Purgatory – Is it real?

I’ve been taught all my life that Purgatory is a place somewhere between our death here on Earth and our arrival in Heaven.  A place where believers who die with sin on their souls are cleansed before entering into the Glory of Heaven. My priest spoke of it today during his Homily.

Here’s a link from the Catholic Encylopedia with its explanation –>http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm

and here’s an opposing view –> http://video.christianpost.com/dr-bobby-conway-is-purgatory-biblical-2520/

Here’s what I think, I think Jesus died for our sins.  We Are Forgiven.  So why do we need a Purging Place?  If one can be forgiven of the most heineous sin in a confessional, why does a soul need days, weeks, months, who knows how long to be cleansed of sin before entrance into Heaven is granted?  Granted, we need to ask for forgiveness first.  So if, when we die, we have sins that we haven’t asked forgiveness for, are we given a chance for that last confession?  And maybe some time before hand to go to the videotape of our lives first?  Sounds like I just have a lot of unanswered questions.

I offer this…does it matter?  We are told by Christ himself, Love God first, more than anything, then Love your neighbor as yourself.  Do these things, ask forgiveness when you mess up, admit when you’re wrong, always strive to do better and avoid sin as much as humanly possible, ask God for His Grace to help you through those tough times, and IF there is a Purgatory, your time should be short, if you need to spend any time there at all.  Regardless of whether there is a Purgatory or not, you are required, by Jesus the Lord Himself, to do the two commands listed above.  The talking heads can argue the point until Kingdom Come.  The truth is, no man knows for sure.  So just live the way Christ taught us. Simple enough.

Keep praying!

Deneen

The New Catholic Mass prayers…WHAT were they thinking?

A little over a year ago, the Catholic Church instituted new, ‘updated’,  prayers for the Mass in all English speaking countries. To make them more meaningful supposedly. Huh? Please tell me how the word ‘consubstantial’ has more meaning than ‘one in being with’. For those of you who go to Mass regularly, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s been since November 2011 and even the priests are still making mistakes regularly.

Here’s a quote from the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), “The richness of these seemingly subtle changes not only brings our prayer closer in line with our brothers and sisters who speak other languages, but also invites us to enter more fully into the mystery of the Mass,” the bishops wrote. “Our participation in the liturgy is an essential part of our worship.”  “The closer translation seeks to preserve the rich imagery and language in the original Latin,” said Father Paul deLadurantaye, diocesan secretary for catechetics and sacred liturgy for the Diocese of Arlington, VA.   Huh?  I thought the original scriptures were written in Greek.

Subtle? Is that why 15 months later we are ALL still making mistakes regularly? Rich imagery? I don’t know about you, but when I talk to God, I like it to be a conversation.  Me putting it all out there in front of the Lord so that he can wipe it away.  I don’t speak Latin, never have. I want to know what I’m saying when I’m praying, otherwise it’s just a lot of memorized gobbledegook. Means nothing.

This is what it looks like to me.  The Vatican has much heartburn over American Catholics.  They think we are too free-thinking, open-minded, independent.  (But keep sending us your money Americans.) What better way to bring us back into line and flex those Vatican muscles than to change our prayers, make us conform, make us bend. It’s a well-known fact that an American bishop/cardinal will never be Pope.  We’re not holy enough, I guess. So much for heart-felt prayer with God, opening their minds as to who should really lead the Church.  It’s all politics.  Prayer my foot.  Just keep drinking the Kool-Aid and do what we say.

But who is going to listen to me? After all, I’m an American Catholic and a female to boot.  No one in Rome cares what I think or have to say.

Disgruntled in Virginia, but still praying.  Stay holy everyone, keep praying that the Lord will shed His light on what REALLY matters.

Deneen

Angry at God?

