Religion and Faith Articles

During this time Lucia and her cousins tended sheep in backof Lucy's house, near the well. It was here that the Angelcame to them a second time. It was the lunch hour. Allthe sheep had been put away to protect them from the hotsun. The children were sitting under some trees near thewell. The angel did not make an entrance the way he hadthe first time. One moment, they were alone; the next, hewas there. His manner was one of impatience."What are you doing?" he said. "Pray! Pray! The heartsof Jesus and Mary have merciful designs for you. Offeryour prayers and sacrifices

Lots of people pray. Some cry out in desperate times or incritical situations asking for some help from above. Others pray on a more regular basis, consistently askingGod for help on many different fronts. I was praying onemorning and had an interesting thought.Prayer means different things to different people. Somefeel good about reciting formal, prewritten prayers. Others may have a list of petitions and requests that theyverbalize to God on a regular basis. There are those whoseprayer life consists mainly of gratitude to God for thethings that He has blessed them with.But whether one is

Family, we just returned from New Hampshire, one of thesmallest states in the Union geographically, but one of themost powerful states we have ever visited. It's a part ofNew England, which means it's a blue state, which is notnecessarily good, but it's got a spirit and spunk thatcould easily make it a red state, if only the people wouldget together and decide on it. Let me tell you why.Recently, this year, the governor appointed a "Task Forcefor the Recruitment and Retention of a Young Workforce forthe State of New Hampshire", obviously to try to find newways to encourage

There is a door that separates the natural realm from therealm of the Spirit. This door was very real for theapostle John (Rev. 4:1-2).He looked and saw an open door in the heavens, and a voicesaid unto him, come up here. In other words, the Lord wassaying, "Down there you are not going to be able to seeanything, you need to come up here; you have to passthrough the door and enter into My world."This was new to John. Despite the fact that in the past hehad heard the voice of the Lord say, 'I am the door…' (Jn.10:9), he was finally beginning to understand the magnitudeof

A new sound is coming to earth. It will be very powerful,like nothing we have heard or experienced before.One of the components of that new sound is what I call— theMusic of His Presence. It is music that has been born inthe heart of God. Like a torrent of freedom and power thatdescends from on high and changes everything in its path,something very difficult to describe with words, but yetvery real. It is music full of the majesty and the glory ofGod.I firmly believe that the music of His presence will be oneof the distinguishing characteristics of the Church of theend times. It will completely

I would like to briefly highlight one of the most powerfuldimensions of prophetic worship:the song of the beloved.There is a song that our Heavenly Bridegroom sings.As the prophet Isaiah said: Let me (as God'srepresentative) sing of and for my greatly Beloved (God,the Son) a tender song of my Beloved concerning Hisvineyard (His chosen people)" (Is. 5:1 Amp).God is the creator of music, and He is the best musicianand singer in the entire universe. The music of God'spresence carries the passion of the Bridegroom's heart forHis bride. It is an expression of the ravished heart ofGod

"Aslan turned to them and said: "You do not look so happyas I mean you to be… the dream is ended: this is themorning" – As He spoke He no longer looked to them like alion; but the things that began to happen after that wereso great and beautiful that I cannot write them… and for usthis is the end of all the stories, and we can most trulysay that they all lived happily ever after. But for them itwas only the beginning of the real story. All their life inthis world and all their adventures in Narnia had only beenthe cover and the title page: now at last they werebeginning

Let us go back in time to the spring of 1916. The worldwas in turmoil. A World War was devastating Europe. Bodieswere strewn all over the farmlands of France and Germany. The winter had been hellish, slowing troop movement to avirtual standstill. Because of the terrible weather,soldiers of both sides were pinned down in foxholes formonths at a time; all in feeble attempts to control smallpatches of land. Mustard Gas, the Agent Orange of theearly 20th Century, was ripping out the lungs of those whobreathed it in. Humanity had absolutely no regard for hisbrother and sister. In Russia, a monster

Family, Christmas is and has always been a special time inour lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters whohave preceded us, the Saints. Saints Francis and Clare ofAssisi were great lovers of Christmas. Francis wasactually the one who created the Christmas Creche, orNativity Scene as we know it today. Although there arethose in our world who would like to do away with theNativity Scene, and anything that has to do with Christmas,we think it's important to share with you two accounts thathave to do with Christmas, from the lives of St. Francisand St. Clare.Saint Clare is transported

Just as God is identified as Trinitarian, so are Hispeople, and so is His world. We have been created in God'simage, and God is Trinitarian. Christians are to understandthe world through God's eyes, and God's eyes areTrinitarian. There is nothing outside of or apart from God.God is all encompassing, "infinite in being and perfection"(Westminster Confession of Faith 2:1). The point is thatGod is ultimately one and at the same time God isultimately three. In God alone there is ultimate unity andultimate diversity and/or individuality at the same time.Let me illustrate and

What is Prayer? Certainly it is more than these next tenthings. It could be twenty-five, fifty or one hundredthings. Or it can be broken down to one thing and one thingonly: Love.1) A Daily Act Of Gratitude-An aura of thankfulnessaccompanies all prayers and makes your inner light shine!2) An Awareness Of Love's Presence-Praying is an act ofLove. Prayer brings out all of the qualities of light andlove and filters these through your loving heart. Pray nowand Pray often for these wonderful heart filled moments togrow.3) A Meditation-Prayer is a meditation! As I write my dailyprayers, I feel

The Holy Infant in Prague after World War IIAs the Infant of Prague was having much success reachingthe people in Italy, especially in Arenzano, worship wasnon-existent in the war-torn Czech Kingdom. Any devotion,including devotion to the Infant of Prague, was a dim,fading memory to the very old; and not even that to theyoung only exposed to the athetisic church, allowed by theCommunists, who had taken over their land. The Carmelitefriars were unable to reopen the friary, no less the churchwhere the Infant of Prague remained miraculously untouched.Only a few older worshippers would go and pray

When I was a little girl I loved going to Methodist churchwith my family. The people there were so nice. I feltsafe and loved. I even liked going to the Youth groupmeetings on Sunday nights. It never seemed to me thatthere was too much pressure about God or the Bible. Thankfully, this particular church did not preach with aheavy emphasis on eternal damnation or unworthiness. I'mnot sure how long I would have stuck around had that beenthe case.But my lovely little church kept me engaged through mySophomore year in High School. Not bad considering neitherof my parents went to church with

Why another story on Our Lady?Why another story on Mother Mary? Our question is, Why notanother story on Mary? Where is our greatest hope? Wherehave been our greatest victories? Who really loves you? Who will take care of you if you but reach out and ask forhelp? If you want to know how much Our Lady loves you, andis there for you, read the chapters of this book. Meditateon them. Think about what your needs are. Ask for them. Don't just think about them; get down on your knees andplead for them! Mother Mary is there for you. She listensto you. She has great Friends in high places

In the past, I used to love to study the book Ecclesiastesin the Bible. It was like I was drawn to it, mystified byits dark view of life, combined with the beautiful poetrypeppered throughout the book. I loved reading the ancientnotions on death, wisdom, pleasure, meaning, foolishness,life, and especially beauty. Though the Ecclesiastes waswritten over 3,000 years ago, there were still some partsof it that were so completely relevant to our modern age. One of his observations in particular is this: "I saw thatall labor and all achievement spring from a man's envy ofhis neighbor."