Imagine that you very tenderly embrace someone you love beyond measure and then quite suddenly, he/she abruptly turns around and walks away. You were not embraced in return, nothing kind was said to you, and the person you love so much failed to even say goodbye!
How would that make you feel?
Make sure you never, ever do that to Jesus, especially after He has just nourished you with His own Sacred Body and Blood during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
GOD IS SO IN LOVE WITH YOU! And He asks that you remain following the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that the two of you can enjoy each others' company and grow closer.
How much richer our world would be if we welcomed all the graces the Lord wants to send to us! Tragically, we know and are taught far too little about how to love God properly, so we can receive them.
If only we spent more of our precious, finite time with God instead of marketing, soliciting, selling, and/or demanding things from the wedding guests before and/or after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Who demands money for whatever cause, in order to serve others of their choosing, from the guests before and/or after a wedding? The uneducated, that's who.
Who sets up a marketplace in church to sell merchandise for whatever cause before and/or after the re-presentation of Christ's execution? Those who know too little about their Faith, that's who.
Can you just imagine standing on Calvary and seeing male scouts, a youth group, pro-life organization, flower girl troop, father's club, mother's group, senior citizens, or Rosary ladies at a table set up next to Christ's Cross so they could sell whatever? That is exactly what is happening, in our time. Remember, when we attend Holy Mass we are there for the re-presentation of Christ's Passion and Death. Heaven and earth meet on Calvary. Does fundraising seem appropriate at the foot of the Cross?
Then why do so many do it? Just try and sell something to an angel. Some would, if they could. What an outrage.
There should be a plaque in every church that says, "Pray for an end to spiritual prostitution."
"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves" (Matthew 21:12).
Christ shed His Precious Blood, suffered, and died a brutal death TO SAVE US. And then what are we doing? Selling!
May we never cheapen the most significant event in the history of mankind. May we never outrage God by expecting others to pay for their love in His own house!
The soliciting by professed Catholics outside of church is assaulting enough; the devout faithful have the right to be left in peace in God's house. We must defend this for the sake of one another. That's love. Caring and defending, not demanding and using.
May all those who were run out of the church by the obscene and out of control for far too long behavior please return, and help us clean up the terrible mess that was created by it.
Every single Catholic MUST include fundraising/soliciting/marketing behavior in his/her daily examination of conscience. Fathers, please preach about this from the pulpit. This toxic behavior has been allowed for far too long in far too many places. The devil absolutely loves it, he is often behind it, and it has no place in church.
Can you imagine people asking Blessed Mother to "contribute" at her Son's Crucifixion and then justify it claiming they "work for God?" Imagine someone professing to be pro-life trying to sell her a rose to end abortion. It is absolutely horrifying, and common in our time. Truthfully, such people mock God while offending good people who worship the Lord in imitation of Blessed Mother.
Oh, they're not offended, you say. Are they that used to the vulgarity that there is no longer a proper perception of it? It's offensive no matter what a minority of people think or feel. Some people have even become addicted to fundraising and all the activity that goes along with it, often times unawares, and this business takes them away from praying and developing a stronger relationship with God.
Someone please educate these people!
Would St. John be expected to buy flowers as Christ crucified gives His most holy Mother to him, and to us? Should he purchase cookies? Perhaps a cupcake; after all, they were made by nice children. How about a colorful t-shirt so he can change the one he is wearing, which is splattered with our Redeemer's Precious and Sacred Blood and his own sorrowful tears.
What are so many good people not thinking.
Were the disciples, Christ's true followers who embraced a life of poverty, solicited along the Way of the Cross, as they approached the Cross, and while leaving Calvary after His death by Crucifixion?
They sure are today. Those who are there to worship God and choose not to use other people are solicited, accosted, and assaulted right under God's roof.
It's absolutely disgraceful, it is also vulgar, and the devout faithful must make reparation because of it.
Who would ask anyone to fund a cause at such a time? People who are ignorant of what is happening during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and lack respect for God and for their fellow man. It is every person's Christian duty to love and serve in imitation of Christ and Blessed Mother, Who always went to God for what they needed.
How much faith solicitors lack.
Someone please educate them properly! Fathers, these people need responsible parenting. Do not allow them to use and/or abuse your other children who are there to worship God in imitation of Blessed Mother.
Every well intended or not well intended person who sets up a marketplace in God's house, along with all those who allow it, hold pens in their hands and sign the executive order to crucify our Lord all over again.
Which wound(s) on Christ's Sacred Body are the result of such insolent choices?
Those who are PROFOUNDLY Catholic object to soliciting in God's house and instead teach people how to be reverent in church, how to hold their hands when they pray, how to dress properly and modestly (and why everyone should when they are in God's house), how to bow respectfully, how to be kind to others without wanting anything from them, how to pray, why praying is important, even the basics of how to make sacramental confessions more meaningful, intimate, and incredibly powerful, how to love God with their hearts and not with other people's wallets, and to remain in church with Christ even if for a precious little while following the conclusion of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
"Be still and know that I am God." ~ Psalm 46:10
God's love
should never be for sale,
and we should never want to sell It to
anyone.
Do not
let anyone sell it to you,
especially not before or after the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass.
God's love is free, and there's an unlimited supply!
Instead of offending the Lord, remain with Him
in prayer.
He is so in love with us all!!
Teach, reach, and lead by example.
God is at work in you!
"Trust all things to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary,
Help of Christians,
and you will see what miracles are."
~ Saint John
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© Joseph Karl Publishing /Michele Bondi Bottesi
Images taken at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church, Sterling Heights, Michigan, U.S.A. Parish Website
Images taken at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church, Sterling Heights, Michigan, U.S.A. Parish Website
Celebrant in the images with Christ, the High Priest: Father John Simoneau.
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and eternally valuable and FREE, just like God's love,
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How is God at work in you?
THE POWERFUL DEVOTION TO THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS
To learn more about the Work of Reparation through the Devotion to the Holy Face, which our Lord, Jesus Christ called "the most beautiful work under the sun," visit:
Work of Reparation Through the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus
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God is at work in you!!
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