By Francis Van Uden I really like this meme because I think it shows how the situation of Jesus being condemned to death was. The Pharisees were asked who they wanted to free: Jesus, who seemed innocent, or Barab’bas who was a horrible man. They chose to condemn Jesus, but why? Many people, including the high priests, felt threatened by Jesus’ accusations that He was Lord. The pride they had in themselves blinded them to be open to the fact that Jesus may be speaking the truth. But even if Jesus was lying, what harm was he doing? People chose to believe in him by choice, and that was clear, but many people during Jesus’ time couldn’t get over themselves and be humble and loving as Jesus commanded. We are also called to be open listeners to others, because it is easy for us to get caught up in ourselves too.
By Pam Gonzalez So the prayer we’re looking at this week is Hail Holy Queen, or Salve Regina in Latin, which is said at the end of the rosary and in some cases it’s used in night prayers.
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Our life, our sweetness and our hope. Our hope is in the Lord, the Virgin Mary, being with Jesus, takes us deep within the Merciful Heart of Jesus. The Virgin Mary is not in some kind of competition with Jesus. She continues to bring Jesus to us through our prayers of hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, Since the fall of Adam and Eve, we are all born with original sin. We cry out to the Lord to help us through our fallen nature. We are liberated from the power of sin through God’s grace and through His Church. We have safe refuge from the powers of darkness, but through Jesus, we have the light, like Mother Mary, we become the light when we choose to live for Him. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. As a loving Mother, she watched over Jesus as a baby all the way through adulthood. As a Mother, she identifies our suffering with his and she intercedes on our behalf through the love Jesus has for us. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. This part of the prayer leads to a very important truth, God involves all of us to become partakers to cooperate with His Holy Will. When we ask Mother Mary to have mercy, we are asking her as our loving Mother, we are asking our Mother in heaven to keep her eyes on the world with the grace that God gave her for the love of us. Until we are in heaven, we are in exile, awaiting for the glorious coming of our Lord, who will one day come again! O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. Pray that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. God so loved the world, God is love. The woman who bore Him, who would become literally the “Ark of the New Covenant”, always points to Jesus. Her love for Jesus compels her to love all of us, as we should also love others. While praying we ask for Mary’s intercession. I hope this helps you guys understand what we recite at the end of the rosary! By Iliana Airey They’re not only pieces of beautiful artwork but sacred images used in religious devotion. They’re representations of sacred personages or special events (often done through painting, wood carvings, or mosaics). Icons can be super helpful for many people (including myself) because they provide a visual representation of someone or something. I don’t know about you, but personally, I really like having something to look at when I’m praying. Whether that be Jesus on the Altar during Adoration, fixating on the Crucifix in the Chapel, or keeping photos of Saints in my room so I can be reminded every day that they’re always praying for me. Icons have a way of visualizing important events or Saints so that we can focus on them more intimately and on a deeper level. We’re not only thinking and focusing on them in our minds but also looking at them! Through this, we come to understand how God has worked through them and reflect on His majesty! This is one of my favourite icons. It truly depicts the beauty of when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and found out that she was also pregnant!
By Aaron Villegas Andre was born with the name Alfred at a little town called Mont-Saint-Gregoire, Quebec. He was the eighth kid out of the twelve in his family. Unfortunately, four out of 12 died at infancy. When he was born he was rather frail which means he looked really weak and a curé, baptized Andre “conditionally” the next day he was born. He was orphaned by he was 12 as his father got crushed by a tree during work when Alfred was 9 and his mother died of tuberculosis. Alfred moved to Moosup, Connecticut at the age of 18 but moved back to Canada just four years after.
