Free Praise and Worship Concert!

This Sunday, April 6th, 5:45 pm, @ St. Anthony Catholic Church in San Jacinto.

Featuring the music of Chris Estrella and his band CEMM. They just released their first music cd called "ReThink".

Come, bring the fam., enjoy the music and fellowship, and show your support of Chris and our very own local Catholic band!



Contact St. Anthony's with any questions about the event:)

Lent Day 30 - How to Defeat Sin

http://www.lentreflections.com/how-to-defeat-sin/

At the heart of St. Ignatius' "Spiritual Exercises" is what he calls the agere contra principle--to "act against" those things that trouble us. Let's say I have a tendency toward overindulging in food, sex, or alcohol. I must find a way to actively battle against that tendency, to actively fast from food, for example. Let's say I'm tempted to badmouth people or be too critical. I need to act against that by, for example, praising people throughout Lent. I might alternatively choose to write a thank-you note, or a note of praise, each day during Lent. In Ignatius' view, sin is like a bent stick that we need to bend back in the other direction--that's the agere contra principle. We see this same idea in Dante's writings, especially in his Purgatorio, which I mentioned yesterday. As the seven deadly sins are being purged, the people on the mountain of Purgatory are forced to oppose the sins they previously indulged in. For instance, the envious are turned outward toward others but their eyelids are sewn shut, forcing them to look inward. The slothful, those who indulge in laziness, are made to run around Purgatory without end. These examples illustrate agere contra. Once we reflect on our attachments, we can begin working in the other direction against them. A second powerful strategy against sin is to perform the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Venerable Fulton Sheen noted the expulsive power of the good. When wickedness bubbles up within us, we can brood about it and try to manage it directly, or we can expel it by performing good works, by flooding out the bad with the good. Dorothy Day had it right: "Everything a baptized person does each day should be directly or indirectly related to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy." Make sure your life is filled up with those works and it will generate an expulsive power that helps defeat your sin.

"Once we reflect on our attachments, we can begin working in the other direction against them." - Father Robert Barron

Beautiful Mass Card for Families with Children! Had to Share:)

https://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/17900827/or/1726793452/name/mass+card.jpg?download=1


Summer*

Lent Day 29 - Reconsider the Course

In Dante's Purgatorio, the theme of waiting is on prominent display. Dante and Virgil encounter a number of souls who slouch at the foot of the mountain of Purgatory, destined to make the climb to heaven but compelled for the time being to wait. How long? As long as God determines. This, I submit, is very hard for most of us. I suppose we human beings have always been in a hurry, but modern people especially seem to want what they want, when they want it. We are driven, determined, goal-oriented, fast-moving. I, for one, can't stand waiting. But is it possible that we are made to wait because the track we are on is not the one God wants for us? G. K. Chesterton said that if you are on the wrong road, the very worst thing you can do is to move quickly. And there is the old joke about the pilot who comes on the intercom and says, "I have good news and bad news, folks: The bad news is that we're totally lost; the good news is that we're making excellent time!" Maybe we're forced to wait because God wants us to seriously reconsider the course we've charted, to stop hurtling down a dangerous road. In this second half of Lent, ask yourself: are you on the right course? Do you need to adjust your direction?

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Lent Day 28 - Not on Bread Alone

As I've mentioned before, Lent is a desert time, which is to say a time of simplicity, purification, and asceticism. In so many of the great figures of salvation history--Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, David--a period of testing or trial is required before they can commence their work. And where does this testing often take place? In the desert. Jesus himself went into the desert, and although he didn't have any sin to deal with, he still, in his humanity, knew temptation. We hear that he fasted for forty days and afterwards was hungry, causing the devil to say, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Now, there is nothing wrong with bread or food or drink in general. But the problem is making sensual pleasure the most basic good of your life. Talk to anyone who has become truly addicted to food or drink or drugs or sex--their number is legion in our society--and you will discover what happens when sensual pleasure is made central. To fully flourish, we must place God at the forefront. This is why Jesus counters the tempter by affirming, "One does not live on bread alone." Once that relationship with God is clear and central, you will know how to handle food and drink and sex. So as Lent continues on, ask yourself this question: Have I made sensual pleasure too central? Have I tried to live on something other than God?

Lent Day 27 - Why Your Body Matters for Prayer

Christian prayer is embodied prayer. In C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters we discovered an experienced devil giving lessons to a young temptor. At one point, the veteran orders his young charge to encourage his 'client,' a budding Christian, to envision prayer as something very 'interior' and 'mystical,' having little to do with posture or the position of the body. He wants the poor Christian to think that whether he stands, slouches, sits, or kneels is irrelevant to the quality of his communication with God. This, of course, is the Cartesian voice, the belief that our bodies and souls are independent and have little to do with each other. But then consider the view of William James. In his Principles of Psychology, James writes that it is not so much sadness that makes us cry as crying that makes us feel sad. The body in a significant sense precedes the mind. The same dynamic occurs when we pray. It is not so much keen feelings of devotion that force us to our knees as kneeling that gives rise to keen feelings of devotion. If you're having difficulty in prayer today, try kneeling, or bowing, or making some sort of reverent gesture. The body often leads the mind into a deeper spiritual space.