Frequent Confession

By: Benedict Baur

BookNo.: r021

Asunto: highlights

Fecha: 27/06/11

• The child will fruitfully and happily receive the sacrament of Penance before First Communion if he is encouraged and gently led to do so by parents, priests, and teachers who have the right and duty to open to the child the sacramental channels of God's grace.
• If each child is prudently and suitably brought at the time of first Communion to an interior conviction that the greatest purity is required for worthy receiving the Eucharist, that conviction will stay with him throughout life and will foster a much greater esteem for and more frequent use of the sacrament of Reconciliation.
• Apart from the sacrament of Matrimony, Penance is the most personal of the sacraments. The personal dispositions of the penitent - his personal expression of sorrow, of accusation of sin, and of the desire to atone for it- are absolutely necessary for this sacrament.its efficacy depends essentially on our personal attitude to the sins we have committed and on our personal turning back to Christ and to God.
• Frequent Confession looks not only backward to what was, to our past failings; it looks forward also to the future.
• Twofold aim of frequent Confession : the purification of the soul from venial sin and, the confirmation of the will in its struggle to attain perfection and closer union with God.
• ... The penitent has got into the habit of confessing this or that venial sin without ever seriously thinking of striving energetically against it. No doubt he always has a general purpose of amendment or, at any rate, a purpose of amendment implicit in his contrition, and consequently his Confession is valid. But such confession can scarecely be very fruitful or help very much to build up and develop an interior life.
• People such as those of whom we are speaking should limit their purpose of amendment to very few points, often to one single failing ... A great deal depends on whether this purpose of amendment is well chosen and well formulated.
• Be careful too to have a positive purpose of amendment, that is, one that is directed to the practice of some particular virtue... We dont overcome faults by being constantly fighting against them but by keeping our gaze on what is good
• Our purpose of amendment need not be, indeed should not be changed in every Confession. ... As a rule, the same purpose of amendment should be retained and renewed in each Confession until such fault has been attacked and shaken (particular examination).
• Examination of conscience. When this examination of conscience is made regularly it is not very difficult; a person usually knows his customary faings, and so he discovers without much trouble whatever faults he may have committed in the course of the day. ... People who are genuinely trying to lead a holy life need in no way be petty in this self-examination. The act of contrition is much more important.
• Among the many feengs that assail the heart there is always one feeling that dominates, that gives the heart its direction, so to speak, and determines its mood.
• Our examination of conscience for frequent Confession need not extend to all our faults since our last confession. First and foremost we should consider the purpose of amendment made in our last Confession and the subject of our particular examination...
• Conscience is holy and always binding; yet at the same time it can be erroneous.
• One of the most excellent ways of avoiding the danger of sin and to gain strength to resist sin and to overcome it is frequent confession. If well made it will preserve us from the tepidity whic, slowly but surely, leads to serious sin. It will contimually give us new energy to strive after virtue and will bind our will ever more to all what is good, to Christ, to God and to his holy will.
• 'Be quite sure that this is one of the most important things in the spiritual life and that no spiritual practices, no matter what they are, can lead you to God until you have entirely purified yourself from deliberate venial sin'.
• With love of God and of Christ, there grows in us the love of our neighbour and the strength to be patient and forgiving, to put up with difficulties and to overcome ourselves.
• What our times need is new men, really Christian men; true interior perfect Christianswho with all their strength try to answer the call of the Lord: 'Be ye perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect' (Call to sanctity)
• Sins of omission: 'Tonight, at home in your house, when everybody has gone to sleep, go through all the rooms and imagine that all those sleepers are dead. What reproaches you would have to make to yourself: for deeds not done, for services not rendered, for words left unspoken, for kindness not shown'.
• In thease of frequent Confession the danger of routine will be warded off if we put the emphasis, not on confession, i.e. on the actual accusation of sinsbut rather fully and entirely on deepening and enlivening our contrition and on perfecting our purpose of amendment.
• Where there is venial sin the ardour and vigour of love can no longer develop.
• If our prayer does not make us daily more resigned to the will of God, more dettached from our own will, more submissive and patient, more obedient and humble, and more charitable, more tolerant and forgiving, more kindly and gracious towards others: then it is not true and genuine (effects of prayer).

Immersed in God

By: Cesare Cavalleri

BookNo.: r020

Asunto: highlights

Fecha: 16/06/11

• The founder's (of Opus Dei) message -a practical spirituality - is, in my opinion, most clearly shown through a combination of anecdotes, specific deeds, and personal experiences. (St. Josemaria, Escriva)
• During an audience, at a certain point he wished to kiss the feet of Pope Pius XII. The Holy Father permitted him to kiss only one foot - not the other. But the Father, with filial insistence, prevailed by reminding the Holy Father that he was from Aragon in Spain, and stubborn like all the Aragonese. (love for the Pope)
• Humility. St Josemaria went to ask Fernando if he had bought the furniture. When he started to explain something St Josemaria stopped him and asked him to reply just yes or no, nor to give excuses and to be diligent. Then afterwards came Dn. Alvaro and told Fernando that now there was money in bank and he could now buy the furniture. St Josemaria realized his mistake and immediately said sorry, and later on said it again in front of other people, acknowledging his own mistake and praising Fernando's humility.

The Secret Adversary

Book written by Agatha Christie.

• Nice hooking fiction story


• Two young friends (a guy and a girl) who are jobless create a venture ready to do anything.


• Even before expected they get involved in a very dangerous situation and they must save the country from a political calamity at the hands of 'Mr. Brown'... Even risking their own lives and not being able to trust anybody around them.

From Prison to Torreciudad

Book written by "Fernando".

Fernando is a guy who spent 10 years in jail (the reason for that is not given in the book), but while in jail he experienced a conversion thanks to the help of a priest and his close union to the Virgin Mary. At some point he promised her that, if he was released during that year, he would go on a walking pilgrimage to her shrine in the North of Spain. After a short while he changed slightly his promise... he would go for such a pilgrimage whenever he was released, even if it wasn't that year itself.

This book is the story of that pilgrimage.

Some remarkable things about Fernando and his trip:

1. His love for Our Lady. It sounds simple, but walking 700 km in less than a month, without a single day break is very tough. He did for love of Mother Mary, to thank her and to ask her for a new job.

2. His daring and boldness to help people, by speaking to them and giving them advice, as well as doing things for others when required... for instance, he saw a forest fire going on and he approached to see if he could give a hand in dousing the fire... it wasn't easy stuff.

Leadership

"We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of expertise."

"What we don’t have are leaders."

"What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army —a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision."

"Courage: there is physical courage, which you all possess in abundance, and then there is another kind of courage, moral courage, the courage to stand up for what you believe."

"People do not multitask effectively. And here’s the really surprising finding: the more people multitask, the worse they are, not just at other mental abilities, but at multitasking itself."

"Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think."

"Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it."

"I find for myself that my first thought is never my best thought. My first thought is always someone else’s; it’s always what I’ve already heard about the subject, always the conventional wisdom. It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea."

"You do your best thinking by slowing down and concentrating."

"So solitude can mean introspection, it can mean the concentration of focused work, and it can mean sustained reading. All of these help you to know yourself better."

"But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship. Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. Not Skyping with three people and texting with two others at the same time while you hang out in a friend’s room listening to music and studying."

"Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. (chat)"

"But it seems to me that solitude is the very essence of leadership. The position of the leader is ultimately an intensely solitary, even intensely lonely one. However many people you may consult, you are the one who has to make the hard decisions. And at such moments, all you really have is yourself."

"These are extracts from a speech given at West Point. Originally published at: http://www.univforum.org/detalle_pdf.php?art=en_597 "

VERBUM DOMINI

Verbum Domini conclusion

Verbum Domini part 1 section 1

Verbum Domini part 1 section 2

Verbum Domini part 1 section 3

Verbum Domini part 2 section 1

Verbum Domini part 2 section 2

Verbum Domini part 2 section 3

Verbum Domini part 3 section 1

Verbum Domini part 3 section 2

Verbum Domini part 3 section 3

Verbum Domini part 3 section 4

Verbum Domini part 3 section 4

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and interreligious dialogue (117 onwards)

• The quickened place of globalization makes it possible for people of different cultures and religions to be in closer contact. This represents a providential opportunity for demonstrating how authentic religiosity can foster relationships of universal fraternity.

• The Church also looks with respect to Muslims, who adore the one God.

• Encourage meetings aimed at helping Christians and Muslims to come to better knowledge of one another, in order to promote the values which society needs for a peaceful and positive coexistence.

• The ancient religions and spiritual traditions of the vatious continents contain values which can greatly advance understanding between individuals and peoples. Frequently we note a consonance with values expressed also in their religious books... In Hinduism the sense of the sacred, sacrifice and fasting

• Dialogue would not prove fruitful unless it included authentic respect for each person and the ability of all freely to practise their religion (religious freedom)




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