THE HOLY SPIRIT - MAY 19, 2024

Who is the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)?

The Holy Ghost is God and the third Person of the Blessed Trinity.

(a) The Holy Ghost is also called the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Love.

From whom does the Holy Ghost proceed?

The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son.

(a) The Holy Ghost does not proceed from the Father and the Son by spiritual generation. Only the Son proceeds from the Father by generation. This is one of the mysterious truths that we know only from revelation.

Is the Holy Ghost equal to the Father and the Son?

The Holy Ghost is equal to the Father and the Son, because He is God.

(a) Because of the oneness of nature in the Blessed Trinity, the Father is entirely in the Son and in the Holy Ghost; the Son is entirely in the Father and in the Holy Ghost; and the Holy Ghost is entirely in the Father and in the Son. No one of the three divine Persons is outside the other, for none precedes the other in eternity, nor surpasses the other in power, nor exceeds the other in any way. This indwelling of one divine Person in the others is called circumincession.

What does the Holy Ghost do for the salvation of mankind?

The Holy Ghost dwells in the Church as the source of its life and sanctifies souls through the gift of grace.

(a) Although the sanctification of mankind, like all other outward works of God, is performed by all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, it is attributed to the Holy Ghost, the third Person. The sanctification of mankind is attributed to the Holy Ghost because He is the love of the Father and the Son and because the sanctification of man by grace shows forth God's boundless love.

I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU - JUNE 9, 2024

On December 7, 1988, an earthquake devastated the northwestern section of Armenia, killing an estimated 25,000 people.

In one small town, just after the earthquake, a father rushed to his son’s school only to find that the school had been flattened. There was no sign of life.

But he had no thought of turning back. He had often told his son, “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you when you need me!”

Though his prospects appeared hopeless, the father began feverishly removing rubble from where he believed his son’s classroom had been. Other forlorn parents only wailed hopelessly...”My son! or “My daughter!” Some told the father to go home, that there was no chance that any of the children could be alive. Yet, he replied: “I made my son a promise that I’d be there for him anytime he needed me. I must continue to dig.”

Courageously, he worked alone; no one volunteered to help him. He simply had to know for himself: “Is my boy alive or is he dead?” Finding strength and endurance beyond himself, the faithful, loving father continued to dig...for 8 hours...12...24...36 hours. Then in the 38th hour, as he heaved away a heavy piece of rubble, he heard voices. ‘Armand!” he screamed.

A child’s voice responded: “Dad! It’s me...Armand!” Then, “I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save me, and when you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised you would always be there for me! You did it, Dad!”

Moments later, the dad was helping his son Armand and 13 more frightened, hungry, and thirsty boys and girls climb out of the debris. Free at last! When the building collapsed, these children had been spared in a tent-like pocket.

When the townspeople prasied Armand’s dad, his explanation was, “I promised my son, ‘No matter what, I’ll be there for you!”

JUST STAY - JUNE 30, 2024

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. “Your son is here,” she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man’s limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night. Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
“Who was that man?” he asked. The nurse was startled, “He was your father,” she answered.

“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.” “Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?” “I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed.”

I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this gentleman’s name?

The Nurse with tears in her eyes answered, Mr. William Grey.

The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.

WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE. WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

Difficult Things Happen - July 14, 2024

Every problem is a chance for you to become a better version of yourself. Every challenge charts a path for growth and improvement. Every setback carries the potential for powerful motivation. Every disappointment can lift you to a higher level of resolve. Every inconvenience has the power to inspire new resourcefulness. Every frustration gives you a way to strengthen your patience. From each positive experience, you learn a few things. From each negative experience, you learn much more. Of course you would not intentionally seek to be hurt or disappointed. But neither would you want a life where hurt and disappointment never happen. Difficult things can happen, do happen, and amazingly, life finds a way to make them beneficial. Difficult things can happen, and that’s what makes the good things so very good.

— Ralph Marston

How Poor are the Rich? - July 28, 2024

One day a father and his rich family took his son to a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night in the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, “How was the trip?

