Focus on Heavenly Not Earthly Things
DVRodriguez2023-11-06T10:34:15-05:00Especially during this month of November, we are to turn with greater fervor and faith to the Church beyond this earth. Many are the enemies of Christ; their minds and hearts are always fixed on earthly things. Stay focused on Heaven, on our Savior, and upon His Second Coming. This is one of the great purposes of Holy Mass, where the angels and saints ceaselessly praise and worship the majesty of God. We entreat God to allow our voices and prayers to be one with theirs! We can help the Poor Souls by our suffrages and by offering to God the [...]
Fatherhood in the Ditch
DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:46-05:00The Church Fathers provide insightful understandings into the parable of the Good Samaritan. Our father, Adam, is the man going down from Jerusalem (Heaven) to Jericho (hell). He is waylaid by satan and his minions. The Old Testament priests and prophets are powerless to help him, as they too are on their way down. It is Jesus (the Good Samaritan) who saves man with His own flesh (beast of burden, cross) and entrusts him to the Church (inn) until His Second Coming (return). God's Fatherhood is needed to rescue man's fatherhood. Today, fatherhood is once again in the ditch; we are in [...]
A Specific Devotion for Our Time
DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00Every single soul wants to be happy; yet few know how. Only by loving God - putting Him first - can man be happy. This is what Mary's Immaculate Heart does so perfectly. She desires God and His will alone. This is the fundamental reason why we must be devoted to her Immaculate Heart. It is not just a 'Marian devotion,' but it is at the heart of the Mystery of God and of man's existence. Man's problem is he does not love God enough! The more you contemplate Mary's heart, the more you will overcome your selfishness. And God has [...]
Two Special Intentions
DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00This feast day is particularly noteworthy for us as this location is consecrated to Our Lady specifically under the title of today's feast. Please pray the following two special intentions often. Consider as well the relationship between Mary's Heart and the Love of God. Finally, let us renew our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. - "O Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, be thou the way whereby I shall go to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Help me to seek and follow Jesus." - "O Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, help me to learn from thee purity, humility and above all, [...]
Neo-Gnosticism is Fatherless
DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00Neo-gnostics believe the created universe to be their 'god' and strive for self-salvation. Thus they reject God as our Creator, our Savior and our Father. Literature influenced by neo-gnosticism rarely ever has good and strong father figures who lead, teach and defend their families well. It is a terrible tortue for a soul to suffer the lack of a good father. Without good fathers, man can't make heroic acts of loving sacrifice. A father's love is the highest form of love for a man. Piety needs a father. Our society - and our Church - desperately need fatherhood to be restored and maintained. Fortunately, [...]
The Assumption Crushes Neo-Gnosticism
DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00The world is currently enduring neo-gnosticism, which is a form of occultism. Gnosticism was the first heresy to attack the Church. It offers salvation through secret knowledge. Yet its very essence is to reject the revealed Genesis account of creation and substitute an unreal world for the real. Thus, it cannot be reconciled with Christianity. The reemergence of gnosticism constitutes the very essence of modernity. The fact that gnosticism has returned so strongly, and we are inundated in it, ought to concern us - especially since it has deeply infiltrated the Church. Neo-gnostics have given up on Heaven above and instead look to salvation by 'moving forward' to [...]
Truth, Faith, and Authority
DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00In today's epistle (1 Cor 15), St. Paul teaches on the first foundation of our salvation (faith!) and on the scope and purpose of apostolic authority. Christ gives His Church authority for a purpose: to teach, transmit, guard and defend the truth which He taught (deposit of faith). Church leaders are to faithfully transmit what they have received from Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture - and thus save souls. The vast majority of Catholics do not believe in the pope in a truly Catholic way, for our love and loyalty to the pope must be rooted in our more fundamental love and loyalty [...]
To Hide Sins Well Confess Them Well
DVRodriguez2020-11-13T21:49:49-05:00St. Thomas Aquinas taught "there are three sources of trial for the Church: (i) external persecution; (ii) undermining of the Truth from within by heresy and spreading of error; and (iii) corruption of members through sin." Under the guidance of the Holy Cure d'Ars, let us consider the third source. St. John Vianney could be tough in the confessional, but he would also shed tears and himself perform most of the penance due to his penitents. He knew that sin ties man to his shameful bonds (enslavement) and that absolved sins are completely gone! He had such a love for God and the [...]