CATHOLIC FAITH AT HOME RESOURCES

For Our Family of Parishes

St. Thomas More, St. Bernadette, St. Mary's, St. Peter's

August 28

FEAST DAY OF

ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

AUGUST 28

St. Augustine, whose original Latin name is Aurelius Augustinus,

born November 13, 354 in Tagaste, Numidia and

died August 28, 430 at Hippo Regius (both in Algeria).

He was Bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430,

one of the Church's Latin Fathers,

and perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul!!

We are lucky to be the recipients of more than

five million words of his writings that have survived!

Click the picture to read through his most most famous work,

"The Confessions"

You can watch the first full-length feature movie on St. Augustine. 

It tells the true story of one of the Church's most beloved and well-known Saints.

Its message of sin, conversion, redemption

is as timely today as it was in the 5th century. 

Click the picture to watch.

THE ROSARY

AN EXTREMIST SYMBOL?

Recently, The Atlantic ran an article titled

“How the Rosary Became an Extremist Symbol.”

...In which the author argues that

the Rosary, like an AR-15, is a symbol

for an increasingly radicalized minority.

While the anti-Catholic bigotry is on full display in the article,

the author is actually somewhat right.

The Rosary is a symbol for a radicalized minority - only nothing like an AR-15.

The Rosary is a spiritual weapon that brings peace and love

into the darkest corners of creation.

And, I guess, praying peace into darkness these days is pretty radical.

Click the picture to hear a rational response.

St. Padre Pio considered the Rosary a "weapon"

but only against spiritual enemies.

We use it pray for human opponents,

that God will draw them near to Him and bless them...

Click the picture to read his own words.

Fr. Lloyd is the oldest living Paulist priest 101 years old...a true treasure!

He is also an author and wrote some beautiful reflections on the rosary. 

Click the picture to enjoy them!

OUR BLESSED MOTHER'S OWN WORDS

ABOUT THE ROSARY

Mary has appeared over 60 times

in the last century,

with many messages about the rosary, including:

"Pray the rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world." - Fatima, Portugal 1917

"Pray a great deal, recite the Rosary, and pray for the conversion of sinners, for nonbelievers and for all Christians"

Tre Fontane, Italy 1947

"The only weapon you will have left is the Rosary...

Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary.

With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests"

Akita, Japan 1973

"I want the Rosary to be prayed every day.

I want it to be prayed permanently within the family…

including the children old enough to understand -

to be prayed at a set hour

when there are no problems with the work in the home.”

Cuapa, Nicaragua 1980

"If you want to see me, you must pray the Holy Rosary."

Belpasso, Italy 1987

"I am the Queen of the Rosary.

Its strength is great, it is a victorious and mighty weapon."

Trevignano Romano Italy, 2014

Click below to see the newly published beautiful book

 where you can find more of her statements on the rosary:

THE WORLD OF MARIAN APPARITIONS

MORE ON EXORCISMS:

WHAT CATHOLICS NEED TO KNOW!

PART 2!!! 

Chris Stefanick talks AGAIN with 

exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger

from the Archdiocese of Denver

about the reality of spiritual combat.

He dived into the spiritual battles we all fight every day.

Specifically: Learn about the 5 Levels of Spiritual Combat.

Think of them as: 5 areas where the supernatural builds

on the natural, for good or for bad. 

Learn a powerful prayer to combat temptations-

in the name of Jesus!

(Plus other little ways to keep up a strong spiritual life.)

Click picture watch the interview :

Click to see: FR. RIPPERGER'S WEBSITE

FLESH FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

In Jesus’ “Bread of Life” discourse,

Jesus presents himself as “the one who serves”

and commands that we follow his example.

Sister Marie Benedict Elliott, F.S.E., writes

how this Scripture, and her experience as a teenager

at the Diocese of Arlington's WorkCamp,

helped shaped her vocation.

Click picture to read about Sister Elliott's experiences

with the Eucharist:

Fr. Mike Schmitz explains the scriptural evidence for believing in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Click the picture to learn the shocking reality about the Eucharist!

KNOW ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BECOME CATHOLIC?

The RCIA process starts again in September!

If you know someone interested in becoming Catholic,

suggest they fill out the form on our STM website.

Click the link below:

BECOMING CATHOLIC

Mick Souza won Mr. Universe in 1992,

but even though he was at the top of his success,

the money, sex, and adrenaline he was chasing weren’t enough to fulfill him.

Knowing he needed to come back to Christ,

Mick returned to the place where he remembered

feeling closest to Him as a kid: 

to Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist

Click the picture above to hear his story!

     MATTHEW LEONARD     

EXPLAINS PRAYER

Creator of The Science of Saints,

Matthew explains what prayer is,

why it's necessary, and

how to integrate it into your busy life!!

Click the picture to learn more

Novena to St. AUGUSTINE

St. Augustine is one of the greatest defenders of the Catholic faith and the patron saint of searchers.

At the end of nine days of prayer, we hope to find the God that saved Saint Augustine waiting to deliver us from temporal concerns through his kind intercession.

You can start your novena on his Feast day: August 28!

Click the picture above to find the nine day prayers for the Novena to St. Augustine. 

GOSPEL READING REFLECTION

For August 28, 2022

The Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C - Lk 14:1, 7-14

******************************************************************************

THE WISE ARE HUMBLE

"For every one who exalts himself will be humbled,

but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

• The people attending the dinner at the home of this important Pharisee were not listening intently to Our Lord with “an attentive ear”; rather, they were watching Him carefully. They wanted to be able to judge him whom they did not trust. Instead, he invited them to judge themselves through the parable he told to those who had been invited and through the unusual advice he offered his host.

• Our Lord knows how much we want good things.
• One of those things is to be able to eat, and to eat well. We can readily imagine this wish in the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. But everyone wants to share in the bounty of a rich man.
• A second good thing we all want is to be well-though-of, to be honored in the sight of others, as the guest of honor at a wedding banquet is.
• A third is to be rewarded by God by being resurrected from the dead for the good we have done .
• It is good to eat well. Once you have enough to eat, it is even better to be esteemed publicly. But how can either be compared to overcoming the grave?

• The only one who really knows us and who can rightly judge our status is the Lord. This is why we should humble ourselves. Compared to him, we have every reason to be humble. If anyone on earth exalts us, we can be humbly grateful, but not make a big deal about it. Compared to God, we are all poor, crippled, lame, and blind, who have nothing to offer except our need.

• It is both human wisdom and supernatural wisdom to humble oneself.
• It is human wisdom because it prevents us from being put down and gives others an opportunity to lift us up.
• It is supernatural wisdom because we really are lowly, no matter how much others may esteem or admire us.

BOOK

RECOMMENDATIONS

Spiritual reading helps us to build a relationship with Christ. Reading Sacred Scripture and the classics helps us to know and to love a God who actually trod the ground we tread, who suffered the things we suffer, who ate and slept just as we do.

This week's recommendation is:

PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

By PETER KREEFT

From a lifetime of studying the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas,

popular author Peter Kreeft says that...

His amazement continually increases-

not only at Aquinas’ theoretical, philosophical brilliance and sanity,

but also at his personal, practical wisdom:  his “existential bite.”

Kreeft wrote this book to provide easily digestible samples

of the religious wisdom of Aquinas.