Catholic – Page 7 – All Saints Museum

Catholic Museums

There is a real need for Catholic Museums, not just in our local areas, but in the world.

The quintessential Catholic “family outing” is the Sunday Mass. And this is critical – the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Faith.

But outside of the Mass there are very few Catholic activities designed for, or that appeal to, the family. I think that there is more that needs to be done to spark an interest in the Faith.

If we can draw a parallel, I think we can compare the Faith Life to a fire. You need 3 things, fuel, oxygen and heat. The Mass (and all the Sacraments) are like the fuel. They keep our Faith alive by Divine Grace. But we also need good Catechesis / education – the Oxygen, and we also need personal desire or inspiration – the heat.

You can have a Catholic that is educated and well formed, and receives the Sacraments, yet has little motivation or inspiration… they do the bare minimum, and therefore they are a flickering flame. You can also have a person who is Inspired and has great desire, and receives all the Sacraments, but hasn’t been well informed. Those inspirations and desire are short lived without a proper education and understanding. And likewise you can be well informed and have inspiration, but if you aren’t living the Sacramental Life then something is amiss.

A Catholic Museum helps to add elements of the Education and Inspiration back into our community. Together with the Sacraments, this can be a recipe for a renewed Faith Life!

I pray that All Saints Museum contribute to this.

The Rainbow

Driving home yesterday after a heavy rain I saw a bright and beautiful rainbow breaking through the clouds. It reminded me of God’s covenant that He promised Noah after the flood.

Genesis 9:12-16

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Sadly the rainbow now has a different meaning. When one sees a rainbow, most often than not the first thing that comes to mind is “pride”.

We all struggle as a result of Original Sin and our fallen human nature – whether it’s with same sex attraction or un-chaste opposite sex attraction (or alcohol, drugs, gambling… any unhealthy attraction). It should come as no surprise then when we read Proverbs 16:18 – “Pride goes before destruction”, and it was through the pride of Adam and Eve that Original Sin would come to us.

The illusion is that the rainbow symbolizes pride and liberation – touted as such good, and yet it is precisely pride that hardens the heart against healing and true Christian humility. If we read the account of the first rainbow in Genesis, we see that it was God’s extreme act of humility (the opposite of pride) where He promises that He will never again destroy life in that same way. It was an act of Humility for God to accept that His creation could continue to reject Him, and that He promised not to start over as with Noah. This is His perpetual act of Humility that is consummated on the Cross – Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! “. It is this act that we must imitate. To die to ourselves no matter what our attractions may be.

My message is this. Let us re-claim the Rainbow for Humility, and let us recall God’s covenant as He does whenever we see the Rainbow.

Let us become the Saints God meant for us to be. Amen

Saint Gemma Novena – Day 5

Join All Saints Museum for a Novena in honor of St. Gemma Galgani, who will be celebrating her Birthday in just 4 days.

St. Gemma, Virgin, Stigmatist, and Victim for Souls, was born on March 12, 1878.

Day 5:

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2008/11/novena-to-st-gemma-galgani.html

Preface: Oh most Divine Lord, we humbly prostrate ourselves before Thy Infinite Majesty, and we adore Thee and dedicate to Thy glory the devout prayers which we now present to Thee, as an act of devotion to your servant, St Gemma Galgani, whose intercession we are now imploring.

Oh glorious St Gemma, for years you greatly desired to enter the consecrated religious life, but God desired otherwise, telling you after many years that it was not to be, and thereby causing you such great disappointment. Yet, you accepted this great sacrifice and resigned yourself to the will of God. Teach us then, dear St Gemma, to accept the sacrifices and sufferings that God permits in our lives, especially those that are very much against our own will and desires.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Pray for us, Saint Gemma, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. O God, Who fashioned thy servant Saint Gemma into a likeness of Thy Crucified Son, grant us through her intercession, the favor that we humbly request (mention request), and through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Thy Son may we be united with You for all eternity. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Saint Gemma Novena – Day 4

Join All Saints Museum for a Novena in honor of St. Gemma Galgani, who will be celebrating her Birthday in just 6 days.

St. Gemma, Virgin, Stigmatist, and Victim for Souls, was born on March 12, 1878.

Day 4:

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2008/11/novena-to-st-gemma-galgani.html

Blessed St Gemma, you who by the will of God suffered the loss of both of your parents at a young age, and whom also suffered countless pains in body and spirit, teach us how to sacrifice and to suffer out of love for God, that we too may expiate our sins here on earth, and thereby become more worthy of the infinite treasure of being united with God in heaven.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Pray for us, Saint Gemma, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. O God, Who fashioned thy servant Saint Gemma into a likeness of Thy Crucified Son, grant us through her intercession the favor that we humbly request (mention request), and through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Thy Son, may we be united with You for all eternity. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Saint Gemma Novena – Day 3

Join All Saints Museum for a Novena in honor of St. Gemma Galgani, who will be celebrating her Birthday in just 7 days.

St. Gemma, Virgin, Stigmatist, and Victim for Souls, was born on March 12, 1878.

