Welcoming Sinners

November 3, 2022 Thursday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time Readings for Today Saint Martin de Porres, Religious—Optional Memorial

Video The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  Luke 15:1-2 How do you treat the sinners you encounter?  Do you shun them, talk about them, ridicule them, pity them, or ignore them?  Hopefully not!  How should you treat the sinner?  Jesus allowed them to draw near to Him and He was attentive to them.  In fact, He was so merciful and kind to the sinner that He was harshly criticized by the Pharisees and scribes.  How about you?  Are you willing to associate with the sinner to the point that you open yourself up to criticism? It’s quite easy to be harsh and critical toward those who “deserve it.”  When we see someone clearly going astray, we can almost feel justified in pointing the finger and putting them down as if we were better than them or as if they were dirt.  What an easy thing to do and what a mistake! If we want to be like Jesus we must have a very different attitude toward them.  We must act differently toward them than how we may feel like acting.  Sin is ugly and dirty.  It’s easy to be critical toward one who is caught in a cycle of sin.  Yet if we do so, we are no different than the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ time.  And we will most likely receive the same harsh treatment right back from Jesus for our lack of mercy.   It’s interesting that one of the only sins that Jesus consistently rebukes is that of judgmentalness and criticalness.  It’s almost as if this sin shuts the door on God’s mercy in our lives. Reflect, today, upon how you look at and treat those whose sins are somewhat manifest.  Do you treat them with mercy?  Or do you react with disdain and act with a judgmental heart?  Recommit yourself to mercy and a complete lack of judgment.  Judgment is Christ’s to give, not yours.  You are called to mercy and compassion.  If you can offer just that, you will be much more like our merciful Lord. Lord of mercy, help me when I feel like being harsh and judgmental.  Help me to turn an eye of compassion toward the sinner, seeing the goodness You put in their souls before seeing their sinful actions.  Help me to leave judgment to You and embrace mercy instead.  Jesus, I trust in You.

What Is Depression?

We are human beings with emotions, not robot or machines. That's why we have feelings and emotions, feeling happy when we get what we desire and sometimes feel low or sad when situations are against it. Happiness, sadness, frustration, grieves, and sorrow are signs of emotions. These symptoms usually resolve within a week or two and do not make a huge difference in our lives. But if negative emotions like sadness, hatred, annoyance and irritability last for weeks or months or sometimes a year, it could be a sign of an illness like depression.

What is depression? Why and how does it happen, and how is it recognized? We will try to understand the answers to all these questions.

Depression is classified as a mood disorder. It may be described as feelings of sadness, loss, or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities. A person lacks motivation and interest in his work and life. Since depression is the most common and dangerous mental illness, there is very little awareness about it in our society. Many people see it as a personality flaw that so-and-so has a sensitive nature or it is a temporary condition or it is said that someone is possessed by an evil spirit.

Sometimes we even think that if we look very happy, like others or laugh, how can we be depressed?

That is why these things are often heard. "It's all your illusion, don't worry 'or' be happy, you'll feel better."

Sometimes even if you mention to someone that you are suffering from depression or are being treated for depression, you will often hear that depression is not a disease but a weakness of character or a sense of guilt.

Depression is a "mental and emotional disease", just as. physical disease like blood pressure, diabetes or other diseases, and it can happen to anyone, no matter how strong they are physically! We can detect the physical diseases but fail to understand the person who is going through mental anxiety. Just as patients with biological illnesses deserve compassion and treatment, so depressed people also deserve our love, care and attention and help them to come out of it with no criticism and ridiculousness.

According to a WHO report, every third person in the world is suffering from depression, while around 800,000 people worldwide commit suicide due to depression, while around 20% of people suffer from other mental illnesses due to depression.AA according to g session onn or mental stress in their lifetimes is is is is isisi s is me, equivalent to 200 million people. A recent study shows a clear increase in suicide rates worldwide.

