A lost tradition that will sanctify your home

Rescued from the lost traditions of our Catholic Faith . . . A powerhouse of grace that bridges Church and home . . . Reclaimed in these pages for the first time . . .      Keeping a prayer life with your family isn't easy. From herding distracted children  to managing the endless litany of prayers and devotions, our spiritual life often feels frantic and burdensome. This isn't the way it should be! Our prayer life and our family life should — and can! — be in harmony. When they are, our family is a powerhouse of grace, and our home becomes a Little Eden — a little bit of heaven on earth. With simplicity and holy wisdom, this book shows you how to bring peace to your home by integrating your family into the calm, truly joyful way of Mother Church. Thomas Howard calls this book "a rare treasure." Christopher West calls it "a superb guide." Joseph Pearce calls it "wonderful, inspiring, and deeply practical." In these pages, authors David Clayton and Leila Lawler help you reclaim the almost lost tradition of the little oratory. Consisting of a modest table and icons, the little oratory is a visible sign of spiritual awareness and devotion . . . . . . spiritually nourishing your family by extending the Eucharistic worship of the Mass into your home. Building your own little oratory is simple, and in these pages you'll discover just how easy it is. In fact, you likely have most of the pieces in your home already — except, perhaps, the sacred art. That's why we've included in this book eight full-colored icons that are ready for framing. Eight full-colored icons are included in The Little Oratory. Here are just two of them: Each icon can be easily removed from the book and is ready for framing! * By following the wise advice in this book, you'll discover the peace and love that flow from a home that is focused on Christ. You'll also learn: How to overcome the feeling that you're too busy to pray.   How to use sacred art to strengthen your prayer life.   How to extend Catholic beliefs and devotions into every room of the house.   Why the Liturgy of the Hours is important and how it can make your family holy.   How to pray the Rosary with children — and keep the rowdiest of them calm and reverent.   The active role children can — and should — play in the prayer life of the family.   What to do when only one parent takes the spiritual life seriously.   Practical ways to extend the liturgical life into your workplace.   And countless other tips to help you practice your faith in the heart of your home. The Little Oratory: A Beginner's Guide to Praying in the Home by David Clayton and Leila Marie Lawler 224 Pages — List Price: $19.95   Order online HERE   Save 30% when you order the set: Original Price: $39.90  Order the set at this link for only $27.99. In this classic of domestic spirituality, you’ll find all the prayers, crafts, family activities, litanies, and recipes that will help make your children ever-mindful of the beautiful rhythm of the Church calendar. Learn how to make an Advent wreath — and how to make it more than just a pretty ornament.  Teach your children about the real Santa and how to celebrate all twelve days of Christmas, giving them a holy wonder that will continue long after all the presents have been opened. When Lent comes, learn simple secrets to helping your kids embrace their sacrifices with enthusiasm.  Then, learn how to make your home a place where Holy Week and Easter are duly treated as the highest, holiest days of all the year. Here Mary Reed Newland will teach you ways to reclaim All Souls’ and All Saints’ from the popular occultism of modern Halloween.  She’ll also show you why Church tradition accords special meaning to certain foods, colors, and symbols and how these add to the incarnational character of Catholic spirituality — allowing children to experience the Faith through sight, smell, touch, and taste.   Save 30% when you order the set HERE   Order Online above, or call 1-800-9344 www.SophiaInstitute.com Save up to 40% when you join Sophia's

THE SECRET of ROSARY - WHY CATHOLICS PRAY ROSARY?

The word rosary comes from Latin and means a garland of roses, the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolize the Virgin Mary. If you were to ask what object is most emblematic of Catholics, people would probably say, "The rosary, of course." We’re familiar with the images: the silently moving lips of the old woman fingering her beads; the oversized rosary hanging from the waist of the wimpled nun; more recently, the merely decorative rosary hanging from the rearview mirror.

After Vatican II the rosary fell into relative disuse. The same is true for Marian devotions as a whole. But in recent years the rosary has made a comeback, and not just among Catholics. Many Protestants now say the rosary, recognizing it as a truly biblical form of prayer—after all, the prayers that comprise it come mainly from the Bible.

