Litany of Humility by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val

I found out that most of my misery is self inflicted. And the remedy is humility. Here's a prayer that I'll say more often.


Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X prayed this after every Mass.

Litany of Humility

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

Facebook - a link to good fathers

Bishop Broderick Pabillio

With Facebook friends
Ricky Vines | Create Your Badge

Lately, I have been so depressed because of the Church. It started with Abp. Wuerl, Fr. Jenkins then the Ryan report that exposed thousands of priests and religious who sexually and violently abused tens of thousands of children. I looked at my kids and feared that when they grew, their faith and lives will be wasted by bishops and priests like these. My recent posts reflected this disillusionment.

Weeks ago, I found out how my nieces started having boy friends and how they're very much into Facebook - an internet site for social networking. I learned about how you can be defined as a friend, then you can read all their postings. So, I got an account and asked them to add me in their network. I wanted to monitor them for fear that they may become yet another victim. As I got more into it, I saw my friends and colleagues and started inviting them. Click at my Facebook button, you'll see around 10 of my friends are ordained priests and more have been in the seminary. I found out that a few who are now bishops - Bps. Drona, Pabillio, Panfilo, Buzon, and Cantillias. I know these people as I have lived many years with some of them. They're good and even holy - IMHO. All of a sudden, my sadness turned into joy; my despair into hope; my rage into compassion. The fact that Bp. Pabillio is just a year ahead of me, I started thinking of the bishops' responsibilities in a different light. They could have been mine. So, I'll try a different approach and see my friends in the bishops and priests here.

Happy father's day to everyone who reflect the fatherhood of God.

VIDEO ABOUT A DEAF AND MUTE GIRL WHOSE PASSION ENABLES HER TO SURMOUNT ALL DIFFICULTIES AND PLAY THE VIOLIN

VIDEO ABOUT A DEAF AND MUTE GIRL WHOSE PASSION ENABLES HER TO SURMOUNT ALL DIFFICULTIES AND PLAY THE VIOLIN



Reflection: If we had the same passion to become a man of God, we can all become saints and change this world into His Kingdom.

Ghosts caught on tape

I saw those from TV last week and recalled a couple of experiences that my mom narrated. Bottom line, these confirm that there’s life after death and that can shift a lot of paradigms.

First, the videos. Those were from a TV series about ghosts. They’ve taped one on the security camera as she hovered over her car in an impound lot. Her attire was what she had worn when she had an accident the day before. There’s another who answers questions by writing on a Polaroid film. When someone thought of a question then takes a picture, as soon as the film develops, the answer is appears written over the picture. The list goes on about appearances, misty clouds etc...

What follows are my mom's experiences that she shared with me while she lived.

The first was when I was an infant and an aunt who was fond of me passed away. That night, my mom had awaken to see her. Upon recognizing her, my mom asked, “Didn’t you pass away already?” My aunt replied, “I did, but it happened too quickly so, I asked permission to come.” Then my aunt asked about me. My mom was scared so she started praying the Rosary. After praying the “Hail Mary” part, my aunt responded with the “Holy Mary” part.

I forgot the rest of that story but not the second incident because I was part it.

I was 12 when we rushed my brother to the hospital. He went into convulsions as we dropped them off the emergency room entrance. After parking, my dad and I went in and tracked my mom’s loud cries only to find her holding my brother so close that I thought he died. But he didn’t. After his release, mom told me what happened. Just as the doctors had started working on my brother, my mom saw a deceased aunt walking down the hall towards them as though to pick up my brother. At that point, she grabbed my brother and held him tight. And that is why she was doing that when I saw her.

So for those of us who are nearing death, there’s no need to be sad; because, we’ll be living forever. And if anyone is skeptical, I can visit them if the Lord allows it. Just ask. And if you dismiss me as an imaginary phenomenon, then I can touch you with my cold fingers and whisper something in your ear. Deal?

(Oh death, where is your sting?)

Casting out "demons" from my kid

Yesterday my 5 year old was having a fit and did not want to go out of the van. But we needed to go to Mass, so I told everyone else go ahead. Then I pleaded and bribed to no avail. Finally, I thought of spanking her to keep her from turning into a brat. But I considered how this might make her hate Church, so I backed off and prayed. Finally, I resorted to my weapons of spiritual warfare and cast out an evil spirit that may be disturbing her. I invoked the name of Jesus on whose authority I rebuked the spirits and ordered them to leave my girl. Without any exaggeration, she calmed down after that. So, I was able to carry her without any resistance. Before that, she probably would be kicking and screaming and there will be no point in dragging her. I placed her in the stroller then carried the baby. As I pulled the stroller closer to holy ground, I thought that any residual tempters will disperse. Sure enough, her temper subsided as soon as we stepped in. Make of it what you will, it is what happened.