So what happens in depression? When pessimism and sadness prevail for a long time and their intensity is so high that it affects the daily routine of life and the affected person remains closed in his shell, feeling suicidal attempt in desperate. Then a person needs immediate intervention.

If a person goes through feelings of sadness which persist for at least two consecutive weeks and does not go away. So much so that the intensity of sadness is so high that the daily routine of life starts to be affected by it, many times he is dominated by negative thoughts and desires.

What does depression feel like?

In depression, there is a decrease in the level of brain hormones, namely dopamine and serotonin, which are hormones directly related to mood and physical energy ultimately, mood swings occur. That is why its intensity is much deeper and longer than normal sadness. The main symptoms of depression are sadness in mood and loss of interest in life, losing the charm f interest and activities that were previously enjoyed. Patients may feel dysphoria regret or despair, loss of hope, abandoned, unloved, and unworthy leading to thinking of death or suicide to end their life is the only solution.

Depressed people feel better by sharing their feelings with their loved ones or friends and feel relaxed meeting them or interacting with them, while some people cannot express their feelings to anyone, closed in their shells they sink into the torment of depression.

Symptoms of Depression

Not every patient has all the symptoms, but if you have at least four of the following symptoms, you are likely suffering from depression.

1. Feeling sad and depressed all or most of the time and that sadness continues for weeks or months.

2. Not getting interested in the things and activities that you were relishing earlier.

3. Pain in the body without any apparent cause. Back, muscle aches or pain anywhere in the body for no reason is considered a sign of depression

4. Also feeling physically or mentally tired and weak.

5. Not being able to pay attention to daily tasks or things

6. Feeling inferior on and off, low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence. Blaming yourself for the trifles of the past. Thinking of yourself as useless and ineffective. Depression also affects your activities of daily living. You don't feel like getting out of bed and hesitate to feel shy to meet people.

7. Disillusionment with the future

8. Having suicidal thoughts or attempting suicide

9. Insomnia, disturbed sleep, especially waking up early in the morning or sleeping too much during the day.

10. Like physical pain, migraines can also be associated with depression.

11. Loss of appetite: Depressionfects the hormones that control appetite. A person feels more hungry or does not feel like eating anything. This results in people either eating too much or eating too little, leading to weight gain or loss. Many people suffer from common digestive disorders like Heartburn, constipation, cholera and vomiting.

Additional symptoms: In addition to these, the patient's speech may change. Some people speak slowly and take longer to complete a sentence. The stress hormones also damage the skin in ode of depression, since the levels of these hormones increase which often results in nail acne, itching and skin problem.

Causes of Depression

Depression can happen to anyone at any time, but some people who suffer from depression do not understand the reason for their sadness arch shows that common causes of depression are as follows:

Heredity: Depression tends to run in certain families. For example, if one of your parents has a depressive illness, you are eight times more likely to develop depression than the general population. Genes also play a role, having the disease in a parent or sibling can increase your risk, with women twice as likely as men.

Life issues: For example, some people are unable to overcome this sadness after certain traumatic events such as the death of a loved one, divorce, or job loss. Divorce between parents, or neglecting a child compared to other siblings can also trigger depression.

Change of mood with the seasons: So if your mood is seasonal, i.e. happy in the summer and sad in the winter, then this may be a type of depression, also known as seasonal depression, which can occur in the late fall and early winter. And according to experts, up to twenty per cent content of the world can be affected by it.

Another reason is childbirth: One in four mothers is likely to experience depression after childbirth, a period of low mood, also known as postpartum depression, but it can affect the health of the baby as the sick mother can't take proper responsibility for her child.

Loneliness: If a person is lonely doesn't have friends around him, and is likely to suffer from mental stress, or excessive physical or mental exertion, the risk of depression increases in such situations. Apart from this, physical diseases can also cause depression. For example, cancer or heart diseases, or very long-lasting and painful diseases such as joint pain or respiratory diseases.