The rosary is a devotion in honor of the Virgin Mary. It consists of a set number of specific prayers. First are the introductory prayers: one Apostles’ Creed (Credo), one Our Father (the Pater Noster or the Lord’s Prayer), three Hail Mary’s (Ave’s), one Glory Be (Gloria Patri).

The Apostles’ Creed

The Apostles’ Creed is so called not because it was composed by the apostles themselves, but because it expresses their teachings. The original form of the creed came into use around A.D. 125, and the present form dates from the 400s. It reads this way:

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen."

Traditional Protestants are able to recite the Apostles’ Creed without qualms, meaning every line of it, though to some lines they must give meanings different from those given by Catholics, who composed the creed. For instance, we refer to "the holy Catholic Church," meaning a particular, identifiable Church on earth. Protestants typically re-interpret this to refer to an "invisible church" consisting of all "true believers" in Jesus.

Protestants, when they say the prayer, refer to the (lower-cased) "holy catholic church," using "catholic" merely in the sense of "universal," not implying any connection with the (upper-case) Catholic Church, which is based in Rome. (This is despite the fact that the term "Catholic" was already used to refer to a particular, visible Church by the second century and had already lost its broader meaning of "universal").

Despite these differences Protestants embrace the Apostles’ Creed without reluctance, seeing it as embodying basic Christian truths as they understand them.

The Lord’s Prayer

The next prayer in the rosary—Our Father or the Pater Noster (from its opening words in Latin), also known as the Lord’s Prayer—is even more acceptable to Protestants because Jesus himself taught it to his disciples.

It is given in the Bible in two slightly different versions (Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). The one given in Matthew is the one we say. (We won’t reproduce it here. All Christians should have it memorized.)

The Hail Mary

The next prayer in the rosary, and the prayer which is really at the center of the devotion, is the Hail Mary. Since the Hail Mary is a prayer to Mary, many Protestants assume it’s unbiblical. Quite the contrary, actually. Let’s look at it.

The prayer begins, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." This is nothing other than the greeting the angel Gabriel gave Mary in Luke 1:28 (Confraternity Version). The next part reads this way:

"Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." This was exactly what Mary’s cousin Elizabeth said to her in Luke 1:42. The only thing that has been added to these two verses are the names "Jesus" and "Mary," to make clear who is being referred to. So the first part of the Hail Mary is entirely biblical.

The second part of the Hail Mary is not taken straight from Scripture, but it is entirely biblical in the thoughts it expresses. It reads:

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

Let’s look at the first words. Some Protestants do object to saying "Holy Mary" because they claim Mary was a sinner like the rest of us. But Mary was a Christian (the first Christian, actually, the first to accept Jesus; cf. Luke 1:45), and the Bible describes Christians in general as holy. In fact, they are called saints, which means "holy ones" (Eph. 1:1, Phil. 1:1, Col. 1:2). Furthermore, as the mother of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Mary was certainly a very holy woman.

Some Protestants object to the title "Mother of God," but suffice it to say that the title doesn’t mean Mary is older than God; it means the person who was born of her was a divine person, not a human person. (Jesus is one person, the divine, but has two natures, the divine and the human; it is incorrect to say he is a human person.) The denial that Mary had God in her womb is a heresy known as Nestorianism (which claims that Jesus was two persons, one divine and one human), which has been condemned since the early 400s and which the Reformers and Protestant Bible scholars have always rejected.

Another Mediator?

The most problematic line for non-Catholics is usually the last: "pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." Many non-Catholics think such a request denies the teaching of 1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." But in the preceding four verses (1 Tim. 2:1-4), Paul instructs Christians to pray for each other, meaning it cannot interfere with Christ’s mediatorship: "I urge that prayers, supplications, petitions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone. . . . This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior."

We know this exhortation to pray for others applies to the saints in heaven who, as Revelation 5:8 reveals, intercede for us by offering our prayers to God: "The twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

The Glory Be

The fourth prayer found in the rosary is the Glory Be, sometimes called the Gloria or Gloria Patri. The last two names are taken from the opening words of the Latin version of the prayer, which in English reads:

"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." The Gloria is a brief hymn of praise in which all Christians can join. It has been used since the fourth century (though its present form is from the seventh) and traditionally has been recited at the end of each Psalm in the Divine Office.

