Ten Catholic Things that Caught My Eye Today

1. From Arkansas:

When he was around 12 years old, Luis Miguel Pacheco, a frustrated, suffering kid in Mexico, told God he hated him. Just 16 years later, God changed his heart and is working through him to serve the Church.

2.From St. Clement I, from today’s Liturgy of the Hours:

Give us grace, Lord, to hope in your Name, to which all creatures owe their being. Open the eyes of our heart to know you alone, the Most High in the highest heavens, the holy One, whose dwelling is in the holy. You abase the arrogance of the proud, frustrate the designs of the godless, exalt the lowly and humble the lofty. You give men wealth and take it away; you slay them, save them and give them new life. Alone the Benefactor of spirits and God of all flesh, your gaze penetrates the depths, you observe the doings of men. Helper of those in peril, Savior of those in despair, you created and still keep watch over all that draws breath. You cause the peoples on the earth to multiply, and from them all choose those who love you through Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through him you have instructed us, sanctified us, honored us.

Lord, we entreat you to help us. Come to the aid of the afflicted, pity the lowly, raise up the fallen, show your face to the needy, heal the sick, convert the wayward, feed the hungry, deliver the captives, support the weak, encourage the fainthearted. Let all nations know that you alone are God; Jesus Christ is your Son, and we are your people and the sheep of your pasture.

(Thank you, ibreviary.)

3. Pope Francis heads abroad. And asks for prayers:

Please pray with me for everyone in Sri Lanka and the Philippines as I begin my trip.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) January 12, 2015

4. “Service groups help the homeless prepare for pope’s visit to Manila”

5. Catholic News Agency: how a crucifix restoration offers hope to the poor

6.

Bishops learns of his elevation to cardinal via WhatsApp http://t.co/rEz9dN7XJP

— The Catholic Herald (@CatholicHerald) January 12, 2015

7. Flashback on Benedict, Islam, Faith & Reason.

8. One more Baptism of the Lord link:

Once we ponder substantially the truth that we belong to God by baptism, so many aspects of our faith become easier. Prayer becomes easier because we grasp that all our time belongs to God and so making time to converse with God in prayer becomes straightforward. Obedience to God becomes easier, because we’re not trying to call the shots, but rather want God’s will to be done, knowing that by doing his will, we’re entrusting ourselves not to his arbitrary dictates but to his saving love. Generosity becomes easier, because we recognize all that we have belongs to God, so sacrificing for others, even living by a vow of poverty, is much easier because we’re not tempted any longer to scream “mine!” Living chastely becomes easier because we recognize our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit that belong to God and are not meant to be used as we please but for God’s glory, either in chaste marital love or in temporary or perpetual chaste continence for the Kingdom. And when we truly belong to God, we begin to recognize that whatever we sacrifice for God in the “transfer of ownership” involved in consecration is nothing compared to what we receive. As we live out our belonging to, we grasp much more profoundly that he lives out his consecration for us and open ourselves up to receive the gift of his own consecration: God gives us his own life, he gives us his name, he gives us his eternal love, he gives us heaven. The consecrated life is a mutual belonging between us and God, but it’s only those who live out their consecration who fully receive the fruit of God’s consecrating himself for us.

(Yesterday’s collection here.)

9. This sounds divine:

Today is also feast of Aelred of Hexham. This is the Cistercian Abbey at Rievaulx where he wrote & prayed. Died 1167. pic.twitter.com/FDSuDRWGpm

— Michael Sadgrove (@Sadgrovem) January 12, 2015

10. From Dom Anscar Vonier, O.S.B., in today’s Magnificat (subscribe here) meditation:

The disciple of all times has one great task to perform, he must enter more and more into the secrets of the Master; he must be ready for any revelation his Leader may be preparing, any manifestation of his secret greatness.