Treatment :

Medications and psychotherapy are effective for most people with depression. Your primary care doctor or psychiatrist can prescribe medications to relieve symptoms. However, many people with depression also benefit from seeing a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional. If you have severe depression, you may need personal care or a hospital stay, or keep in touch with a professional counsellor until your symptoms improve.

Source : Google image

The Holy Souls in Purgatory

Wednesday, November 2, 2022 Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day) Readings for Today All Souls Day—Commemoration

Video As we celebrate the Commemoration of All Souls, let’s reflect upon our Church teaching on Purgatory. The following excerpt is from Chapter 8 of My Catholic Faith!:   The Church Suffering:  Purgatory is an often misunderstood doctrine of our Church.  What is Purgatory?  Is it the place we have to go to be punished for our sins?  Is it God’s way of getting us back for the wrong we’ve done?  Is it the result of God’s anger?  None of these questions really answer the question of Purgatory.  Purgatory is nothing other than the burning and purifying love of our God in our lives! When someone dies in God’s grace they are most likely not 100% converted and perfect in every way.  Even the greatest of saints most often would have some imperfection left in their lives.  Purgatory is nothing other than that final purification of all remaining attachment to sin in our lives.  By analogy, imagine that you had a cup of 100% pure water, pure H2O.  This cup will represent Heaven.  Now imagine that you want to add to that cup of water but all you have is water that is 99% pure.  This will represent the holy person who dies with just some slight attachments to sin.  If you add that water to your cup then the cup will now have at least some impurities in the water as it mixes together.  The problem is that Heaven (the original cup of 100% H2O) cannot contain any impurities.  Heaven, in this case, cannot have even the slightest attachment to sin in it.  Therefore, if this new water (the 99% pure water) is to be added to the cup it must first be purified even of that last 1% of impurities (attachments to sin).  This is ideally done while we are on Earth.  This is the process of getting holy.  But if we die with any attachment, then we simply say that the process of entering into the final and full vision of God in Heaven will purify us of any remaining attachment to sin.  All may already be forgiven, but we may not have detached from those things forgiven.  Purgatory is the process, after death, of burning out the last of our attachments so that we can enter Heaven 100% freed of everything to do with sin.  If, for example, we still have a bad habit of being rude, or sarcastic, even those tendencies and habits must be purged.   How does this happen?  We do not know.  We only know it does.  But we also know it’s the result of God’s infinite love that frees us of these attachments.  Is it painful?  Most likely.  But it’s painful in the sense that letting go of any disordered attachment is painful.  It’s hard to break a bad habit.  It’s even painful in the process.  But the end result of true freedom is worth any pain we may have experienced.  So, yes, Purgatory is painful.  But it’s a sort of sweet pain that we need and it produces the end result of a person 100% in union with God. Now since we are talking about the Communion of Saints, we also want to make sure to understand that those going through this final purification are still in communion with God, with those members of the Church on Earth, and with those in Heaven.  For example, we are called to pray for those in Purgatory.  Our prayers are effective.  God uses those prayers, which are acts of our love, as instruments of His grace of purification.  He allows us and invites us to participate in their final purification by our prayers and sacrifices.  This forges a bond of union with them.  And no doubt the saints in Heaven especially offer prayers for those in this final purification as they await full communion with them in Heaven.  It’s a glorious thought and a joy to see how God has orchestrated this entire process for the ultimate purpose of the holy communion to which we are called! Lord, I pray for those souls going through their final purification in Purgatory.  Please pour forth Your mercy upon them so that they may be freed of all attachment to sin and, thus, be prepared to see You face to face.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Man Saved A Dying Wolf And Her Cubs, Years Later The Wolf Returned The Favour

Many years ago, in the wilds of Alaska, a man came across a timber wolf that has caught and battered by a trap. The man realizes that the wolf doesn’t have long to live and was quickly losing blood from being trapped.