“Very good Dad!” replied his son. “Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Yeah!” “And what did you learn?”

The son answered, “I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden; they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon.”

When the little boy was finishing, his father was speechless. His son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!”

Guardian Angel of the United States - September 1, 2024

I was asleep in bed with my wife. Suddenly, I awoke. I sat up very quickly and looked to my left. At the entrance to our bathroom, adjoined to our bedroom, was an enormous man. He was praying on both knees with his head lowered and his hands pressed together under his chin. Our vaulted ceilings are about thirteen feet tall. Even so, the back of his head was grazing the ceiling, so the size of this creature when standing would have been at least twentyfive feet tall. His white, ankle-length garment also glimmered with gold, and a solid-goldcolored sash was wrapped around his waist. His hair was a color in between blonde and light brown, and his feet, also very large but in proportion with the rest of his body, were strapped in brownish-bronze woven sandals. I could plainly see a cut or bruise on his upper left cheek, and while his garment was beautiful, it was soiled and discolored from what appeared to be wounds underneath the fabric. He looked extremely sad and very tired.

I was startled to say the least, not only by his presence in my own room, but by the sheer size of him. I jumped out of bed and quickly reached in my night-stand drawer to grab a firearm I keep in my room for protection. No sooner did I point the weapon in the creature’s direction, when he turned his head and looked at me, saying, “Please don’t do that.” At these words, a great calm came over me. I lowered the weapon to my side and just stared at him. His face was gentle, as were his eyes, but he still appeared heavy-hearted. He then said, “Tell the people to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, every day, and to offer it in reparation for the sins committed by the United States.”

Then the visitation stopped. In the days that followed, through contemplation and prayer, I was shown that this being is the Guardian Angel of the United States, and he is losing the battle for our country to Satan and his demons. Our prayers, specifically the one he requested, strengthen not only him, but also all the angels who fight with him. He is petitioning us for help. I came to understand that we empower angels through our prayers, just as we empower demons with our sin. Our sins and indifference open the doors to the devils and their curses, but our prayers and petitions open the doors to God’s strength and blessings.

We are in grave need of prayer and penance, and sacrifices for love of God that give way to waterfalls of grace. May we surrender all that we are and all that we have to Jesus before the Day of Justice arrives. Woe to those who would take this period of mercy for granted and put off their conversions, thinking that they can wait until the last hour. To grow in holiness can only come by way of God’s grace and mercy. To grow in holiness takes time. And that time for grace and mercy is now.

Lord's Clinic - September 8, 2024

I went to the Lord’s Clinic to have my routine checkup and I confirmed that I was ill. When Jesus took my blood pleasure, He saw I was low in tenderness. When He checked the temperature, the thermometer registered 40 degrees of anxiety. He ran an electrocardiogram and found that I needed several “love by-passes” since my arteries were blocked with loneliness and could not provide for an empty heart. I went to orthopedics, because I could not walk by my brother’s side and I could not hug my friends, since I had fractured myself when tripping with envy.

He also found I was short sighted, since I could not see beyond the shortcomings of my brothers and sisters. When I complained about deafness, the diagnostic was that I had stopped listen to Jesus’ voice talking to me on a daily basis.

For all that Jesus gave me a free consultation thanks to His mercifulness. So my pledge is to, once I leave this clinic, only take the natural remedies he prescribed through His words of truth.

Every morning take a full glass of gratitude. When getting to work, take one spoon of peace. Every hour, take one pill of patience, one cup of brotherhood and on glass of humility. When getting home, take one dose of love. When getting to bed, take two caplets of clear conscience.

Do not give into sadness or desperation for what you are going through today. God knows how you feel... God knows exactly with perfection what is being allowed to happen to you in your life at this precise moment. God’s purpose for you is simply perfect, he wants to show you things that only you understand by living, what you are living by being in the place you are now.

The Price of Knowledge - September 15, 2024

A giant ship engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars. “What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!” So they wrote the old man a note saying, “Please send us an itemized bill.”

