Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! We celebrate special occasions, most of the world has heard of Christmas and are aware of the day its celebrated. The grinch of anti-christian, anti-God sentiments has not been able to wipe out Dec. 25 from the holiday schedule. The world celebrates the birth of the Lord, history is divided, before the birth(BC) after the birth (AD). The Lord Jesus is the great divider, he does not compromise the truth, some will leave because the truth is too hard to accept. Some try so hard to melt down, soften, reshape the truth of the Lord but its the truth that will set them free. The truth lets one see as God sees, the infinite Good knows what constitutes love and joy. Nothing can disturb God because he is the truth, not one shadow eclipses his being, he is pure light, love and virtue, to walk into the presence of God would be to walk into holiness. We wouldn't be able to stand in his presence without being purified, it would be too overwhelming. The Lord covers that purity of God with his humanity so we can come into his presence and fellowship with him on the journey home, he is God's adapter for us, we can truly experience our beloved God through the gifts given by the Holy Trinity. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Birthday to all on Dec 25 and whenever your birthday is! May we be a people who celebrate for all eternity! **********This blog will resume Jan 2, 2O14.

St. John of the Cross- Born in 1542, Fontiveros, Spain; died in 1591, Úbeda, Spain - The Lord has always revealed to mortals the treasures of his wisdom and his spirit, but now that the face of evil bares itself more and more, so does the Lord bare his treasures more.******* Though the path is plain and smooth for people of good will, those who walk it will not travel far, and will do so only with difficulty if they do not have good feet, courage, and tenacity of spirit.************ The virtuous soul that is alone and without a master, is like a lone burning coal; it will grow colder rather than hotter.********** God values in you an inclination to aridity and suffering for love of Him more than all possible consolations, spiritual visions, and meditations.******* He who does not allow his appetites to carry him away will soar in his spirit as swiftly as the bird that lacks no feathers.*********** Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me.********** A soul that is hard because of its self-love grows harder. O good Jesus, if You do not soften it, it will ever continue in its natural hardness.************ Reflect that the most delicate flower loses its fragrance and withers fastest; therefore guard yourself against seeking to walk in a spirit of delight, for you will not be constant. Choose rather for yourself a robust spirit, detached from everything, and you will discover abundant peace and sweetness, for savory and durable fruit is gathered in a cold and dry climate.********* Think not that pleasing God lies so much in doing a great deal as in doing it with good will, without possessiveness and human respect.********** Do not rejoice in temporal prosperity, since you do not know if it gives you assurance of eternal life.*********** Rejoice habitually in God, Who is your salvation, and reflect that it is good to suffer in any way for Him Who is good.********* Preserve a loving attentiveness to God with no desire to feel or understand any particular thing concerning Him. ********* The poor man who is naked will be clothed, and the soul that is naked of desires and whims will be clothed by God with His purity, satisfaction, and will.********** There are souls that wallow in the mire like animals, and there are others that soar like birds, which purify and cleanse themselves in the air.************ The devil fears a soul united to God as he does God Himself.********* Once being asked how one becomes enraptured, the Venerable Father Fray John of the Cross, replied: by denying one's own will and doing the will of God; for an ecstasy is nothing else than going out of self and being caught up in God; and this is what he who obeys does; he leave himself and his desire, and thus unburdened plunges himself in God.*********** Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction.********** Suffering for God is better than working miracles.******** Oh, what blessings we will enjoy in the vision of the Most Blessed Trinity!*******

The map; the cross. East to west, north to south, the cross points the direction for the earth, for heaven, for hell. We look at the cross and part of it is in the earth, part of it is above the earth, most people do not die suspended between heaven and earth. The savior extends his arms to the earth, he lifts his head to the Father, his enemy's are beneath his feet, the God-Man is looked upon by believers and unbelievers, greeted with tears and curses, free will and power lines up before the cross, we shall serve you, we shall not serve you and they go to his right or his left. He dies for all, but he will not interfere with mankind's freedom to love him or not. His blood falls down upon each group, one group is healed, the other group is judged.   

The cross of victims, nobody wants to be a victim of anothers free will and power. Unfortunately, the world has had many a victim from all ages to God himself who was so cruelly treated by the free will and power of others. God is especially close to those who have suffered this outrage of unfairness and hate. Nobody has the right to use their power for the harm of others, to do so is to crucify humanity again and again. The Lord is with all the crucified and he will have his day when he will summon the earth before him. Every act of hatred and harm will be accounted for, justice will be served, the repentant and the unrepentant will see the cross, they too will be on the cross, one acknowledging their fault and failing, the other cursing God. We will pass through the cross into the kingdom, like the good thief who was then ready to be with the Lord in his father's house. The one who does not go to the father's house also passes through the cross like the unrepentant criminal next to the Lord's cross, without any remorse and faith his anger and contempt for the Lord flares up to  remove the death sentence. The Lord didn't remove the death sentence for any of them, they all died by the cross and one went on with the Lord and the other did not. The good thief, passing through the cross enters into paradise, the other criminal passing through the cross enters into a place without the Lord and calvary does not look so bad now.