The pastor of his parish noticed Alfred’s devotion to the church and introduced Alfred to the Congregation of the Holy Cross. The pastor sent a letter to the congregation with a note that said: “I am sending you a saint.” At first, they didn’t accept Alfred due to his health but he never gave up trying to join and with the help of the Archbishop of Montreal, he got in on December 27, 1870. At this time, he took the name Andre, which was the name of the pastor who led him to join the Holy Cross. During this time he was assigned to the job of doorkeeper of Notre Dame College in Montreal because of his frail health and lack of education growing up. He always greeted visitors and made sure all their needs were met! When people prayed with Andre, people started experiencing some healings and Andre slowly got a reputation of a healer. His popularity grew to a point where the Congregation let him go to a nearby trolley station and check on the people there. Andre remained humble during this time and actually kind of being confused on why people praised him because he knew why he was able to heal these people. He knew that the source of the healings was from St. Joseph’s intercession. He wanted to devote something more for St. Joseph and so he started giving people haircuts for 5 cents each. He eventually earned $200. That’s 4000 haircuts. And eventually opened up the Oratory of St. Joseph on October 09, 1904. Andre was eventually released from being a doorkeeper and became a full-time caretaker of the Oratory. This attracted many pilgrims and Andre served the people by serving sick visitors due to his reputation as a healer. He became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal” and many miraculous healings are connected through Andre’s intercession. Andre died on January 6, 1937, at the age of 91. Reportedly, an estimated one million people came to pay respects and endured the cold. His body was laid outside the Oratory. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 17, 2010. St. Andre Bessette, Pray for Us! By Francis Van Uden To watch this talk, go HERE. It’s more than just a commandment. God does ask us to obey our father and our mother, but obedience goes deeper than that. Obeying can sometimes be hard, it is for me. Your parents may tell you to do something, and even if you don’t think it’s fair, God still wants us to obey. The truth is, your parents are usually right. They know what is best for us, and see a bigger picture than we do. But God doesn’t want us to obey just because our parents are right, he wants us to obey our parents because they love us, and because He loves us, and asked us to. It is a great way to show love to your parents and to God when you obey your parents, especially in the times it may seem hard to. Putting your parents wishes before your own is a great selfless act, and can be learned through obedience. But did you know that the commandment “Honour thy father and mother” isn’t just talking about your mom and dad? And when the Catholic Church encourages obedience it also means obeying God, the Church and others?
By Francis Van Uden This week the prayer we’re gonna look at is the Nicene Creed! This prayer is usually said at mass, although because we are Roman Catholic we can say either the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed, which are very similar. Both prayers highlight the beliefs of the Catholic Church and during the “Profession of Faith” at mass, the prayers are said. As people of the Catholic Church, we recite exactly what we believe as a Church and are reminded of it every time we celebrate the mass.
“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of all that is visible and invisible.” This highlights that even though we believe in the Trinity, we believe in ONE God, and that he has created EVERYTHING. “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made." This part of the creed explains Jesus and God, and the relationship between them as the same being from one God, just in different forms. "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man." Jesus became human through the power of God’s Holy Spirit which allowed the Virgin Mary to conceive. "For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried." Jesus chose to give up his life and be brutally crucified so that WE could spend eternity with him in Heaven. "On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end." Jesus rose and conquered death, and is in Heaven with God the Father, as one, but in two forms. Jesus will come again, and this talks about his second coming, and how because we are able to spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus, his kingdom will NEVER end! "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets." The Holy Spirit is from God and Jesus, and is His presence on Earth and how he is in a relationship with us on Earth. God, Jesus along with the Holy Spirit are all within the Father, and are all worshipped without being separated. This is the Trinity: three persons, one God! "We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church." As Catholics, we believe that the “one” church Jesus started on Earth was the Catholic Church. It is “holy” in the sense that God is completely a part of all we do as Catholics and what we believe. And “catholic” (with a lowercase ‘c’) means ‘all-embracing’ or whole, or diversified, which implies that the Catholic Church is true world-wide and throughout the eternity of time. “Apostolic” means that we follow the Pope’s guidance, and have since the church was started by Jesus, with our first pope, Peter. "We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins." When someone is baptised, they are in union with God and the rest of their lives they hopefully spend growing closer (or possibly further) from him. We also believe that Jesus forgives all of our sins, as long as we repent and are truly sorry from them, and this happens in the sacrament of Reconciliation. "We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come." We believe that when Christ comes again, we will be reunited with our bodies in a glorified way, similar to Christ’s resurrected Body. We do not know exactly what this will look like. And we look forward to the life of the world to come which is