Experiencing the mystery of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple

During the night Ileane was overcome with one of the seven deadly sins. She had no idea how it happened. It may have been something as innocent as scratching an itchy spot on her body. It may have been an all-out demonic attack. Or some combination of things. In any case, it was extreme temptation that Ileane was in the midst of, and it was as if there was nothing else that existed but herself and the overwhelming excitement and enticement of sexual sin. Ileane was intoxicated and delighted about it.

For many years this kind of thing would have just been a part of life, something Ileane didn't even know to fight against. She used to go along with such lusty temptations, and acted on these feelings in many sinful ways. Some people call it being horny. Ileane called it "being in the mood." Rolling with the flow of that energy used to be natural to her, and wonderful.

However, once Ileane's spiritual eyes were opened, and she had come to a place in life where she had denied herself, picked up her cross, and was following Jesus in obedience to strive for holiness and to love others; she found that she had to fight against sinful temptations. Ileane understood over time that some sins are more easily overcome than others. Some are taken care of through miracles of God. Some call for hard work on her part. Some call for one to be ever-vigilant and valiant in many spiritual battles waged by the evil one, who intends to keep repentant sinners from holiness and closeness to God.

Ileane come out of this wretched darkness after having spent much of her life embracing vile imaginations and acting upon them. She was given no instruction manual for holy saint wannabes. There were bad habits that needed to be broken, new ways to learn to look at things, and Ileane began to submit her will to that of our Heavenly Father more and more as time went on.

From time to time Ileane still struggles with the temptation of lust. There are preventative measures that she takes to help her to persevere and stay pure. She prays. She participates in the holy sacraments of our Holy Catholic Church for the grace of God. She keeps herself from experiencing things and places and people that bombard the senses with sinful enticements. She wears a wrist Rosary at night, and Ileane often feels for it and prays during the night. She has entrusted her life to Jesus and Mary. Ileane reads the Scriptures. She performs acts of reparation. All this she does not out of fear or scrupulosity, but for love of Jesus and Mary.This is, no doubt, why her battles with lust are few and far between.

One day, though, in the early morning hours, Ileane found herself ensnared in a wicked trap with no functioning rational intellect to depend upon for assistance. There was no thought of prayer, or pleading for the mercy of God. She could not even think to choose to fight against this evil, but rather she was strangely engulfed and consumed with lust.

Suddenly, there came a single thought, which proved to be a light that penetrated the darkness and dispelled it completely. Somehow, seemingly out of nowhere, Ileane remembered that this day is the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. She did not understand the mystery of her fascinating experience, but it was really as if she had found herself bound in heavy inescapable chains, and yet somebody had miraculously broken her out of them. She had been captured, and held captivated, but as it was now her way to flee and to fight, she was miraculously set free from this captivity of depravity by the merciful grace of God.

The law, the book of St. John tells us, came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. "The most pure Temple of the Savior, the most precious Bridal Chamber and Virgin, the Treasury of the glory of God is led today into the house of the Lord, bringing grace in the Spirit of God. God's angels praise her in song; she is the heavenly Ark." (Kontakion)

9/11: In honor of our heroes

There is a hero in you. In a certain situation that you find yourself, you'll see it. On 9/11 ten years ago, many stood up and contributed to the difficult, heart-wrenching work of search and rescue, and risked their lives while doing so. Let us honor our heroes and be proud of our country. May God bless America. May our Lord have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen.

Hail Mary, Full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Let us honor our Lord Jesus and our mother Mary. Jesus laid down His life for us and redeemed us while we were actually enemies of God. Mary said yes to God repeatedly, even to the Holy Sacrifice of her dearly beloved Son for our sakes. We do not usually think of our Lord and our Lady as heroes, but they are. Let us follow their example of genuine sacrificial love, denying ourselves, each of us picking up our own cross, and following Jesus.

Today is the feast of the most holy name of Mary. Info provided here: http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/holy-name-of-mary-2/

Ten Years Ago by Carolyn A. Coyne-Suarez

The date 9/11--It's been ten years,

Seems like yesterday, we shed bitter tears.

Our friends, relatives, those we didn't know,

It did not matter, if even our foe.

Pennsylvania, The Pentagon, New York,

We'll never forget, and still so much work.

When this charge happened, just what did we learn?

This whole grand country, took a giant turn.

We recall it all, down to the letter,

And we are all changed, hopefully better.

To desire world peace, really can't be wrong,

O Lord, it just seems, we've been praying so long!

Amen.

(copyright 2011)

Wearing the garment of grace

Last year after my children and I went to the doctor for physicals, the doctor asked me about what all four of us were wearing and if it was something to do with our religion. I explained that they are scapulars and that we are Catholic and that they are a part of our faith. She remarked that this was odd, since she had been working at the clinic for 5 years and had never seen one before, and the majority of her patients are Catholic.

Prior to that visit, she had never seen one on any of us, either. I had heard someone say that it was a good idea to wear a scapular, but I saw no need to wear some superstitious magical trinket when I was walking with the Almighty God. I didn't even know anybody who wore one. It is such a rare thing in America to wear one, that even the priest was surprised to see it when my grandson asked him to bless the one I gave to him.

In my family, because I have been learning more about Mary, and have adopted her as my mother, we all now wear the brown scapular. I didn't know much if anything about it the day I saw them and bought them. It's just that Mary, the mother of God supposedly liked them, or so I'd heard. So I figured it couldn't hurt. After all, Our Lord and Our Lady want us to be a people of faith. Let me put it on right here and now, and I'll learn about it later, was my thinking.

I've since learned that Mary, our Lady of Mount Carmel gave us this promise: "Wear the Scapular devoutly and perseveringly. It is my garment. To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of Me, and I in turn, am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life." Wow! This is no magic, it is a garment of grace. Speaking as one who has innumerable sins every single day of my life, this is good news. We all do things wrong, things that hurt others, things that we wish we'd never done. But you know what? Our Blessed Mother can help us with that.

It is a good idea to wear the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Holy Mary assures us: "Whoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire."