It's True!!

Do not forget when you are sad, tired, tempted, weary, or lonely, that God loves and values you beyond measure.

God cares about us, more than we can ever imagine.

He remains with us, always.

God is at work in you!

Behold the One Who Loves Us More Than We Can Ever Possibly Imagine

Jesus, thank You for coming.When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together,
and one of them, a lawyer,
asked him a question to test him.

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

He said to him,
’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.’

This is the greatest and first commandment.

And a second is like it:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.”

Matthew 22:34-40

Love is life's purpose.

Allow God to love others through you.

Accept, return, and share
the incomprehensible, uncontainable, and immeasurable
love of God
which is of greatest value
to every eternal human soul.

Live in imitation of Christ.

God is at work in you!

What is the First Friday Devotion?

By Tom Mulcahy

This Friday, January 7, is First Friday. I would like to encourage every one of us to make and complete this special devotion, given the promise attached to it by the Lord Himself (see below). I believe significant blessings will flow to you by honoring this special devotion to the Eucharistic and Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Basically you go to Mass on the first Friday of the month for nine consecutive months with the intention of honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus, receiving Holy Communion worthily (prior sacramental confession if needed). Some parishes actually have First Friday Masses with benediction and special prayers after Mass, like Saint Cyril and Methodius (9am Mass). I highly recommend Father John Croiset's book, The Devotion to the Sacred Heart.

The promise of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary reads:

I promise you in the excessive Mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful Love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the Grace of Final Penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving the Sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

Servant of God Father John A. Hardon, S.J.,
on the importance of The Sacred Heart Devotion:

Fr. Hardon Archives - Sacred Heart

FIRST FRIDAY

I noticed that at the end of his book, Life Everlasting, the eminent Dominican theologian, Father Garrigou-Lagrange, who died in 1964, speaks with high endorsement of the First Friday Devotion of the Sacred Heart, stating on page 262:

"We may here remind the reader of the great promise of the Sacred Heart, to those who receive Communion well on nine successive First Fridays. This promise, we have said, is absolute, that it supposes that Communion has been well made for these nine times. This would be, therefore, a grace given only to the elect."

Father Garrigou-Lagrange was one of the great theologians and Thomists of his day, and a Professor of JP II! If you have not made the First Friday devotion, you may want to give serious consideration to doing so. There is nothing more important than salvation, or, rather, everything else in the world is as if nothing compared to being saved. This is what the gift of Wisdom teaches us.

ARDENTLY EUCHARISTIC

Here is a short reflection from Father Faber which I pray spurs us all on to greater adoration. I note that JP II made Alexandrina de Costa Blessed not too long ago, and the fact that this modern "saint" lived exclusively on the Eucharist for thirteen years certainly merits our consideration. Francis Johnston's book on her indicates on page 101 that Jesus promised that through her "many souls" would "become ardently Eucharistic."

Here's Faber's note:

Alexandrina Maria da Costa (1904-1955), biograph

THE SINGLE OVERPOWERING FACT OF THE WORLD IS THE BLESSED EUCHARIST

"If the Blessed Sacrament is Jesus all for us, is it not the most legitimate of conclusions that we should be all for Him? We should be all for Jesus, if Jesus is our all. And what does this mean? Surely, among other things, that the Blessed Sacrament should be to us just the single overpowering fact of the world.

"Our hands hold Him...our tongue rests Him...our soul feels Him...our flesh feeds upon Him... the INFINITE, the INCOMPREHENSIBLE, the IMMENSE, the ETERNAL [God]. Must not all life be looked at in this light, just as the whole Church lies in this light and has no other? What [should be] more attentive, what more reverent, what more familiar, what more timid, what more happy, than the worship of the Blessed Sacrament, and the peculiar practice of the presence of God which it is to all of us! Our whole being from year's end to year's end resolves itself into one double duty, one [of] PRAISE, and another [of] REPARATION, to this Most Holy Sacrament. And what else will the grand ceremony of our entrance into eternity be, but simply the unveiling of the Blessed Sacrament?