Day 3:

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2008/11/novena-to-st-gemma-galgani.html

O most loving virgin St. Gemma, with a fervent love for Jesus you suffered immensely for the conversion of sinners as a victim for sin, and you loved others intensely out of love for God. Do not forget us then, who remain here on earth, and look down with kindness on those of us who implore thee in the confident hope of receiving this favor through thy loving intercession (mention request)

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Pray for us, Saint Gemma, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. O God, Who fashioned thy servant Saint Gemma into a likeness of Thy Crucified Son, grant us through her intercession the favor that we humbly request, and through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Thy Son, may we be united with You for all eternity. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

How to Love like a Saint

Principal 1: You can’t control or change other people, you can only control yourself and what you do.

Principal 2: People give and receive love differently. There is a book titled “the 5 love languages” that expresses the various ways in which love is given and received. Therefore according to principal 1 then you should look at the intent of one trying to give you love and accept it not according to how you would like to receive the love, but receive it according to the fact that it is love whether given how you like or not. We cannot force someone to love us exactly how we would like. And conversely, you should do all you can to give love the way the other wishes to receive it best. These two principals therefore are both used together.

Principal 3: God is personal (3 persons, 1 God). Consequently, God too gives and receives love according to Principal 2. And then applying Principal 1 and 2 to ourselves in relation to God, we should try to understand how God has given us Love as well as how He would like to receive Love from us.

“Learn… how Jesus wishes to be loved.” – St. Gemma Galgani:

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2009/10/ven-mother-gemma-eufemia-giannini-close.html#sthash.kzClHRC4.dpuf

Saint Gemma Novena – Day 2

Join All Saints Museum for a Novena in honor of St. Gemma Galgani, who will be celebrating her Birthday in just 8 days.

St. Gemma, Virgin, Stigmatist, and Victim for Souls, was born on March 12, 1878.

Day 2:

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2008/11/novena-to-st-gemma-galgani.html

O worthy Spouse of the Lamb of God and faithful virgin St Gemma, you preserved the innocence and splendor of virginity, giving to the world a bright example of purity and the most exalted virtues. Look down with pity from thy high place in heaven upon us who confide in thee, as we implore thee for the favor we so ardently desire (mention request).

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Pray for us, Saint Gemma, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Saint Gemma Novena – Day 1

Join All Saints Museum for a Novena in honor of St. Gemma Galgani, who will be celebrating her Birthday in just 9 days.

St. Gemma, Virgin, Stigmatist, and Victim for Souls, was born on March 12, 1878.

Day 1:

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2008/11/novena-to-st-gemma-galgani.html

Most compassionate virgin, St. Gemma, during thy short life on earth, you gave a most beautiful example of angelic innocence and seraphic love and was found worthy to bear in thy flesh the marks of our Lord’s Passion. Have pity on us who are so much in need of God’s Mercy, and obtain for us through thy merits and intercession, the special favor which we now fervently implore (mention request).

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Pray for us, Saint Gemma, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray.

O God, Who fashioned thy servant Saint Gemma into a likeness of Thy Crucified Son, grant us through her intercession the favor that we humbly request, and through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Thy Son, may we be united with You for all eternity. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Freely I Give

All Saints Museum presents the fourth song salvaged from an old cassette tape, available on our YouTube Channel. It is another wonderful song that talks about God’s great love for us. It is an excellent song for Lent as we contemplate God’s gift of His only Son, who came to share in our humanity, to become the Paschal Lamb. This song is a powerful way to continue in the journey of Lent. It is played to a set of our Holy Cards, several of which are in our Holy Card Project.

We hope you enjoy.

Freely I Give – Spirit Alive

Please subscribe to our channel for future posts. We will continue to add more songs from the album.

Marriage and Faith

Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things that are unseen.” (Heb 11:1).

This is not the dictionary definition of faith, but an inspired one from the Holy Spirit, who inspires the Scriptures. This Faith is a gift from God himself – the first of the three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope and Love) – given to us through grace.

Our Lord has revealed to His Church that the ordinary means of obtaining grace is through the Sacraments!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is why they are called ‘sacraments of faith.’“

We are given the initial bud of grace, Divine Life, when we are baptized. And this is when our parents make the ultimate act of Faith for us.

As we grow older, we have the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion to keep this Divine Life within us growing – and it is in this Divine Life that we continue to have Faith. And finally, the Sacrament of Marriage then strengthens this further. Marriage itself is the sign of God’s relationship with His Church, as St. Paul counsels the Ephesians when he says, “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church (Eph. 5:25).” The family, stemming from Marriage, is a reflection of the Trinity, creating life through love. The family is evidence of the Triune God, who “is not seen” – except, of course, through Jesus, who is THE Sacrament Himself: “When you see me, you see the Father” (Jn. 14:9).

Marriage and the family then are very sacred entities, because as we live Sacramental lives, we may indeed give others a glimpse of what Faith is. We give others “evidence” of something unseen. We become the “substance of things hoped for” for others.

It is for this reason that we must always fight to defend Marriage, to defend the family. And the best way to do this is by imitating the Saints.

May we, through the veneration of the Saints of the past, inspire Saints of the future.

God bless.