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~ the pop culture catholic

elizabeth westhoff

Category Archives: Prayer

It’s November: Get Busy!

30 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by Elizabeth Westhoff in Art, Catholic, Prayer, Uncategorized

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dead, death, militant, Prayer, purgatory, suffering, triumphant

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We are entering into the month of November which, in the Catholic Church, is dedicated to the souls of those in Purgatory. We should all be busying ourselves with nonstop prayer for the souls of the faithful departed every time we pass a cemetery or have a spare moment to offer a quick prayer for them.

First, let’s be clear on what the Church teaches—there is a Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell and, depending on the state of your soul at death, you will spend eternity in one of two and, possibly some amount of time in the other. The Church’s teaching on this is explicit and is beautifully addressed in Lumen Gentium, n. 48,  “Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed (cf. Heb 9: 27), we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where ‘men will weep and gnash their teeth’ (Mt 22: 13 and 25: 30)’.”

The “Gentleman Saint” and Doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales, reminds us that during the time we are allotted on earth, we must live in a way that will prepare us for death, “Happy are they who, being always on their guard against death, find themselves always ready to die.”

We must be ready for death, because we have no idea when it will come. To enter Heaven, every single trace of sin must be eliminated, purged from the soul. As we know from what Our Lord suffered in His Passion and Crucifixion, the purging of sin is no small task.

Despite lack of popular usage, the terms “Church Triumphant, Militant, and Suffering” are still completely accurate descriptions of the different states of the Mystical Body of Christ of which we are all a part. We are brothers and sisters in the Lord, and beloved daughters and sons of the Father. Just as we pray for our earthly family, so, too, must we pray for our spiritual family as it exists in its various stages.

The Church Triumphant can be of great assistance to us in our prayers. They are already in Heaven, face-to-face with the Beatific Vision and can intercede for us, the Church Militant.

We are the Church Militant, because, as the etymology of the phrase tells us, we are the Church on earth, engaged in warfare with the devil, the flesh, and worldly powers of temptation and unrighteousness.

The Church Suffering are those souls who are being purged of any remaining attachment to sin that existed at their separation from their corporal body. It should be remembered that Purgatory is not eternal, it is the threshold to Heaven. St. Augustine of Hippo, Father and Doctor of the Church, in The City of God instructs us that “temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment.”

It is our duty, privilege, and honor as Catholics to pray for those who are being purged of their last attachment to sin. We pray for their deliverance so that, as the Church Triumphant, they may pray for us.

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DEATH AND DISAPPOINTMENT…

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by Elizabeth Westhoff in Catholic, Prayer, Ugh..., Uncategorized

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death, Faith

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In the wake of the attacks on Paris, the social media sphere erupted with outrage, sadness, fear, check-ins, news reports, and first-hand posts from those who had experienced the slaughter first-hand.

No more than 24 hours later, the complaining started.

First it was the Catholics complaining that the use of the French tricolor flag to show support for France was unbecoming for use by any Catholic who was worth his salt.

Then it was reported that university students were complaining that the Paris bombings were stealing attention away from their protests.

Then it was those who complained that all the coverage of the attacks was giving Islam a bad rap.

Then it was the Russians, Lebanese, and Africans who complained that the recent attacks on their soil didn’t get any attention. Where were their Facebook check-ins and profile picture overlays? The New York Times quoted, “no one cares when it happens in those places, where it’s expected.”

#don't_pray_for_ParisThen a cartoonist from the recently attacked Charlie Hebdo complained via Instagram that people were praying for Paris.

Here’s something I’d like all of us to stop and consider for a moment; 132 people were massacred on Friday night. Are the above points worthy of consideration? Absolutely. However, what is correct isn’t always appropriate.

“…he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.” (IS 53:7)

Notre Dame de Paris, pray for the people of your city! Our Lady of Grace, you who showed yourself to Saint Catherine Laboure and brought miracles, who smiled upon Saint Therese of Lisieux and created a missionary, in your holy Motherhood, please intercede for your fearful and endangered people; bring your consolations to the people of Paris and all of France. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, hear us. 

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Saint Therese of Lisieux, Patron of France, pray for them
Saint Joan of Arc, Patron of France, pray for them.
Saint Martin of Tours, Patron of France, pray for them
Saint Remigius, Patron of France pray for them
Saint John Vianney pray for them
Saint Jeanne Jugan pray for them
Saint St Genevieve pray for them
Saint Denis pray for them
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux pray for them
Saint Germain Cousin pray for them
Saint Peter Julian Eymard pray for them
Saint Louis pray for them
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque pray for them
Saint Peter Fourier pray for them
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat pray for them
Saints Louis and Zelie Martin pray for them
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal pray for them
Saint Catherine Laboure pray for them
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne pray for them
Saint John Eudes pray for them
Saint Vincent de Paul pray for them
Saint Hilary of Poitiers pray for them
Saint Isaac Jogues pray for them
Saint Jane de Chantal pray for them
Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle pray for them
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre pray for them

Coptic Martyrs, victims of ISIS, pray for them

All you holy men and women, pray for France, and pray for us.

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Litany from Elizabeth Scalia’s post at aletiea.com

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“ALL THE DEVIL ASKS IS ACQUIESCENCE…”

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Elizabeth Westhoff in Prayer, Uncategorized

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Tags

Church Militant, Prayer

Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh

Today I watched a video that was released of a young man (purportedly Jordanian pilot Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh) wearing a wet, orange jumpsuit. He was caged like an animal. A masked man with a torch touched the flame to a line of earth that led to the cage, encircling it. As the flame reached the cage, the man inside was engulfed in fire. He frantically bat at the flames with his burning arms. I was amazed at how long he remained standing as he became a pillar of fire. Finally he fell to his knees, head bowed. As the videographer zoomed in on his head for a close up, you could see this young man, literally, melting. His charred remains fell back and that was the end of the video.

It was one of the most horrific things I have ever seen.

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I have watched other videos like this. I have not watched them because of a morbid fascination. Each has sickened me. Each has frightened me. Each has left me weeping. I have not watched them because I felt compelled to do so, I watched them because I felt obligated to do so. I watched them so that just one more person would be aware of the evil that roams the earth. I watched them so that I would be informed as to what is happening in our world. I watched them so that I could pray for the victim.

With the release of each of these videos, I have been reminded of the images of the citizens of Weimar, Germany that General George Patton marched through Buchenwald after W.W. II. Approximately 2,000 of them–all civilians–were made to march several miles up a steep hill. It took days for the townspeople to file through the camp. There were no precautions taken to protect them from the typhus epidemic in the camp. In their clean, starched and pressed dresses and suits, the townspeople came face-to-face with the enormity of evil men and the death that resulted from it. They left that day with the stench of barbarity upon them.

General Patton wrote to General Dwight Eisenhower: We have found at a place four miles north of WEIMAR a similar camp, only much worse. The normal population was 25,000, and they died at the rate of about a hundred a day…I told the press to go up there and see it, and then write as much about it as they could. 

I often find myself in a minority of thought and opinion. With this post, I am sure I will find myself there once again. We should be echoing General Patton’s directive to “write as much about it” as we can! We should be telling each other what we know without fear of appearing a lunatic. No longer can we turn a blind eye to evil and hatre

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d!  Today’s video. Abortion photos. Holocaust photos. They should all be force fed to our population so that we see evil for what it really is. So people will recognize it when it finally meets them face-to-face…and it will. We are, each of us, complicit in our own way. Silence is tacit approval. Unfortunately, I fear we are reaping what we have sown.

Pray. Fast. Pray again.

All angels, saints, and martyrs, pray for us! May God have mercy on us.

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