Grace

Fidelity to God’s Grace

DVRodriguez2024-11-11T07:58:05-05:00

Saintly mystics of the Church provide us with an account of Mary's birth, which we celebrate today. Our Lady was conceived without sin and with the ability to know and love God. Within St. Anne's womb, Mary was already faithfully corresponding to this first grace – and thus growing in grace. Let us be more aware of the graces God gives us and do our very best to correspond with them. Yet attachment to sin and to the world impedes our growth. We prefer what is easier and more comfortable. To counter this, grow in your devotion to Mary, especially Our [...]

Fidelity to God’s GraceDVRodriguez2024-11-11T07:58:05-05:00

By God’s Grace I Am What I Am

DVRodriguez2024-09-08T21:25:22-04:00

St. Paul humbly acknowledges his unworthiness because he persecuted Christ and His Church. Yet God loved him, elected him, and granted him an undeserved grace. Paul responded. He cooperated – and never went back. Thus, the grace was not in vain. And what of us? We are weak. But we too receive great graces. The world is noisy and blocks out inspirations of grace. Even if we have not cooperated before, let us begin now. Open your ears and be faithful to prayer.

By God’s Grace I Am What I AmDVRodriguez2024-09-08T21:25:22-04:00

That You May Have Life

DVRodriguez2024-05-02T07:00:37-04:00

Christ came, suffered and died, rose and ascended that we might have the life of grace. Nothing is more precious.

That You May Have LifeDVRodriguez2024-05-02T07:00:37-04:00

Constantly Called to Faith

DVRodriguez2024-03-23T08:02:26-04:00

You that have been in sorrow, exult! These are words a soul hears upon entering Heaven. The only thing that truly matters is that you save your soul. Faith and humility are necessary to save your soul. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the best spiritual weapons to fight against sin and to be receptive to grace. He who does not employ these arms will surely be lost. Do not receive God's grace in vain! Make good use of it to get to Heaven.

Constantly Called to FaithDVRodriguez2024-03-23T08:02:26-04:00

Spiritual Communion

DVRodriguez2024-03-22T15:52:33-04:00

My Jesus, I firmly believe that Thou art present — Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity — in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Lord, increase my faith. [pause] I love Thee above all things and desire Thee in my soul. Yet my love is weak and inconstant, strengthen my love evermore. [pause] Since I cannot now receive Thee under the sacramental veil, I beseech Thee, with a heart full of love and longing, to come spiritually into my soul. [pause] As though Thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; [...]

Spiritual CommunionDVRodriguez2024-03-22T15:52:33-04:00

My Crucified Jesus

DVR Fatima2024-03-08T10:32:08-05:00

From a sermon given on Passion Sunday My Crucified Jesus, I devoutly kiss and adore the most holy Wound of Thy right hand, and pray Thee to bless my soul, and after death to open to me the gates of Heaven. Glory be to the Father . .. My Crucified Jesus, I devoutly kiss and adore the most holy Wound of Thy left hand, and pray Thee to deliver me from all evil, whether of the body or of the soul, and most especially from the unhappy fate of the wicked who shall stand at The left hand at the Day [...]

My Crucified JesusDVR Fatima2024-03-08T10:32:08-05:00

The Doctrine of Predestination

DVRodriguez2023-12-17T10:57:40-05:00

God by the eternal resolve of His will has predetermined certain men to eternal blessedness. The number of the elect is predetermined and can not change (none added, none taken away). While God wills all men to be saved, not all men are saved. This is based not on God's providence but on a man's sin and lack of contrition. The heresy of "double predestination" holds that men are like brute beasts with God leading some to salvation and others to damnation by His (predetermined) divine will. For men how are saved, it is a gift from God; from men who [...]

The Doctrine of PredestinationDVRodriguez2023-12-17T10:57:40-05:00

Pray for Perseverance

DVRodriguez2022-07-16T20:05:22-04:00

Holy Mother Church teaches us perseverance; not so much in words, but more so in her prayers, her sacraments, her disciplines, and her saints. The Catholic life, including every vocation, requires perseverance. If you pray with a sincere and pure heart – and persevere – you will receive. A great failure by many is they simply don’t persevere or their prayers are imbued with a worldly spirit. So pray with ever greater devotion and an ever purer heart. May Our Lady be our model and great intercessor.

Pray for PerseveranceDVRodriguez2022-07-16T20:05:22-04:00

The Gift of Truth

DVRodriguez2022-07-16T19:51:39-04:00

God unceasingly offers us gifts. He gives all men natural gifts, but the ‘perfect’ gifts He bestows are supernatural gifts. For example, He gives truth (through the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church). How necessary is this gift, especially as we live amidst so much error, deceits and misinformation. Powerful forces are even compelling us to accept things which are clearly not true. The world, the secular media, even many in the Church hierarchy believe they can create truth. Let us instead pray for the grace to love what God commands and to desire what God promises.

The Gift of TruthDVRodriguez2022-07-16T19:51:39-04:00

Christ Establishes Marriage and Blesses the Home

DVRodriguez2021-02-11T08:04:46-05:00

At the year’s start, for forty days, we look upon the Holy Family in the manger scene. At the Wedding at Cana, Christ establishes marriage as supremely sacred (man can’t alter it). A great tragedy is that so many misguidedly think they, or ‘their love,’ is the foundation of their marriage. Wrong! On account of our fallen condition, we have very little genuine and sincere love (symbolized by having no wine). Christ is the foundation of marriage; pray Him to bring His divine love into your marriage. Seek our Lady’s intercession, and keep her words in your heart throughout the year: [...]

Christ Establishes Marriage and Blesses the HomeDVRodriguez2021-02-11T08:04:46-05:00