalk/

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” John 13:34

The word “love” can often be overused and undervalued. In this third lesson of the Theology of the Body Crash Course, Fr. Mike outlines love. He explains the four different kinds of love, the four marks of God’s love, and how the body intrinsically has a language in and of itself. To be made in God’s image and likeness means that he made us to love like him. To love as he loves involves the four kinds of love: storge, eros, philia, and agapé. Within those four kinds of love, we find four markers of God’s love:

1. It is always free

2. It is always total

3. It is always faithful

4. It is always fruitful

Our body has a language, and we are constantly saying something. Speaking the language of the body takes time and practice, but it’s worth it. Why? Because we will be speaking the language for the purpose for which we were created: love. This series is brought to you for free by Fr. Mike’s local ministry, bulldogCatholic.

This series is worth more than $80, but bulldogCatholic is providing it free of cost to you. Please donate to support their mission! https://bulldogcatholic.org/seeds-of-…

If this information is as fascinating to you as it is to us, you can dive deeper with Christopher West and the @TheologyoftheBodyInstitute

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Theology of the Body – Session Four – What Does This Mean for Your Life?

This video is one installment of a 4-part series on the Theology of the Body presented by Fr. Mike. For free access to the entire series, please visit https://www.ascensionpress.com/tobtalk/

“And now, O Lord, I am not taking this sister of mine because of lust, but with sincerity. Grant that I may find mercy and may grow old together with her.” Tobit 8:7

In this fourth and final installment of the Theology of the Body Crash Course, we apply these teachings to Scripture. We look at the marriage of Tobias and Sarah and a reading from Song of Songs. We learn how the promises made during the sacrament of the Rite of Marriage bear the four marks of God’s love. Fr. Mike Schmitz then highlights three ways in which our society works against love that is free, total, faithful, and fruitful: through the use of contraception, pornography, and homosexuality (same-sex attraction). Summarizing what we’ve learned in each session, Fr. Mike instructs us in fasting, looking someone in the eyes, and saying no to ourselves. Implementing this way of life is a process, not an event.

We end this course with the words of Jesus and St. John Paul II: “Be not afraid.”

This series is brought to you for free by Fr. Mike’s local ministry, bulldogCatholic. This series is worth more than $80, but bulldogCatholic is providing it free of cost to you. Please donate to support their mission! https://bulldogcatholic.org/seeds-of-…