eternal blessedness in the company of the angels and the saints in constant praise and love of God. We will want for nothing and all suffering will be no more. "Amen.” We believe all that we have said! Fun fact: The Nicene Creed is actually called the “Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed”, although that would be a mouthful to say, so Nicene works. I hope this gave you a bit better understanding of the prayer that we might recite during mass, and if you notice that you’re praying this one at mass, try to pay attention to what you and others are actually saying you believe in! By Francis Van Uden Why do Catholics make the sign of the cross? Have you ever noticed how other Christian denominations don’t? I once went to a great Christian retreat and it felt so improper just to start talking to God. It was weird. One second we were listening to a talk, and the next the speaker had bowed his head and began to pray. I wasn’t in the right space to speak to God, and having the routine of the sign of the cross begin all of my prayers always gave me that opportunity to focus myself in prayer. As humans, we have family in both our mind and our spirit. This means that although we pray to God & speak to him through soul, we use our body in that process. Christians, regardless of denomination, close the eyes, bow their heads or hold or open their hands in front of themselves when praying. These movements help us to focus on God as we pray and not be distracted by things around us - which can happen very easily…
When we make the sign of the cross, we are calling the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit to become present to us in our prayer. You may have heard someone say “Come, Jesus”, “Come, Holy Spirit” or “Come, Lord” or a different variation of that while praying, which means they were inviting God, or Jesus, or both to speak through them and work through their prayers by the power of the Holy Spirit. The sign of the cross does that too! “In the name of” means that our next moments of our thoughts, prayers & actions are for God. Every time someone makes the sign of the cross, they are stating their belief in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and the presence here on Earth through their prayers! By Iliana Airey Sheen was born on May 8th, 1895. He was the oldest of 4 children and he lived on a farm. He altar served when he was a child at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Illinois. He attended parochial school, which is a school that’s basically run by a parish/church, and then went on to attend St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Illinois. There, he earned a Bachelor of Arts and then a Master of Arts. Later on that year, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. Sheen pursued further studies, earning a bachelor’s degree in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1920; a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1923; and a Doctor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 1924. After another year of studying in Belgium, he served as a priest for a year in London. After that, he moved to Peoria, Illinois, in 1926 to serve as a parish priest. That same year, he left Peoria to join the philosophy faculty at the Catholic University of America, where he taught until 1950. That's a long time!
Not only was Sheen a great teacher, he was also a great speaker. Since the radio began to have more popularity in the 20th century, Sheen was able to use the radio to gain a wider and broader audience. In 1930, he began his radio career (which lasted 22 years!) on The Catholic Hour, which reached roughly 4 million listeners! That's a lot of people! In 1951 Sheen became a titular bishop, and he served as auxiliary bishop of New York (1951–66). During much of his stay in New York, he hosted a weekly television series, Life Is Worth Living (1951–1957), that attracted about 30 million viewers. On that show Sheen, often speaking without a script (which is pretty challenging!) and appearing at his characteristic chalkboard, discussed practical matters of faith and how to live life as a Catholic. Sheen was appointed national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1958, a position he held until 1966, when he was appointed bishop of Rochester, New York. From 1961 to 1969 he hosted another popular television show, The Bishop Fulton Sheen Show. He also wrote various books and a syndicated newspaper column. In 1969 he was appointed archbishop of Newport, Wales. From 1976 until his death three years later, Sheen served Pope Paul VI as Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, a position that authorized him to stand by the papal throne during official ceremonies. He died shortly after open-heart surgery in 1979 at the age of 84. Among his many books are Communism and the Conscience of the West (1948), Way to Inner Peace (1955), and The Power of Love (1965). Sheen was appointed national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1958, a position he held until 1966, when he was appointed bishop of Rochester, New York. From 1961 to 1969 he hosted another popular television show, The Bishop Fulton Sheen Show. He also wrote various books and a syndicated newspaper column. In 1969 he was appointed archbishop of Newport, Wales. From 1976 until his death three years later, Sheen served Pope Paul VI as Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, a position that authorized him to stand by the papal throne during official ceremonies. He died shortly after open-heart surgery in 1979 at the age of 84. Among his many books are Communism and the Conscience of the West (1948), Way to Inner Peace (1955), and The Power of Love (1965). Sheen was venerated, or officially recognized for having lived a life of holy virtue (a major step toward canonization as a saint of the church), by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. In July 2019, Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Sheen, making possible his future beatification. Venerable Fulton Sheen: Pray for Us! By Sarah De Coste You can watch this talk HERE. Matthew 5:1313 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. This verse is saying that when we hide, when we ignore the salt and light of