“The law entered in so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
—Romans 5:20-21 (via beautifultranscendence)
December 2011
November 2011
RE: Your plea for asks. 3, 11, 15
3: Addiction? Haha, this is gonna be a funny one. Wii games. I can get so into them for hours at a time. It’s a habit I know I really have to break especially now that school is getting busier, and life is becoming more demanding.
11: Confession? I sleep with a nightlight..?
15: Someone who is always there for me? God, the communion of saints, my guardian angel, my mom.. Lol, I’ve sure got a lot of people rooting for me.
27 and 17 :D
27: What I hate? I’m careful not to throw out the h word out there (hate) but I really dislike hypocrisy and ignorance.. And I also dislike whenever I have to sleep late because of homework hahaha.
17: Who’s a stranger? You, anon! :D
“If we do not fill our mind with prayer, it will fill itself with anxieties, worries, temptations, resentments, and unwelcome memories.”
—Scott Hahn (via thefullnessofthefaith)
Reblog if you love your Guardian Angel
My angel is so good to me. such a gift from God.
I don’t know where I’d be without mine. It’s actually a pretty scary thought haha.
Semi-Quick Rant
This is meant to be a quick post since I’m still procrastinating, but here goes.
I was scrolling down my Facebook News Feed to see a number of pictures that were uploaded by some of my friends. Apparently they went to a party over the weekend.
While it’s something that I’ve somewhat gotten accustomed to, I’ll never understand the kinds of dances my generation’s into these days (notice how I’m suddenly starting to sound like a cranky old grandpa).
So yeah, as you can expect, the pictures consisted of immoral dancing, consumption of alcohol, and couples making out.
What angers me about this is not necessarily the acts themselves (although I obviously take offense to those things too), but the fact that most of the people in the pictures were wearing rosaries, crucifixes, and saint bracelets.. I even see some of these people at Mass on a regular basis.
What I’ll never understand is the kind of hypocrisy with which these people can behave. One day, they’ll be the shy and timid person at Mass or youth group; the next, they’ll be allowing themselves to be objectified for the pleasure of others.
Furthermore, I’ll never understand what the point of grinding and freaking is. You can tell me all the excuses in the world why there’s nothing wrong with that kind of dancing, but once you start thinking of the things that are involved with it: lust, dehumanization, objectification of women, etc. you might think twice.
Or not.
But that’s how the Enemy works. You take something that’s inherently wrong and immoral, but when the Enemy distorts and corrupts your mind into thinking it’s perfectly okay, that’s where the real problem starts.
This is a very crude post, I realize, and maybe in one hour I’ll realize how condescending and judgmental I sounded. I’ll edit this or write something more developed about this later.
Okay, I’m done.
- Mom: Joseph! I just realized that we ate meat on Friday! We need to make up for that and mortify ourselves today.
- Me: I'll go get my whip and my hairshirt..
Mixed feelings over this years' Thanksgiving..
So much to blog about in just one post. So I’ll just bullet point random words and thoughts that are swirling through my head right now.
- That garlic bread was heavenly.
- Okay, let’s review a list of things that I need to improve on.
- I need to practice humility more.
- Oh yeah, being able to practice detachment from the world would be great too, especially before Black Friday.
- Hmm.. I’m becoming a lot like that jealous brother of the Prodigal Son.. Yeah, I better change that.
- Wow, I forgot how many misguided people there are in my family who are living in sin.
- Oh wait. First I need to remove the log in my eye and remember that God loves them just the same.
- Furthermore, I can’t cast the first stone either.
- I musn’t be proud, I musn’t be proud..
- Guardian Angel, can you please do that thing again when you redirect my focus on God?
- I CAN’T BE SLIPPING INTO THESE TEMPTATIONS AGAIN.
- Oh great, I think I’m becoming scrupulous again..
- Oh man, maybe I’m the greater sinner here.
- Mom, can we go to Confession tomorrow?
My thanksgiving weekend is pretty much complete right now.
I was able to go to Mass in the morning, help feed the homeless at a Baptist church, and go to Adoration for at least an hour.
“Praise the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 136)
My guardian angel's working overtime.
Today, I just drove on the freeway for the first time.
"The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort; you were made for greatness."
Pope Benedict XVI
Too true.
Just to add on to this quote because Papa Benny seemed to imply it.
“Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.” - St. Catherine of Siena
How many different versions of 'How He Loves' do you know?
I’m only familiar with five of them, although I’m sure there’s many other version! There’s John McMillan, David Crowder Band, Kim Walker, The Glorious Unseen, and Flyleaf.
How He Loves
Will Reagan & Laura Hackett
How He Loves - Will Reagan and Laura Hackett
Wow. What an incredible version. <333
It’s interesting to hear a quieter and more reflective tone to this song. However, I still prefer Kim Walker’s rendition of it - but that’s just me.
It’s a beautiful song regardless. (:
Why did I find this so funny?
- Jake: You should've been at Mr. H's class today.
- Me: Why?
- Jake: Because there was this German international student in our class, and she kept on complaining and whining for some reason. Mr. H didn't mind it at first, but when she said that his class was messed up, all of a sudden, Mr. H jumps at and screams "WELL AT LEAST MY FACE ISN'T MESSED UP."
“We need to live our lives as we once played pretend. How? By being Saints. As far as I can tell, the only difference between a Saint and a child is that a Saint works for his innocence, while children are blessed with it. Isn’t it funny? The doom of every man is to start where he wants to be, fall off, and spend the rest of his life trying to get back.”
—BadCatholic (via thefullnessofthefaith)
“Yes, Lord, I have said it before, and I will keep on saying it, I love you and I want to love you all my life. If you see that I am about to commit a sin, make me die first! Yes, death first, but not sin!”
—St. Dominic Savio
so there's a guy that I like and I REALLY like him, he's one of the best friends that i have ever had and I want to tell him i like him but i don't think he likes me back and if he doesn't (or does and it ends badly) it will ruin our whole entire friendship. what do I do?
In my opinion, you’ve got nothing to lose if you tell him how you feel about him. But then again, you’re consulting Mr. Awkward-And-Clumsy-When-It-Comes-To-Relationships, so you’ll probably have everything to lose if you take my advice. I’m sure you’ll do just fine if you’re confident in yourself and happy with who you are! But just be prepared if things don’t go as expected.
Actually, you can take that last bit of advice since I’m also known as Mr. Rejection-Doesn’t-Sting-As-Much-Once-You’ve-Been-Rejected-Countless-Of-Times.
Ohoho, freshman year sure brings lovely memories.
Anyway, hope everything goes well!
Today marks six months..
Six months since I’ve been able to overcome a terrible struggle against sins of impurity. Seeing as I could barely last six days without committing the same sins again in the past, I really can’t believe I’ve come to this point. But then again, I am reminded of Jesus’ promise in Matthew 19:26 that for God, all things are possible.
I love you so, so much my sweet and dear Jesus.
On May 20, I made a promise to myself and to You that I would make every single effort to cleanse myself of all the things that would lead me away from you. And here I am now, six months later, still faithful to my promise out of my love for You. Grant that I may continue to grow deeper and deeper in love with You that I might become more faithful to Your will and abandon myself to Your infinite mercy.
My friend's asking me for relationship advice.
Let’s hope he was taking about his relationship with God, otherwise he’s not gonna have a girlfriend once I’m done talking to him!
Hey, Dudes! If you're Christian or if you have or run a Christian Blog. Please reblog this! We want to follow as many as you guys as possible. God Bless <3
“According to our manner of expression, we may say that God took more care in the formation of this most pure body than in the creation of the heavens and the entire universe.”
—Venerable Mary Agreda, on the Blessed Virgin Mary
“There’s only one real sadness in life… NOT to be a saint.”
—Léon Bloy (via fpecson)
So.. Does anyone here know how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours?
“I am with you also in these restless days in which Satan wishes to destroy everything which I and my son Jesus are building up. In a special way he wishes to destroy your souls. He wishes to guide you as far away as possible from Christian life as well as from the Commandments, to which the Church is calling you so you may live them. Satan wishes to destroy everything which is holy in you and around you. Therefore, little children, pray, pray, pray, in order to be able to comprehend all which God is giving you through my comings.”
—The Blessed Virgin Mary, September 25th 1992, Medjugorje (via ourladyg)
Has a massive headache right now.
I was just about to pray to St. Teresa for her intercession so that the throbbing pain in my head can stop already so I can finish this homework in peace - but on second thought.. If this suffering can bring any consolation to the holy souls in Purgatory, or help in the conversion of sinners and non-believers..
Then by all means Lord, make my headache a terrible migraine too!
(But maybe after I finish this homework..) :P
You know you're a Catholic young man when..
You get excited whenever you see a girl your age wearing a Miraculous Medal.
An Introduction to Transcendence
It’s a universal concept. It’s probably crossed your mind countless times. And let’s face it, it’s probably a question that we’ve all been asked at one point or another in our lives. It demands, what seems to be a simple answer, and yet, we all find difficulty in trying to express such an abstract idea in concrete terms.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
And without fail, the answers usually turn out sounding like this:
“I want to be rich!” (Well of course you do..)
“I want to be famous!” (How original..)
“I want to be Kim Kardashian’s husband for longer than 72 days!” (And to that, I’d say, you’d probably have a better chance of becoming rich and famous.)
Funnily enough, I tend to take more interest in the answers rather than the question itself, for the answers usually reflect something very profound in human nature:
They all express some sort of longing to be understood. Some sort of longing to be happy. Some sort of longing to be loved.
To all of my followers who didn’t get the memo: I will be starting a new blog called Transcendence - which will be primarily composed of personal reflections written by myself, as well as quotes from the saints and other spiritual figures.
My hope is that I can dedicate a blog solely for reflecting upon my daily experiences - almost like a spiritual journal - while at the same time, maintaining this blog (the content I post regularly on this blog shouldn’t change). Although, there might be some personal reflections I write on Transcendence that I might not reblog or repost to this one - and that might have to do with privacy or laziness. :P
Either way, be sure to check out my new blog. =]
And as always.. May everything be for His greater glory!
Another night filled with impure thoughts and temptations..
I know I can’t do this alone. Dear Jesus, help me to run away from these temptations and into your arms.
O Mary, by your Immaculate Conception, keep my body pure and my soul holy.
St. Joseph, most chaste, pray for me.
St. Therese, St. Gemma, St. Agnes, St. Monica, St. Clare, St. Dymphna, St. Maria Goretti, St. Catherine, St. Francis, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Anthony, St. Ignatius, St. Josemaria, St. Michael the Archangel - pray for me that I may remain steadfast in my love for God.
My dear guardian angel, continue to watch over me and protect me in these difficult moments of temptation.
Sanctify me, with your Holy Spirit O Lord, and fill my mind with all that is pure and holy.
I ask all this through Your most holy name, Amen.
“If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out…. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter…. Do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself.”
—St. Charles Borromeo