The man was initially spooked after coming face to face with the large beast, until he learned she was weak and exhausted from being stranded for most likely days without sustaining herself.

Nevertheless, even while still wary around her -he discovered that the wolf had milk coming out of her body. Which could only mean one thing – she had little ones who urgently needed her to survive but where we they?

Where could they be? He needed to save her and the pups.

The man knew that he needed to help the mother wolf and that things could get very dangerous. He decided to backtrack her pawmarks and venture out into the woods so that he could locate her babies. Luckily, he found a den approximately a half a mile away.

As the man imitated wolf howls, 4 wee pups came out of hiding. They were so famished that they began suckling on the man’s fingers. The man cautiously carried them in his bag and reunited them with their mama, who embraced her little ones with deep emotional whimpers!

Despite the man’s kind gesture and good intentions, the protective mama still did not trust him to come near her. But the man knew she would starve to death at this rate. So he thoughtfully brought her the remains of a freshly dead deer to quell her hunger.

Over the next few days, the man camped near the still-bound mama wolf and her cubs. He spent his time prospecting and finding food for the wolf. He even bonded with the cubs! One day, out of the blue, the mama began wagging her tail slightly while he fixed her supper!

The man took a leap of faith and approached to free the wolf. She eventually licked his hands and allowed him to release her from the nasty trap, which had badly damaged her paw. Once free, she began limping home. However, she made an abrupt stop and coaxed her savior to follow her!

The mama wolf took him to a mountain meadow and introduced him to her pack. It was a life-altering experience for the man as he interacted with so many wolves who treated him like a part of the pack. The mama howled mournfully as the man bid farewell, not knowing they were fated to meet again many years.

Four years after his first misadventure to Coho Creek, the man found himself in another one. Similar to the time before, he was hunting for steel traps by the bog. But just then, a bear charged out of nowhere and chased him. For someone facing danger for the second time at Coho Creek, he did something really smart. Since the man was at the end of his, he decided to let out loud “Wolf cries” in the rush of the moment.

Finally, relief came when an eerie familiar shape showed up before his eyes!

The wolf he saved years ago, came to his rescue. Scaring the bear off and giving him enough time to escape !

How can you use psychology to manipulate people?

I remember the story of the father who manipulated his son.

“Ryan, do your chores now!” his mom pleaded.

“Ryan, do your homework,” she begged.

“Ryan, can you please set the table,” she asked.

His mom gave up and did the work herself. But his dad was just getting started.

“How are my two favourite boys?” His mother said as she beamed through the door after a day at work.

As she paced through the house, something felt different. What was it? Out of habit, she went to the sink to finish off the dishes Ryan left. It was empty.

She checked the table. It was already set. Starting to panic, she rushed to Ryan’s room. His homework was done. Before dialling emergency services about her son's abduction, she spotted him outside throwing the ball with his dad.

Walking outside, she crossed her arms, raised her eyebrows and shot a look at his dad that said, “Ok, confess, what the hell did you do?”

---

Here’s how Ryan’s dad did it.

He didn’t ask Ryan to do his chores. He asked if he wanted to complete them now or after they finished playing outside.

He didn’t ask Ryan to finish his homework. He asked if he preferred to do it now and return to his game or do it whenever he likes — so long as he isn’t playing his game in the meantime.

Finally, he didn’t ask Ryan to set the table. He asked if he would like to either do the dishes or set the table. Ryan chose the table, and his dad did the dishes.

The secret ingredient is choice.

When you tell someone to do something, they hear two options: do it or don’t do it — obey or disobey. There’s something human about craving freedom. We want to be in control, and the way we do this is by making our own choices.

Joshua Simpson

When his dad gave him a choice, Ryan became invested in it. He chose what he was going to do, and because he chose it, he owned it.

People don’t disobey out of malice, they do it to maintain their freedom.

What did they tell you about a dog?