Are you ever angry at God? Sometimes I am. I was angry at God when I lost my daughter because I couldn’t understand why He even let me get pregnant, when I was going through a divorce, when I lost my father because I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye, and when I had a scare when my mammogram came back positive. All four of these huge, life-changing events happened within 9 months of one another. When I got the call from the nurse, I looked up to heaven and said, ‘You just have to move on to someone else. I just can’t do ONE more huge thing like this’. I’m also a single mother and my remaining children were only 8 at the time (they’re twins) and I wasn’t sure they could make it easily without me. The mammogram proved to be a false positive!

Too much. Sometimes life is just so over-whelming. Work as well as a home-based business, kids’ school, sports, boy’s club activities, girl’s club activities, and keeping a household running wears me down. Jesus says His load is light, but sometimes, I just want to know, ‘When?’. I don’t seem to be alone in this. When you talk to folks, everyone has their burdens, everyone has their crosses and some seem much larger than anything I’ve ever had to deal with. ‘Why?’ Why must we all go through this Hell on Earth? Or is life the real Purgatory and not some nebulous place between Heaven and Earth? Why the game?

Ever read the Book of Job? The way God allowed the devil to play with Job is beyond me. It was a game, a bet. Could Job stand loosing all his wealth, health, children, everything he held dear and still be faithful to God? I believe he passed the test and the riches bestowed upon him after ‘The Test’ was beyond Job’s wildest dreams. I would suppose there is a lesson in that story. Stay the Course. Keep the Faith. Semper Fi.

Well, despite everything, I Believe! I believe I will be rewarded, if not in this life, then in the life after. I also believe Our Father has broad shoulders and that He can take it when you’re angry with Him. This means He matters to you if you care enough to be angry with Him! Otherwise, a person would just be completely indifferent, I suppose. I also remember to say ‘Thank You’ to Him when something good comes my way as well.

So Semper Fi everyone because you are not alone. When you get angry with The Lord, remember the ‘Footprints’ poem. He’s there and He’s carrying you. Stay the course, because indeed, the reward is great.

Blessings to you and may your burden today be light.

Deneen

Footprints poem link: http://homeschoolblogger.com/godsgurl93/?p=783144

Dealing with Traveling?

After a tooooo long absence from writing in my blog, I’ve decided to ask my readers a question.  How do you deal with seemingly impossible situations when you are traveling? 

Do you scream at the other driver(s)?  Do you give them one-fingered salutes?  Do you get right up on their back bumper and intimidate them?  Do you listen to traffic reports hoping to miss the latest fender-bender?  Do you say insane things like, ‘There had better be blood or a body on the road to justify this kind of backup!’?  Come on – it’s embarrassing to admit, but we’ve all been there.

So, who do we ask to intercede for us when travelling?  Looks like the patron saint for this activity is St. Christopher.  St. Chris has a lot of bases covered; athletes, ferrymen, lightning, pestilence, archers, bachelors, boatmen, bookbinders, epilepsy, floods, fruit dealers, fullers, gardeners, for a holy death, market carriers, motorists and drivers, sailors (same as a mariner, I would assume), storms, surfers, toothache, mountaineering, and transportation workers as well as things related to travel and travelers.  Busy Saint! 

St. Christopher

His story seems a bit fantastic.  He was supposedly a 7′ 6″ Canaanite.  (I guess he could have been that tall – some people are.  Wasn’t Samson and Goliath guys from Canaan too?  Must be some ‘BIG’ genes in the Middle East!)  From what I read in Wikipedia, he seemed a bit of a lost individual, like he couldn’t find his path in life.  Sound familiar to anyone?  I know I was looking for a good long time too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Christopher  While Jesus didn’t actually sit on my shoulders like in the story of St. Christopher, he was there euphemistically and yes, the load was heavy until I saw the truth.  Jesus says His burden is light, but yeesh!, the road to get there is terribly long and up-hill.  I have to admit though, the view from the top is amazing!  🙂

So I get the picture.  Traffic isn’t forever.  You eventually reach your destination. You may have a couple more wrinkles or gray hairs, but all-in-all, you’re still in good health.  I’m still saying the Rosary in traffic and many times in church on Sunday. I think I’ll be asking St. Christopher to pray the Rosary with me on those especially trying traffic days too.