"All the attraction of the Church is in Jesus, and His chief attraction is the Blessed Sacrament. The Blessed Sacrament is the property of the souls of men.... Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament is the Queen of all devotions. It is the central devotion of the Church. All other [devotions] gather round it, and group themselves there as satellites; for [other devotions] celebrate his mysteries; this is Himself. It is the universal devotion. No one can be without it....How can a man be a Christian who does not worship the living presence of Christ? It [should] be every man's trade, occupation, profession, leisure, and ambition, to worship the Blessed Sacrament....But Oh! the awful solitude that reigns around the tabernacle!" 1

Thank you, Tom, for sharing this with us! God is at work in you.

______________

Sources:

1. F.W. Faber, The Blessed Sacrament (Rockford, IL; TAN Books), adapted and condensed from pages 400-452.

Pictures copyright 2010 Joseph Karl Publishing.

Imagine You Were There That Night

Place yourself at the scene the night our Savior was born.

Where would you be standing, and what would you have done?
Would you have known Who He is?
Would you ask if you could hold Him,
or would you be staring, speechless,
overcome with awe and wonder?

O come, let us adore Him!


Imagine yourself at the scene
as the Magi appeared.

What gifts would you have for our Savior?

Would you be the most reverent among the group?

Would you know what His coming meant for all mankind?
How would your life be affected by it?

Imagine that you were there at that moment.

Would you greet His mother, Mary,
and St. Joseph,
and fall to your knees before the infant Jesus?

Would the simplicity and holiness of the surroundings
move you to show greater love, mercy, and compassion?

Bring Him your gifts.

Allow Him to work through you.


You are a vital part of God's plan,
in the present day.

May we always show our Redeemer proper reverence,
like the angels.

The Epiphany of the Lord
Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church

Take your place and participate in salvation history.

The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14

Be there, and receive Him!!

Attend holy Mass, every day.

God is at work in you!

What a Beautiful Start to the Newest Year

An altar boy promotion on the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God.

See deep into eternity.

Nick, having just been promoted to the black cassock,
is on the right, and brother Andre is on the left

Tridentine Masses are so beautiful!

If you have never been to one, be sure to go!

Our Lady's altar boys.

Oh how much we are loved and valued.

Thank you, Jesus, for coming.

Thank you, Blessed Mother, for valuing life.

Congratulations, Nick!

God is at work in you. +

Joseph Karl Publishing Hits the Ground Running With Lots to Accomplish in 2011

Meet Paul Ray – the author and editor armed with unfailing faith and an incredible story to share.

Be sure to read Paul's interview with MyCatholicBlog.com,
and allow yourself to be drawn into
greater intimacy with the Divine:

http://www.mycatholicblog.com/interview-with-paul-ray/

Paul's blog is Tongues as of Fire!

http://www.tonguesasoffire.blogspot.com/

Paul Ray was instantly delivered from an addiction to alcohol by Jesus Christ on June 9, 2002, and since that moment has dedicated his life to knowing, loving, and serving God within His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Paul is a dynamic Catholic writer and speaker, and an editor at Joseph Karl Publishing. His life changing book, A New Voice for a Broken Soul, will be published fall 2011. Paul was just recruited by Apostolate Films to the team making the documentary film about Servant of God Father John Hardon, S.J. He also teaches high school Catechism at his parish.

In Honor of My Exceptional, Precious Children, One Final Post in 2010

Andre, Nick, and Alyssa, God is at work in you!

Andre, Nick, and Alyssa with Fr. Benjamin Kosnac
Christmas Eve, 2010

JKP's youth division hard at work earlier in the year.

The sweetest pixie fairy I know.

Thank heaven for altar boys!

Nick with his award-winning apostolate book for preteens.

Nick as St. Michael the Archangel

Andre with a picture of Fr. Hardon following the Mass
commemorating the 10th anniversary of his passing into eternal life,
held on December 30, 2010

Michele, Alyssa, and Nick

with a picture of Fr. Hardon, Servant of God,
the subject of Apostolate Film's new documentary
coming in 2011.


A movie on New Year's Eve.

Nick, Alyssa, and Andre with Fr. Brian Hurley
at a benefit this year.

Thank you, Andre, Nick, and Alyssa,
for responding to God's call
so heroically, unselfishly, nobly, and fully.

To those whom much has been given,
much is expected.

God is at work in you!

I love you forever,
Mom