The Closing Prayer

We’ve covered the opening prayers of the rosary. In fact, we’ve covered all the prayers of the rosary except the very last one, which is usually the Hail Queen (Salve Regina), sometimes called the Hail Holy Queen. It’s the most commonly recited prayer in praise of Mary, after the Hail Mary itself, and was composed at the end of the eleventh century. It generally reads like this (there are several variants):

"Hail holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary."

So those are the prayers of the rosary. Between the introductory prayers and the concluding prayer is the meat of the rosary: the decades. Each decade—there are fifteen in a full rosary (which takes about forty-five minutes to say)—is composed of ten Hail Marys. Each decade is bracketed between an Our Father and a Glory Be, so each decade actually has twelve prayers.

Each decade is devoted to a mystery regarding the life of Jesus or his mother. Here the word mystery refers to a truth of the faith, not to something incomprehensible, as in the line, "It’s a mystery to me!" The fifteen mysteries are divided into three groups of five: the Joyful, the Sorrowful, the Glorious. When people speak of "saying the rosary" they usually mean saying any set of five (which takes about fifteen minutes) rather than the recitation of all fifteen mysteries. Let’s look at the mysteries.

Meditation the Key

First we must understand that they are meditations. When Catholics recite the twelve prayers that form a decade of the rosary, they meditate on the mystery associated with that decade. If they merely recite the prayers, whether vocally or silently, they’re missing the essence of the rosary. It isn’t just a recitation of prayers, but a meditation on the grace of God. Critics, not knowing about the meditation part, imagine the rosary must be boring, uselessly repetitious, meaningless, and their criticism carries weight if you reduce the rosary to a formula. Christ forbade meaningless repetition (Matt. 6:7), but the Bible itself prescribes some prayers that involve repetition. Look at Psalms 136, which is a litany (a prayer with a recurring refrain) meant to be sung in the Jewish Temple. In the psalm the refrain is "His mercy endures forever." Sometimes in Psalms 136 the refrain starts before a sentence is finished, meaning it is more repetitious than the rosary, though this prayer was written directly under the inspiration of God.

It is the meditation on the mysteries that gives the rosary its staying power. The Joyful Mysteries are these: the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), the Visitation (Luke 1:40-56), the Nativity (Luke 2:6-20), the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:21-39), and the Finding of the child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-51).

Then come the Sorrowful Mysteries: the Agony in the Garden (Matt. 26:36-46), the Scourging (Matt. 27:26), the Crowning with Thorns (Matt. 27:29), the Carrying of the Cross (John 19:17), and the Crucifixion (Luke 23:33-46).

The final Mysteries are the Glorious: the Resurrection (Luke 24:1-12), the Ascension (Luke 24:50-51), the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), the Assumption of Mary into heaven (Rev. 12), and her Coronation (cf. Rev. 12:1).

With the exception of the last two, each mystery is explicitly scriptural. True, the Assumption and Coronation of Mary are not explicitly stated in the Bible, but they are not contrary to it, so there is no reason to reject them out of hand. Given the scriptural basis of most of the mysteries, it’s little wonder that many Protestants, once they understand the meditations that are the essence of the rosary, happily take it up as a devotion. We’ve looked at the prayers found in the rosary and the mysteries around which it is formed. Now let’s see how it was formed historically.

The Secret of Paternoster Row

It’s commonly said that St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans), instituted the rosary. Not so. Certain parts of the rosary predated Dominic; others arose only after his death.

Centuries before Dominic, monks had begun to recite all 150 psalms on a regular basis. As time went on, it was felt that the lay brothers, known as the conversi, should have some form of prayer of their own. They were distinct from the choir monks, and a chief distinction was that they were illiterate. Since they couldn’t read the psalms, they couldn’t recite them with the monks. They needed an easily remembered prayer.

The prayer first chosen was the Our Father, and, depending on circumstances, it was said either fifty or a hundred times. These conversi used rosaries to keep count, and the rosaries were known then as Paternosters ("Our Fathers").