 

The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer…… $ 2.00

Knowing where to tap……… $ 9,998.00

 

Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference! Don’t give up!

God is Watching - September 22, 2024

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. A note was posted next to the apples by a nun: “Take only ONE. God is watching.” Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, “Take all you want. God is watching the apples.”

The Complete St. Michael Prayer - September 29, 2024

Feast of the Archangels - The complete St. Michael Prayer as written by Pope Leo XIII in 1898

O Glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, and spirits of evil.

Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist Thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.

Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men; his depraved mind, corrupt heart, his spirit of lying, impiety, blasphemy, his pestilential breath of impurity and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the Spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.

Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate Thee as their protector and patron; in Thee Holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to Thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, do Thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered, hostile powers. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, the root of David. Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord As we have hoped in Thee. O Lord, hear my prayer. And let my cry come unto Thee

Let us pray:

God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy name, and we humbly implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel St. Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen.

Our Lady of the Rosary - October 6, 2024

The Title Our Lady of the Rosary can be traced back to 1571 and the Battle of Lepanto.

The Battle of Lepanto was a large-scale naval battle fought between a coalition of Catholic nations known as the Holy League and the Islamic Ottoman Empire. The Holy League was in command of 168 vessels while the Ottomans were in command of 337 vessels. By all means, the Ottomans had the advantage. Knowing the Holy League was at a disadvantage, Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for their victory.

At the beginning of the battle, the wind threatened to prevent the Holy League from forming a line to hold off the oncoming Ottoman ships. By some miracle, however, the wind shifted shortly before the two sides made contact allowing the Holy League to get into position. By the end of the battle, the Holy League had captured 137 vessels, killed 30,000 Turks, and took over 10,000 prisoners while only suffering 7,500 deaths. Despite all odds, it was a major victory for the Holy League.

In thanksgiving for this decisive victory, St. Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory to be celebrated on the day of the victory, October 7th. Two years later, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast day to the Feast of the Holy Rosary, leading to the title Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

Blessed Carlo Acutis - October 13, 2024

THE SOON-TO-BE-SAINT - BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS

Feast Day: October 12th | Patronage: Youth, Computer Programmers, Influencers

Born in 1991, Carlo Acutis was an Italian with a knack for computers and a strong devotion to the Eucharist.

Despite his parents not being particularly devout, Carlo showed a special love of God from a very young age. After recieving his First Communion at the age of 7, Carlo would attend Mass and recieve Confession as often as possible at the parish across the street from his elementary school. Throughout his life, Carlo’s devotion would inspire his parents and many others to convert to the Catholic faith.

During his teenage years, Carlo wanted a way to better spread the faith to a younger generation. He began work on a website dedicated to keeping track of Eucharistic miracles and approved Marian apparitions of the church. This website would launch in 2004 with further work being done for the next two years.

At the age of 15, Carlo was diagnosed with untreatable leukemia. He offered up his suffering for the Lord, the pope, and the church. Less than two weeks after his hospitalization, Carlo passed away after recieving a brain hemmorage.

A cause for canonization was opened for Carlo Acutis 6 years after his death, earning him the title Servant of God in 2013.

Pope Francis confirmed Carlo Acutis’s life was one of heroic virtue in 2018, earning him the title of Venerable.

Carlo Acutis was beatified in 2020 after his first miracle was attributed to him, the healing of a boy who was born with a pancreatic defect. This earned Carlo the title Blessed.

In May of 2024, Pope Francis recognized a second miracle attributed to Carlo Acutis, the healing of a woman who suffered a brain hemmorage. A month later, Pope Francis approved Carlo Acutis’s canonization, with a date for his formal canonization not yet announced. Once Carlo Acutis is formally canonized, he will become the first Millennial Saint.

Who Am I - October 20, 2024

I was born in 1920 in the Polish town of Wadowice as the youngest of three children. Despite the rising tensions at the time, I was able to enjoy my high school years in relative peace. When I was 15, I was nearly shot by a gun that was thought to be unloaded, the first of the many neardeath incidents that I was able to avoid.