I hope each of you have a light and easy journey to your next destination wherever that may be.  And remember to take along St. Christopher and your Rosary.  With a team like that, how can you go wrong!!!

Blessings,

Deneen

Our Lady of Akita (Japan)

With all the events in Japan over the last few days; the 8.9 earthquake and the 23 foot tsunami, and the events still to unfold; the possible meltdown of the nuclear facility there due to the earthquake and tsunami, I thought this may be a good time to see if Our Lady has every appeared in Japan.  It did happen, in 1973, in Akita, Japan, not too far from Sendai which was very near the epicenter of the earthquake.

I looked up Our Lady of Akita on the internet: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Akita, and on EWTN.com: http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/akita.htm.  She left 3 messages with Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa.  Her messages, like all of Her apparitions, strongly ask for prayer and penance to atone for the sinfulness of the human race, otherwise mankind will suffer and suffer greatly.  During the time of the messages, there was also marks of stigmata on both a statue of Mary and on Sister Agnes’ hand.  (I will write on stigmata in a future entry to this weblog.)  The statue was reported to have shed real, human tears as well as bearing the stigmata (marks of Jesus’ suffering).

Crying statue of Mary - Akita, Japan

I will not say that God sent these catastrophes to Japan.  I don’t know God’s mind and will not pretend to think that I know His message.  It just the natural order of things.  The Earth is constantly evolving/changing and these types of occurances are just going to happen periodically.  But I will say, that we need prayer now and LOTS of it!  The folks in Japan are suffering terribly.  Pray for these people!  Pray that the nuclear power plant doesn’t meltdown!  Pray for clean water and food!  Help in anyway that you can.  Send aid if you are blessed with extra.

I wonder if Sister Agnes and her convent made it safely through the earthquake.  I’m sure they did not suffer from the tsunami since the wave was on the eastern coast and Akita is more on the western side of Japan.  But I’m sure they are praying and attempting to help in any way possible.  This would be a good time to ask Our Lady of Akita to intercede for these people and ask that God’s mercy be extended to all.

Shrine of Our Lady of Akita

Dear Lord, please send legions of angels and miracles to the people of Japan.  Please, Lord, take away this suffering on them.  In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.

-Deneen

The ‘Other’ Sheens

We’ve been sick here in my home.  The flu bug bit all of us and we have not functioned, at all.  I haven’t posted since February 25th!  It’s been all I could do to get a bit of supper on the table and keep the kitchen sink from filling to the brim with dirty dishes.  And if I see another bowl of chicken soup, I’ll grow feathers and lay an egg!  LOL!

Speaking of a full kitchen sink…..my sink is painfully full of the ‘stuff’ coming out of my television in regards to one very misguided moviestar; Charlie Sheen.  This post, however, isn’t about the pornstar-lusting, drug-loving, very lost child of God.  Nope, this post is about the other two men of the Sheen family; Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez. 

Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez

Did you know that the Sheen family is of Spanish, Roman-Catholic descent?  And not only are they Catholic, they appear to practice their faith.  How refreshing!  But of course, a practicing Christian isn’t newsworthy – it’s clean laundry as opposed to the filthy, dirty laundry the public likes to hear about.  (Sorry Charlie.)

Emilio and his father Martin have just finished a movie called ‘The Way’.  It’s about a 500 mile pilgrimage route that begins in the French Pyrenees and ends at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. 

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral

Martin’s own father, Francisco, followed the route, locally called ‘El Camino’, many years ago.  Five hundred miles!  Can you imagine walking that far?  It apparently takes about 40 days to complete and has been a pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages.  The Cathedral is reported to be the burial-place of Saint James the Greater, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ.  Wikipedia reports that the route was declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in October 1987; it was also named one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.  The full name in English is called The Way of St. James.