Punishments do not make kids better according to St. John Bosco. So, an educator needs to avoid them. That is not to say that one must condone bad behavior. Rather, one must prevent the need to punish by putting kids in situations where they can do no wrong. This is a tall order but it is the one that works – considering the 20+ saints produced by this method.

Nuns and cell phones

A time to laugh...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUU514SXt0s&feature=related

PC Restoration

Sometimes the corruption has gone to a point when a restoration from scratch is the only fix left. For $200, the techs in a store will wipe the contents clean then reinstall all your software starting with the operating system - provided you have the disks. Or you can do it yourself. Long story short, you'll have a setup that's practically brand spanking new.

Reflection:
The sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession is like a complete system restore but even better; because, one becomes really brand spanking new in front of God. Unlike a computer where there might be corrupted sectors in the hard-drive that are marked and bypassed, there is none of that, no remnants of sin, in a sincere soul. God has completely forgiven and forgotten all the sins. The catch: forgiveness forgives.

PC Security: Limiting Exposure

The more I limit my exposure in the net, the safer I get.

One limit is to use a user that is not an administrator type. Hence, even if the session is comandeered by an intrusive process, it not be able to access or alter resources that are reserved to an administrator.

A second limit is to turn off the modem when I do not need to use the net. This reduces my exposure and gives me a new handle or address when I turn the connection back on.

Reflection:
If I want my relationship with God to be secure, then I have to limit my exposure to the world.

I use a limited account type meaning I do not get familiar with the world. I only open myself to God.

I also limit my exposure, so that I can have time for spiritual reading, meditation and ministry. I only have 24 hours, so I better secure a good chunk of that time in maintaining and cultivating my love for God. No relationship survives neglect.

PC Performance Tuning: disabling unwanted programs from automatically starting.

A cause of sluggish performance is an over-burdened CPU and a reduced amount of memory space due to programs that have been started automatically. To control which tasks automatically get started, I used the msconfig utility this way:

Click on Start.
Select Run then Click.
Type msconfig at Run Window, then click OK.
When System Configuration Utility window appears, select the StartUp tab.
Click the Disable All button, then the OK button and then the Restart button.

Reflection:
Martha was like the PC who was spread thinly over a lot of tasks. To be focused, one needs to disable the distractions. Mary shut everything out when she sat by the Lord and listened to His Words.

Colors of pro-lifers

If you’re Catholic, then you’re a pro-lifer by association; because, the Catholic faith community believes that human life begins at conception. But what kind of pro-lifer are you? Let’s go through a symbolic spectrum.

White: It symbolizes the pure solution that this group advocates. They pursue legal and charitable ways e.g. trying to repeal the Roe V. Wade and turning away would-be procurers of abortion. They are criticized as being simplistic and even naïve as they pray their Rosaries in abortuaries.

Blue: This group is blue or sad; because, while they personally oppose this atrocity, they do not wish to impose their convictions on others. They do not want to judge others. So, they watch the slaughter with resignation and angst.

Green: The color of reason of those who think that the abortion cannot be criminalized. So, they urge pro-lifers to stop fighting it, to tolerate it and try alternate means e.g. reduce the need for abortions by adoptions.

Yellow: The color of urine and the streak that runs across the bellies of those who know that abortion is murder but do not get into the fray because of the risk. They hold human respect and political capital above the lives of the children. So, they limit their efforts to safe activities like preaching to the choir. And they are quick to acquiesce to pro-aborts even at the cost of scandalizing and demoralizing others.

Red: A pro-lifer who already sees red is like the one who shot an abortionist yesterday. His type is what made the Dept. of Homeland Security classify pro-lifers as possible terrorists. They see themselves in a war to defend the unborn at all costs just like the Judges in the Bible. The abortionists are enemy combatants who are killed just as soldiers of the Taliban would be killed.

Black: Black as St. John described the night when Judas betrayed the Lord. These maliciously pretend to be pro-lifers to harm the cause. One of them gave us a list of supposed abortion providers. In his list was a suggestion to expose these providers in the newspaper. Thank God, we did not fall for it; otherwise, we’d be knee deep in lawsuits.