In England there arose a craftsmen’s guild of some importance, the members of which made these rosaries. In London you can find a street, named Paternoster Row, which preserves the memory of the area where these craftsmen worked.

The rosaries that originally were used to count Our Fathers came to be used, during the twelfth century, to count Hail Marys—or, more properly, the first half of what we now call the Hail Mary. (The second half was added some time later.)

Both Catholics and non-Catholics, as they learn more about the rosary and make more frequent use of it, come to see how its meditations bring to mind the sweet fragrance not only of the Mother of God, but of Christ himself.

NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004

-Catholic Answer-

Think about....

"A journey to God starts with small steps. He doesn't expect you to run the mile. But He promises to give you the strength to go the distance."

God's Love for us is ....

God's love for us is like a circle.
- It has no sides to be broken, no ends to be ended and no angles to be measured.

THE CONFLICT IN GAZA

By Fr. Shay Cullen

The death toll is at least 1,360 Palestinians killed, mostly civilians, women and children, and hundreds more have been injured. 58 Israelis killed, 56 soldiers, 2 of them civilians. 16 Palestinians were killed when an Israeli shell hit a UN school where 3000 refugees were sheltering. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said “all available evidence say that it was an Israeli strike.”

A day of shame for Israel, said a UN spokesperson. Another 100 Palestinians were killed last Wednesday, 30 July, mostly children in a playground, others killed as they slept. The Israeli air strikes continue and 86,000 troops will be deployed against the Hamas militants in the Gaza strip who are firing hundreds of homemade rockets into Israeli territory without causing any significant damage, most are shot down.

Far be it from me to try analyze the complexities of the conflict in Gaza. Excuse an oversimplification and a very brief glimpse of the history. It’s a fight that has its roots in the shiploads of Jewish immigrants and refugees arriving in Palestine fleeing the aftermath of WWII and the Holocaust. They fought the occupying British colonial power in a guerrilla war and they used acts of terror bombing the David hotel. Eventually, the British withdrew and the Israelis took-over Palestine driving out many thousands of the original Palestinians whose land it rightfully was. This is an injustice, say the Palestinians and demand they get back their land. The Israelis founded the State of Israel claiming they had a Biblical right to all of Palestine.

The original Palestinian inhabitants became refugees in Lebanon and Gaza and were driven onto the West Bank of the Jordan where today, the Palestinian authority rules. A land of exile they say but under the control of Israel. The rest of the people are contained in the Gaza strip and isolated which was occupied by the Israelis until 2005.They still block all borders. Egypt controls the southern border. The Palestinians are demanding an independent state, side by side with Israel, but a peace agreement cannot be reached.

In the Gaza strip, a militant group of Sunni Islamic resistance fighters named Hamas violently opposed Israel and has been in violent conflict with them since the 1990′s. They are marked as a terrorist group and took over the Gaza strip but recently made a political pact with the Palestine West bank government. After the recent abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers this year and the torture and burning alive of a Palestine boy, as apparent revenge by some Israelis, the latest conflict broke out when Hamas began firing rockets into Israel yet again.

The one thing that Israel has in abundance is fire power, deadly, mostly accurate, powerfully devastating, murderous and most of the 1,360 Palestinians have been killed by bombs, shells and crushed and buried alive under the collapse of homes and public building. The alleged deliberate shelling and bombing of homes and houses, schools, hospitals and shelters in a massive bombardment is a possible war crime according to a UN body. Israel denies targeting civilians.

Can the invasion of Gaza and massive killing of so many Palestinians by Israel be justified? It’s an exercise in self-defense, the Israelis say, and they must eliminate the enemy who is firing rockets into Israel. The Hamas organization says they have a right to self-defense too against the invading force. That’s the weakness of the Israeli position, they are invaders as they were in 2009 when a similar invasion was launched.

Hamas is the sworn enemy of Israel and the most pernicious thorn in its foot. It is out gunned, out shot and out bombed. It does not have a good reputation, it is an organization that denies the right of Israel to exist although it says it is open to long terms peace deal. It has been condemned as a terrorist organization and has delivered murder and mayhem on Israelis over the past years. It too may have committed war crimes by concealing its rockets in civilian areas.

