- Pray and fast for someone every day of Lent.
- When you shop, only buy those things you really need.
- Pray a rosary every day for someone who has hurt you.
- Say something nice to someone each day.
- Write a short letter to someone each day of lent. Express thanks for their friendship.
- Call someone you having’t talked to in a long time.
- Raise money for a worthy Catholic charity.
- Pray for your priests and Bishop each day.
- Take flowers, a meal or dessert to a neighbor in your neighborhood.
- Make a bag of snacks to keep in your car and give them to people who are begging for help.
- Cut salt from your food.
- Cut cream or sugar from your coffee.
- Pray in front of an abortion clinic for an hour a week.
- Visit a cemetary once a week and pray a rosary.
- Find something in your house you do not need or use and donate it to charity.
Category: Churchy Stuff
Recommended Reading for Lent
- Searching for and Maintaining Peace, Phillipe
- This Tremendous Lover, Bouyer
- Preparing for Easter, howell
- The Ascent of Mount Carmel, by St. John of the Cross
- The Introduction to a Devout Life, by St. Francis de Sales
- The Story of a Soul, by St. Thérèse of Lisieux
- The Spiritual Castle, by St. Teresa of Avila
- The Soul of the Apostolate, by Abbot Chautard
- Christ: The Ideal of the Monk, by Abbot Marmion
- Preparation for Death, by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
- The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis
- Transformation in Christ by Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand
- The Mystery of the Crown of Thorns by a Passionist
- What Jesus Saw from the Cross by Fr. A.G. Sertillanges
- Meditations for Lent by St. Thomas Aquinas
- Lenten Sermons by Fr. Augustine Wirth
- A Lent in Earnest by Lucy Ellen Guernsey
- The Lenten Gospels for Daily Meditation During the Holy Season of Lent
- Pope St. Leo the Great’s Sermons on Lent
How Late Is “Too Late” When You’re Late for Mass?
“In order that the grave obligation of hearing Mass on Sundays
… Read the restand Holydays be fulfilled certain conditions are required on thepart of the Mass and on the part of the attendants. – One may beexcused from assisting at Mass for a proportionately good reason.I. On the part of the Mass of obligation the followingis required:1. It must be a complete Mass, i.e., assistance at itmust extend from the beginning of the Mass to thelast blessing.A venial sin is committed by voluntarily omitting an unimportantpart of the Mass, e.g., from the beginning of the Mass to theOffertory exclusive, or the part that follows the Communion, oreven the part which precedes the Epistle together with that whichfollows the Comm union.A mortal sin is committed by missing an important part voluntarily,e.g., that which precedes the Gospel together with whatfollows Holy Communion, the part extending from the beginningof the Mass to the Offertory inclusive, the part of the Canon thatprecedes the Consecration, or the part between the Consecrationand the “Pater Noster,” or the Consecration alone; but probablynot the Communion alone. It is held
Catechism of Social Reign of Christ
Courtesy of Dr. Thomas Droleskey
Part I: The The Social Reign of Christ the King
1. What are the principles that must govern human life, both individually and collectively in civil society?
… Read the restThere are limits that exist in the nature of things beyond which men have no authority or right to transgress, whether acting individually or collectively in the institutions of civil governance.
2. Who has revealed these principles and do they bind all men in all circumstances, including those of civil governance?
There are limits that have been revealed positively by God Himself in his Divine Revelation, that bind all men in all circumstances at all times, binding even the institutions of civil governance.
3. What is the nature of the concept of hierarchy in family and social life?
A divinely-instituted hierarchy exists in man’s most basic natural unit of association: the family. The father is the head of the family and governs his wife and children in accord with the binding precepts of the Divine positive law and the natural law. Children do not have the authority to disobey the legitimate commands of their parents. Parents do not have the authority to issue illegitimate and/or unjust commands.
4. How is this concept of authority demonstrated in the life of the Holy Family?
Our Lord Himself became Incarnate in Our Lady’s virginal and immaculate womb, subjecting Himself to the authority of His creatures, obeying his foster-father, Saint Joseph, as the head of the Holy Family, thus teaching us
The only thing necessary
The crisis of our time has moved as of now from the cultural and moral field to the psychological, meaning psychology in its etymological sense, which is that of “science of the soul.” If morality establishes the laws of human behavior, psychology investigates the cognitive and affective life of man. Man is a composite of soul and body, and the soul, which is the vital principle of the body, has two main faculties, intellect and will. As a corporeal being, man is also endowed with internal and external senses that participate in his cognitive process. When man’s primary and secondary faculties are well ordered, his personality develops harmoniously. But when, in the obscure meeting place between sense impressions and the spiritual faculties disordered passions develop, the soul experiences a situation of imbalance that can lead to moral and psychological ruin. Man risks psychological breakdown when he becomes unaware of the one true end of his life, which is our sanctification and the glory of God.
One could object that many individuals, in spite of having lost sight of man’s primary end, seem psychologically untroubled and at ease. And yet the psychological stability that health, money, and the affections themselves give is only apparent. Individuals who are apparently strong, but devoid of God, are like the houses built on sand of which the Gospel speaks. All it takes is the loss of one of the false goods on which they rely to unleash a psychological crisis in them. But what happens … Read the rest