Random Thoughts

Well, I just spent 25 minutes on a nice post regarding my thoughts on the upcoming election. Then, when I tried to publish the post, it disappeared! Such are the challenges of blogging, I guess.

In a nutshell- crazy times. Life is the key issue. Without life, all the other issues are moot... You cannot tax someone who was never born!

Thank God for the opportunity to live and serve Him during these times!

Praise God!!

Confession

I went to Confession today. What a great grace! There is a wonderful Church in downtown Buffalo called St. Michael's that is run by the Jesuits and offers daily Confession from 11:30 am to 12:00 pm. It is rare to find daily Confession, so I feel very blessed to have that option available in my hometown. Better still, St. Michael's also has daily adoration. So, the Eucharist is exposed the entire time that one is there to confess. I find that to be a great grace as well.

Confession is definitely one of the most underappreciated and underutilized sacraments in the Church today. I suspect that people tend to think of Confession as being "old fashioned" and not an important part of a Catholic's life post-Vatican II. Nothing could be further from the truth! Confession is integral to the life of a practicing Catholic-- the opportunity to confess and reconcile with God is key, but so to is the grace that flows from the sacrament. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is about both confessing our sins, as well as obtaining the grace to overcome sin in the future.

Just ponder the words of the Act of Contrition, which powerfully reflect this dichotomy:

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee,
In choosing to do wrong and failing to do right,
I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things.
I firmly intend, with the help of your grace,
to sin no more,
And to avoid whatever occasion leads me to sin. Amen.

If you are a Roman Catholic, I wholeheartedly encourage you to go to Confession at least once a month. I promise you, by the grace of God, you will be the better for it.

Praise God!!

Big Week

The Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints provides the Church with some pretty amazing Saints this week:

Monday 9/29:  St. Michael the Archangel- the awesome protector and defender of the Church.  I encourage everyone to say Pope Leo XIII's St. Michael prayer as often as possible.  The prayer and some neat information about it is available here:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_to_Saint_Michael

September 29th also honors Saints Raphael and Gabriel, two other important Archangels.

Tuesday 9/30:  St. Jerome - a lion of the faith and one of the great Doctors of the Early Church.

Today 10/1:  St. Therese of Liseux - the "Little Flower" and one of the great Saints of the last century.

Tomorrow 10/2:  The Guardian Angels - An often under appreciated group.  Each of us has one and they are, quite often, the unsung heroes of our lives!

Friday 10/3:  A "day off."  No Saints on the official calendar.  BUT- it is First Friday, so that makes it quite special.

Saturday 10/4:  St. Francis of Assisi- Another wonderful and inspiring Saint who changed the Church and the world for the better.  If you are looking for something to read, I would suggest G.K Chesterton's or St. Bonaventure's biography of Francis.

A "Big Week" indeed!  Praise God!!