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Ave Maria Meditations

Confession and the holy fear of God 

When we go to the Sacrament of Penance it will help us very much if we foster the holy fear of God in our souls. To receive the sacrament, attrition (a supernatural but imperfect sorrow, arising from fear of punishment, or ­revulsion from the ugliness of the sin … ) is sufficient. But we will receive much more grace if we impel our soul to a sense of filial fear for having offended an Almighty God who is also Our Father. It will be much easier to pass from this filial attitude to one of genuine contrition, a repentance springing from love, to an attitude of sorrow based on love. Then confession becomes an immense source of grace, a place where love grows constantly stronger. 

Interior life grows in sensitivity and depth if we keep continually before us those truths that reveal to us the foundations of this gift of the Holy Spirit: God’s holiness and our wretchedness, our daily failures, the absolute dependence of the creature on his Creator, the enormity of a single venial sin in the sight of the divine holiness, the ingratitude implied by our lack of generosity in living up to the demands of our vocation . We shall understand better the mystery of sin if above all we develop the habit of considering frequently the Passion of Our Lord. We shall learn to love, and thereby dread committing a single venial sin. When we contemplate the suffering that Christ endured for our sins, the countless sins of all the world, our hope will be strengthened and our contrition intensified, and we shall have a firmer resolve to avoid every deliberate fault.  

The holy fear of God joined to love gives a special strength to the Christian’s life. With it, nothing can make him tremble, for nothing can then separate him from the love of God.The soul is consolidated in the virtue of hope and set free from a false and careless security by maintaining a watchful love against the treacherous lures of temptation.  

Let us ask our Mother Mary, the Refuge of Sinners, to make us understand just how much we lose every time we step aside from the path that leads to her son Jesus, even if our faults are only slight ones.  

Fr. Francis Fernandez

Ave Maria Mediations

The Communion of Saints and the Sacrament of Penance:

In the Sacrament of Penance man is reconciled with God and with the Church. It is one of the most intimate and personal of human acts, and brings about many fun­damental changes in the sanctuary of each man’s consci­ence. Yet at the same time this Sacrament also possesses a deep and inseparable social dimension and also brings about many changes in the family circle, the studies, the work, the friendly relationships etc., of the person who goes to Confession.

The greatest tragedy in any man’s life is sin, because the result of sin is a far-reaching disorder which starts in the very centre of his being and spreads outward to affect all those around him. In the Sacrament of Penance Our Lord sorts out all those misplaced elements; in addition to pardoning the sins, he restores to the soul its lost order and harmony.

A well-made confession brings much good to all those who live and work with us. What is more, it is of benefit to very many other people with whom we come into contact in the course of the day. The grace that we receive in this sacrament means that we say and do everything in a very different way.

Not only that, but when a Christian goes to Confession, the whole Church receives an incalculable benefit. Every time a priest pronounces the words of absolution, she rejoices and is mysteriously enriched, because every Confession, through the Communion of Saints, sends blessings which resound through the whole Mystical Body of Christ. (more…)

Face of Pro-Life #91 – Host Corinn Dahm with Bill O’Brien ( 30min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Corinn Dahm and Bill O’Brien discuss the many problems with the National Healthcare Bill that was recently passed including:

• How tax money is being used to fund abortion despite Nancy Pelosi’s claim to the contrary.
• Unprecedented use of reconciliation.

• Death Panels and Rationing of limited resources.
• Better alternatives  being ignored such as the health saving accounts that would actually save money.
• Assisted suicide, legal in 3 states, more  states have bills pending.
• Under funded pregnancy centers that are so incredibly helpful to give women real choices
• How Pro-aborts are limiting choices to women.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

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Face of Pro-Life #89 – Susan Boyce with the Health Care facts that will surprise you.  ( 30min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Susan Boyce explains how the federal health care plan which seems to have been defeated when Scott Brown won the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts is not at all defeated and still needs to be vigorously opposed. There is a real danger of stealth efforts to bypass normal rules by sneaking it into reconciliation without bringing it past the new senator. She further outlines the many problems that still exist in the plan, including half a trillion of new spending that will increase costs and taxes on employers reducing the number of jobs, unelected boards with unprecedented powers to dictate what gets funded, who gets health care or not. There are many indications that this rationing will be based on how ‘useful’ you are to society, similar to the Nazis.

It would also be a blow to religious freedoms due to the lack of conscience clauses in regard to abortion and abortifacients, mandated home visits, government oversight of marriage counseling. And, of course, abortion funding is still in the plan.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

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In this Year of the Priest it is a special pleasure to consider the Patron Saint of ALL Priests, St. John Vianney.  He had been the Patron of Parish Priests but our Holy Father has extended that patronage to all Priests.