BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE

The suffering. The baptism of repentance is,
understood mainly as conversion and
discovery of God.
In suffering, the baptism of repentance
becomes the baptism of revelation
and grace.

The mission. To ignite the fire of divine love
in the hearts of all Catholics. It is a call
to conversion in order to rend our hearts,
rebuild His church, and renew the face of
the earth. To stir into flame the gift
given us in baptism.

The medium. Through apparel and
design, a cultural apostolate living
out New Evangelization. Through the
redemptive art of Christ continued today
by way of love and sharing.

The word proud. Be proud of our faith,
not a pride for ourselves, but the love
of our faith, our love for the church,
the love for Christ.

Brothers and Sisters,
We are warriors now, fighting on the
battlefield of faith, and God sees
all we do; the angels watch and so does Christ.

What honor and glory and joy, to do battle in
the presence of God, and to have Christ
approve our victory.

Let us arm ourselves in full strength and
prepare ourselves for the ultimate struggle
with blameless hearts, true faith and
unyielding courage.
The Liturgy of the Hours,
from a letter by Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr.

VALIANT WITNESSES OF CHRIST

ROME, November 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Speaking
at the opening of the 23rd plenary assembly for the
Pontifical Council for the Laity, the president of the
Council, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, warned, “The idea
of creating a ‘new man’ completely detached from the
Judeo-Christian tradition, a new ‘world order,’
a new ‘global ethic,’ is gaining ground.”

According to the Vatican newspaper
L‘Osservatore Romano, cardinal denounced the
“dictatorship of relativism,” rampant in Western societies,
in which there is a growing “anti-Christian attitude,”
that makes “attacks on Christian, and particular on
Catholics, pass off as politically correct.”

Speaking of Christians today he said, “Our true problem
is not being a minority, but rather having voluntarily
become marginal, irrelevant, because of our lack of
courage, so that we will be left alone, because of our
mediocrity.” “For Christians,” Cardinal Rylko added,
“the moment has arrived to free themselves from a
false inferiority complex...to be valiant witnesses
of Christ.”

This is, he said, the “hour of the laity,” to take on their
“responsibility in the diverse fields of public life, from
politics to the promotion of life and family, from work
to the economy, from education to the formation
of youth.”

He warned, however, that such faithfulness would come
at a personal cost. “Whoever wants to live and act
according to the Gospel of Christ has to pay a price,
even in the highly liberal societies of the West,” he said.
LifeSiteNews.com, Thursday, November 20, 2008

HE LOVED US FIRST

“I love because I love, I love that I may love”
The Liturgy of the Hours,
from a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot.

“You first loved us so that we might love you -
not because you needed our love,
but because we could not be what you created
us to be, except by loving you.”
The Liturgy of the Hours,
from a discourse on the contemplation of God by
William of Saint Thierry, abbot.

“They saw his servant standing firm, free in speech,
undefiled in heart, endowed with supernatural
courage, naked and bereft of the weapons
of this world, but as believers equipped
with the arms of faith.”
The Liturgy of the Hours,
from a letter by Saint Cyprian, bishop and matyr.