During my college years, both Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Universities were supressed and all able-bodied males were required to work, so I came to work in a limestone quarry doing hard labor. In the same year that I started working at the quary, I suffered two major injuries... a fractured skull after being hit by a tram, and a shoulder injury that would leave me with a permanent stoop after being hit with a lorry.

By the time I turned 20, all of my immediate family had passed. After the death of my father, I came to study at an underground seminary run by the archbishop of Krakow. Four months after I started studying at the underground seminary, I was hit by a German truck and spent two weeks hospitilized with a severe concussion and another shoulder injury. This injury would help to soldify my vocation as a priest.

After an uprising in Poland’s capital in 1944, the German Gestapo attempted to round up all Polish men in Krakow who were old enough to fight to prevent the uprising from spreading. Luckily, I was able to hide from the Gestapo in my uncle’s basement as the Germans searched above. I would then escape to the archbishop’s residence until the Germans fled Poland after the Soviet’s Vistula-Oder Offensive at the end of WWII.

I was ordained as a priest in 1946, one year after WWII had officially ended. I was appointed as an auxillary bishop in Krakow in 1958, making me the youngest bishop in Poland. In 1967, Pope Paul VI would name me a cardinal after my participation in Vatican II and in the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops.

After the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978, my predecessor would be chosen as the next Pope and his reign would last for 33 days, the shortest of any Pope. Although I was not the first candidate for Pope, I would be the one who was chosen to take my predecessor’s place and name at the age of 58.

During my time as Pope, I survived two major assassination attempts. During the first attempt, I was shot twice by a pistol and nearly bled out. It was only by the Blessed Virgin Mary’s protection that I was able to survive. I would ultimately pass away from an infection caused by my declining health on April 2, 2005 at the age of 84. I was canonized 9 years after my death on April 27, 2014. My feast day is on October 22nd, the same day that I became Pope.

I am... Saint Pope John Paul II.

Feast of Two Apostles - October 27, 2024

October 28th is the Feast Day of 2 Apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Simon, who preached throughout modern day Iran in the year 66 AD. After refusing to offer a sacrifice to a local pagan deity, the two apostles instead exorcised demons from the temple in which this diety was worshiped. This enraged the local rulers, who in turn stirred up a mob to kill the two men. As the crowd converged on the two apostles, St. Thaddeus turned to St. Simon and remarked “I see that the Lord is calling us.” They were both pelted with stones. A man with a spear came up to St. Thaddeus and ran him through, and St. Simon was seized and sawed in half.

St. Thaddeus became known as the patron saint of lost causes, desperate situations, and hospitals.

St. Simon became the patron saint of sawyers, and he shares the patronage of curriers and leather tanners with St. Bartholomew, who was skinned alive.

Just Stay - November 10, 2024

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. “Your son is here,” she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man’s limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night. Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her. “Who was that man?” he asked. The nurse was startled, “He was your father,” she answered.

“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.” “Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?” “I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed.”

I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this gentleman’s name?

The Nurse with tears in her eyes answered, Mr. William Grey.

The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.

WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE. WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

The Important Things in Life - November 17, 2024

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the remaining open areas of the jar.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.”

“Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

Subcategories

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TO ST. HELENA  Click on the Donate button below:
 
 
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAIL A CHECK OR MONEY ORDER, SEND TO:
 

St. Helena Catholic Church
122 S. 1st. Street
Amite, LA, 70422







New Parishioner Form 

NOTICE:  If you are receiving contribution envelopes but no longer use them please contact the Church Office so we may have you removed from the envelope list.  This in turn would be a savings for our Church Parish.










We, at St. Helena Catholic Church, are concerned with educating, directing, and sustaining all who visit. 

In particular those who draw near to the teachings and traditions of Holy Mother Church. 

We strive to achieve this by utilizing the Cardinal Virtues of Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude.