2014
Confession Survival Guide - SHARE - 6 Reasons to Go to Confession
Breaking News - Earthquake in China Kills 367 and Destroys 12000 Homes - Please PRAY
Saint August 3 : St. Gamaliel : Teacher of St. Paul
Pope Francis Celebrates Mass for 1st Feast of Jesuit St. Peter Faber
CBCP Release: Fr. Francis Ongkingco
SURVIVAL kit pamphlets for almost anything in life are one of the hottest selling items in your nearest bookstore. There are such kits for board and bar exams, outdoor activities, corporate presentations and more. Despite the easy and fast service offered by ‘St. Google,’ we are still inclined to have something at hand to quickly consult for answers.
But a survival kit for confession? Doesn’t that sound strange? Aren’t kits for helping one hurdle some insurmountable test or challenging activity? How could there be such a kit for something as harmless as confession?
True, but I’m thinking more of an aid that could help people overcome their excuses, fear, and shame for NOT going to confession. Here’s a list –definitely not exhaustive– of the possible reasons that people may use to either not to confess or to delay it.
#1: A Direct line to God. We often hear the casual saying, ‘Surely, couldn’t I confess directly to God who truly knows my sinful heart?’
Reply: Every prayer to God in some way is a form of confession, but don’t we often want our prayers to be heard and above all answered? In the Old Testament, God already showed the need for intermediaries like the prophet Nathan who revealed to David his sin and this led him to repent before God.
#2: The sinner priest. As in #1, many would make the additional defensive remark, “Why should I confess to someone who is also a sinner?
Reply: As explained in #1, God chooses who His ‘grace-heralds’ are. Some are worthy and others—sadly—are not. But this only goes to show two important lessons: (1) God is still the source of forgiveness, and channels it through whomever He sees fit; (2) the quality of the instrument further demonstrates that God is really behind the person, and this fact even invites the penitent to greater faith in God and sorrow for his sins.
#3: Self medicating. A more stubborn stance can occur when one chooses
not to seek any help at all but one’s personal resources.
Reply: Spiritual self-medication has some advantages. For a spiritually healthy individual, choosing to outdo himself and seeking new ways to grow in his spiritual life is edifying. But in the case of the spiritually less-healthy, the maxim ‘if symptoms persist, consult your Doctor (God)’ applies. Any attempt for such individuals to ‘self-medicate’ would be tantamount to their lack of sincerity to find a real and effective cure to their defects and resulting vices.
#4: Till I’m ready! Others delay confession, stating they are not yet ready, that is, they still lack the adequate sorrow for sins they want to confess. A similar stance is expressed in saying, “I’ll go when I’m truly sorry.”
Reply: In reality, no one is really ready in the sense that readiness of a person’s conscience is not weighed by how he feels (the danger of falling into sentimentality) about his faults. Nothing else can give one spiritual readiness, since only God can forgive sins, other than Confession when the required sorrow is demonstrated by promptly turning to the sacrament, with due preparation, and the resolution to amend for one’s sins.
#5. When I don’t sin anymore or I may fall again. These sound like sincere expressions of one’s remorse and may indeed present good grounds to delay going to the sacrament.
Reply: They, however, reveal an unrealistic knowledge of our human condition: man’s nature is one wounded by sin. Thus, as long as we live we will be sinners. God is not one who wants us sinless, but sorrowful children and walking heaven-bound with their eyes set upon occasions of grace and an ever-growing trust in their Father’s mercy.
#6. Anyway, there’s confession… I’m going anyway… so I can sin now and more.
Reply: These reveal a distorted idea of confession and reduce it to a spiritual washing machine. Moreover, such a mentality belittles God’s mercy and maliciously contrives not to really cut oneself from his sinfulness.
One way to overcome this vicious obstacle to God’s forgiving grace is to sincerely pray to God for one’s sins, cut off the occasions of sin, carry out some penance, go to confession and sincerely express these devious ideas to the confessor. Such a sincere approach will gradually soften a callous conscience and make it more receptive to grace.
* * *
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Mt. 16)” (Shared from CBCP - Image source Google)No comments: 
What is Ebola - Death toll 826 - 1st Infected in USA - 5 Answers about the #EbolaOutbreak
Ebola virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is the human disease caused by the Ebola virus. Symptoms typically start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus, with a fever, sore throat, muscle pains, and headaches. Typically nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea follow, along with decreased functioning of the liver and kidneys. A common symptom is uncontrolled bleeding. The disease may be acquired upon contact with blood or bodily fluids of an infected but it is not naturally transmitted through the air. (Edited from WHO)
1. On July 31 2014, WHO (World Health Organiazation) reported the death toll has reached 826 from 1440 cases. 
2. The 2014 Ebola Outbreak or deadly viral hemorrhagic major outbreak started in West Africa. The countries with infected include Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
3. An American doctor (pictured above) infected with Ebola flew from Liberia to Georgia on Saturday. He is the first patient with the deadly virus to be treated on U.S. soil. Dr. Kent Brantly was taken to Atlanta's Emory University Hospital. Brantly, 33, and fellow missionary Nancy Writebol will be treated in an isolation unit. They belong to the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse. Brantly's wife, Amber said, "I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S.," in statement. "I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital." Brantly's wife visited with him from behind a glass wall for about 45 minutes. Brantly became sick while caring for Ebola patients in Liberia.
4. There is no FDA-approved treatment for Ebola." Care for the infected includes tracking a patient's symptoms, vital signs and organ function and taking measures, such as blood transfusions and dialysis, to keep patients stable.
5. An experimental serum was given to Nancy Writebol (pictured) this week. There's no vaccine, though one is in experimental stage. There's no standard treatment for the disease; doctors try to support organ functions and keep up bodily fluids such as blood and water long enough for the body to fight off the infection.
History - There have been 27 Outbreaks in different parts of Africa and a few in labs in Russia and the UK. The 1st outbreak occurred in Sudan. The 2014 Outbreak is the largest on record. The percentage of deaths associated with the infected is 90%.
Breaking News - Earthquake in China Kills 367 and Destroys 12000 Homes - Please PRAY
Pope Francis “This is no magic trick, but a ‘sign’ – a sign that invites us to have faith in God...." Angelus
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with the faithful gathered beneath a dreary, drizzly early August sky in St. Peter’s Square this Sunday, the eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, on which the account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes from the Gospel according to St. Matthew (14:13-21) is proclaimed. It was on the Lord Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the five thousand that the Holy Father focused his remarks ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion at midday. Pope Francis chose three specific lessons from the episode: compassion; sharing; thanksgiving – a foreshadowing of the great Sacrament of Thanksgiving, the Eucharist. “Christ” said Pope Francis, “does not react with irritation to the crowd that followed him [to the place hard by the Sea of Galilee, to which he had repaired with the disciples], and would not – so to speak - ‘leave Him in peace’. Rather, He feels compassion, because He knows that they do not seek Him out of [mere] curiosity, but out of need.” Pope Francis went on to say that the many healings Christ performed were the sign of His compassion. “Jesus,” said the Holy Father, “teaches us to put the needs of the poor ahead of our own. Our needs, even if legitimate, will never be so urgent as those of the poor, who lack the necessities of life.” Turning to the lesson of sharing, Pope Francis contrasted the reaction of the disciples when faced with the needy multitude, with that of Jesus. The disciples would have sent the people away hungry, while Christ tells them to feed the gathered crowd. “Two different reactions,” said Pope Francis, “which reflect two opposing logics: the disciples are thinking according to the world, for which everyone has to take care of himself; Jesus thinks according to the logic of God, which is that of sharing,” and so the people were fed, and fed abundantly. The Holy Father went on to say, “This is no magic trick, but a ‘sign’ – a sign that invites us to have faith in God, the provident Father, who will not force us to go without ‘our daily bread’, if we know how to share it as brothers and sisters.” The third and final message, regarding the Eucharist, can be seen in Jesus’ recitation of the blessing before breaking the bread and distributing it to the crowd. “It is,” he said, “the same act that Jesus will make at the Last Supper, when He will establish the perpetual memorial of His redeeming sacrifice,” a memorial that is not mere earthly bread, but the bread of eternal life, Christ’s gift of His very self, as He offers Himself to the Father out of love for us. Pope Francis concluded with an invocation of Our Lady, Mother of Divine Providence, that she might accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage and assist us as we strive to meet the needs of those we encounter along the way in a spirit of fraternity.
Saint August 3 : St. Gamaliel : Teacher of St. Paul
UCATHOLIC REPORT: The name designates in the New Testament a Pharisee and celebrated doctor of the Law. Gamaliel is represented in Acts 5:34 as advising his fellow-members of the Sanhedrin not to put to death St. Peter and the Apostles, who, notwithstanding the prohibition of the Jewish authorities, had continued to preach to the people. His advice, however unwelcome, was acted upon, so great was his authority with his contemporaries.
We learn from Acts 22:3, that he was the teacher of St. Paul; but we are not told either the nature or the extent of the influence which he exercised upon the future apostle of the Gentiles. Gamaliel is rightly identified with an illustrious Jewish doctor of the Law, who bore the same name and died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem. In the Talmud, this Gamaliel bears, like his grandfather Hillel, the surname of “the Elder”, and is the first to whom the title “Rabban”, “our master”, was given.
He appears therein, as in the book of the Acts, as a prominent member of the highest tribunal of the Jews. He is also treated as the originator of many legal ordinances; as the father of a son, whom he called Simeon, after his father’s name, and of a daughter who married the priest Simon ben Nathanael. The Jewish accounts make him die a Pharisee, and state that: “When he died, the honour of the Torah (the law) ceased, and purity and piety became extinct.”
At an early date, ecclesiastical tradition has supposed that Gamaliel embraced the Christian Faith, and remained a member of the Sanhedrin for the purpose of helping secretly his fellow-Christians (cf. Recognitions of Clement, I, lxv, lxvi). According to Photius, he was baptized by St. Peter and St. John, together with his son and with Nicodemus. His body, miraculously discovered in the fifth century, is said to be preserved at Pisa, in Italy.
shared from http://www.ucatholic.com/category/saints/
2014
Sunday Mass and Readings : August 3, 2014 - 18th Ord. - A
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 112
Reading 1IS 55:1-3
Thus says the LORD:
All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!
Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.
Come to me heedfully,
listen, that you may have life.
I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,
the benefits assured to David.
All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!
Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.
Come to me heedfully,
listen, that you may have life.
I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,
the benefits assured to David.
Responsorial Psalm PS 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
R/ (cf. 16) The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R/ The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
R/ The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R/ The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R/ The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
R/ The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R/ The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
Reading 2 ROM 8:35, 37-39
Brothers and sisters:
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel MT 14:13-21
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.
Saint August 2 : St. Peter Julian Eymard - "Apostle of the Eucharist"
365Rosaries: “The Eucharist is the life of the people. The Eucharist gives them a center of life. All can come together without the barriers of race or language in order to celebrate the feast days of the Church. It gives them a law of life, that of charity, of which it is the source; thus it forges between them a common bond, a Christian kinship.” Today, August 2, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868), “Apostle of the Eucharist,” and founder of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation, a new society dedicated to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. At his canonization, Pope John XXIII said of Saint Peter, “Yes, dear sons and daughters, honor and celebrate him who was so perfect an adorer of the Blessed Sacrament; after his example, always place at the center of your thoughts, of your affections, the undertakings of your zeal this incomparable source of all grace: the mystery of faith, which hides under the veils the author himself of grace, Jesus the incarnate Word.”
“We believe in the love of God for us. To believe in love is everything. It is not enough to believe in the Truth. We must believe in Love and Love is our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. That is the faith that makes our Lord loved. Ask for this pure and simple faith in the Eucharist. Men will teach you; but only Jesus will give you the grace to believe in Him. You have the Eucharist. What more do you want?”
“If the love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament does not win our hearts, Jesus is vanquished! Our ingratitude is greater than His Goodness our malice is more powerful than His Charity.”
“Every time we come into the presence of the Eucharist we may say: This precious Testament cost Jesus Christ His life. For the Eucharist is a testament, a legacy which becomes valid only at the death of the testator. Our Lord thereby shows us His boundless love, for He Himself said there is no greater proof of love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.”
”He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant.”
“How kind is our Sacramental Jesus! He welcomes you at any hour of the day or night. His Love never knows rest. He is always most gentle towards you. When you visit Him, He forgets your sins and speaks only of His joy, His tenderness, and His Love. By the reception He gives to you, one would think He has need of you to make Him happy.”
"The Eucharist is the work of a measureless love that has at its service an infinite power, the omnipotence of God."
"Have a great love for Jesus in his divine Sacrament of Love; that is the divine oasis of the desert. It is the heavenly manna of the traveler. It is the Holy Ark. It is the life and Paradise of love on earth."
"Hear Mass daily; it will prosper the whole day. All your duties will be performed the better for it, and your soul will be stronger to bear its daily cross. The Mass is the most holy act of religion; you can do nothing that can give greater glory to God or be more profitable for your soul than to hear Mass both frequently and devoutly. It is the favorite devotion of the saints."
Obtain for us particularly to become, in imitation of you, faithful adorers in spirit and in truth of the Most Blessed Sacrament, while tending ever more toward the acquiring of Christian virtue, above all, of sincere humility. Thus we hope to live that life of union with Our Lord which was the aim of your constant zeal, as it is the principal effect on Holy Communion in our souls.
Finally, Saint Peter Julian, obtain for us your own filial devotion toward Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, that we may learn from that dear Divine Mother how to serve and adore on earth Our Savior hidden in His Sacrament, and thus come to adore and glorify Him unveiled in heaven. Amen
Shared from 365RosariesBlogspot
Pope Francis Celebrates Mass for 1st Feast of Jesuit St. Peter Faber
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis marked the first-ever Feast of St. Peter Faber on Saturday, with a Mass to which several young Jesuit priests were invited. St. Peter Faber was one of the original company that formed around St Ignatius Loyola, and eventually became the Society of Jesus. He was the first Jesuit to receive ordination to the priesthood. St. Ignatius, himself, recognized in Fr. Peter the first great master and leader of the Jesuits’ signature Spiritual Exercises.The head of Vatican Radio’s German service, Fr. Bernd Hagenkord, SJ, spoke with one of the young Jesuits invited to Mass with Pope Francis. Fr. Franciscus Wawansitiadi SJ of the Philippines told Vatican Radio, “[Pope Francis] came like a brother, another brother Jesuit,” to celebrate the Mass.
St. Peter Faber is also famed for his work to heal the divisions in the Church of his day, especially in Germany. Indeed, St. Peter Faber was a key instrument in the efforts to bring Germans back to the fullness of the faith following the Lutheran reformation. He was a theologian of considerable repute, though not one, whose preferred method of conversion was theoretical dispute. St. Peter Faber rather sought to call his hearers to the reform of their interior lives and to greater discipline of their affections. Shared from Radio Vaticana
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