03 Advent 3rd Sunday

Are Our Customs and Habits Too Secular?

DVRodriguez2024-01-04T09:12:57-05:00

We form our ideas, habits and custom from our childhood and if that is reinforced over time, it becomes who we are and how we live. At the root of the grave crisis in the Church is secularization. Too many Catholics have allowed the secular world to completely overrun our customs. We must begin to change this. It will not happen overnight. Take small steps in the right direction. How can you include more silence, prayer, recollection, and detachment from the world in your daily routine and celebration of Advent and Christmas? Because Christmas is not about cookies, eggnog and parties. [...]

Are Our Customs and Habits Too Secular?DVRodriguez2024-01-04T09:12:57-05:00

The Conscience of Man

DVRodriguez2023-12-26T05:48:23-05:00

God gave man a connection to Him - an interior voice, a conscience. St. John the Baptist is a symbol of that voice. We can chose to heed or suppress our conscience; yet, man only finds peace when he listens to it. The conscience is a proof of the soul's immortality. It witnesses, bonds and incites; it also accuses, torments, and rebukes. It incites a holy anger (hatred) against sin, so that man roots out faults instead of justifying them. Make friends with your adversary (conscience) before you are handed over to the Judge.

The Conscience of ManDVRodriguez2023-12-26T05:48:23-05:00

Hope and Daring

DVRodriguez2023-12-17T12:04:51-05:00

When you rise and when yo go to bed, ask yourself these two questions: [1] What drives you or fuels your desire? [2] What are you afraid of? We often know what we have to do but fail to do it because of something we fear. What keeps us from giving ourselves to God, and neighbor, as we are meant to do? During Advent, the Church calls to mind the example of St. John the Baptist and the Immaculate Conception. Saints change the world because they do what what others dare not. They achieve great virtue by their hope (the virtue [...]

Hope and DaringDVRodriguez2023-12-17T12:04:51-05:00

As A Man Hopes in His Heart So He Is

DVRodriguez2022-12-18T06:36:51-05:00

Every single human seeks joy, but we are always looking in the wrong place. Our habitual thoughts [hopes] make us who we are. True and lasting joy comes from Christ. Without Him, man is filled with sadness. By abiding in Him, our joy is complete. The Day of Wrath will be one of great joy for those called to eternal beatitude. Christ comes through Our Lady and thus she is the Cause of Our Joy. Nothing should take away our joy for we should allow nothing to take us away from Jesus.

As A Man Hopes in His Heart So He IsDVRodriguez2022-12-18T06:36:51-05:00

Vox Clamantis in Deserto

DVRodriguez2022-04-10T13:18:36-04:00

Each candle on the Advent Wreath represents a millennia and bears a name. The third candle is named after St. John the Baptist. This great prophet and martyr gave his life for the sanctity of marriage. On account of his moral courage, he was imprisoned and decapitated. He was also the Precursor of Christ. His spirit, which we are called to emulate, is embodied by his words: "I must decrease, He must increase."

Vox Clamantis in DesertoDVRodriguez2022-04-10T13:18:36-04:00

Am I Not Here Who Am Your Mother

DVRodriguez2022-01-07T08:19:24-05:00

Our Lady of Guadalupe's most precious words (1531) are remarkably similar to the words Pius IX employed for the ending of his infallible definition of the Immaculate Conception (1854). Her apparition and the dogma serve the same purpose. It's not coincidental that these two feasts closely follow one upon the other (Dec 8, Dec 12) - or that they celebrated during Advent. 2000 years ago Jesus came to Bethlehem, and then 500 years ago He came to the Americas: to bring light and salvation. Yet He does so through the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He has established His [...]

Am I Not Here Who Am Your MotherDVRodriguez2022-01-07T08:19:24-05:00

American Kulaks and Catholic Kulaks

DVRodriguez2022-01-02T12:23:05-05:00

Communist Soviets vilified and destroyed the Kulaks. They made them the scapegoats for everything going wrong in the Bolshevik Revolution. History is now being repeated. In the American landscape, the powers that be vilify all those who yearn for what made this country great. These 'American Kulaks' and must be destroyed. Similarly, in the ecclesial landscape, modernists who hold power vilify all Catholics who love the Faith and Tradition. These 'Catholic Kulaks' are made scapegoats for the failed spirit of Vatican II. Reasoning with the revolutionaries' hatred and suicidal tendencies is not possible. This only ends with the destruction of the [...]

American Kulaks and Catholic KulaksDVRodriguez2022-01-02T12:23:05-05:00