Spend a few minutes with your parish family over a cup coffee and some donuts. Join us for Coffee Hour every Sunday after the 10:00 am Mass at Roberts’ Hall, St. Lambert Catholic Church in Skokie. You can also join our Holy Bible study at the adjacent room while enjoying your coffee. Donations for the Coffee Hour are appreciated.

May 20,2012  group:

• Esangga – Chairpersons
• Ducduc
• Dulay
• Fernando
• Folkers
• Gualberto
  

“Her role was not necessary, since Christ was and is the perfect Redeemer and the perfect Mediator. Rather, Mary was associated with her Son by the free decision of the Father, a decision which we cannot ignore…”

Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces

by Father William G. Most, ewtn.com

The term Mediatrix in itself could refer to either the objective redemption (the once-for-all earning a title to grace for all men), to the subjective redemption (the distribution of this grace to individual men), or to both. It is most usual to use it to refer only to subjective redemption, i.e. , the process of giving out the fruits of the objective redemption, throughout all centuries. We must consider whether or not the term Mediatrix applies to all graces or only to some. We will ask also about the nature of the mediation: is it only by way of intercession, that is, does Mary simply pray to her Son that he may give us grace, or does God also use her as an instrument in distributing grace.

To begin, we can say without doubt that the title “Mediatrix” is justified, and applies to all graces for certain, by her cooperation in acquiring all graces on Calvary.

Protestants object to this , saying that there is only one mediator: 1 Tim 2:5. We agree that there are many ways in which Christ is the only mediator between God and man. 1) There is only one mediator who is such by very nature, being both true God and true man. 2) There is only one mediator whose whose work is necessary, without whom, in God’s plan, there could be no salvation. 3) There is only one mediator who depends on no one else for power.

Mary differs on all three counts. 1) Mary only a creature, but it was appropriate that God be freely choose her as Mediatrix because he had made her Mother of the God-man, the Redeemer–it was she who on behalf of the whole human race consented to God’s plan of salvation by proclaiming herself the handmaid of the Lord. 2) Her role was not necessary, since Christ was and is the perfect Redeemer and the perfect Mediator. Rather, Mary was associated with her Son by the free decision of the Father, a decision which we cannot ignore. 3) Her whole ability to do anything comes entirely from her Son, and hence we are not contradicting Lumen gentium # 62 which says no creature can be ever counted together with Him.

Really, the Father did not need her at all, except that if He decreed the incarnation, He necessarily decreed a Mother: she was and is that Mother. But everything else in which He has employed her is not needed.

Yet, if we recall the economy of redemption, it is clear that the Father wants everything to be as rich as possible, so that He will not stop with something lesser if there is more than can be done. Really, the incarnation in a palace, without death, would have been infinite in merit and satisfaction, as we have seen in the section on her cooperation in the redemption.

Read the complete document. CLICK HERE

The same beautiful song. This time, I think, is in German by Helen Fisher.

Study: College Age Students Losing Faith, cardinalnewmansociety.org
by Matthew Archbold, May 1, 2012

A new study coming out of Georgetown University reports that many in the younger generation known as “millenials” are abandoning orthodoxy at an alarming rate.

The study focusing on 18-to-24-year-old Americans finds many rejecting religious doctrine, according to a joint survey from Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace& World Affairs and the Public Religion Research Institute.

According to the survey, around one quarter of respondents said they don’t identify with any religion. That’s more than twice the 11 percent raised in households without any particular faith, which means that many students are losing their faith during their college years.

The Catholic Church is among the hardest hit by young people losing their religion, according to the study’s executive summary.

Read the complete report. CLICK HERE

]]> http://ffos.org/2012/05/college-aged-students-losing-their-religion-at-an-alarming-rate/feed/ 0 http://ffos.org/2012/05/may-19-novena-prayers/ http://ffos.org/2012/05/may-19-novena-prayers/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 12:54:46 +0000 rex http://ffos.org/?p=7373

The Filipino Families of Skokie (FFOS) members’ next Novena prayer is scheduled on Saturday, May 19 at 6:00pm.

The Filipino Families of Skokie was organized primarily as a spiritual group. The main purpose of our organization is to unite, promote, support, and engage in activities fostering and enriching the spiritual and cultural heritage of the members. In order to achieve these goals, member families are encouraged to attend and participate in parish functions and fund raising  and other activities designed in promoting the spirituality, camaraderie, and well being of member families to include:

The Bi-weekly novena devotions to the Santo Niño, Our Lady of Fatima, and San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila.

Please join us at  Eleanor’s place this Saturday at 6:00 in the evening.

Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, Jesus: Thursday, May 17, 2012

The elevation of Christ into heaven by His own power in presence of His disciples the fortieth day after His Resurrection. It is narrated in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.

Although the place of the Ascension is not distinctly stated, it would appear from the Acts that it was Mount Olivet. Since after the Ascension the disciples are described as returning to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day’s journey. Tradition has consecrated this site as the Mount of Ascension and Christian piety has memorialized the event by erecting over the site a basilica. St. Helena built the first memorial, which was destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt in the eighth century, to be destroyed again, but rebuilt a second time by the crusaders. This the Moslems also destroyed, leaving only the octagonal structure which encloses the stone said to bear the imprint of the feet of Christ, that is now used as an oratory.

Not only is the fact of the Ascension related in the passages of Scripture cited above, but it is also elsewhere predicted and spoken of as an established fact. Thus, in John 6:63, Christ asks the Jews: “If then you shall see the son of Man ascend up where He was before?” and 20:17, He says to Mary Magdalen: “Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.” Again, in Ephesians 4:8-10, and in Timothy 3:16, the Ascension of Christ is spoken of as an accepted fact.

The language used by the Evangelists to describe the Ascension must be interpreted according to usage. To say that He was taken up or that He ascended, does not necessarily imply that they locate heaven directly above the earth; no more than the words “sitteth on the right hand of God” mean that this is His actual posture. In disappearing from their view “He was raised up and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), and entering into glory He dwells with the Father in the honour and power denoted by the scripture phrase.

source: New Advent: Catholic Encyclopedia, photo source: “So that in all things…God may be glorified” blog

Thanks to  Salt and Light TV You Tube Channel