The movie, ‘The Way’, is a story about a man, who is estranged from his son, and finds out that that son dies in a storm in the Pyrenees on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.  The rest of the film is about this man’s journey, along with 3 others, to find himself.  There’s a great article in the Arlington Catholic Herald, March 3-9, 2011, http://www.catholicherald.com/detail.html?sub_id=15233, about how the Sheen’s feel that the whole making of the movie had so many ‘coincidences’ that it had to be divine providence.  That certainly wasn’t Charlie talking! 

Well, I plan on seeing the movie.  I want to see about this pilgrimage that the God-following Sheens have taught me about.  I never heard of it until today.  Instead of wanting to watch a porn movie (again, Sorry Charlie), I want to see a movie that will help to strengthen my faith, maybe take a moral inventory of my soul, and receive God’s light into my life.  I wish the media would put THAT on the news!

Dear Jesus, please deliver people from the chains of addictions and help them to see The Way back to you.  Amen.

– Deneen

My First Prayer Team Member!

I had someone take me up on my offer of starting a prayer team!  Welcome Mary Young!  I’ve known Mary since I was about 4 or 5 years old.  We grew up in the same small town and my sister is married to her brother.  She used the term ‘Prayer Warrior’.  I like it!  We are in a kind of war after all.  A war against all the bad stuff we get thrown at us every day; the age-old battle of good vs. evil!  We’re the good guys and get to wear white! 

So far, I’ve managed to say the Rosary 3 days in a row and you know, it really does work.  Before I know it, 20 minutes have passed and traffic just doesn’t seem to be the irritant it usually is for me. 

It’s also really cool to know that there are folks out there who are reading my blog!  It’s very encouraging and gives me the positive affirmation I need to keep moving forward.  I want to be the one that when I get up in the morning, the devil says, ‘Oh shoot, she’s awake!’  🙂

I would like to extend the prayer team invitation again.  Join me and Mary in prayer! Remove some of the stress and craziness from your life and, for once, look good in white!!! 😉

Deneen

The Rosary – continued

As I was driving into work this morning, I was thinking about my post last night.  When would be a good time to begin praying the Rosary on a more consistent basis, I wondered?  Should I get up earlier in the morning?  Should I let some responsibility slide in the evening?  Then it hit me! 

As I sat in traffic (again) and listened to the local and world news (nothing good), weather and traffic (weather – good, traffic – not so good), sports (who cares!), and wondering why that person in the BMW had to cut me off, I realized, what a great time to spend in prayer with Mary and the Rosary!  What else did I have to do and I have 90 minutes to kill to boot.  But more than that, prayer removes me from the noise of the news and those irritable drivers entitled to drive in my lane when my car is already there. 

Besides, when you’re praying, you can’t be sinning at the same time!

I prayed the Rosary and my time in traffic just seemed to fly.  I was able to ask God for a specific need that I picked for today and arrived at work in a good mood.  It didn’t cost a penny, but left me feeling like I just spent an hour at the spa!

Prayer is good!

Here’s a link with all the ‘How to’s’ for praying the rosary –> http://www.catholicherald.com/faith/detail.html?sub_id=15042

I hope to hear from someone who wants to be my Prayer Team member soon.  I promise you lower blood pressure and a sunny smile to start your day!

– Deneen

The Rosary

The Rosary is a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and comes from the Latin word rosarium, which means “rose garden” or “garland of roses”.  It is popular tradition that Mary’s favorite flower was the rose.  It certainly is mine.  🙂

Something I learned today is that the Rosary isn’t just a Catholic devotion.  The Lutherns and the Anglicans pray the rosary too!  That was neat to find out.  A lot of protestant faiths however discourage this devotion because they believe that Mary, while an honorable woman, shouldn’t have a devotion because she’s not a god.  While she isn’t a god, that is true, she did bear Our Lord for 9 months and raise Him to adulthood with Joseph.  If God feels she’s good enough to bear His Son, I don’t see anything wrong with honoring the woman! 