St. Francis de Sales - Born in 1567, Château de Sales, France; died in 1622, Lyon, France. -      It should be our principal business to conquer ourselves and, from day to day, to go on increasing in strength and perfection. Above all, however, it is necessary for us to strive to conquer our little temptations, such as fits of anger, suspicions, jealousies, envy, deceitfulness, vanity, attachments, and evil thoughts. For in this way we shall acquire strength to subdue greater ones.************** We accuse our neighbor for so little, and we excuse ourselves for so much.***********The Prayer of the sick person is his patience and his acceptance of his sickness for the love of Jesus Christ. Make sickness itself a prayer, for there is none more powerful, save martyrdom!************* Oh what remorse we shall feel at the end of our lives, when we look back upon the great number of instructions and examples afforded by God and the Saints for our perfection, and so carelessly received by us! If this end were to come to you today, how would you be pleased with the life you have led this year?**********Man is the perfection of the Universe. The spirit is the perfection of man. Love is the perfection of the spirit, and charity that of love. Therefore, the love of God is the end, the perfection of the Universe.**********He who truly desires Love, seeks it truly. And he who truly seeks it, surely finds it. And he who finds it has found the Fountain of Life.*******The state of marriage is one that requires more virtue and constancy than any other: it is a perpetual exercise of mortification.********** It must be obvious that devotion ought to be practiced differently by the gentleman, the artist, the employee, the prince, the widow, the celibate, the spouse.*********** Be certain of this: it is an error, even heresy, to want to banish the devout life from the company of soldiers, the shops of artisans, the courts of princes and the homes of married people.************* When God's will is shown clearly to us through divine ordinances and commandments, there is nothing further to deliberate on for we must simply do what has been ordained. But for all other things it is in our liberty to choose what seems good according to our preferences.**********We ought not to become overly disturbed with ourselves because of our imperfections.********** We correct ourselves better by a calm and lasting repentance than by one that is bitter and angry.***********  We must not be astonished to see ourselves imperfect, since we must never see ourselves otherwise in this life.************ From time to time one must recreate and relax in mind and body.************ Perfection does not lie in avoiding the world, but in not clinging to it.**********  Riches can prick us with a thousand troubles in getting them, as many cares in preserving them, more anxieties in spending them, and with grief in losing them.***********                                                                            

Chocolate toothpaste. I had a dream that I went to church and there was a sign saying they had a problem and to go to the local gas station where someone would be distributing communion. So I go and see the line for communion, I'm the last one in line. As I reach the lady distributing communion she has her back towards me and is locking up a big metal container. She turns and sees me there waiting to recieve communion with a surprised look and says come back tomorrow. So, I come back the next day, see the line and once again I'm the last one. The person in front of me recieves communion and once again the lady has her back towards me locking up the metal container. She turns towards me once again acting surprised and I said you have to wait till everyone recieves communion and this time I wasn't leaving. So she frantically opens the container looking through it and pulls out chocolate toothpaste and squeezes it for communion. I look at her in shock and said what have you been giving people? She didn't have faith in the communion host and when she ran out anything could be a substitute. She believed I would accept this gesture of communion. Her look said to me its just a symbol my look to her said its not a symbol and it cannot be replaced. Symbol or reality, the consecrated host will be consumed by faith and love or like a piece of food that reminds one of Christ but is not the real deal. The flesh and blood of Christ has become eatable for body, heart, soul and mind, a privileged union for those who believe.  ************ A website of Eucharistic Miracles http://www.acfp2000.com/Miracles/eucharistic.html                                                  **********Chinese Eucharistic Martyr inspired Archbishop Fulton Sheen to pray his Holy Hour           
During China's 1911 Republican Revolution or the earlier Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), anti-Catholic militants seized a Catholic parish. They confined the pastor to house arrest. From his rectory window he witnessed the desecration of the Church. He knew that there had been thirty-two consecrated hosts in the tabernacle. An eleven year old girl was praying at the back of the church and the guards either did not see her or else paid no attention to her. She returned to the Church that night and made a Holy Hour and then consumed one of the sacred hosts, bending down to receive Jesus on her tongue. She continued to return every night, making a nightly Holy Hour and consuming one sacred host. On the last night, the thirty-second night, unfortunately a guard was awakened after she consumed the sacred host. He chased her, grabbed her, and beat her to death with his rifle. Archbishop Fulton Sheen became aware of her martyrdom while he was a seminarian. He was so inspired by her sacrifice that he promised to pray a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament each day for the rest of his life.

Kiss the sunset goodbye. To be in the presence of beauty and good is a torment for the lost angels. They would rather be in the slums, in the noisy cities, in seedy clubs and whacked out perverted mansions and homes. Its a drug for them to take in the sight of evil blocking out the loss of God and the good. They have nothing to live for as the days grow shorter to harm the one causing them pain. Their victory, a product of their imagination comforts them with reality, so they look to get drunk with blood or pain. They cannot have good so they despise every reminder of it, they live only to add souls to their state of hate and godlessness. They kissed the sunset of heaven goodbye, souls who have join them have kissed the sunset of earth goodbye, "drug me up for we have nothing" echoes in their being. Lost of God and good needs a fix, something must replace the nothingness but it all fails as the sun rises and the sun sets.