It’s unguided and wild firing of rockets into Israel has killed very few Israelites and destroyed hardly any buildings. The Iron Dome anti-rocket protection shield over Israel gives it a high degree of protection. The alleged Israeli retaliation by massive force and indiscriminate violence is disproportionate, many say. Hamas fighters have killed 56 Israeli soldiers and 2 civilians as of this writing.

Hamas fighters and the Palestinians civilians are trapped and blockaded into a narrow strip of land, no way in or out, cornered with their back to the sea from where Israeli war ships are shelling them also. It is far from being a fair fight. They are totally surrounded and being squeezed into a tight circle which now is becoming a killing ground for civilians and all.

The lifting of this blockade is one of the main demands of Hamas and why it will not easily agree to a cease-fire, nor can it ever appear to surrender. Hamas fighters have concealed its rockets in the civilian areas simply because there is nowhere else to hide them. But that cannot be justified either and may be a war crime if they prevented civilians from fleeing the area.

War like this is totally devastating and achieves nothing but greater human suffering and terrible destruction. This is a war of hatred and loathing. Both sides have a irreconcilable hatred against the other and Israel, by far the greater overwhelming power, is determined to destroy Hamas and their rocket firing capability and destroy the underground tunnels which Hamas has built to infiltrate Israel.

Killing thousands of civilians to destroy homemade rockets that have little, effective destructive power is not morally right, the Israelis need a better, intelligent and wiser solution. Violence will not solve this, it only creates more victims and thousands of revenge seeking Palestinians.

The best of all would be to do justice and make a just peace. They must give the Palestinians their historical rights. Just as Israel wants its right to exist and to be recognized, so also the Palestinians want their free state too. It seems an impossible stalemate but we pray and hope that the killing on both sides will stop and a lasting peace will, one day be reached. [shaycullen@preda.org ; www.preda.org ]

Today's Mass Readings - Sunday, August 3, 2014 with Reflection

1^ST READING - Isaiah 55:1-3

1 Thus says the Lord: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! 2 Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. 3 Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.

P S A L M - Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18

R: The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. 9 The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. (R) 15 The eyes of all look hopefully to you, and you give them their food in due season; 16 you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. (R) 17 The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. 18 The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. (R)

2ND READING - Romans 8:35, 37-39

35 Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? 37 No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Matthew 14:13-21

13 When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. 14 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” 17 But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” 18 Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” 19 and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over — twelve wicker baskets full. 21 Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

SABBATH

FEEDING THE MULTITUDES Is Jesus simply showing off when He performs the miracle of feeding the multitudes? I think not, as that would be sinful and, as we all know, Jesus did not sin. The miracle is all about God’s providence — He will and does provide for His people. The critical thing for me in the miracle is the fact that there is a contribution from those who are ultimately fed.          It is important because it signifies that we do what we can to reach our goal. It acknowledges that we have given our own resources and it is not just God who is doing the giving. This is important as it demonstrates that we cannot just stand back and wait for God to do everything as regards our faith. We have to get involved with our God-given talents and resources. And the message of the miracle is simply that God will provide for whatever is lacking, even if it happens to be the vast majority of what is needed.        What matters is that we have given our all, and I mean all, in faith, as this will open the heavens for God’s grace to come into our situation. If we hold back anything, what right do we have to ask God to provide what is lacking, let alone demand that He do so, whether we believe He can or not?          As we reflect upon this miracle today, let us see it as a challenge to give our all for the work of the Kingdom. Let us hold nothing back from the service of the Gospel even when it may seem that our contribution is insignificant. Let us trust that whatever we have has been given by God to us for the purpose of sharing it with others. In this way, I believe that we will get the best out of both God and ourselves for the work of His Kingdom.Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL REFLECTION QUESTION: What is your contribution to the advancement of God’s Kingdom in the here and now? Jesus, thank You for Your daily provisions — today and for always. Thank You because I have never really lacked what I need in serving You. St. Peter Julian Eymard, pray for us. Do you want to receive this in your email. To get Bo Sanchez to send it to you personally, register and log-on to http://kerygmafamily.com.

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