Mary encourages that we pray, pray, pray!  Show as much devotion to her Son as possible to ward off the Evil One.  Sounds like a good plan to me.  What a good way to show that devotion, by immersing yourself in prayer with the Rosary for 15 to 20 minutes, and giving Old Scratch the boot!

Praying the Rosary is a very simple, repetitive devotion that contains the “Lord’s Prayer” (Our Father) followed by ten prayings of the “Hail Mary” and a single praying of “Glory Be to the Father” .  Each of these sets is called a decade.  The praying of each decade is begun by meditation on one of the “Mysteries of the Rosary’, which recalls an event in the life of Jesus.  There are 20 Mysteries of the Rosary; 5 each of Joyful Mysteries, Glorious Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries, and those I wrote about yesterday, Luminous Mysteries.

It’s so nice to sit quietly and reflect on those notable events of the Lord’s life and how the lessons He taught can be used in my daily life, to walk a straighter walk, to be a better person, to ask myself, ‘What would Jesus do?’  And then do it.  I don’t pray the Rosary often enough.  And frankly, I could use the 15 minutes of just being still, praying with(not to) Mary, listening for God’s whisper in the breeze.  I let life get me sidetracked all the time.  I have all the best intentions in the world, but then something happens like, the dryer buzzer goes off or the phone rings.  So that’s my homework for tonight.  Schedule time, every day, to sit and reflect in thoughtful prayer.  Wonder how well I’ll do by this time next week.  Would anyone like to tag team with me on this one?  I’m open to forming a prayer team, kind of like having a fitness coach, to make sure you do what you’re supposed to do.  We could support one another.  Let me know and I look forward to finding out who my Pray Team will turn out to be!

Goodnight and God Bless,

Deneen

Luminous mysteries and the Rosary

So what are these Luminous mysteries anyhow?  I noticed them being talked about over the last 2 or 3 years and I’ve been wondering when they came about.  They never existed when I was a kid, or so I thought.  Off to Wikipedia I go and I find out that they had their beginning under John Paul II. 

Here’s a quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_Mysteries

The traditional 15 Mysteries of the Rosary were standardized, based on the long-standing custom, by Pope St. Pius V in the 16th century. The mysteries are grouped into three sets: the joyful mysteries, the sorrowful mysteries, and the glorious mysteries. In 2002, Pope John Paul II announced five new optional mysteries, the luminous mysteries, bringing the total number of mysteries to 20.

So, the Luminous mysteries have been around for 9 years.  Guess I’ve been late to the dance.  The five new Luminous mysteries are:

1. The Baptism of Our Lord in the River Jordan  (Matthew 3:13-16)
2. The Wedding at Cana, where Christ manifested Himself  (John 2:1-11)
3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God  (Mark 1:14-15)
4. The Transfiguration of Our Lord  (Matthew 17:1-8)
5. The Last Supper, when Our Lord gave us the Holy Eucharist (Matthew 26)

I had to look up #3, but I knew all the rest of the events.  At http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:14-15&version=NASB#en-NASB-24230 I found:  (Okay, I’m being lazy!  I didn’t feel like walking up the steps to get the Bible from my bedroom, 🙂 so I found a new Bible link on the internet. )

Mark 1:14-15 (New American Standard Bible)

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

 ^14(A)Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, ^(B)preaching the gospel of God,  ¹⁵and saying, “^(C)The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; ^(D)repent and believe in the gospel.”

So, now I’m up to speed on the Rosary!  Tomorrow, I am going to post all the Mysteries of the Rosary and also how to pray the Rosary.  There’s a really great article on this topic in this week’s diocesan newspaper, The Arlington Catholic Herald.  http://www.catholicherald.com/detail.html?sub_id=15028.

God Bless Everyone!

Deneen