“Let us strive to do penance in this life. How sweet will be the death of those who have done penance for all their sins and need not go to purgatory!”
St. Teresa of Avila
For Reflection:
What is my attitude toward penance, reparation, and fasting? Does my life, choices, and decisions reflect an attitude of remorse, sorrow, and contrition?
Parents need to be aware that the latest Twilight film, Breaking Dawn – Part 1, which opens in theaters tonight, makes violent sex seem romantic, abortion appear reasonable and childbirth look horrifying.
A communique released today from the Vatican Secretariat of State indicates that the Vatican is pursing legal action to stop the promulgation of an offensive portrayal of Pope Benedict XVI in a global advertising campaign launched by Italian clothing giant, Benetton.
In a ruling that delivered a major blow to same-sex marriage proponents in California, the state’s Supreme Court issued a ruling yesterday saying that state officials do not have the right to veto a voter-approved initiative and that the backers of the state’s gay marriage ban have the right to defend the hotly contested ballot initiative in court.
Hundreds of middle- and high-school aged children were bused into a large conference in Tarrytown New York yesterday where a long list of activist speakers presented the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender lifestyle as normal and praiseworthy.
“Fast from bitterness – feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern – feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety – feast on eternal truth.
Fast from anger – feast on patience.
Fast from words that destroy – feast on words that build up.
Fast from discontent – feast on gratitude.
Fast from discouragement – feast on hope.”
Susan Tassone
For Reflection:
What “fast” should I engage? What are three practical ways I can employ its antidote today?
The results of an investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) into the use of $18 million in taxpayer money by the Obama Administration to fund a group pushing abortion in Kenya has found that the Administration not only broke the law, but stonewalled investigators who were searching for answers.
The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has found that fewer teens are opting for sex during their teenage years than they were just a decade ago, with the majority saying they abstained because it was against their morals or religion.
The iconic Italian fashion house, Benetton, decided to withdraw a photo in an ad campaign that showed Pope Benedict XVI kissing an imam on the lips after the Vatican called it “completely unacceptable.”
At Judgment:
“The soul sees what God intended it to be. And the soul sees what obstacles it erected – its selfishness, its cowardice, its shallow satisfactions, its perversions of God’s graces and His gifts. All this came between God and the soul in life.”
Susan Tassone
For Reflection:
What will I see at the moment of my particular judgment? Will I see that I have created obstacles between my soul and God? What might they be? I pray for the grace to dismantle these obstacles in this life so I will not take them with me to eternal life.
(See tomorrow’s Grace Line for some helpful hints on how to do this.)