Christ in ourselves, we can feel pointless, we can feel lost and confused. Our faith, when we experience God, when we embrace his love, and when we embrace his truth and goodness and let him change our life, it's like a lamp is lit, do you hide it? Do you allow your light to shine? Do you allow it to bring light to others? Do you allow it to show truth to others and yourself? Do you allow the light to guide you and lead you or do you leave it behind? Do you only bring out your light when you feel safe or is it the first thing others see? Let's break it down a bit more, Salt. i love salt. Salt is a beautiful thing, alone it isn't the greatest thing, if you have ever licked a salt block for cows you will understand this. Yet salt added to any dish can enhance what’s already there. Did you know that if you put a little bit of salt on a watermelon it will taste sweeter. Salt doesn't automatically make things saltier, what it does is enhance the natural flavour. So when scripture tells us we need to be the salt of the world, that doesn't mean that we are the only way people can know God, we are not the great all grand for humanity. Yes people can experience and should experience Christ through us, but for us being the salt to the world means that we don't make Christ be in others, but we bring him out of others. Every person has Christ in them, whether they acknowledge it or not we are all made in the image and likeness of God, and as such we are His children. For us to be the salt of the world means that we should bring Christ out in others, that we should inspire others to find Christ in themselves. He is already there, he already exists, but sometimes sins can make us feel so far from God, they can make us feel like we aren't good. That were evil and bad, but that's not true. God isn't evil, God can't be evil, and so if we are made in his image and likeness, we are inherently good. To show people this, to help people accept that they aren't evil is an interesting task, because it usually means showing our own imperfections. Testimonies are some of the most powerful messages. It shows us as sinners, that I'm not different than you, maybe my sins are different but they’re still sins. Showing someone that God still loves us, and is present in us in our imperfection is beautiful, because the world is VERY unforgiving, but God is. An easy way to be salt to people is through love. Scripture tells us God is love, and when we believe and understand that God is love, that means that when we help others to love, we are helping them to grow closer to God, to witness God in them. Wherever love is God is, so when any one does anything loving, they are uniting themselves to God who is love. The second part of the verse is about being a light to the world. Salt enhances what’s already there, light reveals it. Light allows us to see things we may not have noticed. Light brings truth, when you look into a room and its dark, any figures can take the form of something you don't recognize. What happens when you turn on the light? You see things clearly. The person sitting on your chair is actually a pile of dirty clothes. The world is a foggy mess, it's like all the lights are off, Satan gives half truths to people, his mission is to keep us confused. The longer we’re confused, the longer we live in half truths, the longer we are away from the fullness of God, the longer we remain distant from Christ. Scripture says in John 14:6 Jesus is the way the truth and the life, He gives us clarity, he gives us understanding, knowledge, peace, and hope. So how can we give that to everyone else? The way we live our lives, the way we remain steadfast and honest in how we live for God, that is a light in the world. When we treat others with respect and love regardless of how they treat us we are showing the truth that everyone deserves love and respect no matter what. When we stand up to a bully, when we reach out and show a loner friendship. When we actively seek to include others. In all those small moments we are being a light to others. When we’re suffering, when there're hard times those are the moments we show what faith is. It's easy to have faith in God when our life is going great, but when we are suffering those are the moments we can unite ourselves to Jesus’ cross. Those are the moments we show that we don't believe in God because he makes our life easy, but we believe in him because he gets us through the hard times. When we remain faithful in hard times, when our life sucks and yet we still have joy I don't mean you fake that you're good, because i can have moments when i'm devastated and I'm hurting and in pain and yet I can still stop and laugh at something, when we hold onto the cross in our sufferings and unite them to Christs sufferings, because we know that suffering has a purpose, that we can offer it up, and that we can give it to God. Our whole lives can be a light to others, not because we're perfect, but because we try to be, because we don't give up. What about now? How can we in everyday life, no matter what that looks like be salt and light to the world. What do you spend your time on? Do you pray everyday and make sure that you are rooted in God, in his love? Do you read your bible? Do you listen to the words of God? Do you spread love through social media? Or do you share gossip? Do you spend your time focusing on the lives of people who inspire you to be better? Or people whose lives inspire greed? What type of accounts do you follow? Is God a genie to you? Is He someone you only pursue when you need help or is He a friend? Do you pursue him or ignore him? We have so many choices, and even though we mess up, even though we ignore him, we aren't perfect, He still sits there, with a smile on his face looking at you because he loves you. It doesn't matter what you've done, what matters is what you do next. |
PulsePulse is our Jr High group (Grades 6-9) for those who want to be journeying to learn more about God and how He fits into this crazy thing called life! From Saint of the Day to talks to activities, we work to understand more about our faith and its importance in our everyday lives as we all work to become modern day saints. Categories
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