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Archive for the ‘angels’ Category

Why we need our Guardian Angels

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Go to Fr. Brankin's bio27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: Matt. 21:33-43 The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone

Full homily text: We are celebrating the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels and I think that the theme of Guardian Angels might help us understand our catechism family Mass.

Go to the Dominican Sisters' websiteAre you attracted to a life of prayer and contemplation? The words Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere – “to contemplate and to share with other the fruits of the contemplation” – is the motto of the Dominican Order. Take the 7 Quick Questions survey of the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and find out whether you might have a calling as a Dominican Sister.

Okay—so what are Guardian Angels? Well, what we believe as Catholics—and none of the so-called “Christians” believe in this—but what we believe is that at the very beginning of our lives God gives each of us our own Guardian Angel. Continue Reading…

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Our guardian angel protects us from the Devil’s snares

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

Go to Fr. Brankin's bio27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 2, 2011
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: Matt. 21:33-43 “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

Homily summary: Today, Oct. 2, is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. We believe that at the beginning of our lives, God assigns to us a guardian angel to protect us, inspire us, warn us, and thus to help us get to heaven.

St. Jane de ChantalWalk on the spiritual path along with St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal into the Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Are you a lay person interested in plunging more fully into a way of daily devotion? Or considering a vocation to the monastic Visitandine tradition? Go to Visitation Spirit website.

An angel is a being, an entity, a person whom we cannot see, but who loves us and wants us to get to heaven. They don’t have bodies.  A guardian angel guards us by a subtle breathing into our hearts. It may be about a course of action that is better for us, or a person who is better for us. Continue Reading…

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Queenship of Mary: Why Lucifer is upset

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Go to Fr. Brankin's bioMonday, Aug. 22, 2011, The Queenship of Mary
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38 “Hail full of grace,  the Lord is with you!”

Homily summary: There is a painting by Velasquez, in which Mary is in the middle. She is being crowned by the Father and the Son.

There is a tradition which says that Lucifer and all the bad angels got upset over Mary because she has the title Queen of Angels and Heaven. The bad angels rebelled over the notion that a human would be over them. They are upset that God would make a human the queen of angels and of heaven, and the mother of the Messiah. And, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is human as well.

How this must upset the bad angels — that humans would be so intimately involved with God. For example, that the Pope is head of the Church. Thank God for his revelation, and all the ways God deals with us — for all that we understand, and for what we don’t understand as well.

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Christmas is heaven breaking into our humdrum world

Sunday, December 19th, 2010

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 19, 2010
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: Matt. 1:18-24. The angel’s command to Joseph

Summary: When I was a child in the sixth grade, my brothers and I had already lost that special feeling of wonder about Christmas. The Christmas spirit had given way to thoughts about what gifts we would get. And yet, on Christmas morning, something supernatural happens to us. Another world from beyond visits us in our hum-drum world. Christmas is heaven breaking into our earth.

Go to the Sisters' Facebook page.Saint Francis de Sales’ “little virtues” of gentleness, kindness, humility, and cheerful optimism shape the monastic life of the Visitation Sisters. Consider a life of prayer and teaching. Sisters of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary Washington, DC.

Continue Reading…

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We already believe in extraterrestrials — the angels

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

27th Sunday in ordinary time, Oct. 3, 2010
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: Luke 17:5-10. Lord, increase our faith.
MP3 Audio 10 min.

Summary: The moderns pooh-pooh belief in angels, although they have no problem believing in aliens. The moderns hope for a discovery of life on other planets, thinking it would put belief in God and Jesus in jeopardy. We already believe in extraterrestrials — the angels. Angels are a race of beings far superior to us. But there are bad angels, too, who despise both us and God.

Our guardian angels try to help us get to heaven. At the end of our lives, they will have the joy of knowing that they helped us get there.

Consider a life of prayer and teaching. Saint Francis de Sales’ “little virtues” of gentleness, kindness, humility, and cheerful optimism shape our monastic life. Sisters of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary Washington, DC

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