"They tell you not to cry.They tell you he's just a dog, not a human.They tell you it will pass.They tell you that animals do not know that they must die.They tell you that the important thing is not to make them suffer.They tell you that you can get another one.They tell you it will happen.They tell you there are more unbearable pains.But they don't know how many times you've looked your dog in the eye.They don't know how many times it was you and your dog that looked in the dark.They don't know how many times your dog was the only one by your side.They don't know that the only one who hasn't judged you is your dog.They don't know how scared you were the night his moans woke you up.They don't know how many times your dog has slept next to you.They don't know how much you've changed since the dog became a part of your life.They don't know how many times you hugged him when he was sick.They don't know how many times you pretended not to see when his hair was getting whiter and whiter.They don't know how many times you've talked to your dog, the only one who really listens to you.They don't know how good you were to your dog.Little do they know that only your dog knew you were in pain.They don't know what it's like to see your old dog trying to come over and say hello.They don't know that when things go wrong, the only one who isn't gone is your dog.They don't know that your dog trusts you, every moment of his life, even at the last moment.They don't know how much your dog loved you and how little he needed to be happy, because you were enough for him.They don't know that crying for a dog is one of the noblest, most meaningful, truest and purest things you can do.They don't know about the last time you rocked him hard ... being careful not to hurt him.They don't know what you felt when you caressed his face in the last moments of his life" 1.7KView insights30.5K post reach

All Saints Day!

Tuesday, November 1, 2022 Solemnity of All Saints Readings for Today

Video Today we honor those holy men and women who have gone before us in faith and have done so in a glorious way.  As we honor these great champions of faith, let’s reflect upon who they are and what role they continue to play in the life of the Church.  The following excerpt is from Chapter 8 of My Catholic Faith!:   The Church Triumphant:  Those who have gone before us and now share in the glories of Heaven, in the Beatific Vision, are not gone.  Sure, we do not see them and we cannot necessarily hear them speak to us in the physical way they did while on Earth.  But they are not gone at all.  St. Thérèse of Lisieux said it best when she said, “I want to spend my Heaven doing good on Earth.”   The saints in Heaven are in full union with God and make up the Communion of Saints in Heaven, the Church Triumphant!  What’s important to note, however, is that even though they are enjoying their eternal reward, they are still very much concerned about us.  The saints in Heaven are entrusted with the important task of intercession.  Sure, God already knows all our needs and He could ask us to go directly to Him in our prayers.  But the truth is that God wants to use the intercession, and therefore, the mediation of the saints in our lives.  He uses them to bring our prayers to Him and, in return, to bring His grace to us.  They become powerful intercessors for us and participators in God’s divine action in the world.   Why is this the case?  Again, why doesn’t God just choose to deal with us directly rather than go through intermediaries?  Because God wants all of us to share in His good work and to participate in His divine plan.  It would be like a dad who buys a nice necklace for his wife.  He shows it to his young children and they are excited about this gift.  The mom comes in and the dad asks the children to bring the gift to her.  Now the gift is from her husband but she will most likely thank her children first for their participation in giving this gift to her.  The father wanted the children to be part of this giving and the mother wanted to make the children a part of her receiving and gratitude.  So it is with God!  God wants the saints to share in the distribution of His manifold gifts.  And this act fills His heart with joy! The saints also give us a model of holiness.  The charity they lived on Earth lives on.  The witness of their love and sacrifice was not just a one time act in history.  Rather, charity is living and continues to have an effect for the good.  Therefore, the charity and witness of the saints lives on and affects our lives.  This charity in their lives creates a bond with us, a communion.  It enables us to love them, admire them and want to follow their example.  It is this, coupled with their continuing intercession, that establishes a powerful bond of love and union with us. Lord, as the saints in Heaven adore You for eternity, I beg for their intercession.  Saints of God, please come to my aide.  Pray for me and bring to me the grace I need to live a holy life in imitation of your own lives.  All saints of God, pray for us.  Jesus, I trust in You.