Monthly Archives: September 2011

Happy Feast of St. Padre Pio!

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St. Padre Pio beautifully teaches us, by his words and most especially by his life, about redemptive suffering.

Reflect on some of his thoughts today, and ask him to intercede for you in your own sufferings.

“Jesus said to me; ‘How many times would you have abandoned Me, my son, if I had not crucified you. Beneath the cross, one learns love, and I do not give this to everyone, but only to those souls who are dearest to Me.” -Secrets of a Soulpadre pio

“When Jesus wants me to understand that He loves me, He allows me to savor the wounds, the thorns, the agonies of His passion…When He wants to delight me, He fills my heart with that spirit which is all fire; He speaks to me of His delights. But when He wants to be delighted, He speaks to me of His sorrows, He invites me — with a voice full of both supplication and authority — to affix my body [to the cross] in order to alleviate His suffering. Who can resist Him? I realize how much my miseries have caused Him to suffer, how much I have offended Him. I desire no other than Jesus alone, I want nothing more than His pains (because this is what Jesus wishes).” -Secrets of a Soul

St. Padre Pio, pray for us!

Do you JOYFULLY help others? -Reflection by St. John Chrysostom

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Today is the feast of St. John Chrysostom, the great preacher. Take a minute to reflect on his commentary about helping others in a spirit of joy:

“Helping a person in need is good in itself. But the degree of goodness is hugely affected by the attitude with which it is done. If you show resentment because you are helping the person out of a reluctant sense of duty, then the person may stJohnchrysostomrecieve your help but may feel awkward and embarrassed. This is because he will feel beholden to you. If,on the other hand, you help the person in a spirit of joy, then the help will be received joyfully. The person will feel neither demeaned nor humiliated by your help, but rather will feel glad to have caused you pleasure by receiving your help. And joy is the appropriate attitude with which to help others because acts of generosity are a source of blessing to the giver as well as the receiver.”

St. John Chrysostom, help us to fill our lives with joyful preaching, through word and example. Pray for us!

New Orleans Continuing the Catholics Come Home Outreach with Archdiocesesan-wide Confessions This Sept 14th

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Archbishop Aymond of New Orleans announced that there will be Archdiocesan-wide evening confessions available on September 14th to continue the outreach associated with their recent Catholics Come Home® diocesan partner campaign this past Lent.

Read excerpts below from The Clarion Herald, Official Newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans:

clarion_blog_header

Archdiocesan-wide confessions set
for Sept. 14

Written by Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond Every church in the archdiocese is scheduling confessions for Sept. 14, beginning at 7 p.m. How did this archdiocesan initiative come about?
It was the result of two discussions. When we were talking about the Catholics Come Home program in Lent, we wanted to make sure that people who had been away from the church not only felt welcomed back to the family table but also to the sacrament of penance and to all of the blessings of the Catholic Church. There is great power in the sacrament of penance. God touches our brokenness and heals us and gives us new life. We were talking about how the number of confessions across the archdiocese probably would increase. That led into a discussion that sometimes we may not be making confession available at the most convenient times for people to come…But the question is, how can we make it more available, given that it is such an important part of our tradition and such an important practice that Jesus calls us to. He calls us to bring our brokenness to him.
What suggestions would you have for Catholics who have not been to confession in quite awhile?
I think they should go into the confessional and simply say, “Father, I haven’t been to confession in a long time, and I might need some help. Could you help me examine my conscience? Could you help me go through the sacrament step by step because it’s been a long time?” All of us as priests have had those opportunities, and it really helps for a person to get that out. We as priests need to help them to feel more comfortable. That puts more responsibility on priests, but that allows us to walk with them.
Have you seen an increase in confessions since the Catholics Come Home program?
We asked pastors to evaluate the Catholics Come Home program, and without any hard statistics, their feeling was that confessions this past Lent were more than usual. Also, people outside of confession have said to me that they used the reminders provided by Catholics Come Home as a catalyst to go to confession. Catholics Come Home not only invited people back to the church who had been away for awhile but also reinvigorated active Catholics to become more appreciative of their faith and live their faith more deeply. In these very busy times we tend not to think of confession. Confession can take us out of our comfort zone because we go before God and another human being, who is representing Christ and the church, and we recount our wrongdoing. But confession is a rich sacrament where we experience God’s mercy.

To read the entire story, visit The Clarion Herald website